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Pouring precious ointment on Jesus (Mk 14:1-9; Jn 12:1-8)
(preliminary stage of Jesus’ sacrifice)
“After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, ‘Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.’ ” (v1-2) Matt 26:1-4 says, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, ‘Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.’ Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty (詭計), and kill him.” All the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem plotted to kill Jesus unanimously. However, they wanted to avoid killing Jesus on the Passover, “lest there be an uproar of the people.” They were aware that the people would not want to see their spiritual master die in such an important festival. Nevertheless, Mark 14:1-2 sets the beginning stage of Jesus’ sacrifice as the Passover lamb.
Jesus has said before that he would be delivered to the hands of men, as he said in Mark 9:31, “The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.” Soon after, he was to prepare the Passover supper and eat with the disciples. (Mark 14:12, “And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, ‘Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?’ ”) (Luke 22:1, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.”) During the feast, he would indirectly declare himself as the lamb of the Passover for the sake of the disciples through his words of the Communion. (Mark 14:17-25) After the feast, he would be arrested and judged, followed by his execution, all of which took place before the end of the first day of the Passover, which lasted for 7 days. How do we know that all the events took place on the same day? First of all, after Jesus was crucified, he died “at the ninth hour” (3 pm in the afternoon): “And at the ninth hour …Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.” (Mark 15:34-37) According to the Jewish calendar, one day starts at 6 pm in the evening until next evening at 6 pm. (Lev 23:32) So, from the last supper until the death of Jesus (Mark 14:17-15:41), this series of events took place between the period of 6 pm in the evening and 3 pm in the afternoon. Hence, we can conclude that Jesus was killed on the first day of the Passover, which fulfilled the prophesy that he was going to be the Passover lamb (I Cor 5:7, “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (我們逾越節的羔羊基督已經被殺獻祭了)).
Since the first day of Passover feast falls on Thursday, Jesus is buried on Friday (Mark 15:42-43, “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation (預備日), that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea…came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.”). Saturday is the Sabbath day, a resting day for the Jews. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning, the third day after his death (Mark 16:1 & 9, “And when the sabbath was past…Jesus was risen early the first day of the week”).
(the issue: pouring the ointment)
“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard (真哪噠香膏) very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.” (v3) It is likely that Simon had been healed of his leprosy by Jesus; now he treated Jesus to supper. The “woman”, according to John 12:2-3, was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Mary and her sister Martha and brother Lazarus were all invited to the supper: “There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.” John 11:2 also says, “It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” John’s record tells us that Mary “anointed the feet of Jesus”, not anointing his head. That still may have no conflict with Mark’s record, since she could first anoint his head and then his feet.
Another difference between the two records is about the day of the record. According to the records of both Matthew and Mark, it was 2 days before the passover, whereas John’s record was 6 days before the Passover: “Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper.” (John 12:1-2) John also records clearly that the next day after the supper, Jesus entered Jerusalem by a colt: “On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him.” It is possible that Matthew and Mark record a past event that once occurred in Bethany. Notice that after this event came the message of Judas going to see the chief priests and discuss with them how to betray Jesus. (Mark 14:10-11; Matt 26:14-16) If this event had not been mentioned here, the messages before and after the event could have been better connected. Luke aptly pieced the information together: “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.” (Luke 22:1-4) From the above perspective, John's record of 6 days before the passover was the day of the supper prepared by Simon for Jesus. Anyway, this story of pouring the ointment on Jesus can be viewed independently.
(reasons behind the pouring)
Spikenard is a precious ointment in Jesus’ times. And it is certainly a very favourite and valuable treasure for the ladies. Why was Mary willing to sacrifice such a “precious” treasure on Jesus’ body, and spend the entire box all at one time? What caused her to act like this?
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Jesus explained to everybody, “She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.” (v8) She knew that Jesus was going to die. She thought that there might be no chance for her to anoint Jesus’ body for burial after he died. So, she took the action beforehand and poured the spikenard on Jesus as a sign of burying his body with the ointment. Her act proved that she did this on the faith that Jesus would die as he prophesied earlier. As a matter of fact, Mary always sat quietly and listened to Jesus when he preached in her home. She was even praised by Jesus for her concentration: “Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word…‘Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’ ” (Luke 10:39,42)
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She offered her precious belonging to Jesus as a thanksgiving offering for the grace her family received from Jesus, especially for making alive her brother from death (John 11).
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She loved Jesus more than all the valuable items that she possessed. This act was a perfect evidence of how much she loved her Lord Jesus. (This family was also loved by Jesus, as stated in John 11:5, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” It is possible that Jesus had once disclosed his death to this family privately.)
Seeing that Mary broke the entire box of ointment of spikenard and anointed Jesus, the people around were pretty upset. In fact, she had to take up some courage to do something against the norm and peer pressure. Probably she had expected criticism before acting, but she insisted offering the ointment of spikenard regardless of how others thought, knowing that she did this for her beloved Lord. For the above causes, she has earned the praise of Jesus: “she hath wrought a good work on me.” (v6) Not only that, Jesus said, “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.” (v9).
(reasons for the criticism)
Nevertheless, before Jesus praised Mary for her act, she drew criticism immediately after, “And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, ‘Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor.’ And they murmured against her (他們就向那女人生氣)” (v4-5). Matt 26:8 tells us that it was the disciples who made the criticism, “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, ‘To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.’ ” Why were the disciples so displeased with her act?
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They thought that it was simply a waste to use the precious ointment that way—pouring on Jesus’ head! They could hardly understand why such precious ointment was used up so quickly in such abnormal way. In addition, they had absolutely no idea what the meaning and motive behind her act were. Hence, they were very upset about it.
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After evaluating the price of the whole box of ointment of spikenard, they thought that the more meaningful way to spend the ointment was to sell it for cash and donate to the poor people.
Did they really care so much for the poor? Of course not. Their comment only reflected their general thinking that it was an utterly waste to use the ointment in such an unusual way. The Book of John reveals to us which disciple said, “For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor” and why he thus said. The disciple who made this comment was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus later on: “Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, ‘Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?’ 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 (常取其中所存的).” (John 12:4-6) "Three hundred pence’" was worth about one year’s wage of a worker in those days. Judas, who betrayed Jesus for “thirty pieces of silver” (Matt 26:15), of course was not concerned for the poor at all but the 300 pence of coins!
(defend for the woman)
“And Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always (只是你們不常有我). She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.’ ” (v6-8) While the disciples were criticizing Mary, Jesus defended for her straight away and said: ‘It is not a waste at all! Don’t bother her! Just let her do it!’ The words of Jesus that followed meant that the disciples had lots of chance to donate to the poor at any time they wanted. But since he was going to die soon, there would not be chance for them to offer their Lord anything.
(implication)
1. Offering to the Lord is not a waste.
Everything that we offer to Jesus is not wasted at all. Rather, we should think of offering our precious belongings to Jesus whenever there is a chance. Our precious belongings are not necessarily our tangible treasure. It can be our precious time, our brain, skills or talent.
2. Chance is not always available.
We should not miss the valuable chance when there is an urgent or actual need. Our heart and zeal may cool down when the chance elapses. No one else (including Jesus’ close disciples), except the woman, perceived the rare opportunity of doing something for Jesus prior to his death.
3. Insist on the things that please our Lord.
When we are ready to offer sacrifice to the Lord, we may hear voice of objection or receive pressure from others, which can be Satan’s voice and work. Sometimes the voice of objection may come from our own minds. We may evaluate beforehand the cost of our offering and count it as a big loss in human perspective. However, when we consider that we shall gain the Lord’s approval and praise, the hidden benefits are far more than our loss. As a matter of fact, the woman’s offering of the ointment of spikenard has already transformed into huge eternal gain. No one could foresee the true value of the hidden benefits, even the woman herself. At the very least, her beautiful story has been preached for thousands of years!