Mark 14 - Jesus' Anointing

Jesus' Anointing

Mark states that the Passover was two days away. If the Passover was on Friday (Good Friday) then this happened on Wednesday and is celebrated by Christians as Holy Wednesday. Mark says that Jesus was in Bethany relaxing at the home of Simon the Leper, who has not appeared in the Gospel until now. Simon's relationship to Jesus is not explored, but they must have been friends as this seems a social visit. Mark also states that the chief priests were looking for a "sly" way to arrest Jesus. They however determine not to do it during the feast because they were afraid that the people would riot. It is however after the feast that they do end up arresting him.

An unnamed woman, who has a very expensive jar of perfume, made out of "pure nard" according to Mark, comes and breaks the alabaster jar the perfume is in and pours it on Jesus' head. Some unnamed people there get angry and say that this is a waste as the perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor. Jesus however is pleased with her and rebukes her critics:

Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. (6–9 NIV)

And so it has been. The anticipation of widespread audiences might mean the book was intended for wide distribution and not written solely for a single community.

This begins the final section of Mark that probably originally ended at Mark 16:8 with the two Mary's going to anoint Jesus' dead body and finding that they can not because he had risen from the dead, an anointing by God. There is no time to anoint him when he is taken down from the cross and his body is not there for the women to anoint three days later.

Some have objected to the statement that the poor will always exist, although Jesus also says you can help them any time you want. Jesus foreshadows his death and this is the last anointing, an expensive one at that, that he will receive. Mark states in 1:1 that his book is "The good news of Jesus the anointed" (Miller 13), Christ meaning anointed. The woman understands Jesus' importance more than do the other people there. It is also a signal to the reader that as Jesus is being anointed for burial the plot against him will succeed. (Brown 145)

Judas then leaves and goes to the priests and gives up Jesus. The priests are so grateful that they pay Judas for his service. According to Matthew the payment was thirty silver coins. Mark then says that Judas looked for the right time to betray Jesus.

According to John 12:1-11 Jesus' feet were anointed by Lazarus' sister Mary on the previous Saturday before he entered Jerusalem and that it was Judas who objected to her using the perfume because he was stealing from the money they used for the poor. The Roman Catholic Church holds that this incident occurred on Saturday as John says, but was at Simon the Leper's house according to its chronology of Jesus' life. Mark does not state Judas' reason for betraying Jesus, but has this occur immediately after the anointing, perhaps showing a causal link.

According to Luke, Satan took possession of Judas and caused him to do these things. John says Satan "prompted" Judas to do this. Luke does not have the anointing at Bethany, but in Luke 7:38 a sinful woman anoints Jesus' feet during a dinner with a local Pharisee.