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MARY OF BETHANY: A Video Podcast Inspired by Heroes, Villains, and the In Between · Biblical Lessons from Lives

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between, the podcast inspired by the book from author Sebastian Lucito.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Each episode explores the lives of real people from Scripture, not just the heroes and villains, but everyone in between.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: If you enjoy this episode, be sure to follow us.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening to Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: The house was already full before anyone realized it had become a celebration.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Laughter drifted through the room, mingling with the scent of bread, roasted herbs, and the warm glow of oil lamps flickering against the stone walls.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Stories were told the way old friends told them, louder, fuller, layered with inside jokes and moments that only they could understand.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Post calls, narrow escapes, memories that felt bigger with every retail.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes the greatest miracle of life is simple.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone you love is still breathing.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Plates moved from hand to hand.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Cups were filled again and again.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Friends relaxed in a way people only relax when they believe the worst has already passed.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the center of the room sat Jesus, the man who had changed everything.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And beside him sat the impossible, Lazarus, alive.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Just weeks earlier, Lazarus had been wrapped in gravecloth, laid in a tomb.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Death had been interrupted.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus called back from the dead, and the grave had lost.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: No one said it out loud, but everyone felt it.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: This dinner was more than a meal.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was victory.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: One person in the room was not celebrating the same way.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: She watched like she always had.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: While others talked, she noticed things.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: The pauses in his voice, the heaviness behind his eyes, the weight hidden behind the smiles.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone else saw resurrection.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: She sensed something else.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: She remembered his words when others dismissed them.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Words about suffering, about rejection, about death waiting in Jerusalem.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: The room buzzed with gratitude.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Beneath it ran a quieter current.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Time was running out.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Hidden nearby was a jar, small, fragile, sealed, but what it contained was expensive.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Perfume imported from distant mountains, worth a year's salary, an entire year of labor sealed inside stone.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: This jar was the kind of possession families protected for generations.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Dowries, emergencies, survival, the kind of thing you never spend unless your life depends on it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: As the meal continued, her heart began pounding louder than the conversation.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: At first, no one noticed.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: But as she walked toward him carrying the jar, then the eyes began to follow.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Confusion spread across the room.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: What was she doing?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: This was not the time, not the place, not the custom.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: This was a dinner, a celebration.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: The jar broke open.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: A sharp, final, irreversible sound, and immediately their fragrance filled the room.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thick, sweet, overwhelming.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: It clung to the walls, settled into clothing, wrapped around every person present.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: She knelt without hesitation and poured the perfume oil freely.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: A year's wages flowing across dusty feet.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Her hands trembled, but she did not stop.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: She did something even more shocking.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: She let down her hair.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: In that day in culture, a woman's hair was private.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: To uncover it publicly was scandalous.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: She used it now without hesitation.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: She cleaned his feet with it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Dark strands soaked with oil, tears fell freely, quiet and uncontrolled.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because she understood something the others refused to see.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: The miracle they were celebrating had set something in motion.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Lazarus was alive.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because of that miracle, Jesus signed his own death warrant.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: The religious leaders decided Jesus must die.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Somehow, she knew she couldn't stop what was coming, but she could honor him before it arrived.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Then the room erupted with outrage.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Voices cut through the fragrance, sharp, calculating.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is waste.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what that was worth?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: A year's wages.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Think of the poor.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: The woman was unmoved.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: She stayed kneeling and continued to wash his feet.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: She gave what could never be replaced because she believed he was worth more than what could be saved.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus spoke.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Leave her alone.
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  SPEAKER_01: Everything stopped.
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  SPEAKER_01: No one argued.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: No one moved.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because he saw what they could not.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is not waste, he said.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: This is preparation.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: She has anointed me for burial.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Burial?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: The word landed heavy in the air.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: While they imagined victory without loss, she honored him for the sacrifice ahead.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: The fragrance lingered long after the meal ended.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: It clung to the walls, followed them into the night, stayed in their clothes as they walked the dark streets.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Days later, after the blood would stain the cross of a hill outside the city, that scent would still live in memory.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: She had prepared him.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Mary Abethany, a woman who poured out everything she had before he would pour out his life for us.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, welcome to Heroes, Villains, and the In Between.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, today we're going to study Mary Abethany.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, if you've been watching our podcast, uh, this comes from the book that I wrote called Heroes, Villains, and the In Between.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the animated video that preceded the teaching uh gave you a scene in Mary's life.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: But of everyone in the book, there's 66 different people in the book that never wrote scripture, uh, who were good or bad.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: We have people that failed and people that succeeded, uh, whose life had a story and whose story taught a lesson.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think Mary of Bethany is my favorite in the whole book.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she's one of my favorite disciples.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um she got it.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: When the apostles didn't get it, she got it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason she got it is she listened and she had a heart for Jesus.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk a little bit about her first.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bethany is a city that's about two miles from Jerusalem.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: She lived with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Martha is in one of the scenes.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lazarus actually died and Jesus uh resurrected him for that for that time.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's very close to this family.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, when he traveled, he stayed with them many times.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we're gonna see two of the scenes are in their home.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know, but he's he it was uh it was a regular stopping place for him to refresh himself and to uh to get you know nourishment and rest.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then the three times that we see Mary in Scripture, she her posture is always at the Lord's feet.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: She's always doing the right thing at the right time, in the right place.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I I love her so much as a disciple.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the first time.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: The first time at his feet is found in Luke chapter 10, verse 38.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed her into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, also who sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me alone to serve alone?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore tell her to help me.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, picture there's a crowd in the house.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus always had a crowd.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a crowd around him.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Martha is making whatever the custom of that day was for food, right?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and Mary sat postured at Jesus' feet.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: She was the closest person to him.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, why?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So she could hear every word.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, while Martha was busy, you know, Jesus said Mary has chosen the good part, which is what?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sitting and listening to the word of the Lord.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sitting at his feet.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: The lesson here is is urgent.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Service without listening leaves us anxious and distracted.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at Mary, she's gonna understand what Jesus was going to do on the cross and actually went into preparation for it and saved over a long distance of time something that would cost a whole year's wages.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So she was at his feet every time she was around him.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now we see her three times in scripture, but I'm sure there were you know twenty times that where she where Jesus stopped in for a night or came in for a night, or she went out to see him teach.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But what was important to her was the word of God.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And what we learned from that is you know, the Bible says, hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it says several times to, you know, to look at the word and incline your ear to it and listen.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's very important that we understand that this is a great attribute in this woman.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: The second um time that we see him uh or her at Jesus' feet is in John 11, verse 28.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And when she had is I'm quoting it now, and when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary, her sister.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Martha went and told Mary, saying, The teacher has come and is calling for you.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in a place where Martha had met him.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her, when she saw Mary arose and quickly went out, followed her, saying, She is going to the tomb to weep there.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Verse thirty-two.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Verse thirty-three.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews that came with her weeping, he groaned in his spirit and was troubled.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then he said, Where have you laid him?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: They said to him, Lord, come and see.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible says Jesus wept.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 35, Jesus wept.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 36.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Jews said, See how he loved him.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus groaned again in himself, came to the tomb, and saw that a stone was laid against it.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Take away the stone.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Martha, the sister of him, who had died, that's Martha in this family unit, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead for four days.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Amen?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then they took away the stone from where its place where it was, and the man was lying, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that you hear me.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know that you hear me always, but because of the people who stand by me, I said this, that they may believe that you have sent me.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he who died came out bound head to foot with grave clothing, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so here's this is the second time here, and in you know, unfortunately, you know, she's at his feet for a very, you know, deeply sorrowful message, you know, I mean a very uh sorrowful moment in that she was you know weeping and crying because her brother had died.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus actually waited to go uh to them until he did die.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: This was all for the glory of God.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the Bible tells us that Jesus wept with her, you know, and he was moved by physical death, he was moved by her emotions.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the lesson here is grief does not push us away from Jesus, it drives us to him.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: When we look at this, I've heard people say, uh, you know, I'd ask them, Do you want me to come and pray for your relative who's sick?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, they're in hospice, they're ready to go.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy died four days earlier.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's never too late for Jesus, amen.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's quickly get into the next uh time that we see her at his feet.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 12, verse 1, it says, Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those that sat at the table with him.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: This was in your animated video before this teaching.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was festivities, because this man died, it was a very festive moment.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil, Spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped it with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, uh Simon's son, who was to betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, This he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box and used to take what was put in it.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, Let her alone.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: She has kept this for my the day of my burial.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for the poor you will always have with you, but me you will not always have.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so here we see uh, you know, again, Mary at his feet, but she takes something that's worth today, I would guess around fifty or sixty thousand dollars, opens it, pours it on his feet, and then lets her hair down, which is not the custom of the day.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: So when he when she let us her hair down, I'm sure everybody gasped at the Spike Nar.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: They could smell it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone gasped, but she didn't care.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: She the Bible says she kept it for his burial.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: She listened years earlier of him talking about this sacrifice and kept it for that very day.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, our time is running out, but I want you to reflect on these things.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Reflect on, you know, her and everybody around her.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Look at Judas Iscariot.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: He said, you know, don't you care?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's money.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're wasting it.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: He he was saying, Jesus, you're not worth it.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Mary's saying, you're worth everything.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give you everything.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've saved for you.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've I'm giving this to you.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So which would you rather be?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, God bless you and thanks for watching today.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening to Heroes, Villains, and the In-Between.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: If today's episode challenged or encouraged you, we'd love for you to help others discover it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Follow the podcast, leave a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who you think might enjoy it.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: Every episode is based on Sebastian Lucido's book, Heroes, Villains, and the In Between.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: The book features 66 biblical character studies that reveal the victories, failures, and life-changing lessons found in Scripture's most unforgettable people.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: You can order the book on Amazon or at Barnes Noble, or at Biblical LessonsFromLives.org.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's Biblical Lessons from Lives.org.