The Anointing of Jesus

By Rev. Carlton Oakley

John 12:1–11

1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, 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 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,

5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;

11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

So, six days before the Passover, we have this event. The Passover was on Friday that year; six days before the Passover would make this Saturday.

Jesus being anointed by Mary is recorded in the other Gospels; Matthew tells us that it was at the home of Simon the Leper, which presumably means at a man named Simon whom Jesus had healed of leprosy. That is recorded in Matthew 26:6. And it is in Matthew 26:13 that Jesus says that was Mary has done will be remembered wherever the Gospel is preached. Mark 14 also records it. Luke 7 records another time Jesus was anointed, but it was another woman and an earlier time.

Let’s review that quickly so that you will see that it was a different occasion. Luke 7:36–39 (KJV):

36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.

37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

So Christ and His disciples go to Bethany. It is now six days before the Passover. They are invited to eat at Simon the Leper’s, not Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’ house, but those three are there. Lazarus is mentioned as eating at the table; Martha is helping; Dave Guzik says perhaps Simon was her husband or they were related in some way. Matthew and Mark say it is two days before the Passover.1

Mary comes in and pours a small fortune in ointment on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. Dave Guzik mentions that it was considered immodest for a Jewish woman to let her hair down in public.

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia describes spikenard:

Spikenard is the plant Nardostachys jatamansi …; in Arabic the name Sunbul hind, "Indian spike," refers, like the English and Latin name, to the "snike"-like shape of the plant from which the perfume comes.… …in appearance the whole plant is said to look like the tail of an ermine. It grows in the Himalayas. The extracted perfume is an oil, which was used by the Romans for anointing the head. Its great costliness is mentioned by Pliny.

In other words, the ingredient for that anointment or the ointment itself came from far away; not just in India, but in the eastern mountains of India. The ointment had to cross India or be brought by ship around India and then to the Middle East.

Where did Mary get something that would cost a year or three’s pay for a working man? I have no idea. Why did she do it? I would have said it was because she was so grateful for the Lord raising her brother back to life, and that might be part of it, but it’s not what Jesus said. Before we get to that, why would some of the disciples object to her spending her property in this manner?

4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,

5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

Writing years later, not only does John tell us that Judas betrayed Jesus, but he also tells us that he was a thief. He would have stolen the money, at least some of it, if the ointment had been sold and put in the common treasury.

7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

We are to put worshiping God and the things of God above people, even people in need. More than that, Jesus said Mary has done this against my burying and none of them even asked about that. It was timely for Mary to do this; there was only a few days before the Lord would die on the cross.

We read in Mark 14:7–9 (KJV):

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

This party was well attended. Not only was Jesus there but also Lazarus so people have come to see both of them. Therefore, the same people that want to kill Jesus want to kill Lazarus as well; that almost makes sense. If you figure it’s all some sort of trick that Lazarus and Jesus worked out together, you’d want to kill Lazarus to get rid of the evidence and stop people coming to see him too. Maybe I’m being generous because that’s not what the Scripture says; it just says (back in John 12):

9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;

11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

It’s interesting that the next verses we read in Mark 14 tells us that Judas went to priests:

10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.

11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

They wanted to be able to arrest Jesus in some quiet place so arresting Him would not start a riot.

Did Judas turn against Jesus because Jesus mentioned His burial and therefore Judas thought Christ was a lost cause? Did he turn against Jesus because he lost an opportunity to steal 300 pence and leave with the money? We aren’t told much about Judas Iscariot’s motives except he was a thief and John 13:2 says “…the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,” meaning betray Jesus.

And perhaps it was the Lord’s words that are recorded in Matthew 26:13 (ESV): “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Perhaps those words told Judas that Jesus was not trying to set up an earthly kingdom so what Jesus was doing was not what Judas Iscariot was looking.

But what we need to remember about Mary pouring out this expensive ointment on Jesus is that she was elevating Jesus above everything else around her. She was worshiping Him extravagantly. He was worth more than the most expensive thing she owned. He was first in her life. She is remembered as an example of putting God first in our lives.