Second Pass at This Weekend's Bible Lesson: John 12:1-8

[The first pass, containing an explanation of what these passes are about, can be found here.]

Verse-by-Verse Comments
1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
(1) We are within one week of the final of three Passovers narrated by John in his gospel. As readers, we know that this will be the Passover week when Jesus will be executed on a cross. Even the disciples themselves, mindful of the mounting opposition to Jesus, would have been aware of the danger that surrounded Jesus, especially if He went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which as a practicing Jew He wanted to do. Death looms over this scene.

(2) The Passover, of course, is the Jewish holiday which remembers Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Just before their departure, the angel of death was sent to Egypt. It passed over the homes of the Jewish (Hebrew) slaves who put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. Otherwise, the angel brought death to the firstborn in every Egyptian household. This culminating sign from God--there had been ten--convinced the oppressive Pharaoh to accede to the demands of the leader of the Israelites, Moses. (For more information on Passover, go here and here.)

It was during the week of Passover that God chose the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world to take place. By the power of His blood to atone for our sin, we pass over from death to life.

(3) Given the unique timeline of John as it relates to Jesus' crucifixion, this gathering would have taken place on Saturday night, after the conclusion of the Sabbath. (The Sabbath runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.) This would have allowed Martha to serve, as we will soon learn she does.

(4) Bethany, of course, is the hometown of the siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It was here that in John 11, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, though he had been dead for four days. It was because of that act that the conspiracy to kill Jesus was hatched.

Bethany is one of the touchstone locales of the Gospels. Ed Markquart points out that it "was two miles from Jerusalem and a stone’s throw to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane." (For more on Bethany, see here.)

2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.
(1) The word translated from the Greek as dinner here, deipnon, is only used elsewhere in the Gospels to describe the Last Supper. John does tell about the Last Supper--without the institution of Holy Communion--this dinner has a lot in common with the Last Supper.

(2) Does There refer to Bethany or to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? I've always assumed that it meant the latter. But several commentators point out that if this were the case, there would have been no reason to mention Lazarus' presence at the meal.

Still, the fact that Martha, in typical Martha fashion, is the one who serves the dinner, would seem to indicate where it took place.

It also shows us that, in spite of the extravagant gesture about to be made by Mary, the three siblings were far from wealthy.

(3) The mention of Lazarus might also underscore the brewing plot against Jesus, precipitated by His raising Lazarus from the dead.

3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
(1) This ointment is a myrrh, familiar to us from the Christmas story, where it also foreshadows Jesus' death. Markquart, citing Raymond Brown's commentary tells us that:

It was used in “incense, cosmetics, perfume, medicines and in burial preparations.”

Of nard, Brown writes:

[It is] fragrant oil from the root of a nard plant which grows in the mountains of northern India.

Chances are that Mary had been saving this ointment for a long time. I wonder why she hadn't used it to anoint Lazarus' body which?

(2) Why did Mary do this? Some suggest that she is anointing Jesus as King before what John understands as His enthronement, His death and resurrection.

That may very well be at play here. But I think that something else is going on. Generally speaking, people were expected to wash their own feet. But if it were ever done for them , it would have been the work of a servant. In the coming chapter of John's gospel, in the upper room, Jesus will wash the feet of His disciples, an action for which John will use the same Greek verb translated as wiped here. Initially horrified at His act of submissiveness and servanthood, the disciples will be told by Jesus that such actions are the signs of Christian discipleship. Mary demonstrates that she "gets it," understanding what it means to follow Christ.

(3) The feet of the dead were also anointed.

[More verse-by-verse comments tomorrow, I hope.]