John 12:1-11

Read John 12:1-8 Mary anoints the feet of Jesus

Each of the 4 Gospels has a story about a woman anointing Jesus.  There were probably two separate incidents that happened at two very different points in Jesus’s ministry.  Luke describes an anointing by a penitent woman in Galilee early in Jesus’s ministry, while Mark, Matthew, and John describe an anointing in Bethany in the week before Jesus was killed.  Besides the timing, here are other details that lead to the conclusion that they were separate incidents:

Incident #1:

• Luke 7:36-38: In Galilee, at the house of a Pharisee named Simon, a sinful woman anoints Jesus’s feet.  The Pharisee is indignant because Jesus is allowing a sinful woman to touch him.  Jesus tells a parable about forgiveness, chides the host for his lack of hospitality, and uses the anointing to speak about the woman’s love and Jesus’s forgiveness.

Incident #2:

• Mark 14:3-9: In Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, a woman anoints Jesus’s head.  Some onlookers are indignant and argue that the money could have been spent on the poor.  Jesus defends the woman and links the anointing to his burial.

• Matthew 26:6-13: In Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, a woman anoints Jesus’s head.  The disciples are indignant and argue that the money could have been spent on the poor.  Jesus defends the woman and links the anointing to his burial.

• John 12:1-11: In Bethany, at an unspecified house, “they” give a dinner at which Martha serves and Lazarus sits at table.  Mary anoints Jesus’s feet.  Judas asks why the money wasn’t spent on the poor.  Jesus defends the woman and links the anointing to his burial.

John’s story has almost nothing in common with Luke’s, except that the woman anoints Jesus’s feet and dries them with her hair.  (That the host was named Simon in 3 of the 4 accounts does not tell us much, because Simon was a very common name for men at that time.)

John’s version has many similarities to the accounts in Mark and Matthew; for example, the anointing happens in Bethany and Jesus says she is preparing him for his burial.  On the surface, there seem to be two significant differences, regarding whose house they were at and whether she anointed his head or his feet.  Although these could be the kinds of minor details that become hazy as people tell a story over and over again for decades, scholars have offered explanations that could dissolve the seeming discrepancies:

• The house of Simon might also have been Martha’s house, because Simon might have been related to Martha and Lazarus.  In particular, Simon might have been their brother or their father, or he might have been Martha’s husband, so the Gospel writers may just have been using different ways of referring to the same house.

• The woman may have anointed both Jesus’s head and his feet.  There are reasons why Mark and Matthew might have focused on the head while John focuses on the feet.  We will explore those reasons below.

In verse 2, what is Martha doing?

The fact that Martha is serving here fits with the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42, where Martha also serves.  How important is it that we have people like Martha, who serve?

How might we find ways to acknowledge the “Marthas” among us, who make everything go more smoothly because they serve?

In verse 3, what does Mary do?

In Matthew and Mark, the woman anoints Jesus’s head.  In Matthew, Jesus speaks repeatedly of the “kingdom of heaven,” tells us parables that feature kings, and describes himself as a king in judgment at the end of time.  John does not use the metaphor of Jesus as a king: that word shows up only a few times in his Gospel, at places where other people call Jesus the king of Israel.  John also is the one who shows Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.  Why might John want us to know that Mary anointed the feet of Jesus?

Are there ways that we can, metaphorically, anoint the feet of Jesus?  How can we show him our devotion as Mary does?

In the Temple, oil and perfume were often included in the rituals when people made sacrifices and offerings to God.  How are our acts of devotion to God like those offerings in the Temple?

In Mark and Matthew, Jesus says the memory of what the woman did will be proclaimed throughout the world.  John does not include that quote, but he says something that is not included in the other two Gospels: he says that the house was filled with the fragrance of the aromatic oil she used (John 12:3).  This is the kind of detail that an eyewitness might have remembered.  Some scholars have suggested that the fragrance filling the house might be a symbolic evocation of Jesus’s statement that the memory of the woman’s action would spread throughout the world (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, fn. to 12:3, p. 185).

In verse 3, John says that the fragrance of Mary’s aromatic oil spread throughout the house.  If we picture this as a metaphor, how might our devotion to God spread like a fragrance to those around us?

In verses 4-5, what objection does Judas make?

Judas says that the oil could have been sold for 300 denarii – the equivalent of 300 days’ wages, or more than a year’s wages for a soldier or laborer – and the money given to the poor.

What is John’s reaction in verse 6?

People sometimes want to give Judas the benefit of the doubt and suggest that John is biased against him.  However, even if John misunderstood what Judas was doing with the money in the money bag (the common purse), we would still be left with the fact that Judas was willing to betray Jesus for a much smaller sum of money: 30 pieces of silver.  In Luke 16:10, Jesus says that the one who is faithful with little is faithful with much, and the one who is unrighteous in small matters is also unrighteous in larger matters.  How might that apply to Judas?

Jesus’s comment in verse 7 would be hard to understand if we did not have his similar comment in Mark 14:8 and Matthew 26:12.  In those other passages, he says that Mary’s anointing is an anticipation of the need to anoint his body for burial.

In verse 8, Jesus makes two points in response to Judas’s comment about the poor.  First, he says, “You always have the poor with you.”  This statement is in the present tense (‘you have”), not the future tense (you will have).  Jesus is making a statement about his time, not making a prediction or declaration about the future.  Why is this an important distinction?

When Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you,”  he is echoing Deuteronomy 15:11, which said that the land of Israel would never stop having needy people.  The next words in that verse are: “So open your hand to the poor and needy.”  When we look at the whole verse and recognize that our world, so far, has always had poor people in the land, does that mean we don’t need to care about poverty, or is it a call to action?

John gives us a shorter version of what Jesus says here about the poor.  In Mark 14:7, Jesus adds: “Whenever you want, you can always do good to them.”  This shows that Jesus is not telling us we don’t need to be concerned about poverty.  What is he calling us to do?

If there are always poor people around, and we can help them whenever we want to, how often would God want us to help them?

God wants us to help the poor when (whenever?) we can, and generously.

Jesus’s second statement in John 12:8 is: “You don’t always have me.”  He is saying that this extravagant act of devotion should not be criticized because he won’t always be here.  How is Mary’s one-time act of love toward Jesus different from our ongoing acts of love toward those around us who are in need?

Mary made a unique, financially expensive gesture that showed extravagant love to Jesus.  We (hopefully) make regular, smaller acts of ordinary love to those in need around us.  But because Jesus has told us that what we do to the poor, we do to him, those smaller gestures also show love to Jesus.

How can we be extravagant in our giving both to God and to the needy?

Read John 12:9-11 Lazarus also becomes a target

Why does Jesus’s presence at a private dinner party with Lazarus draw a crowd of spectators (verse 9)?

Why do the chief priests decide that they also must kill Lazarus?

When we decide we must do one thing wrong to reach our goals, we often find that we need to do more wrong things to actually obtain what we seek.  That’s the way sin works: one sin often leads to another.  Where have you seen that happen?

People in power, like these chief priests, are vulnerable to the same slippery slope.  If they decide that the end justifies the means (that a good goal allows them to commit an evil act that is designed to reach that goal), they often find themselves embracing more and more evil actions that also seem to be “necessary” to reach their elusive goal.  Where have you seen people in power fall prey to that predicament?

What would God say about the option of doing something sinful to achieve something good?

Verse 10 indicates that “many of the Jews” were coming to believe in Jesus.  Here, “Jews” may mean the people of Jerusalem and Judea generally, and not specifically members of the religious leadership; but we do know that at least one leader, Nicodemus, does come to believe in Jesus before his crucifixion.

Take a step back and consider this:

John has given us a clear contrast between Mary, with her devotion to Jesus (John 12:1-8), and the members of the Sanhedrin, with their murderous plots (John 11:45-57; 12:9-11).  Their story surrounds her story like a dark collar of dense fabric might allow a brilliant gem to stand out and sparkle all the more.

Mary gives up something of value to honor Jesus; the members of the Sanhedrin seek to take something of value (Jesus’s life) to protect their own position.  What can we learn from this comparison?

Where might God be calling you to make a choice for him in your life right now?