At Bethany (Tuesday evening, Jewish Wednesday)
| Mark 14:3-9 | Matt. 26:6-13 | John 12:2-8 |
| 3 And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having 1an alabaster cruse of ointment of 2spikenard very costly; and she brake the cruse, and poured it over his head. 4 But there were some that had indignation among themselves, saying, To what purpose hath this waste of the ointment been made? 5 For this ointment might have been sold for above three hundred 3pence, and given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6 But Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can do them good: but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she could: she hath anointed my body aforehand for the burying. 9 And verily I say unto you, Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. | 6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7 there came unto him a woman having 1an alabaster cruse of exceeding precious ointment, and she poured it upon his head, as he sat at meat. 8 But when the disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10 But Jesus perceiving it said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me you have not always. 12 For in that she poured this ointment upon my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. | 2 So they made him a supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him. 3 Marya therefore took a pound of ointment of 2spikenard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, which should betray him, saith, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred 3pence, and given to the poor? 6 Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the 4bag 5took away what was put therein. 7 Jesus therefore said, 6Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying. 8 For the poor ye have always with you; but me ye have not always. |
1 Or, a flask.
2 Gr. pistic nard, pistic being perhaps a local name. Some take it to mean genuine; others, liquid.
3 The word in the Greek denotes a coin worth about seventeen cents.
4 Or, box.
5 Or, carried what was put therein.
6 Or, Let her alone: it was that she might keep it.
a This anointing has nothing in common with that given by Luke ([§ 59]), except the fact of a woman anointing the Saviour's feet, and the name Simon, which was common. The former was in Galilee, this is at Bethany near Jerusalem. There the host despised the woman who anointed, here her brother is one of the guests, and her sister an active attendant. There the woman was "a sinner," a notoriously bad woman, here it is the devout Mary who "sat at the Lord's feet and heard his word" months before ([§ 104]). There the host thought strange that Jesus allowed her to touch him, here the disciples complain of the waste. There the Saviour gave assurance of forgiveness, here of perpetual and world-wide honor. Especially notice that here the woman who anoints is anticipating his speedy death and burial, of which at the former time he had never distinctly spoken. In view of all these differences it is absurd to represent the two anointings as the same, and outrageous on such slender ground to cast reproach on Mary of Bethany.