Who Was Mary of Bethany — Meaning Explained

Mary of Bethany is one of the most beautiful portraits of devotion in the Gospels. When Jesus visited her home, she chose to sit at His feet 'and hear his word' — the posture of a rabbi's disciple, something normally reserved for male students. Jesus defended her choice against Martha's complaint, saying she had chosen the 'good part.' Her most memorable act came just before the crucifixion, when she anointed Jesus' feet with a pound of pure spikenard, wiping them with her hair. Judas Iscariot objected to the waste; Jesus responded that she had kept the ointment for His burial and that 'wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.' Mary's worship was costly, humble, and prophetic. She understood what the Twelve had not — that Jesus was going to die.