Hi everyone. Welcome back to the logical.
Bible study podcast. Thanks again for tuning in
today. We're doing an exegesis on John
chapter 12. That's the passage.
You'll hear at mass today, so let's jump straight into it.
John chapter 12 verses 1 to 11 Six days before the Passover.
Jesus went to Bethany where Lazarus was whom.
He had raised from the dead, they gave a dinner for him
there. Martha, waited on them and
Lazarus was among those at table, Mary brought in a pound
of very costly. Ointment pure nard, and with it,
anointed the feet of Jesus wiping them with her hair.
The house was full of the scent of the ointment then Judas
Iscariot one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him
said why wasn't this ointment sold for three hundred denarii
and the money given to the poor. He said this not because he
cared about the poor but because he was a thief, he was in charge
of the common fund and used to help himself to the
contributions. So Jesus said, leave her alone.
She had to keep this sent for the day of my burial.
You have the poor with, you always, you will not always have
me. Meanwhile, a large number of
Jews heard that he was there and came not only account of Jesus,
but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.
Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well.
Since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving
them and believing in Jesus. So, what's the context of this
passage while? Just before this, in John's
gospel, the Sanhedrin have come together and they have plotted
to kill Jesus. They've decided the time has
come, they're going to kill Jesus.
When he comes into Jerusalem, Jesus has gone into Efrain and
the rest of the Jews have gone up to Jerusalem to get ready for
the Passover. So verse 1, it's six days before
the Passover, we learn six days before the Passover.
If we add it all up and we work out the timelines.
Means that this particular event that we're talking about today
happens on the Saturday evening before Jesus final week.
So this is the day before Palm Sunday to be specific.
We think we can narrow down the date here.
This is March 28, 33 ad Saturday night on March 28, 33 ad now.
It's a bit confusing because in some years, you'll hear this
reading after Palm Sunday, but it actually would have taken
place on the night before Palm Sunday.
We know that because the very next pass.
Yeah. The very next passage in the
Gospel of John is Jesus entering on Palm Sunday.
So verse 1, Jesus came to Bethany and that's very short
walk from Jerusalem. It's just on the outskirts of
Jerusalem, where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the
dead. So Jesus apparently spends bit
of time with Mary Martha and Lazarus there, his good friends
each night for the final week of his life.
So in the final week of his life from this Saturday on words,
Jesus does stuff in Jerusalem during the day but then he comes
home to Bethany and stays with Mary Martha and Lazarus at
nighttime. That's the arrangement for the
next few days. Verse 2.
They gave her dinner for him there, so they're welcoming him
to their area. Remember, they see Jesus close
friends. And in particular, these people
have always had faith in him and they believe him to be the
Messiah. Now based on the mark, and
Matthew account of this same story.
It appears that this scene here actually, is not taking place in
their home. It's taking place in the house
of Simon. The leper, who also lives in
Bethany with Martha. Assisting.
So what's actually going on here?
Is there, not in Merriam Arthur's house there in, Simon
the lepers house, but Martha is helping to prepare the meal.
So Martha weights on them and she's Martha is often, you know,
given a bad reputation. She is depicted as a Busybody.
But in this case, she's doing the normal custom that women
would do in that culture, when they're hosting a dinner, she is
preparing a meal and she's waiting on them.
Lazarus was among those at table.
So he's been recently raised from the dead and he's a close
friend of Jesus. And obviously, he wants to thank
Jesus and spend a bit of time with him.
Verse 3. Mary, who's the other sister
brought in a pound of very costly or internment?
So very costly orange mint. That's an understatement, we
later. Learn that.
What she's got here is worth three hundred.
Denarii one denarii is one day's worth of wages.
So what she brings in is 300 days worth of wages in this
special ointment, this is probably the most expensive
thing that Mary Martha and Lazarus have and she's coming to
use it. All right now and the substance
it's in there is called Pure nard and that's actually a spice
that was imported from From India, very expensive.
Basically, it's usually used as anointing oil for bodies, just
after they've died, they would anoint people with this
particular spice called nard. And she anointed the feet of
Jesus. Now, it appears that this isn't,
although people would wash their feet and the the hosts would
wash the feet of the guests. It appears that that's not what
she's doing here because John specifically uses the word
anointing so it's not the normal washing of feet before dinner.
This is a special kind of anointing that Mary chooses to
do deliberately as all see why she does that shortly.
Now, according to Mark and Matthews version of this story,
his head is also anointed at this particular point.
Which would back up the theory that she's not just washing his
feet as part of the normal custom, she's doing a special
anointing here. She then wiped his feet with her
hair. So Mary could have used a cloth
or a towel to dry his feet, which would be the normal
protocol but Mary uses herself. So this is indicating her deep
desire to serve, Jesus as the Messiah and the King.
She personally wants to give herself and to serve him
herself. So this is probably the same
scene as the anointing and Mark 14, and Matthew 26, although, in
that case, the woman isn't named, so it's the unnamed woman
of Matthew 14. Sorry, Mark, 14, and Matthew 26.
It's the same scene, but we don't want to confuse this scene
with one in Luke. So in Luke chapter 7.
So early in Jesus ministry, there's a scene at the house of
Simon. The Pharisee, not Simon the
leper here. It's a different Simon.
Simon the Pharisee You see in Luke chapter 7, there's a sinful
woman who cries and wipes Jesus feet with her tears.
That is not the same scene as this one.
So it's a different woman in Luke chapter, 7 who cries on his
feet. Just keep that in mind.
So the house becomes full of the scent of the ointment.
Why does John mentioned that? It seems like an insignificant
detail will firstly. It probably signifies Mary's
overflowing generosity and also it's a word for fragrance.
The word. That's used for fragrance or
scent is usually used in reference to liturgical
sacrifices. Offered to God.
So, this whole house is becoming filled with kind of like a
liturgical ointment. Perhaps it's supposed to signify
that it's getting ready for Jesus, sacrifice to God, that he
himself was going to do on the cross.
So it's almost like a liturgical seen.
Perhaps also, Scholars note, this is a strong indication that
an eyewitness, wrote those words because how else would they know
about the the smell of the ointment.
Verse for Judas, Iscariot the man who is to betray Jesus.
So John here, mentions he's foreshadowing.
The role that Judas is going to play in a couple of days.
And he does that by highlighting Judas of selfishness his.
So he's already setting up the kind of man, that Judas is his
quite selfish. We don't know a whole lot about
Judas. He doesn't appear heaps in the
gospels, but we do know from this particular scene that he's
quite a selfish person who loves money.
So, Judas speaks up. He says, why wasn't this
ointment? Sold for three hundred denarii
and then the money given to the poor, that's actually a fair
question. For most people to ask in this
situation. However, John tells us that the
reason John asks is not actually out of concern for the poor,
it's for something else. Now in verse 6, we learn of this
common fund that the disciples have so the disciples and Jesus
being part of a traveling Ministry, they had a collective
box or a bag that they had with all the donations, so it has
money in it and Judas is in charge of this Collective money.
The ministry would use this money to get supplies.
Followers and Disciples of Jesus could give donations to the
common fund and then the disciples would spend it on food
as required, so that they could keep doing Ministry.
Basically, Judas is in charge of this common fund and John now
tells us Judas said this, not because he cared about the poor,
but because he was a thief, he was in charge of the common fund
and used to help himself to the contributions.
So in other words, Judas wants them to have sold the ointment
so that then they could get money.
And then Judas himself, could steal the money and pretend that
it had been given to the poor. So he's quite selfish.
And as we know, it's giudices Love of Money that eventually
leads him to betray Jesus because he accepts the bribe of
money. And in exchange for betraying
Jesus. So that's what Judas says.
Let's sell and give it to the poor verse 7.
Jesus says, leave her alone. So Jesus Jesus does not agree
with Judas. He says, Mary has in fact on the
right thing. Jesus goes on she had to keep
this send for the day of my burial.
Now this phrase could mean a couple of different things.
Most translations have it this way where she had to keep this
sent for the day of my burial. And in that case, Kees de is in
the sense of General time. So Jesus isn't saying I'm dying
today but he's saying it's around about the time of my
death. So in that case, apparently both
Jesus and Mary perceived that Jesus was to die soon and what
Mary is doing here is she is anointing him in advance of his
death. She knows his death is coming.
So she's anointing him with this burial oil in preparation for
his death later on after Jesus does die.
Brings a huge amount of similar ointment to anoint Jesus after
his death and that's in 19:39. But other translations have this
verse, as let her keep this for the day of my burial.
So that would be like a future tense.
And in that case, she's not trying to anoint him right now
in this scene. But rather she's just washing
his feet in the normal way that's Fit For A King.
Like she's instead of washing his feet with water.
She's washing his feet with oil, that's possible.
But I think the way most translations have it as she had
to keep this sent for the day of my burial as in.
She is actually anointing him. In this case, that makes more
sense of the language John users.
And also the fact that Matthew and Mark say his head was
anointed at this point. It does suggest that he's at
Intel. She is intending to anoint him
in this scene. Verse 8, Jesus goes on, you have
the poor with you always, but you will not always have me.
Some are found that to be quite a disturbing phrase, Jesus.
You will always have the poor with you.
In fact that's a quote from Deuteronomy 15.
So it's the teaching of God in the Old Testament as well.
Deuteronomy 15:11 says the land will never lack for needy
persons So what is Jesus saying here?
While he certainly not discouraging giving money to the
poor because elsewhere He commands that his disciples do
that. So here he's just making a
comparison. He's saying that there will
always be poor in the land who need money.
But on the other hand Jesus will only be with them a short time
not forever. So Jesus is saying that he is
much more precious and important than everything else.
So it's right for the disciples attention to be focused on him.
For the time being while he's still with him because he is the
most important thing and spending time with him is the
most important thing. And that's fairly similar to
something else. Jesus have said in this same
house of, well, not necessarily in this house because they're
not in mirror in Martha's house, but something else that he is
said to Mary, and Martha in Bethany.
Remember when Jesus says, Martha is busy about many things but
Mary has chosen the better part by listening at the feet of her
master. So it's a Similar kind of
teaching the most important thing we can do amongst all the
good things we can do. The most important thing is
spending time and attention on Jesus.
The focus needs to be on Jesus himself, not other things.
So that's the end of that same verse nine.
Meanwhile, a large number of Jews and the Jews here is
referring to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who have already
played that. They're going to kill him.
They heard that he was there and came not only account, not only
on account of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised
from the dead. So apparently a whole lot of the
Jewish leaders from Jerusalem. Now, make the short trip over to
Bethenny because Jesus isn't appearing in Jerusalem in.
Anymore. But they hear that he's in
Bethany. So they pretend that the going
there to hear and learn from Jesus, that's their pretense.
But in fact, they've already decided that they have rejected
him and that they're going to kill him.
Now they're here to to see him. And they're also to see Lazarus
because they've worked out that Lazarus might be a threat to
them as well. Verse 10, the chief, priests
decide to kill Lazarus, as well. Now, that's pretty, ironic since
Lazarus has already been killed once.
Well, he, he died once shortly before this Now, what's going on
here? Why?
Well, why would the Jewish leaders want to kill Lazarus?
If they think that he has been raised from the dead?
Well, firstly, it's possible that they do believe he's been
raised from the dead and in that case they just don't like what
the consequences are. They don't like, what it's
resulted in, but it's more likely that they just don't
believe that. He's been resurrected from the
dead at all. As far as we know, the Jewish
leaders never actually got to kill Lazarus and that's a good
thing but they certainly planning to here and John now
tells us why they want to kill Lazarus.
Since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving
them and believing in Jesus. So many of the common Jewish
people in Jerusalem were listening to Jesus, and they're
worried that, that could lead to a Messianic revolt.
And then, the Romans would come in and Destroy Jerusalem and the
Jewish leaders don't want that. And they've worked Doubt that
one of the main reasons people are turning to Jesus and
starting this big Groundswell of Messianic expectations.
Is because of the miracle, he did with Lazarus, so they
figured that the best way to solve this problem is to get
Lazarus out of the picture, get him to stop spreading the word
about Jesus, so that lets kill Lazarus.
That's their plan. Notice, we also have a clear
statement that not only of the Jews following Jesus, but
they're also leaving the Jewish leaders.
John chapter, Verse 10. He says it was on the account of
Lazarus that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing
in Jesus. So the Jewish leaders are losing
followers as a result of Jesus. And that's yet another reason
why they want Jesus and Lazarus out of the picture.
That's the end of the passage. So, that's the scene in the
house of Bethany where Jesus is Anointed by Mary.
Now, the very next thing that happens Jesus stays in Bethany
overnight. And then the next time we hear
from Jesus in, John, it's the triumphal entry.
The next day, it's Palm Sunday and Jesus comes into Jerusalem.
Now, where do we find this? In the catechism of the Catholic
church. Or in other words, how does the
Catholic Church understand this passage?
And how does it develop, theology?
We only have one reference to it and that's in paragraph 2449.
So that's in the section about how Christians should have a
love for the poor. And you can probably predict
what part of the passage that's going to focus on.
So I'll read out this entire paragraph because it takes a
really interesting and makes a really interesting application
of what Jesus says about Paul. All people in John, chapter 12
here, beginning with the Old Testament, all kinds of
juridical measures such as the Jubilee year of forgiveness, of
deaths, prohibition of loans, at interest and the keeping of
collateral the obligation to tithe the daily payment of the
day. Laborer the right tickling Vines
and Fields all answer. The exaltation of Deuteronomy
for the poor will never cease out of the land.
Therefore I command. You you shall open wide your
hand to your brother. To the needy and to the poor in
the land. Jesus makes these words his own
quote the poor you will always have with you but you do not
always have me unquote in so do in so doing he does not soften
the vehemence of the former oracle's against buying the poor
for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
But rather invites us to recognize his own presence in
the poor who are his brethren. When her mother approached her
for caring for the poor and the sick at home st.
Rose of Lima said to her. When we serve the poor and the
sick, we serve Jesus, we must not fail to help our neighbors
because in them, we serve Jesus. So the Catholic Church tells us
that in a sense when Jesus, he is says, you will not always
have the poor, but you will always have me.
He is in a sense identifying himself with the poor, so that
whenever we serve the poor, we Actually are serving Jesus as
well. So that's a really interesting
connection from the passage. So, I'll put that full catechism
reference in the show notes as well.
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