John 12:3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Then took Mary a pound of ointment— This supper is supposed by many to have been the same with that mentioned Matthew 26:6 and Mark 14:3 but upon examination, they will appear to have been different. This happened in the house of Lazarus, that in the house of Simon the leper: at this, Mary the sister of Lazarus anointed our Lord's feet, and wiped them with her hair; at that, a woman, not named, poured the ointment on his head. Here Judas only found fault with the action; there he was seconded by some of the rest. It seems, all the disciples but Judas suffered this first anointing to pass without censure; but when theysaw so expensive a compliment repeated, and that within a few days the one of the other, they joined with him in blaming the woman, and might think themselves warranted to do so, as they knew that their Master was not delighted with luxuries ofany kind. After the anointing mentioned by St. Matthew, Judas went and bargained with the priests to deliver his Master into their hands; yet two days before the passover they consulted among themselves how theymight take him by subtlety. This deliberation was absolutelyunnecessary, if the anointing mentioned by St. Matthew had been the same with that in St. John; for the anointing being expressly fixed by St. John to the sixth day before the passover, the bargain which Judas struck with the priests to betray his Master, is of course fixed to the same day, having happened immediately after the anointing: if so, the priests, six days before the passover, knew of a method to take Jesus by subtlety, and therefore had no occasion formally to consult about it two days before the passover. In fine, the place in the history which St. Matthew has assigned to his anointing, implies that it happened two days before the passover; whereas the anointing mentioned by St. John is expressly said to have been six days before that feast. Compare Matthew 26 l-4 and 14. Thus it evidently appears, that our Lord was anointed with spikenard three different times during the course of his ministry; once in the house of Simon the Pharisee, once in the house of Lazarus, and once in the house of Simon the leper. That this mark of respect should have been shewn him so often, need not be thought strange; for in those countries it was common, at entertainments, to pour fragrant oils on the heads of such guests as they designed to distinguish with marks of extraordinary respect. The custom is alluded to Psalms 45:7. God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Where this piece of civility was shewn, it was an expression of the highest complacency, and generally produced great gladness in the person who was the object of it. Hence, besides the emblematical reason of the ceremony, it was fitly made use of at the instalment of persons into high offices: and therefore, because the only-begotten Son of God was to sustain greater dignities, and execute more important offices than ever were sustained or executed among men, and was fitted for them by more extraordinary endowments than men possessed, having the Spirit given him without measure; he had the name of the Messiah, or the anointed one, appropriated to him by way of eminence; he was anointed with the oil of gladness, infinitely above his fellows,—the other kings, and priests, and prophets, whom God from time to time had raised up and honoured with the title of his anointed ones.