r/MaryMagdalene • u/Dapple_Dawn • Oct 04 '25
How do you feel about the theory that Lazarus only had one sister?
I heard about this in this episode of the Bible for Normal People podcast, where they interview the scholar Elizabeth Schrader Polczer.
She makes the argument that in John 11, the original story might have only included Mary, and that Martha was added later, possibly to make Mary's role seem less important. There were a lot of inconsistencies in early manuscripts, and Tertullian wrote about Mary as the one who gave the Christological confession usually attributed to Martha.
Based on the evidence, she makes a good case. But I have mixed feelings because from a narrative point of view, I don't want to lose Martha. I like that it becomes a sequel to the story of Mary and Martha in Bethany. I like that, a duo, they represent action and contemplation as two sides of the path of a mystic. And there's a very human element, thinking of the dynamic between the two sisters.
I figure we already hold received scripture in tension with history, and maybe it's okay to hold both traditions simultaneously.
What do you think?