John 11:1,2 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus While Jesus was on the other side of Jordan, whither he had retired when he left Jerusalem, a particular friend of his, called Lazarus, fell sick of a very dangerous disorder, at the village of Bethany, near Jerusalem. The town of Mary, and Martha, Lazarus's sisters It is probable Lazarus was younger than his sisters, Bethany being named their town, and Lazarus being mentioned after them, John 11:5. Ecclesiastical history informs us, that Lazarus was now thirty years old, and that he lived thirty years after Christ's ascension. It was that Mary who afterward anointed the Lord with ointment See John 12:3; and Matthew 26:7. Some commentators have supposed that this refers to the story related by Luke 7:37, &c.; and have argued from thence, that Mary Magdalene, whom they think to be the person there described, as a woman that was a sinner, was the same with this Mary, the sister of Lazarus. But it seems much more probable that John himself should mention the fact that he has here referred to, which, if he has done at all, it must be that which he relates John 12:3, &c., where there can be no doubt that the person who performed this instance of respect to Christ was Mary the sister of Lazarus, who was of Bethany, and therefore must be different from Mary Magdalene, who was of Magdala, a town of Galilee, at a considerable distance. Nor is there any ground from Scripture to conclude, that Mary Magdalene was the person who anointed Christ in Luke, which appears rather to be there described as the action of a woman of Nain, where Christ restored the widow's son to life. See note on Luke 7:37; Luke 8:2.