Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then 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.
But
one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,
“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a
year’s wages.” He 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.
“Leave
her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this
perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but
you will not always have me.” (John 12:1-8)
First,
a little botanical information. “Nard” is a shortened form of spikenard, a type of honeysuckle grown in India, Nepal, and China. In other
words, it wasn’t only expensive. It was probably hard to find.
Some things aren’t mentioned in this passage, but they follow logically.
First, she didn’t use the nard to anoint her brother’s body when he
died. She might have used another bottle of the same thing, but we aren’t told.
We’re also not told how long between when Lazarus was raised from the dead and this
anointing takes place, but it follows closely in the book of John, so it’s not
unreasonable to think that Jesus has been there for the time between the two
events.
Jesus
described what Mary did as preparation for His burial. That suggests that His
death had been a topic of conversation along with Lazarus’ life. It could be
that Mary felt inspired to anoint Jesus out of gratitude with no connection to His
life or death being considered, but Jesus said that she anointed Him in
preparation for His burial. Maybe that was news to her, but I don’t think it
was.
The
question comes to mind of why she seemed to get with the program when the
disciples didn’t. If the nard was in preparation for His death, it showed her
acceptance of it. Now, granted, she had the benefit of having a living brother walk out of a tomb, so the finality of death was at least open to question for
her. It recalls Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. This is the sort of
faith I’d like to have – the sort that doesn’t require that it makes sense to
me as long as Jesus accepts or approves is. Jesus says He’s going to die? OK,
let’s prepare Him for it because even though it doesn’t make sense, He’s got to
have something in mind.
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