Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. 3 Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 Then Judas the Iscariot, one [of] his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, 5 “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” 6 He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. 7 So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” 9 [The] large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, 11 because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.
The Jewish leaders met at the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest and plotted to arrest and kill Jesus (Mk. 14:1-2; Mt. 26:3-4). Just before Jesus entered Jerusalem for his final Passover, Jesus dined at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfumed oil and dried them with her hair in an intimate act of devotion. Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, objected (Mt. 26:15). He was portrayed by John as a thief who did not care about Jesus or the poor but only about money. Jesus said that Mary’s actions of anointing his feet with expensive oil was in preparation for his burial (v. 7).
Foot washing was an act of hospitality in ancient Palestine because guests wore sandals and the roads were dusty. It was usually done by a servant, and expensive oil would not normally be used to anoint feet. In this case the foot washing was done by the host with very expensive perfumed oil. Mary and Judas were presented as opposites. Mary was a friend and a true disciple of Jesus who had prepared a costly anointing for him as an act of love and faith. Judas, the false disciple and thief, pretended to go to make preparation for the Passover but instead went to betray Jesus (Mt. 26:14-16).
The crowd came to see Jesus as well as Lazarus who was raised from the dead. The Jewish leaders now plotted to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. Raising Lazarus from the dead was, “For the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it (Jn. 11:4).” The glory of God was in the miracle, and Jesus would be glorified by his death on the cross and his resurrection.
Almighty God, you love us so much that you sent your Son into this world to show us the way home. And even though we do not fully understand the depths of what he did for us, help us to be true disciples willing to make whatever sacrifices life demands of us so that we too can help others on their journey of salvation. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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