The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to take place in two days’ time. So the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to arrest him by treachery and put him to death. 2 They said, “Not during the festival, for fear that there may be a riot among the people.” 3 When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head. 4 There were some who were indignant. “Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? 5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages and the money given to the poor.” They were infuriated with her. 6 Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them, but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. 9 Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests to hand him over to them. 11 When they heard him they were pleased and promised to pay him money. Then he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
The Passover (Ex. 12:26-27) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:6) were originally two separate feasts celebrated in spring, but they were combined and had become the most important Jewish feast (Lk. 22:1). The chief priests and scribes were trying to find ways to surreptitiously arrest to put Jesus to death, but they did not want to do so during the Passover most likely out of fear of the crowds and the Roman authorities.
Mark was very specific about where Jesus was having a meal (v. 3) when an unmarried woman anointed his head with very expensive oil, an indication that he was the Messiah, the anointed one (2 kgs. 9:6; Ps. 2:2). The woman had correctly perceived Jesus’ identity. The spiritual insight and generosity of the woman was in sharp contrast to the spiritual blindness of the chief priests, the scribes and Judas. Some were filled with righteous indignation and Jesus shifted the focus from the woman and the needs of the poor to himself by telling them that he will not always be with them (v. 7). He told them that his body (the Messiah) was being anointed for burial and that what the woman had done would be told as part of the story of his passion, death and resurrection (v. 9). Judas’ planned betrayal of Jesus’s trust was contrasted with the love and faith of the woman. The chief priests and scribes were able to carry out their plot to kill Jesus because of Judas’ willing betrayal (vv. 10-11).
Almighty God, we give
thanks to you always for sending your Son and for the sacrifice he chose to
make on our behalf. We pray that your holy
Scripture will cleanse our hearts and lives, and that your Holy Spirit will
come upon us and help us to utter prayers as we ought. This we pray though through Christ our Lord.
Amen!
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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