‘And she, when she heard it, quickly got up and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha met him. The Judaisers then, who were with her in the house and were comforting her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.'
When Mary learned that Jesus had arrived she went to Him immediately, followed discreetly by mourners who thought that she was going to the tomb. John wants us to know that they were witnesses to what followed.