John 12. The Final Scenes in the Public Manifestation.
John 12:1-8. The Anointing. The scene is the same as that recorded by Mt. and Mk. Luke 7:36-50 represents a different incident, or at least a widely divergent tradition, from which, however, some details in Jn. may be borrowed. The date, six days before the Passover, may by different methods of calculation be identified with Nisan 8, 9, or 10. The last is the most probable. Apparently the author deliberately corrects the two days of Mark 14:1. Allegorists see in the alteration an intentional reference to the setting apart of the lamb on Nisan 10 (Exodus 12:3). The feast is in the house of the sisters, unless they are helping in the house of a friend (cf. Mark 14:3, where the host is named Simon the leper). Mary, as in Luke 10:40, leaves the serving to her sister, and taking a pound of spikenard (Mark 14:3 *), genuine (?) and costly, anoints Jesus-' feet, perhaps a natural detail considering the custom of reclining at meals. Judas (cf. the some of the Synoptists) protests against the waste. The author adds that his motive was greed. He was a dishonest steward. Jesus answers, Let her keep (? what remains, the whole could hardly have been used) for my burial. The poor will be with you longer than I. He thus uses the incident to prepare His friends by significant hints for the coming tragedy. In the Synoptists this anticipation of the future is attributed to Mary. The Lord's saying can be interpreted more in accordance with this view. Let her keep it. Such was her purpose. Let it not be thwarted. As interpreted above, the whole incident is natural, and used by the Lord, after His custom, as the occasion of teaching.