Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalen washing the feet of Christ in the House of Simon. Was the same event we see with Simon the leper? (Maarten van Heemskerck, 1498-1574 Haarlem)

We do not know the woman's name in Luke 7: 36-42 or her relation to the man Simon except that she is considered by him to be a "sinner"".

"36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that [Jesus] sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38 And stood at his feet behind [him] weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe [them] with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed [them] with the ointment.
39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw [it], he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman [this is] that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Luke 7: 36-42

But we not only have many Simons and many Marys but we also have many gospels.

Mary of Bethany

In John 12, the woman is identified as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. An almost identical event takes place where a women, also a Mary, is identified as Mary Magdalene. Are these three people, the unnamed "sinner", Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany, the same person?

“‭1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. ‭2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s [son], which should betray him, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?" John 12:1-5.

"25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the [wife] of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." John 19: ... "1 The first [day] of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre." John 20:1.

"11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, [and looked] into the sepulchre," John 20:11

But another question arises is this unnamed sinner also woman caught in adultery.John 8:3-4

Many called Mary

Some Christians initially identified Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and the sinful woman of Luke 7 but that became an inconvenient connection for some of the more modern doctrines of men.

"An examination of John's Gospel makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen . From John we learn the name of the "woman" who anointed Christ's feet previous to the last supper. We may remark here that it seems unnecessary to hold that because Matthew and Mark say "two days before the Passover", while John says "six days" there were, therefore, two distinct anointings following one another.

John does not necessarily mean that the supper and the anointing took place six days before, but only that Christ came to Bethany six days before the Passover. At that supper, then, Mary received the glorious encomium, "she hath wrought a good work upon Me. ...In pouring this ointment upon My body she hath done it for My burial. ...Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached ... that also which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her." Is it credible, in view of all this, that this Mary should have no place at the foot of the cross, nor at the tomb of Christ?

Yet it is Mary Magdalen who, according to all the Evangelists, stood at the foot of the cross and assisted at the entombment and was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection. And while John calls her "Mary Magdalen" in 19:25, 20:1, and 20:18, he calls her simply "Mary" in 20:11 and 20:16."

"John, however, clearly identifies Mary of Bethany with the woman who anointed Christ's feet (12; cf. Matthew 26 and Mark 14). It is remarkable that already in John 11:2, John has spoken of Mary as "she that anointed the Lord's feet", he aleipsasa. It is commonly said that he refers to the subsequent anointing which he himself describes in 12:3–8; but it may be questioned whether he would have used he aleipsasa if another woman, and she a "sinner" in the city, had done the same. It is conceivable that John, just because he is writing so long after the event and at a time when Mary was dead, wishes to point out to us that she was really the same as the "sinner". In the same way Luke may have veiled her identity precisely because he did not wish to defame one who was yet living; he certainly does something similar in the case of St. Matthew whose identity with Levi the publican (5:27) he conceals. If the foregoing argument holds good, Mary of Bethany and the "sinner" are one and the same." Mary Magdalen, in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Hugh Pope, 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company.