Listing the Marys in the New Testament is indeed factual, but my argument isn’t based on generic similarities like “devotion” or “service.” I’m examining three specific figures who share unique narrative markers that the Evangelists themselves highlight.
The purpose is not to merge people arbitrarily, but to follow the textual clues the Gospel writers give us. The combination of an alabaster jar, anointing, and wiping Jesus’s feet with her hair appears only twice in Scripture, and John explicitly identifies Mary of Bethany as “the one who did this.” Luke places the forgiven woman immediately before introducing Mary Magdalene, a literary pairing he uses elsewhere to signal continuity.
So the question isn’t “Why merge people?” but “Why do the Gospel writers repeatedly link these actions and descriptions?”
The goal is simply to understand the narrative the Evangelists are shaping: a woman with a troubled past who encounters Jesus, becomes a devoted disciple, anoints Him for burial, and is honored as the first witness of the Resurrection. Recognizing that these three episodes belong to the same person clarifies her role in the Gospel story and explains why early Christian tradition remembered her as one remarkable disciple.
