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 t h at by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.
The Passover here mentioned, was the fourth during our Lord's ministry. Jesus was looking forward to it with peculiar satisfaction; and he very earnestly wished to eat it with his disciples before his death. Luke 22:15. With the celebration of this Passover, the ordinance of it was to cease forever. Christ, the substance, being come, to which it all along ministered; the shadow died away. Heb 9:26; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Colossians 2:17
I hope the Reader will pause with me to remark, with what earnestness those lovers of Jesus sought after his company. Here were two Suppers made for Christ, in one week; and both in Bethany. This, here spoken of, at the house of Lazarus and his sisters; which was six days before the Passover. And that, at the house of Simon the Leper, which was but two days preceding it. Compare Matthew 26:2-6, with what is here said. The Reader, if he be a lover of Jesus, will not be surprized, that the company of the Lord should be so sought after. See how the Church longed for it! Song of Solomon 1:13; Song of Solomon 1:13. See how the faithful individual in the Church desired it. Psalms 101:2. See how Jesus hath all along promised it to his people. Revelation 3:20; Song of Solomon 5:2
There is somewhat beautifully interesting, in the account given of Mary, anointing the feet of Christ. I feel a certain undescribable pleasure, while I read it. What a wonderful condescension in Christ, when it be considered who Christ is! What a privilege to the woman, when considered who she was! There are in it, many things which interest our feelings, as we read the relation. And very sure I am, had it not been in itself important, never would it have been recorded, and handed down as it is, through all ages by the Holy Ghost, for the mediation of the Church of God. Jesus himself took notice of that instance of it, which took place in the house of Simon the leper; and declared that it should be as memorable as his Gospel. See Matthew 26:7-13. And the Lord appears to have taken equal pleasure, in the instance of the poor woman, which anointed his feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. See Luke 7:37
It may not be amiss to remark, that though some, through mistake, have confounded those acts of the Maries, as if they were one and the same; yet very certain it is, that they were different persons, and the acts themselves were at different times, and places, and upon different occasions. Mary the sister of Lazarus, as this scripture relates, anointed Christ's feet. The other woman, (if her name was Mary, for it is not said), which anointed Christ, in the house of Simon the leper, poured the costly ointment on his head. And both these again, differed from the instance recorded Luke 7:37. For that was in the house of Simon the Pharisee. And both the former were in Bethany: this latter in Galilee. Perhaps the mistake arose from the name of Simon. For Jesus was anointed twice in the house of Simon. But then it was not the same house, nor the same person. The one was Simon the Pharisee, and the other Simon the Leper. So that it is most clear and evident there were three of those anointings of the Lord Jesus, while upon earth.
But while I thought it right to put this matter in a clear light; I think it yet more to our purpose, to consider, as far as we have ability to do so, under divine teaching, what may be supposed as veiled under it. Jesus hath informed the Church, in relation to one of those acts, that it was an anointing for his burial. Matthew 26:12-13. Probably, Mary herself had no consciousness of this, when she found her mind prompted to the deed. And how often are the Lord's people under such influences, in administering to the mystical body of Christ; and they themselves not in the least apprehensive of it? One thing is certain. Jesus hath noticed such love tokens in his people. And blessedly the Church speaks of her enjoyments, when in those hallowed seasons, she found her soul going forth in the exercises of faith and love, upon the Person of Christ; and when her Spikenard sent forth the smell of those graces the Lord had given her, while the king himself sat at the table! Song of Solomon 3:11. There is much in the expression; the house filled with the odour of the ointment. Christ's house, the Church, both in heaven and on earth, is filled with the odour of his Person. Song of Solomon 1:3.