Scripture Daily

Context No. 751 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 12:1-6: in context

1Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. 3Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. 4Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said, 5“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus is at supper in Bethany, in the home of the man he had raised from the dead, and Lazarus is right there at the table. Martha serves, as she does. And Mary does something that stops the room. She takes a pound of pure nard, a perfume worth about a year's wages, breaks it open, and pours it over Jesus's feet, then wipes his feet with her hair. It is extravagant past the point of sense, a fortune poured out in a single gesture, and the whole house fills with the smell of it.

One voice objects, and it sounds like conscience. Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, Judas asks, and the money given to the poor? It is a righteous-sounding question, the kind that shames extravagance in the name of the needy. But John will not let it stand unexplained. He said this, John writes, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the money box and used to help himself to what was put in it. The concern for the poor was a costume. What Judas actually mourned was a fortune he could not skim. Mary's love wasted itself on Christ, and the objection to it only pretended to care about anyone else.

Judas dressed his own greed as concern for the poor. What noble-sounding objection have I raised, that was really guarding something for myself?

Sources