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truetofaith
Guest
John 11:1 says Mary is the same one who dried Jesus’ feet with her hair. It doesn’t say she is Mary Magdalene.
Is it possible the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well is Mary Magdalene?
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James248
Guest
We could call Jesus Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus of Bethlehem.
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi!
…that’s exactly my point!
Mary, sister of Lazarus, is identified with the woman in St. Luke’s 7; yet, not as Mary of Magdala or Mary Magdalene.
Maran atha!
Angel
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi, James!
…we would be using hind sight–Jesus contemporary did not connect Him with Bethlehem:
(St. John 1:44-46)
59 And after the space, as it were of one hour, another certain man affirmed, saying: Of a truth, this man was also with him; for he is also a Galilean. (St. Luke 22:59)
…since it was not common knowledge that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, migrated to Egypt, and returned to Israel’s mountainous region of Nazareth, Jesus was identified as: Jesus of Nazareth, the Nazarene or from Galilee.
Maran atha!
Angel
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James248
Guest
Still, if a person lives in two places, he can say he is from those two places.
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Crown_of_Stars
Guest
There may have been other women, not mentioned, who at one time or another washed His feet and dried them with her hair. I just love the concept and can’t get over it. It’s so beautiful! I would do the same! And I have long hair!
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truetofaith
Guest
It was a beautiful gesture showing she believed Jesus was the Christ. The Bible only mentions Mary the sister of Martha & Lazarus, though.There may have been other women, not mentioned, who at one time or another washed His feet and dried them with her hair. I just love the concept and can’t get over it. It’s so beautiful! I would do the same! And I have long hair!
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi, James!
…I think that you are missing the point–it is about identification… we have three “Mary’s” at the foot of the Cross, if Scriptures were to state: ‘…and there were three Mary’s at the foot of the Cross…’ how clear would that have been? …each one is identified by something particular to the individual “Mary.”
…back then an “identifier” helped to separate one person with the same name from the other–usually the “birth-place” or the town in which a person lived for the most part of his/her life would be a secondary (primary would be the clan/last name) identifier.
…just imagine how confusing it would be to use the names of every town/village in which a person lived as an identifier: ‘Simon, from Nazareth, Bethel, Bethany, Samaria, Jerusalem…’
…and if we are going to just get technical–Jesus of Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth…
Maran atha!
Angel
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi!There may have been other women, not mentioned, who at one time or another washed His feet and dried them with her hair. I just love the concept and can’t get over it. It’s so beautiful! I would do the same! And I have long hair!
…they say imagination comes cheap… but I think it could be costly… yeah, that seemed like a nice Hallmark moment… but consider what actually transpired:
(St. Luke 7:44-47)
The Pharisee, not wanting to lose face with his peers, put aside all Jewish custom when Jesus entered his household… he felt that it would be below his “righteousness” to extend himself to Jesus; the woman thought only of Jesus and how to demonstrate her appreciation (love) for Him; in effect, she supplied, in abundance, what the host (Pharisee) should have had as a matter of cultural etiquette.
Maran atha!
Angel
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Deltadeliquent
Guest
Mary Magdalena was a woman of means. She bankrolled Jesus’ ministry. Current thought pegs her as possibly a widow who inherited her husband’s assets, which would seem to indicate no living sons, or brothers for the husband.
The Bible states that she was afflicted with seven demons, whom Jesus’ banished from her. Thereafter she became a disciple, perhaps the most beloved of them all.
She was not the woman at the well, nor the the woman who washed Jesus’ feet.
The Magdelene was purposely conflated with that woman (the foot washer) early on in a shameless attempt to disgrace her: being independent and being the first to see the risen Christ rubbed many men in the early church the wrong way…
The Bible states that she was afflicted with seven demons, whom Jesus’ banished from her. Thereafter she became a disciple, perhaps the most beloved of them all.
She was not the woman at the well, nor the the woman who washed Jesus’ feet.
The Magdelene was purposely conflated with that woman (the foot washer) early on in a shameless attempt to disgrace her: being independent and being the first to see the risen Christ rubbed many men in the early church the wrong way…
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jcrichton
Guest
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James248
Guest
Still, Mary sister of Lazarus could have moved to Magdala.
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patrick457
Guest
No. Magdala (Migdal) was a Jewish area (it was, like Capernaum, a fishing village by the Sea of Galilee), so that rules Mary M. out.
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AmbroseSJ
Guest
Wow!
That’s pretty harsh (and unfounded.) The confusion over Mary Magdalene is easily understood in the light of Mark 16: 9. Or are you including the Evangelist Mark in that group of male chauvinist pigs?! 
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patrick457
Guest
I disagree with this interpretation. Different Marys were conflated, yes, but I don’t think there’s any sinister agenda behind it. I mean, you have the same case occurring with the various men named ‘James’/‘Jacob’ and ‘Judah’/‘Judas’/‘Jude’. I think later Christians simply found that having multiple persons all sharing the same name to be confusing and unfamiliar to them, so they imagined that these were all actually the same person.
A few things to know about Jewish naming customs in the 1st century:
- There was only a limited stock of names to choose from: Y(eh)udah (= Judah, Judas, Jude), Ya’aqob (= Jacob, James), Ye(ho)shua (= Joshua, Jesus), Matityahu (= Mattathias, Matthias, Matthew), Ye(ho)hanan (= J(eh)ohanan, John), Shim(e)on (= Simeon, Simon), Y(eh)osef (= Joseph), Eleazar (= Lazarus), Hananiah/Hanina (= Ananias, Annas), Shelamzion/Shalom (= Salome), Miryam/Maryam/Maryah (= Miriam, Mary), Y(eh)ohana (= Joanna), Shipra/Shapira (= Sapphira). Seriously, the majority of Jews in Palestine in those days had one of these names. They didn’t try to be creative in terms of name-giving; instead they tended to stick to the commonly-used, popular ones.
* 15.6% of Palestinian Jewish men in those days were either ‘Simon’ or ‘Joseph’
- 41.5% of men had one of the top nine male names (in order: Simon, Joseph, Eleazar, Judah, Joh(ana)n, Joshua/Jesus, Ananias, Jonathan, and Matthew/Matthias)
- 28.6% of Palestinian Jewish women were either ‘Mary’ or ‘Salome’
- 49.7% of women had one of the top nine names (Mary, Salome, Shelamzion, Martha, Joanna, Sapphira, Berenice, Imma, and Mara)
- There was a custom (especially among the ruling aristocracy) of reusing the same names within different generations of the same family. So kids were often named after after their parents (patronymy/matronymy), grandparents (papponymy), or some distant ancestor.
- It’s not coincidental that the names of the four Maccabee brothers and their dad (Mattathias, Judas/Judah, Sim(e)on, John, Jonathan, Eleazar) were among the most common names. Same goes for ‘Mary’ (Herod the Great’s second wife was the Hasmonean princess Mariam(m)e) and ‘Salome’ (Salome Alexandra, one of only two women to rule over Judea - the other was Athaliah in the OT period - and the last ruler of Judea to die as the ruler of an independent kingdom). In other words, these names were popular (to the point of being overused) in part because they were the names of famous people.
Well, Jesus was hardly a wandering vagrant, despite a few modern authors out there making it appear like He was. (Apparently, they take Jesus’ words that “the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head” too literally.) From the gospels we know that He did receive some financial support from followers. I mean, one of His female disciples was Joanna wife of Chuza, Antipas’ house-steward.
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James248
Guest
Not necessarily.
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi!Wow!
…I don’t understand the reference, how does this reference serves to confuse the two Mary’s?
Maran atha!
Angel
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi, Patrick!
…that Jesus’ Ministry was aided by wealthy disciples (even those who remained in secrecy) is understandable… my concern was with the term “bankrolled;” this would necessitate collusion as Jesus Preached poverty (the rejection of earthly wealth) yet being “bankrolled” by the wealthy and connected.
Now, Jesus’ connection is clear: the poor, sinners, and tax collectors!
…and while Jesus did not engage in extreme poverty, as St. Francis of Assisi did, He certainly did not live in luxury, with a penthouse at every town He visited…
…other than His home, in Nazareth, we find Jesus staying with Simon… He did not even hang with John (whose family appeared to own a lucrative fishing business).
I hope you understand my intent.
Maran atha!
Angel
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AmbroseSJ
Guest
Because in that citation Mark says that Mary Magdalene had 7 devils cast out of her, it would be easy to confuse her with the woman either caught in adultery, or the woman that washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and her hair, neither of whom are named.
This was in response to the poster that had said:
I am not sure which two Marys you are referring to…
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truetofaith
Guest
Is this topic still going on???
Mary is the sister of Martha & Lazarus. She washed Jesus’ feet. Mary Magdalene was freed of the 7 demons…The Samaritan woman is a completely different person.
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Mary is the sister of Martha & Lazarus. She washed Jesus’ feet. Mary Magdalene was freed of the 7 demons…The Samaritan woman is a completely different person.
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