John 12:1-11

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

1Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.


4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5"Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6He 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.

7"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. " It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.



Dig Deeper

It’s amazing how human beings can look at the exact same circumstances and come away with very different points of view. We all have different vantage points, different preconceived notions of how things should go, different expectations, and different biases that impact that. The United States of America is soon to (as I write this) inaugurate its forty-fourth President. The Inauguration is always a big deal in America, but this one is going to be bigger than ever. In fact, the new President, President Obama, will be spending over $150 million dollars on his inauguration, nearly four times that amount of his predecessor, President George W. Bush. To some people, this is a rightful and worthy celebration of the most historic presidency and one of the most historic moments in all of American history. It signifies not only the first black president in American history, but is especially remarkable in a country where the black population is around 12% of the total population. Others feel that this is an inexplicable waste of a large amount of money, particularly given that we are in a recession that the new President himself has called a "financial crisis." So which is it? Is it a colossal waste of money or is it a fitting tribute considering the extraordinary times and events swirling about our nation at the moment? That question can only be answered in the present moment according to your own vantage point. It is only later that we will be able to look back and determine whether these really were historic times that were worthy of such pomp and special circumstances or whether this is a rather ordinary president that just wasted a whole lot of money.

The circumstances surrounding an event change the way we view that event. Whether something is a waste of money or a proper allocation of resources during remarkable times has everything to do with the circumstances surrounding the event. As Jesus enters his final seven days, as John carefully points out, this is the same question that comes to the forefront. Some seek to honor him, some to kill him, but no one seems to fully understand the circumstances that swirling about Jesus like an October hurricane. Suddenly a jar of perfume takes center stage. Is this a monumental waste of money that could have been put to so much better uses, or is this a fitting allocation of resources during the most remarkable events in the history of humankind? While we can’t yet answer that question regarding the American Presdiential inauguration, John will clearly give us an answer about that jar of perfume.

As Passover nears, Jesus returns to Bethany, which was just a couple of miles from Jerusalem. This is the place that Lazarus lived, and where, of course, he was raised from the dead. It is not stated whether this was a specific meal or not, but it is possible that that this meal was part of the Habdalah service, denoting the end of the Sabbath, which would mean that this was on a Saturday. John does not tell us whether or not this dinner that was given in Jesus’ honor was hosted by Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. The fact that Martha was serving seems to indicate that it would have been at their home but the fact that Lazarus is listed specifically as one reclining at the table would seem to be unusual and an unnecessary addition if it was his home where his presence would be assumed and not mentioned. Either way we simply don’t know where this took place, but that is really a minor detail in the overall flow of this scene.

What John quickly draws our attention to is something that he could probably still smell if he closed his eyes and thought about it. It was the smell of perfume. The whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, a sentence that has the authentic ring of an eyewitness. Where did this overpowering and memorable fragrance come from? Mary had taken about a pint of pure nard and poured it out on Jesus" feet. It was common in Jesus’ day, even expected under certain circumstances, to anoint the head, but anointing the feet was quite unusual. Going beyond being just unusual, Mary’s next action goes right to the scandalous. Jewish women simply did not unfurl their hair in public. To do so was considered an unmistakable sign of low morals (cf. Num. 5:18). She takes the unusual and, no doubt, eyebrow raising act of drying his feet with her hair, an act that demonstrated the deep, personal devotion that she felt for Jesus. Mary has clearly thrown off convention and constraint in her adoration, humility, and devotion to the one in whom she has firmly placed her belief.

There is little doubt that the house that day was filled with people who disapproved, on many levels, of this little scene that was going on between Jesus and Mary. Yet, John identifies only one person who actually spoke his disapproval. It was none other than Judas Iscariot. John informs us that Judas was in charge of the money bag for Jesus’ little group, as well as the fact that he was dishonest and made a practice of helping himself to what was put into it This is information that John surely learned after Judas was exposed as a traitor to Jesus rather than something that was known at the time. Amazingly and despite the fact that Jesus well knew that Judas would betray him, none of Jesus’ other disciples had a clue that Judas was any different from them until the moment of his betrayal.

Judas’ criticism of this event was not the propriety of what was going on or the seeming action of low morality on the part of Mary. No, Judas’ criticism is one that would have seemed quite reasonable and even noble to those around him at the time. How could Jesus stand by while this woman wasted eleven ounces of extremely expensive perfume that was imported from northern India and that cost about a year’s wages for an average worker (perhaps about $30,000 US in today’s terms)? Wasn’t it Jesus himself who talked so often of caring for the poor? Wasn’t this an outright contradiction of all of that? John, of course, tells us that this wasn’t Judas’ true concern. He was thinking of himself and how much of that money he could take for himself, as well as trying to look good in front of the others.

Despite the insincerity of Judas’ question, though, it is still one worth considering. Why would Jesus allow so much money to be used on his feet when it could have been given to the poor? Jesus responds by unquestioningly backing Mary’s actions. Given all of Jesus’ teachings of the importance of caring for the poor, the only plausible explanation is that Jesus believed that his coming death would be the only means through which the poor, and in fact the whole world could truly be reconciled to God. A year’s wages could have done a lot of good, but his impending death would usher in the new creation and the possibility of salvation for the whole world.

Under those circumstances, then, Mary’s actions were not only understandable, they were appropriate. Just as Caiaphas, in the previous section, uttered words of prophecy in an unwitting fashion, so Mary acts here in a prophetic way, albeit without having a understanding of the full ramifications of her actions. Whether she understood what she was doing or not, that perfume had been appointed through God’s providence as a symbolic act of preparing Jesus’ body for funeral. Under ordinary circumstances, Judas might have had a good point, but Jesus is clear, these are not ordinary circumstances. Thus, without fully realizing what she was doing, Mary was keeping with Jewish culture in which caring for the dead took precedence over taking care of the poor (b. Sukkah 49b). There will always be opportunities to care for the poor, but Jesus’ time is almost upon them.

Once again we see large crowds being drawn to Jesus based on his miraculous works. This opportunity was a double attraction. The people wanted to see Jesus, but they also wanted to see Lazarus. We can only imagine what an incredible experience this all was for Lazarus, a man who had fully died and now was living life to the full. There is, of course, an irony in the fact that while Lazarus reclines at this supper and enjoys his life, Jesus, who had raised him from the dead, is being anointed for his own death and burial.

The chief priests, many of whom were Sadducees, had a major problem though. There wasn’t just the danger that Lazarus’ raising would lead to throngs of people believing in Jesus, but there was another issues for the Sadducees who denied that there was a resurrection (cf. Matt. 22:23; Mk. 12:18; Lk. 20:2; Acts 23:8). Having someone who died and had been raised would be an obvious embarrassment and a major problem for them doctrinally, so not only did Jesus need to die, but so did Lazarus.

It might not seem that way at first glance, but there is a common strand between Judas’ attitude and that of the Sadducees and chief priests. Judas put his supposed social activism ahead of devotion and adoration while the priests put their own beliefs and expectations ahead of belief in the true Messiah. It seems that there is little room in social activism and religious pride for genuine worship.



Devotional Thought

Can yo identify with Judas in this scene? Have you ever gotten upset about something but sensed that the real reason might not go over so well, or you don’t even want to deal in your heart with the real reason so you manufacture outrage about something that sounds good to those around to explain your actions? Perhaps you have disliked someone and rather than just being honest about it, you have come up with a "valid" reason for your actions or feelings, or perhaps it’s something similar to that. What can you learn about that from Judas’ actions?