MEMORIAL: THE MYSTERY OF MARY OF BETHANY by Dolores Kimball

Dolores Kimball writes her perception of Mary of Bethany as a mystery. In her book she writes,

“Mary is never referred to as a sinner in any of the accounts of her. Nor does it say she was weeping.” 

You will find this on page 7 of the introduction to her book. I must vehemently disagree with Ms. Kimball on the second sentence of this statement. It clearly states in the King James Version Bible, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 11:

28 And when she had so said, she went away, and called

Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and

comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews

also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him,

Lord, Come and see.

35 Jesus wept.

Later, in her book she states, “Even so, Mary still sorrowed and wept over the death of a beloved brother.” She totally contradicts herself in this manner. It disheartens me when an author gives their personal insight to the Bible and its scriptures, and does not take the time to perform thorough research. However, she does take time to quote scriptures that could give her mystery theory of Mary of Bethany plausible.

When choosing this book, I believed I would find new information on Mary of Bethany. This was not the case at all; instead, I found similar information in this book as in others of this nature.  I recommend when reading this version of Mary of Bethany, to have your Bible readily available for reference checks.

I received this book free from EP Books through the Cross Focused Reviewer Program for an honest and unbiased opinion.