Mary
The name "Mary" attaches to several distinct women in the New Testament, and the UPDV preserves enough of their movements to keep them apart. The mother of Jesus stands at Cana, at the cross, and inside the genealogy. Mary Magdalene is delivered of seven demons, follows from Galilee, watches the crucifixion from a distance, and is among the first to find the tomb empty. Mary of Bethany sits at Christ's feet, falls at them in grief, and anoints them with costly nard. A Mary identified by her sons James and Joses keeps watch at the cross and the tomb. A Mary in Rome is greeted by Paul for her labor. The infancy material that holds much of the traditional Marian portrait — Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1:18+ — is outside UPDV scope, so the article below tracks only what the UPDV text actually carries.
The Mother of Jesus
Mary's place in the genealogy is recorded by the genealogy's standard "from X" pattern: "and Jacob begot Joseph; and Joseph begot Jesus, who is called Christ, from Mary" (Mt 1:16). Her motherhood is registered with the same female-inclusion form that earlier framed Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah.
At Cana she is named only as "the mother of Jesus" and is on the scene before Jesus is said to arrive (Jn 2:1). She notices the failure of the wine and brings it to him as a terse statement: "They have no wine" (Jn 2:3). His answer holds the maternal request at a distance — "Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour is not yet come" (Jn 2:4) — and her own role then collapses into directing others to his word: "Whatever he says to you⁺, do it" (Jn 2:5). She afterwards travels with him, his brothers, and the disciples down to Capernaum (Jn 2:12).
When Jesus is teaching, his mother and brothers seek him from outside the crowd. In Mark, "his mother and his brothers come; and, standing outside, they sent to him, calling him" (Mr 3:31), and Christ answers by naming "those who sat around him" as his mother and brothers, with the criterion stated as "whoever will do the will of God" (Mr 3:34-35). Luke records the same scene with the report "Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you," and the same redefinition: "My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it" (Lu 8:20-21).
At the cross she stands among named women: "his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the [wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene" (Jn 19:25). She is identified by relation rather than by personal name. Christ then commits her to the disciple whom he loved: "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he says to his mother, Woman, here is your son. Then he says to the disciple, Here is your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own [home]" (Jn 19:26-27).
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is identified by her byname and by a completed deliverance: "Mary that was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out" (Lu 8:2). She belongs to the company of women, with Joanna and Susanna, who follow Jesus through the cities and villages and serve him "out of their substance" (Lu 8:1-3).
She is a named witness at the crucifixion. Mark lists "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome" among the women "watching from far," and her discipleship is stated retrospectively: "who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and were serving him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem" (Mr 15:40-41). John names her at the cross alongside Christ's mother, his mother's sister, and Mary the wife of Clopas (Jn 19:25). After the crucifixion, she and Mary the mother of Joses "looked at where he was laid" (Mr 15:47), so the burial-place is registered by named female observers.
On the morning of the resurrection she is at the tomb. "When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him" (Mr 16:1). They find the stone rolled away, see a young man in a white robe inside the tomb, and hear the announcement: "Don't be amazed: you⁺ seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified: he is risen; he is not here: look, the place where they laid him!" (Mr 16:6). They flee, "for trembling and astonishment had come upon them" (Mr 16:8). Luke records the same Marys at the tomb: Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, with Salome, buying spices and coming "very early on the first day of the week" (Lu 24:1), finding the stone rolled away, the body absent, and the young man's word that Jesus "is not here, but is risen" (Lu 24:6). [ABSOLUTE] The post-resurrection encounters traditionally read of Mary Magdalene at the tomb (Jn 20:1, 11-18) sit inside the UPDV's John 19:36-21:25 cut and are not in scope; her place in the resurrection record is therefore preserved in UPDV through the synoptic dawn-visit material rather than through the Johannine garden encounter.
Mary of Bethany
Mary of Bethany is introduced as Martha's sister and is fixed at once by her posture: "And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet, and heard his word" (Lu 10:39). Christ names her choice as the settled one: "Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her" (Lu 10:42).
In John she is placed within the household at Bethany: "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha" (Jn 11:1). Her identity is anchored to a specific past act, narrated in advance: "And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick" (Jn 11:2). She is named in the love that Jesus has for the household: "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" (Jn 11:5). When Christ approaches the village, she remains seated in the house while Martha goes out to meet him (Jn 11:20). When she does come, she falls at his feet and speaks the same reproach her sister had spoken: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (Jn 11:32). The grief is bodily and verbal in the same act; Christ groans in the spirit and is troubled (Jn 11:33).
The anointing John has named her by is later shown in detail: "Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment" (Jn 12:3). The act is costly, physical, and witnessed by the whole household through its scent.
The Other Marys at Cross and Tomb
A Mary distinct from Magdalene is identified at the cross by her sons rather than by her own name: "Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses" (Mr 15:40). At the burial she is named by the shorter form, with the maternal identifier alone carrying the reference: "And Mary Magdalene and Mary the [mother] of Joses looked at where he was laid" (Mr 15:47). On the resurrection morning she is "Mary the [mother] of James" among the three women who bring spices to the tomb (Mr 16:1; Lu 24:1).
John's list of women at the cross also names "his mother's sister, Mary the [wife] of Clopas" (Jn 19:25). Whether this Mary is the same as the mother of James and Joses is not resolved in UPDV's text; the Markan and Johannine identifications are both preserved without harmonization.
Mary the Roman Disciple
Paul's greeting list at Rome includes a Mary identified by her work for the congregation: "Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on you⁺" (Ro 16:6). Her defining attribute in the greeting is the quantity of her labor on behalf of the Roman hearers.
Mary the Mother of Mark
[ABSOLUTE] A Mary is traditionally attached to the household of Mark and Barnabas on the strength of Ac 12:12 and Col 4:10. Acts is outside UPDV scope, so the upper-room scene at Mary's house is not preserved in the UPDV text. Colossians names Mark by a different relation: "Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner greets you⁺, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you⁺ received commandments; if he comes to you⁺, receive him)" (Col 4:10). The cousin-relation in Colossians is paternal/lateral, not maternal, so this Mary is attested in UPDV only indirectly — through the presence of her son Mark in the greeting-list — without any naming of her in scope.