La Transfiguración

In the Gospel of John, Mary of Bethany (Hebrew מרים Miryām, Miryam "Bitter"), the sister of Lazarus appears in connection with the visits of Jesus to Bethany and the death and rising from the dead of her brother Lazarus (John 11:20,John 11:31,John 11:33).

In Luke 10:38-42, Mary is contrasted with her sister Martha, who was "cumbered about many things" while Jesus was their guest, while Mary had chosen "the better part," that of listening to the master's discourse. According to the author of the Gospel of Luke she sat at Jesus' feet, but in the iconic tradition she is seen to anoint his feet (as per John 12:3), the role of the unidentified "sinner" in the house of Simon the Pharisee of Luke 7:36-50. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) states that " there is no suggestion of an identification of the three persons (the "sinner", Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany), and if we had only St. Luke to guide us, and not John, we should certainly have no grounds for so identifying them." The Catholic authors go on to adduce the gloss to John 11:2, "Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill."

Thus the Johannine tradition explicitly identified Mary sister of Lazarus with the unidentified "sinner" in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Western tradition as early as the 3rd century further identified the woman who was a sinner as Mary Magdalene.

Easton (1897) noted that it would appear from the circumstances that the family of Lazarus possessed a family vault (11:38) and that a large number of Jews from Jerusalem came to console them on the death of Lazarus (11:19), that this family at Bethany belonged to the wealthier class of the people.

On the occasion of Jesus's last visit to Bethany, an unidentified woman who brought "a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the head of Jesus" as he reclined at table in the house of one Simon, who had been a leper (Matt 26:6; Mark 14:3. In John 12:2-3, the woman who anoints the feet of Jesus is explicitly Mary, sister of Martha. Though there is no hint of the woman's name in Mark, or any reason given in the canonic gospels to connect her with Mary other than the circumstance of this anointing episode's happening in Bethany, in the Latin churches it has become the tradition of many Christians to identify the woman with Mary sister of Lazarus. The Greek churches continue to distinguish Mary Magdalene, this Mary sister of Lazarus, and "the sinner" of Luke 7:36& Luke 7:50.

Everyone in Bethany was talking about the great miracles that Jesus performed. Jesus had recently raised Lazarus from the dead. There was much excitement and joy, and many people started becoming followers of Jesus. It was only six days before the Passover Meal, and Jesus returned to Bethany to visit His friends. Martha and Mary prepared a splendid meal for Jesus and they invited many of their friends. The banquet took place at the home of Simon, the Leper. Simon must have had a large home big enough for the festive meal. Simon had been healed of his leprosy and was a follower of Jesus.

Mary of Bethany loved to hear the stories of God's Kingdom from Jesus, and she spent numerous hours at the feet of Jesus just listening and learning more about God. Most women would busy themselves in the kitchen preparing the meal and cleaning up afterwards. The men would usually sit around and listen to Jesus. Mary was different, she treasured every word that Jesus spoke and sat at His feet so that she would not miss anything Jesus said.

After dinner Jesus said something that must have made Mary realize that His time here on Earth was coming to an end. She remembered that she had been saving her very best perfume for the burial of her Best Friend Jesus. Mary brought out her bottle of expensive perfume that was sealed inside of an alabaster box. The perfume was a precious treasure and was often used to prepare the body of a person after they died. Mary opened the alabaster box and poured the expensive perfume over Jesus' head and than poured the rest of the perfume on Jesus' feet. She then wiped His feet with her long, beautiful hair. The room became filled with the sweet smell of perfume. When Judas Iscariot saw what Mary had done he complained that she wasted the expensive perfume. Judas said the perfume could have been sold for a whole year of wages and the money used to feed the poor. Jesus replied, "Leave her alone, It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. I tell you the truth whenever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

(John 12: 1-9; Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:1-10)

Mary loved Jesus with all of her heart. She was willing to give everything she had to Jesus. She was thankful for His friendship and love, and for the miracle of bringing her brother back to life. Mary loved to listen to Jesus' whenever He shared stories about the Kingdom of God. Jesus told the others that Mary realized who He was and that He would not be with them much longer. Servants were the ones that would wash the feet of the Masters. Mary was Jesus' friend, but she took on the act as a servant because she loved Jesus and accepted Him as her Master. This was the last thing that Mary did for Jesus before He died. Jesus said that Mary would be remembered forever for the way she showed her love for Jesus.

Mr. Nicolas "NICK" Lugue, started carving when he was 14 years old. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Leopoldo Lugue, is a 41-yr old Santero from Apalit, Pampanga, born on Sept. 9, 1966. He is married to Nerissa with 2 children.