Is Mary Magdalene the same as Mary the sister of Lazarus?

[Gerr]

Your thoughts.

[olger]

yes,

the other Gerry

[Gerr]

I used to think they were one and the same person. Now I have my doubts. Lazarus' sister is from Bethany, the other is referred to as "Magdalene", i.e. from Magdala. The former's dark past had to do with adultery, the latter devil possession.

Gerry

[olger]

Elder Fagal put together a facinating story on Mary that he pieced together from the Bible & SOP.

[Gerr]

I'll look for the SOP reference that also makes me think they are 2 different women.

Gerry

[Gerr]

I did a little bit more research in the SOP. The evidence seems confusing to me but seems to lean on the direction of the two being the same woman. In DA chapter 62, p. 568, EGW does not call Mary of Bethany Mary Magdalene, but the sister of Lazarus is identified as the one who was delivered from demons, poured oil upon His head, who stood by the cross, the one who was first at the tomb after His resurrection, and the first to proclaim His resurrection. On the other hand, there is this reference in AH 204 that has this to say:

"He who gave back to the widow her only son as he was carried to the burial is touched today by the woe of the bereaved mother. He who wept tears of sympathy at the grave of Lazarus and gave back to Martha and Mary their buried brother; who pardoned Mary Magdalene; who remembered His mother when He was hanging in agony upon the cross; who appeared to the weeping women and made them His messengers to spread the first glad tidings of a risen Savior--He is woman's best friend today and is ready to aid her in all her relations of life."

The way they are enumerated leads one (at least me) to believe they are different people.

Gerry

[Jeannieb43]

This has been a long-standing question in my mind also. My dear departed mother, who was a devout Bible student and who read everything EGW wrote, told me once that she didn't know for sure whether those two Marys were the same person.

I need to remember that Mary was a common name, and it could well have been two different persons. But on another phase of this topic: my mother's speculation [purely speculation, based on her reading of SOP and Bible] was that "IF" Jesus had married while living on this earth, he probably would have married Mary (the Mary who found Him at the tomb). He seemed to have an especially close bond with her.

Of course, that's all just speculation.

He didn't marry, and so who are WE to pick a mate for Him!

[Woody]

Well .... I do believe in online match making. I found my wife online. And it seemed to have worked.

[Jeannieb43]

Congratulations, Redwood!

I'm happy for both of you.

[olger]

Well .... I do believe in online match making. I found my wife online. And it seemed to have worked.

Great. First marriage?

[Robert]

Your thoughts.

Yes..

[Neil D]

Your thoughts.

Morris Vendon put together a sermon called "the Gospel according to Mary" and according to him, Mary, Lazurus's sister, earned her reputation as Mary Magdalene. And Bethany was over the hill from Madala...

So, I have alway put them together....

[Gerr]

Bethany is near Jerusalem. Magdala is near the shore of Galilee, about 75 mi away.

[Gerr]

Originally Posted By: Gerry Cabalo

Your thoughts.

Yes..

Your evidence for your conclusion?

Gerry

[Robert]

Originally Posted By: Robert

Yes..

Your evidence for your conclusion?

Gerry

John 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts' date=' where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without the sin [i.e., adultery'], let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him. And He entered the Pharisee’s house, and reclined at the table. 37 And behold, there was a woman [Mary] in the city who was a sinner[i.e., an immoral woman]; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner [i.e., an immoral woman/prostitute].”

John 12:1 JESUS, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?” 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. 7 Jesus therefore said, “Let her alone, in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. 8 “For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me.”

John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

Luke 8:1 …He [Jesus] began going about from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with Him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out….