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Before we begin today, a HUGE thank you to my beautiful wife, Rachel. Her final Seminar in Bible research paper in college was on the harmony we're talking about today, and she provided A LOT of help to me on this post. Hooray Rachel!
Anointing Jesus
You may remember the post from the end of Luke dealing with the different resurrection accounts. Today we have another "harmonizing" issue to deal with as we examine the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet.
Stories of Jesus being anointed by women are in all four Gospel. You can find them in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-38, and our passage today, John 12:1-8.
The passages in Matthew and Mark are nearly word-for-word identical, so I'm not going to reproduce both of them here. Here's the stories from Mark, Luke, and John for comparison:
Before we begin today, a HUGE thank you to my beautiful wife, Rachel. Her final Seminar in Bible research paper in college was on the harmony we're talking about today, and she provided A LOT of help to me on this post. Hooray Rachel!
Anointing Jesus
You may remember the post from the end of Luke dealing with the different resurrection accounts. Today we have another "harmonizing" issue to deal with as we examine the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet.
Stories of Jesus being anointed by women are in all four Gospel. You can find them in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-38, and our passage today, John 12:1-8.
The passages in Matthew and Mark are nearly word-for-word identical, so I'm not going to reproduce both of them here. Here's the stories from Mark, Luke, and John for comparison:
| Mark 14:3-9 3And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” | John 12:2–8 2So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” | Luke 7:36-38, 50 36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment... ...50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” |
The first thing that I would like to call attention to is that Luke is drastically different than Mark and John: In Luke the setting is "a Pharisee's house". The non-Luke accounts specify that this happens in Bethany. The woman is identified as "a sinful woman", which comes into play later in the story. The woman in Luke anoints Jesus with perfume and tears, wiping His feet with her hair, but the response is different. In the Matthew/Mark/John accounts, the argument over what happens is about how this is a waste of money; in Luke it is about the fact that Jesus is being touched by a sinful woman. He then forgives her sin, which is totally different than in the other accounts. Lastly, (and important for what I am about to say), the timing is different. In the non-Luke accounts, this event is placed just before Passover, leading up to Passion Week, when Jesus will die. The Lukan account occurs much earlier.
The solution: there are two anointings. The anointing by the "sinful woman" in Luke occurs first chronologically, and the anointings recorded in the other three Gospels are the same. We know from other passages that Mary is very devoted to Jesus, so I don't think it's out of line to think that it's possibly Mary heard about this previous anointing and, worried about Jesus and the violence rising up against Him, mimics this act as a show of her devotion.
So - that handles the Luke issue, but there are still a few more things to deal with regarding the other "Mary" anointing. As I said before, Matthew and Mark are so close that I'll just list Mark for brevity's sake. Here's a comparison of the major points of the Matthew/Mark and John passages:
| Mark 14:3–9 Bethany two days before Passover house of Simon the leper a woman [x] alabaster jar breaks jar “expensive [polytelos] perfume” genuine nard anoints Jesus’ head [x] disciples angry value: more than 300 denarii Jesus defends the woman “Leave her alone” “Poor always with you” Jesus anointed for burial reported to the whole world | John 12:1–11 Bethany six days before Passover [house of Martha???] Mary a pound [x] [x] “expensive [politimos] perfume” genuine nard anoints Jesus’ feet wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair Judas angry value: 300 denarii Jesus defends Mary “Leave her alone” “Poor always with you” [x] [x] [1] |
For the most part:
"These parallels are extensive and the major differences really only work to supplement one another. The chief contextual difference is that Mark and Matthew record the anointing following the triumphal entry, whereas John records it before. However, Synoptic chronologies are often fluid. Mark also says that Jesus’ head was anointed (John refers to feet). Most of the other details can be easily integrated to create a consistent picture. For instance, the “pound” of ointment mentioned by John would be too much for Jesus’ feet. Even though Mark explains that Jesus’ head was anointed, Jesus later says that his body was anointed (Mark 14:8). Therefore Mary likely took this large amount of perfume and liberally placed it on Jesus, only drying his feet with her hair." [2]
(emphasis mine; we talked about the sometimes-differing chronology of John in our post about the cleansing of the temple. This is a similar case.)
Even dealing with the chronology of how this event fits in with the Triumphal Entry, we're left with one last "time" problem: Mark says this occurs 2 days before passover, while John says six. What's going on?
"John can be harmonized with the Synoptic chronology, making the onset of Passover Thursday night (hence the meal recorded in chapter 13 is indeed a Passover meal). This means that Jesus arrives in Bethany six days before the next Thursday evening (remembering that Jewish days start just after dusk), which is to say that he arrives late on Friday just as Sabbath begins. The meal described in 12:2 may refer to a meal on Saturday evening (following the close of Sabbath), since by then word of Jesus’ arrival would have spread through the village and people would be free to travel. On the following day (12:12) Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph." [3]
In other words, Jesus ARRIVES in Bethany six days before Passover, but this meal doesn't take place until later. John doesn't record the change of days, but the important part for him is when Jesus arrived in Bethany.
The final issue is location: where were they when this happened? This is actually easier than it appears. The chart above lists "Martha's house???" for the John passage, but there is actually no location provided beyond "in Bethany". We should assume that the story in John's Gospel therefore takes place in Simon's house, just as the Matthew/Mark account does. The accounts complement one another, giving details that the other leaves out, painting a much fuller picture for us. Who is Simon? That's a harder question. There have been a couple of theories on this:
1. Simon is the father of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
2. Since Simon is a "leper", he would not live in the village anymore, so perhaps this refers to the house the USED to be Simon's, now inhabited by Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
It's hard to know on this one - the problem among other things is that "Simon" was a very popular name during this time, making it hard to know who exactly is being talked about (probably why "the leper" is amended to his name: to differentiate him from other "Simons").
In the end, things actually work out nicely and logically, but it DOES involve some work and thinking. To summarize:
Questions? Comments?
"These parallels are extensive and the major differences really only work to supplement one another. The chief contextual difference is that Mark and Matthew record the anointing following the triumphal entry, whereas John records it before. However, Synoptic chronologies are often fluid. Mark also says that Jesus’ head was anointed (John refers to feet). Most of the other details can be easily integrated to create a consistent picture. For instance, the “pound” of ointment mentioned by John would be too much for Jesus’ feet. Even though Mark explains that Jesus’ head was anointed, Jesus later says that his body was anointed (Mark 14:8). Therefore Mary likely took this large amount of perfume and liberally placed it on Jesus, only drying his feet with her hair." [2]
(emphasis mine; we talked about the sometimes-differing chronology of John in our post about the cleansing of the temple. This is a similar case.)
Even dealing with the chronology of how this event fits in with the Triumphal Entry, we're left with one last "time" problem: Mark says this occurs 2 days before passover, while John says six. What's going on?
"John can be harmonized with the Synoptic chronology, making the onset of Passover Thursday night (hence the meal recorded in chapter 13 is indeed a Passover meal). This means that Jesus arrives in Bethany six days before the next Thursday evening (remembering that Jewish days start just after dusk), which is to say that he arrives late on Friday just as Sabbath begins. The meal described in 12:2 may refer to a meal on Saturday evening (following the close of Sabbath), since by then word of Jesus’ arrival would have spread through the village and people would be free to travel. On the following day (12:12) Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph." [3]
In other words, Jesus ARRIVES in Bethany six days before Passover, but this meal doesn't take place until later. John doesn't record the change of days, but the important part for him is when Jesus arrived in Bethany.
The final issue is location: where were they when this happened? This is actually easier than it appears. The chart above lists "Martha's house???" for the John passage, but there is actually no location provided beyond "in Bethany". We should assume that the story in John's Gospel therefore takes place in Simon's house, just as the Matthew/Mark account does. The accounts complement one another, giving details that the other leaves out, painting a much fuller picture for us. Who is Simon? That's a harder question. There have been a couple of theories on this:
1. Simon is the father of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
2. Since Simon is a "leper", he would not live in the village anymore, so perhaps this refers to the house the USED to be Simon's, now inhabited by Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
It's hard to know on this one - the problem among other things is that "Simon" was a very popular name during this time, making it hard to know who exactly is being talked about (probably why "the leper" is amended to his name: to differentiate him from other "Simons").
In the end, things actually work out nicely and logically, but it DOES involve some work and thinking. To summarize:
- Two anointings: a sinful woman as recorded in Luke and Mary as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and John.
- It is likely Mary heard about the act of the sinful woman and seeks to express her devotion to Jesus in the same way.
- Mary anoints Jesus 2 days before Passover, several days after Jesus arrives in Bethany.
- John places Mary's anointing in a slightly different place chronologically. We have already observed this Johannine practice earlier in the book.
- The anointing by Mary occurs in Simon the leper's house with Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and the disciples (and probably more) present.
Questions? Comments?
[1] Gary M. Burge, NIV Application Commentary: John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 337.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid, 337-338.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid, 337-338.
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