14 STIRRING THE POT AT A PARTY

14

Stirring the Pot at a Party

So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?" But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. "But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people or the people may riot."

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor.

While he Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. A woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard, which she broke the jar and she poured the perfume on his head as he was reclining at the table. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

When the disciples saw this, some of those present, they were indignant, saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste? Why this waste of perfume?" they asked. "This perfume, it could have been sold at a high price, for more than a year's wages. And they rebuked her harshly. {And} one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor." (John 11:53-John 12:5, Mark 14: 1-5, Matthew 26:3-9)

I hear this cliché a lot: "No good deed goes unpunished". I don't particularly accept it, but in this case it seemed to happen. Jesus traveled to Bethany to raise His departed friend and ended up an outlaw with a price on His head.

So with the Passover coming a lot of people were looking for Him, wondering if he would come. I imagine there was quite the buzz by this time, especially with the recent raising of a dead man. Then Jesus finally came down and He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to a crowd waving palms, many ready to crown Him their king, and others thinking about what award they might get if they could somehow turn Him over to the Sanhedrin. On this visit a lot is going on and somewhere during all the hubbub, He is given a dinner party in His honor back in Bethany.

Something happens at this dinner party. It starts off normal enough. Jesus and the other guests are reclining at the table, as was the norm for the times. Lazarus is also reclining near Jesus. We must remember those plotting to kill Jesus were also plotting to kill Lazarus, too. We have here our last mention of Martha, only two words, "Martha served". As I said, things seem to be as usual. But then Mary rushes in with a very expensive alabaster jar of Nard, a kind of perfume. She breaks the jar and pours some of the Nard on Jesus head and then dropping to the floor, she puts it on His feet and wipes them with her hair.

I have seen where some have said her act was the anointing of Jesus as our priest. Remember Jesus Christ is not his name. His name is Jesus; Christ is a title. It is the Greek (Christos = "creamy", "greased"; not to be confused with Crisco, which was an acronym for crystallized cottonseed oil) equivalent to the Hebrew Messiah and generally translated "the Anointed". They point out Jesus was not anointed and this act was the supplement. (But then so could it be said of the earlier and similar event where the sinful woman also poured perfume upon Him at a dinner.)

However, this could not be such a thing at all because it would have been a sacrilege and Mary would have been ostracized from her people. The Law required a special blend of perfume be created for anointing the Priests, not Nard, and it had to be applied by a priest. It could not be used by anyone else. 'This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. Do not pour it on men's bodies and do not make any oil with the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.' Exodus 30: 31-33

We also must remember something else. Jesus was not a Levite; He was not of the priestly tribe. Jesus was a very special, very different priest, a priest like that mysterious character named Melchizedek, who was both a priest and a king, and who preceded the Law. Jesus was also not anointed under the Law or by men. He was anointed by God.

"You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." Acts 10: 37-38.

There is, I suppose, a case to make that this was an anointing of Jesus as King. Nard was used by royalty and was used to anoint kings. But it had other purposes more germane to this circumstance.

One purpose Nard served was as a perfume sometimes included as part of a Hebrew maiden's dowry. Tradition would have it used in this manner: the bride would take her container of perfume, break it open and pour the contents on the bridegroom’s head and feet. (The use of perfume in a dowry and for anointing the bridegroom was fairly common in the Middle East throughout history. It was practiced in Ancient Egypt and perhaps this is where the Hebrews adopted it. Even today it may be found practiced in some Muslim cultures.) Mary having this expensive container of Nard may indicate she was unmarried and had this in her "hope chest" for when her betrothal occurred. She was willing to sacrifice part of her dowry then on Jesus, somewhat as a symbolic act of being wed to Him as the Church was to be the Bride of Christ.

Having this Nard again points to what we have suggested before, that the household of Martha and Mary had some above average means. The Nard may also have been a family heirloom passed down to Mary or it could have been a gift given her by her father as part of a future dowry or even security. Since inheritance of property generally went to the sons (Mary had at least one brother, Lazarus) daughters were often given valuable items in place of it, such as expensive perfume if the family could afford it.

And this was expensive perfume. "This perfume, It could have been sold at a high price, for more than a year's wages." A year’s wages for a common laborer in Jesus' time is estimated as equivalent to $15,000 to $20,000 today. Expensive, indeed, and it would not have been a great quantity. There would only been enough Nard in the jar for one application.

Nard is a perfume derived from a root found in India and has a distinctive, pleasant smell. Once extracted, it was sealed in a small container to preserve the fragrance. This "jar" would be like a small flask, with a long neck. In order to open the jar, you would break this neck and pour it out. Thus, you would only get one use from it.

The container Mary had was itself expensive. It was alabaster, which was prized as a container of perfume. Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, a First century Roman philosopher and writer) claimed "the best ointment is preserved in alabaster" [Pliny: Natural History XIII]. Alabaster is a fine-grained form of gypsum, generally white and smooth and translucent.

This was an extraordinary extravagant action taken by Mary and it is understandable some were taken aback by it. One in particular was especially indignant. Why should he care so much?

Before we address him, there was another common use of Nard, in burial. Why would dead bodies by anointed with perfume? At a time and in a place where neither embalming nor mummification was preformed the answer should be obvious. Now you might think this was also unnecessary for the Jews who buried their dead within a day, but there was another tradition that may have had some relationship to this and some significance to both the deaths of Lazarus and Jesus. There was a practice of visiting the tomb of the deceased for three days to mourn and inspect the body to assure death. " One may go out to the cemetery for three days to inspect the dead for a sign of life, without fear that this smacks of heathen practice. For it happened that a man was inspected after three days, and he went on to live twenty-five years; still another went on to have five children and died later." Tractate Semahot (Mourning) 8:1

 (Notice in light of this tradition of the three days of mourning and examining the body to verify death that Jesus waited until Lazarus had been dead four days before returning to Bethany.)

Jesus tells one and all it was for his burial that Mary made this sacrifice. We can understand those reclining at the table questioning this act, but why should we have any debate as to its purpose? Jesus didn't say she came to anoint Him a priest. He didn't say she came to anoint Him a king. He is quoted as saying, in three of the four gospels, that she did it to prepare Him for burial.

He has been explaining recently to his Apostles, to His Disciples, to the Pharisees and Sadducees and quite possibly to Mary as she sat at His feet listening that He was going to be put to death. Mary got it. Just as His raising of Lazarus pointed to His own death and resurrection and was part of God's moving toward that time, so was the anointing by Mary. What does he tell us: "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. She did what she could. When she poured this perfume on my body, beforehand, she did it to prepare me for my burial."

Why was this a beautiful thing she did for Him? Remember, the bodies of the dead were anointed with fragrant oils...except those who were put to death as criminals. It was prophesied that Christ would die a criminal's death, and so he did. What she did beforehand was by necessity and provided Him the honor that would be denied Him otherwise. Granted, the women who witnessed His crucifixion bought oils with the intent of anointing His body, but they never got to do so, did they? The body was buried with haste before the Passover Sabbath so they had no time to get the oils to do so. They purchased the ointments the next day, but then ended up waiting through the Saturday Sabbath before actually going to the tomb and then it was too late for he had risen.

But those at the dinner did not understand any of this. They were upset and angry that this woman "wasted" this precious perfume in this manner. One was especially incensed by it. "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?" he demanded to know. Perhaps a reasonable question, although this was not his property to sell or determine its use. Now, it was the custom to give gifts to the poor on Passover Eve so that possibility could have been on Judas Iscariot's mind when he asked his question or...

...maybe not.

Illustration: "Banquet of Simon of Bethany", Stained Glass. Artist unknown, c. 1520.