John 12:3 — Community Reflections

JOHN 12:3 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”

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 — Mary's act of anointing Jesus is extravagant and costly: nard (nardos, spikenard) is an expensive aromatic from the Himalayas, valued at approximately a year's wages. Her wiping His feet with her hair is an act of profound humility and devotion, as uncovering the hair in public was considered improper for a respectable woman. The fragrance filling the house becomes a sensory sign of her lavish love.

Church Fathers on John 12:3

As the time approached in which our Lord had resolved to suffer, He approached the place which He had chosen for the scene of His suffering: Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany. First, He went to Bethany, then to Jerusalem; to Jerusalem to suffer, to Bethany to keep alive the recollection of the recent resurrection of Lazarus; Where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead.
Alcuin · 8th century

On the tenth day of the month they took the lamb which was to be sacrificed on the passover, and from that time began the preparation for the feast. Or rather the ninth day of the month, i.e. six days before the passover, was the commencement of the feast. They feasted abundantly on that day. Thus we find Jesus partook of a banquet at Bethany: There they made Him a supper, and Martha served. That Martha served, shows that the entertainment was in her house. See the fidelity…
Theophylact · 11th century

He lived, talked, feasted; the truth was established, the unbelief of the Jews confounded.
Augustine · 4th century

Read all 24 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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