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INTRODUCTION:
Memorial Day history (Read printouts)
Four accounts of a woman anointing Jesus with perfumed oil (3 different events or the same event told to give emphasis of a different point)
and (similar sources, same moment)
( A totally different account from the other three)
(Different perspective)
Memorial Day history (Read printouts)
The setting:
Before this memorial action
After this memorial action
Mark 14:10-11
John’s setting
Mark 14:
“Six days before the Passover” is not in conflict with the two days before the Passover mentioned in Matt.
26:2; Mark 14:1.
Neither of these two evangelists gives the date of the supper at Bethany.
They report a saying of Jesus that he would be betrayed and crucified at the feast of the Passover two days hence, while at the very same time the Jewish authorities resolved not to destroy him at the time of the Passover.
Then, without following the chronological sequence of events, these two evangelists report the supper.
Matthew merely says, “now when Jesus was in Bethany,” and Mark, “and being in Bethany,” neither fixing the date.
John supplements the others and records the date.
Jesus is in the house giving Mary an opportunity to show her devotion
Bethany = house of dates or house of misery: “And being in Bethany”
East of the Jordan
Near the Mount of Olives
The home town of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary about 2 miles from Jerusalem
Mentioned 11 times in the Gospels
A house and man once condemned: “at the house of Simon the leper,”
Leviticus 14:54-
Law of Leprosy and bodily discharges
Leviticus 14:54-
5 Law of Leprosy and bodily discharges
Leprosy in the Bible would not be identical to what we would call leprosy today.
I would include a broader range of diseases
The possibility and the determination if one has leprosy leads to a time of isolation and inspection.
Once one is determined to truly have leprosy they are declared unclean and ostracized from society
A house that by the grace of God, Jesus was sharing fellowship: “as He sat (reclined) at the table”
, Yom Kipper, Day of Atonement follows chapters 13-15
The blessing of Jesus’ presence was made possible by His power
A blessing Mary had experienced at other times
Luke 10:38-42
John 11:32
Mary’s action created a memorial that would be forever remembered
An action motivated by her devotion for the Lord
A devotion she was willing to display: “a woman came having an alabaster flask”
A devotion to which she was willing to pay an extreme price: “a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.”
The alabaster flask - “vessel with a rather long neck which was broken off when the contents were used” Wessel, W. W. (1984).
Mark.
In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.),
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol.
8, p. 756).
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
“vessel with a rather long neck which was broken off when the contents were used”
Wessel, W. W. (1984).
Mark.
In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.),
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol.
8, p. 756).
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
The rarity of her gift - What is spikenard?
Nard made from the root of plants found in India
Would be hard to find in Israel
Perfume of pure nard - the real thing, no inferior substances added
The richness of her gift - What was the value?
A years wages verified in the critical response given by some of the disciples
300 denarii about a year’s worth of wage
A pound as told in John would be about 12 ounces according to the weight of water
A devotion she was willing to display: “Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.”
John 12:
John uses ἀλείφω, the verb for any application of oil, not χρίω, the word for sacred and ceremonial anointing.
Matthew and Mark record that Mary anointed the head.
John takes for granted that his readers know these records and supplements them by stating that Mary anointed the feet.
The precious fluid was abundant; poured out upon the head and flowing upon the neck and the shoulders, enough was left for the feet, in fact, so much that Mary wiped off the feet with her hair.
The broken alabaster cruse was thus entirely emptied—all its contents offered to the Master.
In the house of the Pharisee the holy feet of Jesus had not been washed as even common politeness on the part of the host required, but at this supper in Bethany the washing certainly had not been omitted.
But the devoted heart of Mary is not satisfied with the commoner fluid, she now adds the abundance of this most precious ointment that she was able to find.
How many dusty, weary paths those beloved feet had trodden—now they are honored, indeed, as they deserve.
The Baptist said that he was unworthy to loose the latchet of the sandals of these feet, and Mary feels the same way.
At the feet of Jesus she sat when she listened to the words of life, and these feet had brought the Master of death to recall her brother to life.
It means much that Mary should use her hair to wipe the feet, and John even repeats the word feet, as if he meant to emphasize the humiliation expressed in using the hair of the head upon the feet.
But in the case of a Jewish woman this act means more.
To unbind and loosen the hair in the presence of outsiders was considered an indecent act.
Lightfoot tells of a woman who prided herself on the fact that the beams of her house had never seen her hair.
Mary’s act is thus one in which she lays her own woman’s honor at the feet of Jesus.
She takes that honor and makes it a towel for his holy feet.
Hers is a different act from that of the woman in the Pharisee’s house.
If there we may say that the proper place for a sinner’s head is at the Savior’s feet, here we may add that the proper place for a disciple’s head is at the Savior’s feet.
Her act was customary to show honor to a guest
In the anointing of the Jesus’ feet she took the position of a slave
Jesus would follow up this action in the upper room where He, Himself would take the position of a slave
John 13:
She didn’t even consider the response of others for her love for Jesus outweighed any ridicule or discomfort she might face as a result of her action
An action decried by others
An indignant circle: “But there were some who were indignant among themselves
People who share in word and thought each others opinions
People who make judgment without all the facts
People whose own devotion is lacking
A blunt assumption: “an said, Why was this fragrant oil wasted?”
Can anything be wasted done because we love the Lord?
A pious appraisal: “For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.”
Spokesperson for the group
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