It’s good to get in early for things, isn’t it? I know some people are on the lookout all year for Christmas presents. They wait for the specials and get all the best bargains during the year. And some people like to be the first to get their favourite technology—they line up for the new smartphone, or the latest Apple gadget. They are the ‘early adopters’. The great Fear, the “Fear Of Missing Out” motivates many people. They put the names of their kids down at just the right school, when they are born, or they’ve been on the list to become a member of the SCG since before they can remember—their father put them on the list.
A few people, those brave souls, also prepare their funerals early. They keep hearing those daytime TV ads about funeral insurance, or pre-paid funerals, and not leaving your family any problems, and they bite the bullet and pay the money to draw up a plan.
But I know of no-one who has sought to get embalmed early. No one I know of is so wanting to get ready for their funeral that they opt for a formaldehyde bath.
Well, actually, there is one person: Jesus. Jesus wanted to get ready for his death early. So he re-interprets a kind act by a faithful friend and follower to be his burial preparation before time.
In chapter 12 verses 1 to 11, Jesus is at a banquet—we would call it a party—thrown in Jesus’ honour. Lazarus is there, refreshed, healthy, very much alive, having been recently woken from death by the guest of honour. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters were there, hosting the party. And lots of hangers on, neighbours and others, were also there. Perhaps some of them were equivalent to what we would call the papparazi—professional gatecrashers of parties—for this was a newsworthy event. For Jesus had returned to town after performing an astonishing and public sign, and was now dining with his friend, who he’d not only saved from death, but saved through death, because Jesus raised him from the dead.
Of course, Jesus' return to his scene of triumph was the sort of thing that would make the news. Of course reporters would stand outside of the venue, that security would be brought in to keep the papparazi at bay, and women’s magazines and entertainment shows would run stories with ‘inside scoops’ and ‘exclusive footage’, and details from ‘unnamed sources close to the family’.
But the time of this party is significant. It is six days out from Passover. The Passover is the Jewish feast which recalled that God brought Israel out of Egypt with great signs and wonders, and brought the people of Israel to the good land. This was a time of celebration in Israel and Jerusalem. It will be the third Passover that John has recorded for us during Jesus’ earthly ministry, and as it turns out, it will be Jesus’ last Passover. This is the last week of Jesus’ 33 years, for before 7 days have gone by, Jesus would have been killed.
And the place is significant. For Bethany is not only the place where Jesus raised Lazarus, but it is only 3 kilometers or so, less than an hours walk, away from Jerusalem. The party is being held in the shadow of the center of religious and political power, Jerusalem, which has formulated a conspiracy to have Jesus executed. Remember, Jesus had avoided Jerusalem and Judea for the reason that the religious leaders want him dead (John 11:54). And now he is just outside their lair, enjoying a party.[1]
This party was Jesus’ opportunity to enjoy his own handiwork. For Jesus’ last visit to Bethany that John recorded involved Jesus’ raising Lazarus his friend, the one he loved (John 11:1-44). Now Jesus has time and opportunity to enjoy his friend Lazarus’ company.
The two sisters, Mary and Martha, are the hosts of the party, if not the homeowners. And it would seem that each of their contributions to the celebration is true to form, typical of what we know about each of the sisters from elsewhere. Martha is busy with the catering and preparations. Martha was in verse 2, “serving” at table, which was her concern, you will remember, in Luke 10:40, annoyed as she was by what she saw as Mary’s neglect of the duties of hostess.
Martha, busy around the home, always with some domestic thing to do, was serving them food and drink and generally fussing over them. I think of a middle eastern mother clucking and hovering over her charges. “Eat, eat, you’re too skinny Jesus. I’ve made your favourite, it’s good.” That’s Mary, true to type, and it is the way she expresses her love for Jesus.
Mary, however, is devoted to other aspects of Jesus Christ beyond feeding him. In Luke 10:38-42, she gave herself to sitting at his feet and attending to his words. And now she is attending to his feet yet again, but in a different act of devotion.
The banquet is held in Jesus honour. But Mary has a particular act of honour, an act that singles Jesus out among the crowd. John chapter 12 verse 3:
Then Mary, taking a pound[2] of the expensive ointment of genuine spikenard,[3] anointed the feet of Jesus, and dried his feet off with her hair. And the house was full of the fragrance of the ointment.
Now, Mary is not the first woman to do something like this for Jesus. And she wouldn’t be the last. To wash someone’s feet was usually the task of the most junior servant, and later Jesus himself would perform that service for all his disciples. But what Mary is doing goes well beyond merely washing the feet.
The ointment which Mary used was over 300 grams of the precious and exotic essential oil, spikenard. It was worth a years wages for a hired hand. We might say it was $100,000 worth of the finest perfume. It may well have been an heirloom. Just as Jesus abundantly provided wine at the wedding (John 2:1-11), and abundantly provided bread and fish at the feeding (John 6:1-15), so Mary goes over the top with ointment, which then becomes air freshner for the whole house. Jesus has come to give life and life to the full (John 10:10), and in return out of overflowing gratitude she has filled her house with the fragrance of christening Jesus.
A woman’s hair is her glory (1 Cor 11:15), and here is Mary, taking her glory in the service of Jesus, her Lord, and using them to lovingly dab and wipe down his feet. Within the week, others of his creation will drive nails through them—but today Mary can spare no expense nor trouble in personally tending to them.
This is Mary’s act of service: it is intimate and feminine, though not lewd and sexual. It was physical but not sensual. It involved touch but not titillation. It was well fitted and suited for who Jesus is, and for what he has come to do. In fact, Mary doesn’t full understand how well suited it is.
Mary’s act of devotion was not some lewd, shameful act, done at night, in the dark, in hiding. It was a public act done among family, friends, and followers, with the wider public and reporters present. It was an open act, disclosed, declared, and placed on the public record. And like all public acts, it is open to scrutiny, investigation, and public criticism. And criticism is immediate, and from a source close to Jesus and Mary. Verses 4 to 6:
12:4Now Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was going to betray him, said, 12:5“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for 300 denarius and the money given to the poor?” 12:6Now he said this not because it mattered to him about the poor, but because he was a thief, and since he held the money bag, he stole what was put in it.
Here is Judas, the social justice warrior, seemingly caring for the poor. But his base desires are revealed by John, who writes in all likelihood with the benefit of hindsight. What they didn’t know at the time would be revealed afterwards. Judas was corrupt and greedy, but put a veneer of social justice over it.
The church has long been infiltrated by hypocrites. Whether people enter the social life of the church with the intention of dishonest gain, or though they start with noble aspirations, yet they are led away and corrupted by greed, bitterness, power, or opportunity, no matter which is true, corruption and hypocrisy is always there as an ever present danger. It is not unheard of that church treasurers have absconded with parish funds. We should take warning.
What this also tells us is that Judas’ fall and betrayal had precursor and precedent. It did not come out of the blue. There were serious problems with Judas as a disciple for a long time. Apparently Jesus knew this, or soon would, for in a few short days, he will predict Judas’ betrayal to his disciples.
Judas’ anger about losing the opportunity to take his cut of the proceeds of a sale of the perfume will be intensified in four days time, when again in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper, another woman, unnamed but not unknown, will similarly anoint Jesus (Matt 26:6-16; Mark 14:3-9). And the deprivation of that money will be too much for Judas—and he will seek recompense from the chief priests from whom he will receive 30 pieces of silver, for his losses.
Jesus comes to Mary’s defence, but also comes indicates that Mary’s act has a significance greater than what perhaps Mary knows. Verses 7 and 8:
12:7In response Jesus said, “Leave her alone, because she kept this ointment for the day of my embalming. 12:8For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Jesus’ defence of Mary is on two fronts, or for two reasons.
First, the anointing is for Jesus’ embalming. Probably, this is ironic. That is, Mary probably didn’t know the full significance of what she was doing. When in Luke 7:36-50, a woman similarly performed an anointing, Jesus did not explain her act of anointing in terms of his embalming: he explained it in terms of the forgiven woman’s love for him. However, Jesus’ time has now come. So the meaning of the act has been recast in terms of the mission the Father has sent him to do—which involves his glorification by crucifixion.
People spend a lot at funerals, even poor people, and sometimes especially poor people. And embalming and preparing a body for burial is expensive. Death is expensive. Sin is expensive. And that is appropriate. It is good that death should send a ‘price signal’ to us and our community. Death intervenes and interrupts our lives and our spending choices with its rude and returning scream of “feed me, feed me, don’t you forget that I am here”. Death brings not just our wealth, but our very bodies to the grave. And the best we can do against it, putting expensive perfume on our bodies to counteract the putrefaction for a short time, at least bites into our wallets to wake us from our slumber against the death that will, if Jesus doesn’t come back soon, claim us all.
The second defence that Jesus provides for Mary again Judas’ criticism is in verse 8, you always have the poor with you. Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously said that by 1990, no child in Australia will live in poverty. Apparently afterwards he was very angry that the speech writers put that in the script. Of course, he failed. The campaigns “Make poverty history”, as well meaning and well-intentioned as they are, are doomed to fail, at least in terms of a literal fulfillment of those aspirations. We cannot bring any eutopia into our fallen world—God must do it, in his method has been revealed to us, by him bringing the New Jerusalem from heaven to earth at the end of the age. The closest we can get is to anticipate the end prosperity and copy the kindness of God to all in the present. There is a place for giving to the poor. That is inherent in Jesus words in verse 8: “For you always have the poor with you”. Our job is to do good to all people especially the household of faith, and to be rich in good deeds, including being kind and generous and willing to share. God and Jesus has given us this task, and we must do it.
But once we have said this, and continue in the task of being generous to the poor, we must also say that such universal, absolute, and eutopian visions for this world are doomed to fail. Our world is fallen. The human heart is sinful. And a eutopia of no poverty will not come in until Jesus returns.
The opportunity to do whatever we want for the poor is always with us. That is true. But we do not always have Jesus. That is true, too. We don’t have Jesus, at least in terms of his physical and bodily presence. He is physically and bodily away. Sure, he is always with us by his Spirit. But now we live saying “Come Lord Jesus”. We are away from the Lord.
And in his retelling of the events, John pans back, and gives us a glimpse what is going on outside the party. It’s a bit like those shots outside the academy awards, as the celebreties and stars walk down the red carpet. There are reporters everywhere, and fans, and all kinds of hangers-on and professional gatecrashers. Verse 9:
12:9So a great crowd of the Jews, knowing that Jesus was there, also came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead.
Now there are two objects of interest, two fascinating subjects to poke and prod—not only Jesus, but also Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. Both of them, the crowd thinks, repay careful attention.
But they aren’t the only ones, for we saw in our last passage that the religious elites are hardening in their opposition to Jesus. In fact, they have conspired to have him killed. They want a contract killing, and are looking for the opportunity to achieve it. But now the target of the attack will widen, since Lazarus is such a source of fascination. Verses 10 and 11:
12:10Now the high priests conspired also to kill Lazarus, 12:11 because on his account many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.
So blind is their hatred of Jesus, that they will even bury the evidence that he can raise the dead. Jesus brings life as the resurrection and the life: the high priests end life, as the killers and the death. Whoever is associated with Jesus will get what’s coming to Jesus, too.
And that is always the way. Those who align themselves with Jesus, attract the hatred that Jesus attracts. Later that week, Jesus will tell his disciples, in John 15:18-19:
15:18If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. 19If you were from the world, the world would love you [as] its own; but because you are not from the world, but I have chosen you from the world, for this reason the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)
So for no reason except that he lives, and Jesus gave him life, the high priests want to kill Lazarus.
Don’t be surprised if for no reason except that you live and that Jesus gave you life, you are hated by men and women. For our very life, our new spiritual life, points to Jesus Christ and his power to give life and death. And those who are opposed to Jesus Christ will not tolerate such an alternative centre of loyalty.
Everything is going according to plan—Jesus’ plan. His time has now come. The lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world is being anointed for his burial—a little early, to be granted, but it is only through burial that Jesus will become the resurrection and the life. For Lazarus, who he sups with, will die once again. The resurrection of Lazarus in John 11 was strictly only a resuscitation. Jesus has not yet dealt fully and properly with sin, God’s anger, death and hell. That will require him being lifted up on the cross, and passing through his own death, burial, and the tomb. Only then will Lazarus resurrection be secured.
Let’s pray.
My Translation
12:1 For this reason, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, who Jesus raised from the dead. 12:2 So they prepared a banquet for him there, and Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those who were reclining for the meal with him.
12:3 Then Mary, taking a Roman pound of the expensive ointment of genuine spike nard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and dried his feet off with her hair. And the house was full of the fragrance of the ointment.
12:4Now Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was going to betray him, said, 12:5 “Why wasn’t this ointment sold for 300 denarius and the money given to the poor?” 12:6Now he said this not because it mattered to him about the poor, but because he was a thief, and since he held the money bag, he stole what was put in it.
12:7In response Jesus said, “Leave her alone, because she kept this ointment for the day of my embalming. 12:8For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
12:9So a great crowd of the Jews, knowing that Jesus was there, also came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead.
12:10Now the high priests conspired also to kill Lazarus, 12:11 because on his account many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.
[1] Now, the facts of this account will seem strangely familiar to many of you. For John has already given us a heads up that this thing has happened. In John 11:2, he said:
And this Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.
John 11:2 is probably a precursor, a notice confirming the identity of those involved on the basis of what was well known at the time, and of what John will give us a more full account of in due course.
But your familiarity with the general shape of this story is not based on that fact alone, on the fact that John has already said something about it. For this was not the only time a woman did something similar to this and anointed Jesus.
Elsewhere there are similar accounts. Each canonical Gospel has an account of Jesus being anointed. I think there are three accounts of what I consider to be two other incidents. But of course, I will need to show you why I think that.
The first account I will remind you of, and the one that is the easiest to distinguish from the others, is in Luke 7:36-50. The incident occurs at Simon the Pharisee’s house (vv. 36-37, 40, 44). There, an unnamed and well-known (at least locally, in the town) sinful woman (nb. ἁμαρτωλός: vv. 37, 39) did something similar. Her actions showed her love and gratitude to Jesus for sins forgiven, as Jesus himself points out (v. 47-50).
There are some distinctive features of Luke’s account. Luke mentions an alabaster jar of ointment (ἀλάβαστρον μύρου: v. 37). The anointing itself is narrated in verse 38, and commences with the unnamed woman standing behind Jesus (who is reclining at table) at his feet, and she is crying. Her tears in the first instance wet Jesus’ feet, which she then wipes with her hair (cf. v. 44). Her kissing of his feet then follows (cf. v. 45), and then the anointing is mentioned, specifically of the feet and in contrast to the head (cf. v. 46).
While there are clear similarities, there are also differences and not just in the detail, such that it was a different incident. The account in Luke 7 was at Simon the Pharisee’s house, it may have been in Galilee, the woman was not the hostess but likely a gatecrasher welcome to Jesus but to the Pharisee not so much, and the event occurred in an earlier phase of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It is a separate incident to that in John 12:1-11.
What is a different incident to either John’s account or Luke’s account occurs in Matthew 26:6-16; Mark 14:3-9, which are two reports of the one incident. The incident likewise occurs in Bethany, but by a nameless woman at the house of Simon the (former) leper (Matt 26:6; Mark 14:3). It occurs two days before Passover (Matt 26:2; cf. Mark 14:1), which suggests it occurs 4 days after the incident John records, if the reference to the Passover in Matthew and Mark is to the Passover meal itself. In Matthew’s account, the again nameless woman has a very costly alabaster jar of ointment (γυνὴ ἔχουσα ἀλάβαστρον μύρου βαρυτίμου: v.7 ), and in Mark’s it is a costly Alabastar ointment of pure nard (ἀλάβαστρον μύρου νάρδου πιστικῆς πολυτελοῦς: Mark 14:3) but this time she pours it over the head of Jesus as he reclines (καὶ κατέχεεν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ἀνακειμένου: Matt 25:7; cf. Mark 14:3). Mark adds that she broke the flask. In Matthew’s account, the disciples generally (οἱ μαθηταὶ) are the source of the complaint (v. 8), though Mark doesn’t mention the disciples’ part in the complaint (Mark 14:5 only mentions τινες, some, who were there). However, the complaint is similar (Matt 26:8-9; cf. Mark 14:4-5) to that of the incident John reports. Mark adds the estimate of above 300 denarii for the value of the perfume (Mark 14:5). A denarii was the wage for a days labour, which makes the value of the perfume equivalent to about a years wage for a labourer. In both accounts Jesus offers a defence for the woman who anointed him (Matt 26:10-13; Mark 14:6-9), and Judas goes out afterwards to the chief priests and agrees to betray Jesus (Matt 26:14; Mark 14:10-11) for 30 pieces of silver (Matt 26:15).
John’s account names and accents the role of Mary Magdalene, who with her sister Martha is the hostess, if not the homeowner. The emphasis in John’s account is not on the anointing of Jesus’ head, as in Matthew and Mark, but of his feet.
One can understand why Jesus would patiently have given the same response to his disciples in Simon the Leper’s house that he gave at Mary and Martha’s banquet, and Judas would have been even more angry at a repeat performance only four or so days later, depriving him of more ill-gotten gains. Perhaps seeking the 30 pieces of silver from the religious leaders for betraying Jesus was, in Judas’ distorted thinking, defraying the cost to him of Jesus not allowing the proceeds from at least two bottles of perfume to be placed in the common purse, thus depriving Judas of access to them.
Thus, I conclude from the four accounts that there were three separate incidents of anointing: one by the sinful woman at Simon the Pharisee’s house earlier in Jesus’ ministry (Luke 7:36-50); one by Mary Magdalene six days before the Passover in Bethany (John 12:1-8); and one by another nameless woman also in Bethany at Simon the Leper’s house some four days following (Matt 26:6-16; Mark 14:3-9).
[2] Around 328 grams, almost one third of a kilogram.
[3] According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spikenard, Spikenard, also called nard, or muskroot, is a class of aromatic amber-colored essential oil derived from a flowering plant of the valerian family which grows in the Himalayas of Nepal, China, and India. It is used as a perfume, traditional medicine, or oil.