STORY
SETTING AND BACKGROUND
MARY
ANOINTS JESUS -
Mary
at a supper in John 12:1-11; Mark 14:3-9; Matthew 26:6-13 JOURNEY
TO Jesus and His disciples came to About a mile west of The I5-mile journey from The journey from THE
DINNER Jesus arrived at Among the guests were
Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead a number of weeks before (John
11). Helping to serve was Martha, his sister. During the dinner, Mary, the sister of Lazarus and
Martha, expressed her great love for Jesus as the promised Savior. She took a
bottle of very precious ointment-like perfume, broke the top, and poured it
over Jesus' head and feet. Then she wiped His feet with her hair. The fragrance
of the ointment filled the room. This ointment is called "spikenard" in the
King James and "pure nard" in the Revised Standard Version. It was
made from the roots and hairy stems of an aromatic, fragrant herb of Coming all the way from Because the ointment was so expensive, it was put into
a special bottle, called alabastron. The
King James uses the term "alabaster box," the Revised Standard
version "alabaster jar." This was a long
narrow, drop-like juglet or bottle. Alabaster is a
translucent whitish stone. If this bottle was of alabaster, it had been
carefully and skillfully hollowed out. However, at this .time, such a bottle may have been
made froni glass and of a type known today as a
"tear-bottle." THE
DISCIPLES' REACTION The guests watched Mary anoint Jesus. As the fragrance
filled the room, the disciples began to react negatively. To use such precious
and costly ointment in this way seemed to them to be a waste of money. Judas' reaction was decidedly negative. He chided Mary openly for wasting so much by her act.
He suggested that the ointment could have been sold and given to the poor. John
12:6 informs us that Judas had no special love for the
poor. Rather he served as the custodian of the common purse of Jesus and His
disciples. He took money from this purse for himself. Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unkindness.
Expressing a fact, He said, ". . . ye have the poor always with you; but Me ye have not always." His death was so near that this
anointing would serve as preparation of His body for His burial. Today we remember with appreciation Mary's great love
for the Savior. Her act of love undoubtedly has stimulated others to express
their love for the Savior who has died, risen again, and now reigns as the Lord
of the Universe and as our intercessor with God the Father. |