Luke 10:39

And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet, and heard his word.

Sister called Mary ... This paragraph in Luke is the only mention of the family of Lazarus, Martha and Mary outside the gospel of John; and the failure to mention Lazarus in a connection that so strongly suggests it dramatically points up the synoptic omission of the name Lazarus, demanding also the conclusion that the omission of his name was by design. Regarding this mystery, Spence said:

The long recital of John 11 gives us the clue. For the disciples of Jesus publicly to call attention in their sermons and addresses to Lazarus, on whom the Master's greatest miracle had been wrought, would have no doubt called down a ceaseless, restless hostility on the Bethany household; for it must be remembered that for years after the Resurrection the deadly enemies of Jesus and his followers were supreme in Jerusalem and the neighborhood.[26]

Sat at the Lord's feet ... This has a dual meaning, namely, that Mary sat beneath Jesus on a lower seat; "but it also has a figurative meaning of listening as a disciple would listen to a teacher."[27] There is thus implied here a teacher-pupil relationship. Thus Paul is said to have sat at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).

[26] H. D. M. Spence op. cit., p. 277.

[27] Charles L. Childers, op. cit., p. 506.