Last Week of our Lord's Ministry
The Fourth Passover
The Crucifixion
Sections #104-133
Section 104
JESUS ARRIVES AND IS FEASTED AT BETHANY
(From Friday afternoon till Saturday Night, March 31 and April 1, A. D. 30.)
JOHN 11:55-57; 12:1-11
MATT. 26: 6-13
MARK 14: 3-9
Jews begin arriving in Jerusalem to purify themselves for Passover. They talk among themselves about whether Jesus will show up. The priests and Pharisees put out an order for any appearance of Jesus to be reported. According to John's chronology, this is the night before the triumphal entry.
I have a student who is an orthodox Jew, and she was explaining to me yesterday some of their pre-passover purifying preparations. I had no idea the regulations could be so complex--covering counters, cleaning the entire house very thoroughly, putting away the silver utensils, eating only Passover approved food opened during Passover. Her descriptions and preparations help me connect the old traditions to Christ. This verse makes much more sense in that context:
"Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
According to Mark, Jesus eats supper at Simon the Leper's in Bethany which is about two miles outside of Jerusalem.
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| Nardostachys jatamansi |
The gospel of John places the setting as the home Lazarus, who is reclining to eat with Jesus. Then Mary anoints his feet with nard and wipes them with her hair, " The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume" (John 12:3). Nard has an odor reputed to reduce stress and boost mood. Maybe the gesture and smell lifted Jesus' spirit, certainly it was loving and generous. The essential oil also has antibacterial properties and could be used as a way to purify the skin.
Spikenard, or nard, was used to perfume the body of Patroclus by Achilles in Book 18 of Homer's Iliad. It's a 3 feet tall herb that grows in the Himalayas and is used for perfume, incense, homeopathy, and cooking.
Do we need to know all these particulars about nard? I think so because it helps me find Jesus as a man, not just God, walking the earth, in need of encouraging smells and grounding gestures. It's also a reminder that aromatherapy has been around for an exceedingly long time. Mary's gesture makes greater sense in this context. Jesus calls the liberal gesture "beautiful," and the Fourfold Gospel comments, "Thus the liberality of Mary contributed to the pleasure of all the guests. The odor of a good deed is generally diffusive."
In Matthew's account, the disciples as a group object to the seemingly wasteful gesture. In both Mark and Matthew's accounts, Jesus steps up and defends Mary's gesture, "in pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial" (Matt 26:12). Mary's gesture also points to kairos--the just right time for the just right gesture. Jesus acknowledges this too:
"You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me." -Mark 14:7
Fourfold pushes this further, "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."
Great perspective from Fourfold on this gesture here too: "Jesus here makes 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." It's presumptuous to think that God sees things the way we do.
John mentions that Judas objects to the anointing for impure reasons---because he's in the habit of stealing from the money bag. This detail points to a chronic character issue, a premeditated evil instead of a one-time lapse or weakness."You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me." -Mark 14:7
Fourfold pushes this further, "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."
Great perspective from Fourfold on this gesture here too: "Jesus here makes 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." It's presumptuous to think that God sees things the way we do.
Another detail--the chief priests plot Lazarus's death because in their eyes, his resurrection is drawing Jews to Christ (John 12:11). Both the leaders and Judas are self-concerned.
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