P A R T S E V E N T H.
LAST WEEK OF OUR LORD'S MINISTRY, THE
FOURTH PASSOVER, THE CRUCIFIXION.
CIV.
JESUS ARRIVES AND IS FEASTED AT BETHANY.
(From Friday afternoon till Saturday Night, March 31 and April 1, A.
D. 30.)
dJOHN XI. 55-57; XII.
1-11; aMATT. XXVI. 6-13; bMARK
XIV. 3-9.
d55 Now the passover of the Jews
was at hand: and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the
passover, to purify themselves. [These Jews went up before the Passover
that they might have time to purify themselves from ceremonial uncleanness
before the feast. They were expected to purify before any important event
(Ex. xix. 10, 11), and did so before the passover (II. Chron. xxx. 13-20),
for those who were ceremonially unclean were excluded from it--John xviii.
28.] 56 They sought therefore for
Jesus, and spake one with another, as they stood in the temple, What think
ye? That he will not come to the feast?
57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment,
that, if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might
take him. [The decree of the Sanhedrin ordering the arrest of Jesus
led the people to question as to whether he would dare to approach the
city. But this mention of it and the stir and question which it created
have a dark significance. It shows that the Jews generally were forewarned
of the evil purpose of the Sanhedrin, and the dangers which surrounded
Jesus. They were not taken unawares when their rulers told them to raise
the cry "Crucify him!" And they raised it after they had due notice and
time [568] for deliberation.]
d1 Jesus therefore six days before the passover came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead. [The word "therefore"
refers to the decree and consequent dangers just mentioned. Because his
"hour" had come, Jesus went to face these dangers. We are told that he
came to the house of Lazarus and that he kept near Lazarus because these
facts emphasized the great miracle which roused the hatred of the Jews,
and caused them more earnestly to seek the death of Christ. Jesus appears
to have arrived in Bethany Friday afternoon, March 31, A. D. 30. It is
likely that he spent the Sabbath day at that place, and that the supper
mentioned below was given him after sunset on Saturday, which, according
to Jewish reckoning, would be the beginning of Sunday. This supper is mentioned
later by Matthew and Mark, but without any note of time to show that it
belongs specifically where they put it. But John does give us a note of
time. The twelfth verse of this chapter shows that it was the night before
the triumphal entry, and therefore we follow the chronology of John.]
2 So a6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, dthey
made him a supper there: ain the house of Simon the leper, dand
Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him.
[Who Simon the leper was is not known. It is not unlikely that he was one
whom Jesus had healed, and that he united with the household of Lazarus
in a joint effort to show gratitude unto the Lord for his goodness to this
group of his friends.] b3
And while he was [there] as he sat at
meat, there came aunto him a woman {d3 Mary} ahaving
an alabaster cruse of exceeding precious ointment, bof pure
nard very costly; d3 Mary
therefore took a pound [a litra, a Greek weight containing nearly
twelve ounces avoirdupois] of ointment of pure nard, very precious
[Nard was a liquid perfume distilled from some odorous plant or plants
and mingled with oil. It was sealed in flasks or alabaster boxes and imported
from the far East], band she brake the cruse,
and poured it over {aupon} bhis head. aas
he sat at meat. dand anointed [569] the
feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair [The cruse seems to
have been a long-necked flask sealed with wax so tightly as to necessitate
it being broken to extract the nard. These flasks were tasteful and costly
objects such as women delight to possess. Many of them were so delicate
that Pliny compares them to closed rosebuds, and the same writer, speaking
of nard, reckons it as an instance of excessive luxury to anoint the feet
or ankles with it]: and the house was filled with the odor of
the ointment. [Thus the liberality of Mary contributed to the pleasure
of all the guests. The odor of a good deed is generally diffusive.]
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, that should betray him, saith,
5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred shillings, 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
bag took away what was put therein.
a8 But when the disciples saw it, they {bthere were
some that} had indignation among themselves, asaying, To what
purpose is this waste? bTo what purpose hath this waste of the
ointment been made?
5 For this ointment might have been sold afor much, bfor
above three hundred shillings, and given to the poor. And they murmured
against her. [It seems very likely that this murmuring was started
by Judas Iscariot, for the murmurers fall in with his notions that the
price of the ointment should be deposited in the poor fund. It is a singular
thing that Jesus permitted a thief to occupy the office of treasurer. It
is probable that Judas was honest when he was called to serve, but that
same management and spirit of economy which made him fit for the place
ruined him when he got it. Thus our strong points are often our weakest.
The price of the pound of nard would be about fifty-one dollars of our
money, but the purchasing power of money was then nearly ten times as great
as it is now. The price here named agrees almost exactly with the figures
at which Pliny rates the most costly nard.]
a10 But Jesus perceiving it, dtherefore said, aunto
them, bLet her [570] alone;
aWhy trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work
upon me.dSuffer her to keep it against
the day of my burying. a12
For in that she poured this ointment upon my body, she did it to prepare
me for burial. b8 She hath
done what she could; hath anointed my body beforehand for the burying.
[The expression "Suffer," etc., used by John, is taken by some as implying
that all the ointment was not poured out, and that some of the apostles
were endeavoring to persuade Mary to keep and sell what was left, and that
Jesus ordered it kept to finish the embalming of his body which Mary had
already begun. But there is nothing in the language to require such an
interpretation. Jesus meant, "Let her use it rightly," using the word "keep"
as in the expression, "keep the feast;" i. e., observe the ceremony.
The words of Jesus about the ointment taken as a whole may be construed
thus: "The sorrows of my coming passion oppress me (Matt. xxvi. 38), and
Mary, conscious of that sorrow, wishes to cheer me with the evidence of
love and gratitude. She sympathizes with me as I approach the shadow of
death, and anoints me beforehand for the burial. You do not begrudge what
is given to the dead. You do not censure as extravagant what is spent for
the embalming of a dear one. You yourselves would be ready enough to anoint
me in this same manner after I am dead. So do not censure her because in
the fullness of her sympathy she has anticipated the coming catastrophe
and has anointed me beforehand."]
d8 For the poor ye have always with you [Deut. xv. 11];
band whensoever ye will ye can do them good: but me ye have
not always. [There would be plenty of opportunities in which to do
good to the poor, but the time for conferring a personal benefit upon Christ
in the flesh was now limited to seven days. Thereafter gifts could only
be given to Christ by bestowing them upon the poor.]
9 And verily I say unto you, Wheresoever the {athis} gospel
shall be preached in {bthroughout} the whole world, that also
which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
[Jesus here makes [571] prominent the different
estimates which God and man place upon the same acts. That which the disciples
had censured as a waste and that which they had regarded as worthy of rebuke
was in his sight an action fit to be kept in everlasting remembrance as
a model for the conduct of future generations throughout the whole earth,
and he accordingly decreed that it be so kept in mind.]
d9 The common people therefore of the Jews learned that he was
there [in Simon's house]: 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 took
counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death;
11 because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away [withdrew
from the party headed by the Jewish rulers], and believed on
Jesus. [The presence of the resurrected man and the Christ who had
resurrected him both at one table greatly excited the curiosity of the
multitudes who had come up to Jerusalem to attend the passover. When word
of this supper spread among the people it was natural that they should
slip out to Bethany to see the sight, and it was equally natural that seeing
it they should believe in Jesus. This deflection of the common people gave
a keener venom to the hatred of the rulers.]
[FFG 568-572]
