Mary’s Preparation

Whenever I read through the last days of Jesus Christ’s life I was always struck by the woman who poured the perfume over Him. In both Matthew and Luke’s accounts she is nameless but yet Jesus states that her deeds will be remembered, “13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”” Matthew 26:13. It wasn’t so much that what she had done that made me take notice of these passages, but more of the fact that she knew that Jesus needed to be anointed and prepared for the grave. I had always wondered how she would know this, but simply chalked it up to God directing her steps. While this is certainly true, it recently came to my attention how this woman would know that Jesus needed to be prepared for burial yet she was not worried that He would rise again.

To understand this better, we need to identify who this woman is. As mentioned above, both Mathew and Luke do not name her. However, if you read the book of John you can find out her identity. “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.” John 11:1-2. The three names mentioned in this passage should be easily remembered. Who hasn’t heard the story of Mary and Martha, the two sisters who hosted Jesus Christ in their home. It was Martha who demanded that Jesus tell her sister, Mary, to help her prepare the meal; Mary instead was listening to Jesus speak, Luke 10:38-42. The third person mentioned is Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead in John 11:1-46.

Now that we have identified the woman who began to prepare Jesus for His coming burial, we can look at her actions a little bit more.

“6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. 8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Matthew 26:6-13

This scenario occurs not long before Judas goes to the priest to betray Jesus. I had always wondered why it was necessary that she pour the perfume over his head. John Henry describes it this way in his commentary about this passage, “This was as it were the embalming of his body; because the doing of that after his death would be prevented by his resurrection, it was therefore done before; for it was fit that it should be done some time, to show that he was still the Messiah, even when he seemed to be triumphed over by death. The disciples thought the ointment wasted, which was poured upon his head.” Perhaps during her time sitting at Jesus’s feet and learning from Him, Mary understood that Jesus would have to be crucified for our sins. I believe that it was God the Father who led her to perform this action at this time, Mary would have no way of knowing that in just a short time Jesus would stand trial and be sent to the cross. However, as an act of acknowledging that He was the Messiah, Mary made preparations for His death.

But why would Mary act this way? After all, even the disciples were unable to understand that Jesus must die and rise again, “31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise from the dead. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but on man’s.”” Mark 8:31-33. I believe the answer as to why Mary did not doubt Jesus’s words can be found in the situation around her brother Lazarus.

This recounting can be found in John 11. We see that Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. We can see that Jesus held Mary and Martha in high regards, “5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” John 11:5 so why then would He wait two days before setting out to see them? “6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.” John 11:6. We have seen through other miraculous healings that Jesus did not need to be present for those who were ill to be healed, just look at the account of the Roman soldier in Luke 7:1-10 or the royal official and his son in John 4:43-54.

Upon receiving notice that Lazarus was ill Jesus could have quite simply healed him at that instant. So why would He wait two days before going to see this family that He loved? At the risk of sounding cliché, Jesus was fulfilling God’s plan by arriving when He did. By the time that Jesus arrived at Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days (John 11:17). When Mary and Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, they both questioned Him stating that if He had been there Lazarus would not have died. Jesus responds to them this way “23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[a] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”” John 11:23-27. Jesus then goes to the tomb that Lazarus was buried and asks for those there to remove the stone, in which the miraculous healing of Lazarus occurs, “39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”” John 11:39-44

Now we return again to Mary pouring the perfume and preparing Jesus for His burial. We have already asked how did Mary come to the conclusion that Jesus would need to be prepared at this time, I still hold that it was God the Father who called her to complete this task. However, why would Mary be so willing to trust in Jesus saying that He would rise again? I believe that this is really a simple answer when you look at what Jesus did for her brother Lazarus. Mary had already seen that Jesus could bring people back from the dead, it would be simple for Mary to believe that Jesus Himself would rise from His own death. By preparing Him for burial, Mary was acknowledging that He was the Messiah who had come to save all who would place their faith in Him. While she did not know how this was possible, Mary simply did what she always had done; she listened to what Jesus was saying and responded to His call.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex