John 12: 1-8 is a well familiar text to all where we found the account of ‘anointing Jesus at Bethany’.
To draw some vivid picture in our minds, let me recollect summary of this account;
As we found from the text - Jesus and his disciples came to Bethany, a few miles from Jerusalem, to the house of Lazarus, for a meal. So, members of the small circle presented were –
i) Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
ii) Lazarus' sister Martha who was serving the food.
iii) Mary, Lazarus' other sister, who came into the room with an ‘alabaster container’ of liquid nard, a very precious perfume.
As the account tells - She broke the jar and anointed Jesus on his feet, then wiped them with her hair.
iv) Among the 12 disciple, one particular name mentioned in this account was; Judas Iscariot, who would later betray Jesus.
As see from the account - Judas opposed Mary because of the extravagance, saying the perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor. But as the proceeding verse says - he did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Then, after seeing these records - in respond to what Judas’ said; Jesus replied saying:
“Leave her alone,”…. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
So from this short and interesting story I have selected what I call it as ‘Points of Interest’ through which, as I believed, we may get more spiritual insight or gain:
1. As the gospel writers have recorded, all four Gospels tell this or a similar story. But details of the story vary in the four accounts.
Matthew (26:6-13) and Mark (14:3-9) being similar to each other mentioned similar records.
Therefore significant difference that in Mt and MK are;
i) Name of the house where Jesus lodges himself was mentioned as Simon the leaper.
ii) In MT and MK, name of woman is no mentioned.
iii) In MT and MK, the woman anoints Jesus’ head and in John anoints Jesus’ feet.
iv) There is no specific name mentioned for the one who made complained for the deed of woman – disciples…they were angry and said… (MTv8). Some were there…said to one another (LKv4)
Moreover, Luke’s account (7:36-38) is distinctive, in the sense that -
i) The account is coming earlier in the Gospel,
ii) The story was taking place at the home of a Pharisee,
iii) No particular name is given for a woman except ‘a sinful woman’ who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears,
iv) In Luke gospel, a woman wipes with her hair, and anoints them with ointment.
So, the question left behind by these differences is – why do we have two records which has variations in the same story?
i) According to some scholars, (believe that) there might be two separate incidents behind these accounts, one as described by Matthew, Mark, and John, and the other by as described by Luke.
ii) And besides, there is also another presumption hold by some scholars, saying that - Luke uses Mark as one of his primary sources, so it seems likely that he merges Mark’s account with material from a second source.
2. The second point of interest I would like to mention is – ‘inclusive organization system’ adopted by Jesus for nurturing his small community of faith.
Within his small circle, particularly; here, in this account – we see the presence of women, including a sinful woman (LK) and a woman who actively involved in preparing something for Jesus; Lazarus – whom Jesus had raised from the death, who also experience the power of death and at the same time resurrection or heavenly power; Judas Iscariot – a betrayal, who would later betray Jesus, whom the gospel writer commented saying ‘a thief - who used to help himself to what was put inside the money bag.
These are some of the people who have distinct characters and personalities apart from some of the core members of disciple who were included within Jesus’ circle.
Therefore, one significant point I would like to point out from this inclusion within the circle is – the community of believers (the church), found here on earth is not like spotless/ unblemished / perfect community where we could found all goodness, only purity, perfectness, wholesomeness, etc; rather the community where we live in is a community of faith where there is also ‘weeds among the wheat’. If Jesus also allowed and included people who has wonderful experience and at the same time who has weakness within his circle who are belonging from different backgrounds; obviously, one will find the same within the community of faith, within the church.
Beside what has been mentioned, another significant point we have here is – there are unexpected people presented at the feet of Jesus (Judas Iscariot). I do mention this point because – many people hold the view saying - A good leader/spiritual man or people who has charismatic gift produce only good people. A leader who is good is also embrace by a good people, or mostly people found at the feet of good leader are good people. This notion is completely wrong if we reflect upon the life and work of Jesus.
3. The third point of interest –
A strong willingness/eagerness - is one of the impressive qualities we found from a woman whom many people considered as a sinner. This strong willingness which is unable to hold by anything is clearly portrayed by the deed of one woman (Mary). She came into the room with an alabaster container of liquid nard, a very precious perfume. Then she broke the jar and anointed Jesus on his head and feet, then began wiping his feet with her hair.
Since her willingness, desire, longing and love towards Jesus was too strong, her persuasive behaviour to do something which many people do not have to do something is also strong. Therefore, this episode demonstrated that – the roots of many great things done by many people are found within one-selves. This desire is also something we must look and long for in order to please God, so that people around us can also taste and experience the smell of the fragrance of our service.
To draw some vivid picture in our minds, let me recollect summary of this account;
As we found from the text - Jesus and his disciples came to Bethany, a few miles from Jerusalem, to the house of Lazarus, for a meal. So, members of the small circle presented were –
i) Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
ii) Lazarus' sister Martha who was serving the food.
iii) Mary, Lazarus' other sister, who came into the room with an ‘alabaster container’ of liquid nard, a very precious perfume.
As the account tells - She broke the jar and anointed Jesus on his feet, then wiped them with her hair.
iv) Among the 12 disciple, one particular name mentioned in this account was; Judas Iscariot, who would later betray Jesus.
As see from the account - Judas opposed Mary because of the extravagance, saying the perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor. But as the proceeding verse says - he did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Then, after seeing these records - in respond to what Judas’ said; Jesus replied saying:
“Leave her alone,”…. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
So from this short and interesting story I have selected what I call it as ‘Points of Interest’ through which, as I believed, we may get more spiritual insight or gain:
1. As the gospel writers have recorded, all four Gospels tell this or a similar story. But details of the story vary in the four accounts.
Matthew (26:6-13) and Mark (14:3-9) being similar to each other mentioned similar records.
Therefore significant difference that in Mt and MK are;
i) Name of the house where Jesus lodges himself was mentioned as Simon the leaper.
ii) In MT and MK, name of woman is no mentioned.
iii) In MT and MK, the woman anoints Jesus’ head and in John anoints Jesus’ feet.
iv) There is no specific name mentioned for the one who made complained for the deed of woman – disciples…they were angry and said… (MTv8). Some were there…said to one another (LKv4)
Moreover, Luke’s account (7:36-38) is distinctive, in the sense that -
i) The account is coming earlier in the Gospel,
ii) The story was taking place at the home of a Pharisee,
iii) No particular name is given for a woman except ‘a sinful woman’ who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears,
iv) In Luke gospel, a woman wipes with her hair, and anoints them with ointment.
So, the question left behind by these differences is – why do we have two records which has variations in the same story?
i) According to some scholars, (believe that) there might be two separate incidents behind these accounts, one as described by Matthew, Mark, and John, and the other by as described by Luke.
ii) And besides, there is also another presumption hold by some scholars, saying that - Luke uses Mark as one of his primary sources, so it seems likely that he merges Mark’s account with material from a second source.
2. The second point of interest I would like to mention is – ‘inclusive organization system’ adopted by Jesus for nurturing his small community of faith.
Within his small circle, particularly; here, in this account – we see the presence of women, including a sinful woman (LK) and a woman who actively involved in preparing something for Jesus; Lazarus – whom Jesus had raised from the death, who also experience the power of death and at the same time resurrection or heavenly power; Judas Iscariot – a betrayal, who would later betray Jesus, whom the gospel writer commented saying ‘a thief - who used to help himself to what was put inside the money bag.
These are some of the people who have distinct characters and personalities apart from some of the core members of disciple who were included within Jesus’ circle.
Therefore, one significant point I would like to point out from this inclusion within the circle is – the community of believers (the church), found here on earth is not like spotless/ unblemished / perfect community where we could found all goodness, only purity, perfectness, wholesomeness, etc; rather the community where we live in is a community of faith where there is also ‘weeds among the wheat’. If Jesus also allowed and included people who has wonderful experience and at the same time who has weakness within his circle who are belonging from different backgrounds; obviously, one will find the same within the community of faith, within the church.
Beside what has been mentioned, another significant point we have here is – there are unexpected people presented at the feet of Jesus (Judas Iscariot). I do mention this point because – many people hold the view saying - A good leader/spiritual man or people who has charismatic gift produce only good people. A leader who is good is also embrace by a good people, or mostly people found at the feet of good leader are good people. This notion is completely wrong if we reflect upon the life and work of Jesus.
3. The third point of interest –
A strong willingness/eagerness - is one of the impressive qualities we found from a woman whom many people considered as a sinner. This strong willingness which is unable to hold by anything is clearly portrayed by the deed of one woman (Mary). She came into the room with an alabaster container of liquid nard, a very precious perfume. Then she broke the jar and anointed Jesus on his head and feet, then began wiping his feet with her hair.
Since her willingness, desire, longing and love towards Jesus was too strong, her persuasive behaviour to do something which many people do not have to do something is also strong. Therefore, this episode demonstrated that – the roots of many great things done by many people are found within one-selves. This desire is also something we must look and long for in order to please God, so that people around us can also taste and experience the smell of the fragrance of our service.
