guard

 

The biographer John recounts that, days before Jesus is executed, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed his feet with perfume (John 12.1-8).

The biographer Luke recounts a similar event, involving an unnamed woman, in the home of Simon the Leper, at an earlier point in his account (Luke 7.36-50). It is worth noting that the writers of the Gospels were not primarily concerned with strict chronological order but shaped their narratives to distinct purposes.

Following on immediately from this account, Luke records a number of women who travelled with Jesus, among them Mary Magdalene (Luke 8.1-3).

Church history has often conflated these three women: Mary of Bethany, the unnamed woman, and Mary Magdalene.

Pope Gregory I also claimed that this Mary was a repentant prostitute, though without any such claim in any of the Gospels. Luke tells us that the unnamed woman was seen as a sinner, and that Jesus had driven off seven demons that had afflicted Mary Magdalene. Pope Gregory seems to have decided that the only reason why a demonised woman would be considered a sinner and possess an expensive jar of perfume (or the kind of ointment with which you would prepare a body for burial) would be that she was a prostitute. That seems to be a stretch at best; and more consequentially a way to tarnish women.

But perhaps the association of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany is not an erroneous conflation. If Magdala is understood to be a place (and there are possible candidates, but none with a clear association with the Apostle to the apostles) then this is a problem. But Magdalene might be a nickname (such as Simon the Leper). Magdalene may mean watch tower.

Some have postulated that Mary of Bethany was known as Mary Magdalene, or Mary the Tower, because she was unusually tall for a woman. But there is another, to my mind more interesting, possibility.

Almost every mention of Mary Magdalene is found in the accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection (Luke 8 is the exception, and as already noted, may be a referring back into the narrative; that is, this was Mary Magdalene, but she was not necessarily known by that name at that time). In other words, after Mary had anointed Jesus ahead of his death.

When Judas criticises her actions, Jesus says that she has the role of watching over, or guarding, what remained of the perfume for the day of his burial (John 12.7).

And this, she does. She stands and watches at the crucifixion, alongside Mary the mother of Jesus, when the men had deserted him. She is there to note what is happening when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus hurriedly prepare his body for burial and secure him in a cave tomb. And she is there as one of the myrrh bearers who return, once the Sabbath is over, to do the job properly, with the remaining perfume that she has guarded for this purpose.

These are the actions of one who guards. Of a watch tower.