NOTES for Joh 12:1-11
1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. |
2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. |
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. |
4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, |
5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? |
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. |
7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. |
8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. |
9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: 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 consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; |
11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. |
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Actually, it is a perfectly reasonable thought: not to spend money on some symbolic actions, but to go and give it to the poor. And for some reason Jesus approves this gesture, which brings no practical benefit...
Why does Mary anoint Jesus' feet and wipe them with her hair? It is perfectly obvious that she did not think for a second about His burial. If we had asked her why she did this, she would not have been able to answer. But Jesus does not ask. Without words He understands the main thing: she did it out of love. And everything else no longer matters; even a mad act done out of love is beautiful and precious. More than that, such an act acquires a deeper meaning than the person doing it could have imagined.
But there is one small note: all this is true only in those cases when the driving force is love and only love. As soon as some other motive appears, a meaningless act remains meaningless.
Readings for 30 March 2026
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