Antithesis Between Faithfulness And Apostasy In The Circle Of Disciples Itself. The Life Feast Over Lazarus An Anticipatory Celebration Of The Death Of Jesus. The Anointing (Of The Messiah, At The Beginning Of The Six Days’ Work Of His Passion, The New Six Days’ Work For The Redemption And Glorification Of The World)
Joh_12:1-8
(Mat_26:6-16; Mar_14:3-11; Luk_22:3-6.)
1Then Jesus [therefore], six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which [who] had been dead, whom he [Jesus] raised from the dead. 2There they made him a supper [dinner]; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat [reclined] at the table with him. 3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of [pure] spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped [dried] his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of 4the ointment. Then saith [Judas Iscariot] one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son [omit Simon’s son], which should betray him [who was about to betray him], 5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence [denâries],6and given to the poor? This [however] he said, not that [because] he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag [kept the purse], and bare 7[laid hold of, took away] what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this [Suffer her that she may keep this for (or, until) the day of my burial].8For the poor always ye have [ye have always] with you; but me ye have not always.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Joh_12:1. Jesus therefore came.—The
ïὖí
is certainly not designed merely to resume the story of Jesus (Meyer); neither does it declare simply that Jesus went consciously and freely to meet death (Luthardt). It is preparatory to the fact that Jesus Himself showed Himself to the Sanhedrists in the most public manner. The edict commanding that information should be given of the hidden Jesus, was answered by Him with the palm-entry. (Starke, from harmonistic interest, supposes two anointings in Bethany, one at the house of Simon, two days before the Passover, the other at the house of Lazarus, six days before the Passover.)
Six days before the Passover.—See Comm. on Matt., John 26 [Am., ed, p. 454 ff., and Robinson’s Harmony, pp. 207 and 212 ff.—P. S.] The 15th of Nisan was the dying day of Jesus, a Friday; six days before, therefore, was the Sabbath (the 9th of Nisan). We learn here that a day intervened between the departure of Jesus from Ephraim (and Jericho) and the palm-entry on Sunday; this day is passed over by the Synoptists, who place the palm-entry in immediate connection with the departure from Jericho. In accordance with the more exact statement of John, we must suppose that Jesus left Jericho on Friday, in company with the festive caravan, and arrived in the neighborhood of the Mount of Olives. Here they rested during the Sabbath. On the evening of that day, after the legal Sabbath time, the meal was prepared for Him at which the anointing occurred.
Upon the difference which Meyer and others pretend to discover between John and the Synoptists see the Comm. on Matthew; see the same on the motives which induced the Synoptists to transpose chronologically the story of the anointing, and make it introductory to the history of the Passion.
Meyer reckons with Ewald from the 14th back to the 8th of Nisan; he also asserts, however, that it was a Sabbath, in accordance with the false assumption that Jesus died on the 14th of Nisan, and yet on a Friday. Grotius, Tholuck, Wieseler and others fix upon Friday, because the law regulating a Sabbath day’s journey forbids the arrival in Bethany on the Sabbath. Hence, according to Tholuck, the feast was on Friday evening. But certainly the caravan of pilgrims to the feast might be encamped on the Sabbath around the Mount of Olives, and thus extend itself into the vicinity of Bethany. Theophylact and Lücke are in favor of the 9th Nisan. Others reckon it to have been Sunday (De Wette) others Monday (Baur). The matter is confused by prejudice respecting the difference between John and the Synoptists, and by the different ways of reckoning,—from the 14th or 15th Nisan. (Upon the calculation of this date see Jacobi, Stud. u. Kritik. 1838, No. 4; Wieseler, Chronol., p. 377; Wichelhaus, Leidensgeschichte, p. 147.)
The trajectio verborum
ðñὸ ἓî ἡìåñῶí
instead of
ἓî ἡìÝñáéò ðñü
seems to have been made for the sake of emphasis: perchance, before the great six days’ work or Hexaëmeron of this passover.
Where Lazarus was.—Made prominent as a continual living sign of the glory of Jesus; also in particular as a motive for the anointing of Mary, for the palm-entry, and for the hatred of the Sanhedrin.
Joh_12:2. There they made Him a dinner (feast).—See the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark. The Jews were fond of giving entertainments at the close of the Sabbath. The following points in John’s statement are characteristic:
1. The representation of the feast as a festive celebration of the raising of Lazarus in the circle of the brother and sisters of Bethany.
2. The distinct delineation of the three,—Lazarus sits with the guests; he is therefore perfectly well; Martha serves at table, in accordance with her way, and as hostess; Mary glorifies the feast by the extraordinary anointing.
3. The manner of the anointing. “A vase of precious ointment,” says Matthew; “of pure, precious nard,” says Mark; “a pound of ointment of pure precious nard,” says John (comp. the precise mention of the one hundred pounds of spices, Joh_19:39, and other precise accounts; for instance, Joh_21:11). According to Matthew, she anoints the head of Jesus; likewise according to Mark,—breaking the flask, however; according to Matthew, she pours it on his head,—so, too, according to Mark; John gives prominence to the fact that she anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair. Manifestly this latter item does not exclude the former ones; to John, however, this strong expression of adoration and devotion is the main point.
The trait reported by John reminds us of the anointing of the feet of Jesus by the great sinner; from this similarity, as well as from the name of Simon in Luke, some have taken occasion, utterly without ground, to identify this history with that related by Luke Joh_7:37 ff. Furthermore John mentions that the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
4. John, who gives the most explicit account of the act of Mary, pursues the same course with regard to the censure encountered by that act. According to Matthew, the disciples were angry,—according to Mark, some had indignation,—according to John, one of the disciples, Judas, Simon’s son, the Iscariot, lifted up his voice. It is John alone, too, who distinctly characterizes Judas as a thief. We arrive at the conclusion that the murmuring originated with Judas, that it infected some of the disciples; but that the disciples generally were, by their silence, more or less concerned in this sin. John seems best to have understood Mary who, in her feeling, was in advance of the entire circle of disciples. On the other hand, John omits the promise for Mary, that her deed should be proclaimed in all the world; he mentions, however, the exceedingly significant saying: she hath kept the ointment for this day.
Joh_12:3. A pound.—According to Olshausen, this unwonted measure of ointment employed by her was an expression of love; Meyer corrects him: she did not anoint with the pound, but from it. But John writes,—she took the pound and the house was filled with the odor; Mark writes that she broke the vase. Had not the anointing in its heroic measure given rise to the appearance of prodigality, Judas would hardly have ventured to speak, and would have still less met with assent among the disciples. “Who knows whether it was a Roman or a Greek pound? And the ancient Greek pound was but half as large as the Roman pound, while that, again, does not equal our pound.” Braune. Comp. Comm. on Matthew. p. 463, Am. Ed.
Anointed the feet.—“The anointing of the head at feasts was a customary thing, and might have been passed over by the Evangelist in order to mention the unusual demonstration of love for which the remainder of the ointment might be employed. To wash the feet with tepid water, and then to anoint them with costly oil, is mentioned in the Talmud tr. Menachoth as a duty of maid-servants.” Tholuck. Braune gives prominence to the fact, that the anointing of the feet was also particularly noticeable to John, since he reclined by the side of Jesus and the anointing of the feet took place close behind him
Joh_12:5. For three hundred denâries [i.e., between forty-five and fifty dollars gold. See Text. Note 6.—P. S.]. See Comm. on Matthew. The precise estimation is characteristic. Indicative of the wealth of the family. [Utterly inconsistent with Hengstenberg’s hypothesis of the identity of the historic Lazarus with the poor Lazarus of the parable.—P. S.]
Joh_12:6. He kept the purse,
ãëùóóüêïìïí
, cash repository. Luther, significantly and expressively: the purse (Beutel). The common cash-box, made up by male and female disciples (Luk_8:3), to supply the common wants. Alms for the poor likewise (Joh_13:29) were of course taken from this coffer. This keeping of the cash must have been connected with a corresponding talent possessed by Judas; that talent, however, was, in its turn, connected with the temptation that made him a thief; and thus a connection exists between his chiliastic views of the kingdom of Christ and the despondency which led him to turn traitor (see Comm. on Matthew, John 10). He proved himself a thief by his management of the coffer. He laid hold of what was put therein. He put aside for himself a portion of what others offered.
ÂáóôÜæåéí
may mean: he bore, kept (portabat) what was donated (Vulgate, Luther, Lücke, etc., Luthardt), [De Wette, Alford, Ebrard, Hengstenberg, Ewald, Godet], and he bore away, stole (aufcrebat), he abstracted the deposits (Origen, Nonnus and others, Meyer). Stress has been laid upon the article, as opposed to the latter view. It is inconceivable that Judas should have purloined everything. Be it observed that
âáóôÜæåéí
also means to lay hold of, to touch, to handle. We adopt this intermediate signification: he laid violent hands on the money and especially on the alms. His lusting after the three hundred denâries renders him not simply heartless towards Mary’s beautiful act, but it also makes him a hypocrite.
With reference to the apparent singularity of his being intrusted by Jesus with the purse, the following considerations are to be pondered:
1. The common purse itself, doubtless, did not acquire considerable importance before the final departure from Galilee; 2. the appointment of the cashier was probably a general determination of the disciples rather than a matter with which Christ particularly concerned Himself. Compare the institution of deacons, Act_6:3. 3. The disciples must learn by experience that their reliance upon the brilliant talent of Judas—in accordance with this trust, doubtless, he was introduced by their intercession into the circle of the apostles (see Comm. on Matthew)—was even in this point premature. 4. Jesus committed the bag to him, not indeed to deprive him of all excuse for his treason (Chrysostom and others), but He committed it to him having respect to his destiny, and because such a character might better be cured by confidence than by mistrust. 5. We are guilty of a wondrous over-estimation of the cashiership in relation to the apostolic dignity, if we think that a man intrusted with the former is beset with greater difficulties than one upon whom the latter is conferred. The Lord in a measure intrusted Judas with Himself and His life; it was a small thing for Him to commit the money-bag to his keeping. So the grand question would again be: wherefore He called him (hereupon comp. Leben Jesu, II. p. 693 and 700). Since Jesus could venture to have Judas for His apostle, He might well risk having him for His cashier. 6. The history, it is probable, was also intended to be expressive of the standard by which the purse was here estimated in relation to higher good things, and it should be a significant warning to the Church not to reckon upon the security of an accumulation of external church-property.
Joh_12:7. That she may keep this [
ôçñÞóç
, spoken proleptically, and therefore, like all similar expressions of our Lord, somewhat enigmatically] for the day of my burial.—See the Textual Notes. We do not understand the reading of Lachmann as Meyer does: Let her alone that she may (not give this oil, a portion of which she has just used to anoint My feet, to the poor, but) keep it for the day of My embalming. Meyer means, namely, on the actual day of burial. In this we can detect nought of the “odor of the ointment.” The sense is: Permit her to keep the ointment (which she might already have used at the burial of Lazarus and which would not keep well in thy bag) for the day of My burial (which is now ideally present with the outbreak of thy malignity). In this we, at the same time, read the declaration that she, though without being clearly conscious of His approaching death, did entertain a foreboding presentiment of it and offered this great sacrifice of love as her farewell to Him. Baumgarten-Crusius: Suffer her, that she may have kept; Luthardt: that she has reserved. These explanations too are grammatically proper in the sense: leave her this, do not grudge her this,—that she has kept it and is even now saving it from your bag for the anointing of My body unto death. We are of opinion that the
ôçñåῖí
also contains an allusion to the infidelity of Judas; a reference which, as well as the numerous authorities, recommends this reading; and we deny the need for the explanation that the reading originated in the necessity for meeting the objection urging the later occurrence of the embalming (Lücke.)
Joh_12:8. For the poor,etc. See Com. on Matthew on the same passage.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See the Comm. on Matthew and Mark. The anointing of the Messiah, the Anointed One, previous to His public procession as the Messiah and entry into Jerusalem: (1) By whom anointed? The Christ by a grateful, presageful Christian woman. (2) Wherewith anointed? With flowing ointment, with precious balm, the offering of devoted love. (3) How anointed? On the head and feet. The hair which adorned the head of His disciple, appropriated to His service. (4) Whereunto anointed? To His high-priestly sacrificial death as the completion of His life-work (to the six days’ work of His Passion, as the preliminary condition of His Sabbath). With a foreboding presentiment, half consciously, half unconsciously, well known to the Spirit of God.
2. The six days before the Passover (until the death of Jesus) the six days of Christ’s great toil and labor. Comp. Isa_63:1 ff. and the symbolism of the number six in Joh_2:6.
3. The post-celebration of the raising of Lazarus at the same time the pre-celebration of the death of Jesus. This connection makes the death of Jesus appear in a peculiar sense a sacrifice for His friends and His friend in Bethany.
4. The festive celebration of the Bethanian family in honor of the Lord a symbol of the feasts of the living communion in the Church, and of the heavenly feast.
5. The involuntary similarity in the anointing of the great disciple and that of the great sinner [Luk_7:36.—P. S.] The contrast and its equalization. The disciple as a sinner,—the sinner as a disciple,—at the feet of Jesus.—If the washing of a pilgrim’s feet denoted the termination of the little journey of a day, so the anointing of the feet of Jesus with oil might be indicative of the end of His glorious life-pilgrimage. Thus too did the great sinner anoint the feet of Jesus, wetting them with her tears—those feet which had drawn near to rescue her. But in our anointing there is a predominant reference forwards, to the death of Jesus, in accordance with His explanation.
6. The contrast between the heavenly offering and life-portrait of Mary and the hellish malice and death-portrait of Judas. Faith’s half-conscious presentiment of the death of Jesus and of its import, within the breast of Mary. The already half-conscious thought of the betrayal to death in the soul of Judas. The evangelic hearty acquiescence of Mary in the Passion of Christ. The anti-christian self-will of Judas in his obduracy. The deed of the innermost heart and the words of the outermost hypocrisy. Over against the first ripe Christian woman stands the first ripe anti-christ. Heaven and hell in their manifestations drawn up in close opposition.
7. The silence of Mary, the speech of Jesus.
8. Christ suffers no sort of hypocrisy to obtain dominion in His Church; neither hypocrisy of prayer nor of fasting, nor humanistic eleemosynary hypocrisy.
9. The doctrine of Judas is at bottom self-destroying. If every one should sell the precious ointment, in order to give it to the poor, it would be rendered worthless. Judas must therefore assume: the ointment is too good for Christ; it is for people of higher rank, or the moment is not one of sufficient importance. Pauperism.
10. Antithesis between the fixed affairs and exercises in the kingdom of God and the unique, irrecoverable moments; and the subordination of the former to the latter.
11. An evangelic flash of light, illuminating the subject of church-property, the temptations of administration and the dangers of an increase of property in the common treasury (see Act_5:1).
12. The gradual hardening of Judas at the two feasts of the glory and grace of Christ. Great operations of grace are succeeded in false minds by a great reaction of wickedness.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
In what way Jesus, upon the edict of the Sanhedrin commanding that information should be given against Him, Himself appears by making the palm-entry into Jerusalem.—The six workdays or Passion-days of Christ until Easter.—The feast at Bethany or the trio (Lazarus and his sisters) in three different meetings with the Lord: 1. The visit of Jesus: Lazarus probably at his business, Martha serving, Mary learning at Jesus’ feet [Luke 10]. 2. The return of Jesus: Lazarus in the grave, Martha busy about the grave of Lazarus, Mary with her tears at the feet of Jesus [John 11]. 3. The departure of Jesus: Lazarus at the table, participating in the feast, Martha the festive hostess, Mary with the costly ointment at Jesus’ feet [John 12]. Or: 1. The school of the word; 2. the battle-ground of distress; 3. the feast of salvation.—The festival in Bethany compared with the festival of the Lord’s Supper. Agreement, difference.—The house was filled with the odor of the ointment.—The anointing in its signification: 1. The expression of the most heartfelt gratitude, 2. of the most solemn veneration and homage, 3. of the deepest humility, 4. of the most devoted love, 5. of the holiest sorrow, 6. of the boldest confidence.—How Mary by her spirit of sacrifice manifests her budding courage in the face of the cross and death.—The discipless, a ripe Christian heart, uncomprehended even in the circle of the disciples, and in advance of most of the disciples.—Mary and Judas.—The two in their participation in the death of Jesus.—Self-denial, in its heavenly brilliance, over against selfishness, in hellish darkness.—The connection of fanaticism and avarice in the soul of Judas (after the prelude of Balaam).—How the secrets of hell come to light face to face with the secrets of heaven.—The Lord’s defence of Mary in its eternal signification: 1. A defence of a festive spirit in opposition to hypocritical sadness, 2. of great love-offerings in opposition to a hypocritical reckoning, 3. of holy spending (prodigality) in opposition to a hypocritical pauperism.—The perception of the unique moments of life.—The censure of Judas, merely as a rude disturbance of the feast, immoral and reprehensible; on the other hand, the reproof of Christ gentle, mild, in accordance with the festive spirit and intelligible in its hidden sharpness to the disturber of the peace alone.—The separation between Christ and the poor made by Judas, was opposed to the spirit of Christ (see Mat_25:35). For: 1. In the true veneration of Christ consists the most effectual caring for the poor; 2. true care for the poor ministers to Christ in the poor.—While, therefore, Christ accedes to the separation of Judas, He at the same time pronounces His judgment upon the false, externalized care of the poor. (Externalized poverty itself is forever at your heels; it is inexterminable; but Christ, meanwhile, is vanishing from you).—The contradiction in the censure of Judas. If Christ should not be anointed with the precious ointment, who then should? People of rank? Manifestly, the Lord has grown small and poor in his sight, and the polite world rich and great.—The offence of Judas: 1. The fair, festive joy augments his gloom, 2. the celebration of the honor of Jesus his envy, 3. the princely munificence his avarice, 4. the mild reproof his exasperation against Him, 5. the heavenly calmness with which Jesus saw through him the dark self-confusion in which he surrendered himself to the influences of Satan.—The false antithesis which Judas makes between Christ and the poor: 1. It asperses the Lord; 2. it asperses poverty.—A prelude to pauperism.—The judgment upon this pauperism: 1. It loses the Christ; 2. it retains the poor.—How the spirit of Christ is victorious over the disturbances of the feast.
Starke: Zeisius: Though Christ gave place for a time to the rage of His enemies, He, nevertheless, returns in accordance with His divine vocation; duty, therefore, must not be abandoned by a teacher or by any Christian on account of danger.—Hedinger: Love spares no expense.—Canstein: All Christ’s friends, when they have been awakened by Him, sup with Him in the kingdom of grace (Rev_3:20), and when He shall have aroused them from bodily death at the last day, they shall sit with Him at His table in the kingdom of glory, Luk_16:22; Luk_22:30.—That which is spent on Christ is not wasted but well employed.—Cramer: Even in extreme persecution God does not leave His own without comfort and refreshment.—A friend of Christ gladly lays out all that he has, even to the very choicest of his possessions, in testimony of his love to his Saviour.—Nothing more shameful than ingratitude.—Zeisius: Hypocrites always find something to censure in the works and conduct of honest Christians.—Ibid.: Judas is a true type of wicked church-patrons, directors, managers of ecclesiastical estates, who, under cover of all sorts of specious reasons, secure to themselves the funds, benefices and revenues and do not restore them).—Christ espouses the cause of His people and defends them faithfully.—Piscator: Men, impelled by the Holy Ghost, frequently perform an important action without comprehending its significance.
Braune: What a feast was that where the noble Simon, gratefully rejoicing in his health, was host; Lazarus, the visible trophy of life’s triumph over death; friend Martha, personating business-like alacrity, is the waitress; but where Mary, as thoughtful love, brings precious oil, and Jesus, the Son of God, going to a death upon the cross, appears as guest, to refresh Himself on the way! Here is a table prepared for Him in the presence of His enemies, and His head is anointed with oil,Psa_23:5.—To John, Bethany is as one house, and families friendly to Jesus (the house of Simon the leper, the house of Lazarus and his sisters) are as one family.—1Ti_6:10.—Like Mary, prevent death, that death may not prevent thee and cut off thine opportunity.—Gossner: Mary. With her what was outward proceeded from within, as it always should be.—The odor of her ointment, etc. How the glorious odor of the gospel fills all Christendom, and particularly the house of a heart that receives it.—Judas betrayed that he would rather have money in his purse than his Saviour in his heart.—Yes, to such lengths do abuses go that the thief, avarice, covetousness, the devil, steals into the apostolic college.—Ointments were preserved among the household treasures until burial.—It is true that we have Jesus always with us in the poor, but His presence with us is not always to be felt. Therefore when He discloses Himself so perceptibly, as if we saw Him, as if He were corporeally and visibly present, we must profit by this occasion and not forsake Him for the sake of outside works that can be performed at another time.
Schleiermacher: The human kindliness and pleasantness of the Redeemer.—As Christians, who have become what they are by the death of the Lord, death itself must remain a something continually present to us all. But gladsomeness of heart is just what turns even the continual thought of death into something that does not annoy us in the cheerful moments of social life.—Mallet: The odor of the ointment. Thus the house had suddenly become the very opposite of the grave (there a savor of mould,—here a savor of life).—The days of glory and the cross in Jerusalem stand in the closest connection with the occurrences in Bethany.
[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_12:6. Judas was already a thief, and followed our Lord in body, not in heart: wherein we are taught the duty of tolerating wicked men in the Church (for a season.—E. R. C.)—It is not surprising that Judas who was accustomed to steal money from the bag, should betray our Lord for money.—In the person of Judas are represented the wicked in the Church.—From Alcuin: Joh_12:1. As the time approached in which our Lord had resolved to suffer, He approached the place He had chosen for the scene of His suffering.
Joh_12:2. The Lord’s Supper is the faith of the Church working by love.—Martha serveth, whenever a believing soul devotes itself to the worship of the Lord.—Lazarus is one of them that sit at table when those who have been raised from the death of sin, rejoice together with the righteous, in the presence of truth, and are fed with the gifts of heavenly grace.——From Burkitt: Joh_12:1. Our Lord’s example teaches us that although we are bound by all lawful means to preserve ourselves from the violence of persecutors, yet when God’s time for our suffering is come we ought to set our faces cheerfully toward it.
Joh_12:3. When strong love prevails in the heart nothing is adjudged too dear for Christ.
Joh_12:4-6. How does a covetous heart think every thing too good for Christ.
Joh_12:5-7. Men may, through ignorance or prejudice, censure those actions which God commends.——From M. Henry: Joh_12:1. As there is a time when we are allowed to shift for our own preservation, so there is a time when we are called to jeopard our lives for God.
Joh_12:2. Martha served: Our Lord had formerly reproved her for being troubled with much serving, she did not therefore leave off all serving as some who being reproved for one extreme run into another.—Better a waiter at Christ’s table than a guest at the table of a prince.—Lazarus—sat at the table with Him: Those whom Christ has raised up to a spiritual life, are made to sit together with Him,Eph_2:6
Joh_12:3. The act of Mary manifested a love—1. generous, 2. condescending (self-humbling), 3. believing.—God’s Anointed (Messiah) should be our Anointed—with the ointment of our best affections (and service). Honors done to Christ are to God and men an offering of a sweet smelling savor.
Joh_12:4. It is possible for the worst of men to lurk under the disguise of the best profession.
Joh_12:4-5. Coldness of love to Christ in professors of religion is a sad presage of final apostasy.
Joh_12:5. Here is—1. a foul iniquity gilded over with a specious pretence; 2. worldly wisdom passing censure on pious zeal; 3. charity to the poor made a color for opposing an act of piety to Christ.—Many excuse themselves for laying out in charity, under pretence of laying up for charity.—Proud men think all ill advised who do not advise with them.
Joh_12:6. Judas the purse-bearer: Strong inclinations to sin within, are often furnished with strong temptations to sin without.—He was a thief: The reigning love of money is heart-theft, as much as anger and revenge are heart-murder.—Judas who betrayed his trust, soon after betrayed his Master.
Joh_12:7. Against the day of My burying hath she kept this: Providence often so affords opportunity to Christians that the expressions of their pious zeal prove to be more seasonable and beautiful than any foresight of their own could make them.
Joh_12:8. The good which may be done at any time, ought to give way to that which cannot be done but just now.——From Stier: Joh_12:4-5. The censure of Judas echoed by the other Apostles (see Mat_26:8-9; Mar_14:4; also the ye of Joh_12:8): 1. “Censure infects like a plague;” 2. Could we but know the wicked origin of many of the judgments which we thoughtlessly echo, the Judas-heart from which springs many of the current criticisms of books and things (and men)—how should we recoil from them!—An example of those views and judgments which have their foundation in the principle of utilitarianism falsely applied—1. to the wounding of pious hearts; 2. to the damage of that justifiable cultus which, (1) aims worthily to express the sentiments of reverence and love, (2) is in itself productive of highest blessing.—An example of—1. the “cold judgments passed upon the virtuous emotions of warm hearts;” 2. the more or less conscious or unconscious censures of the artless outgoings of honest feelings; 3. the narrow-minded criticism of others according to our own mind and temper; 4. that slavish spirit which metes out all good works by rigid rule.
Joh_12:7-8 (see also Mat_26:10-13; Mar_14:6-9). Christ’s affectionate and sympathetic justification of the wounded Mary;—1. He surpasses the blame of the disciples by His own instant praise and consolation; 2. Behold the moral æsthetics in the estimation of human acts which He teaches and requires—He commends the deed as deriving its value from the state of the soul thereby expressed; 3. He corrects the errors of human judgment as to what is great and noble in human works—the greatness of the result gives them not their value, but the intention; 4. Observe the deepest ground of His verdict—she hath done it unto Me (Matt. and Mark)—love for Him (for God) the first, and most essential regulating measure of all good and lovely works.—Be confident, misunderstood soul—He knows thee and thy purpose; even if His disciples blame, He will justify thee both now and hereafter.
Joh_12:7. The beautiful work (
êáëὸí ἔñãïí
) of love elevated, interpreted and glorified into a prophetic act; Jesus establishes from its providential significance its moral propriety. (?)
Joh_12:8. No agragrian law can abolish the poverty which is ever being reproduced; we must, indeed, give with the wisdom of charity, but without hoping that giving will make poverty cease.—From Barnes: Joh_12:6. He was a thief and had the bag: Every man is tried according to his native propensity—the object of trial is to bring out a man’s native character.
Joh_12:4-6. Learn that—1. it is no new thing for members of the Church to be covetous; 2. such members will be those who complain of the great waste in spreading the gospel; 3. this passion will work all evil in a Church (even the betrayal of our Lord, Joh_12:4).—From Williams: Joh_12:3-5. Observe the nature of the action selected by our Lord as the one above all others that should receive an earthly memorial (Mat_26:13); it was—1. wrought in a private room; 2. an expression of loving, reverential thanksgiving; 3. not to please men, but for the simple purpose of doing honor to Jesus.
Joh_12:5. But for the reproof of Judas the costliness of Mary’s offering had not been known and honored—the evil eye (and tongue) of the wicked serves to do honor to God’s servants.—From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh_12:3. Can we wonder at the love of Mary? Lazarus was at the table!
Joh_12:2-3. Christ at the table with the Leper who was cleansed (Mat_26:6) and with the dead man whom He had raised to life—a figure of His Church when he who is cleansed and he who is raised from the death of sin, sit with Christ, and eat and drink in His kingdom which is filled with the odor of His Death.—(Altered from Williams).
Joh_12:5-7. The offering of Mary the most expensive she could procure: Our Lord’s commendation is—1. the abiding warrant for munificence on every similar occasion; 2. the perpetual rebuke of those who think that anything is good enough for the House of God, while they deny themselves in no luxury at home.
Joh_12:6. Christ suffered Judas to remain amongst the Apostles—teaching us not to look for a Church (or a ministry) where all shall be saints.
Joh_12:8. The poor always with the Church, in order that His people may always show them kindness for His sake.—From Ryle: Joh_12:2. The supper a type of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Joh_12:5. A specimen of the way in which wicked men often try to depreciate a good action, by suggesting that something better might have been done.
Joh_12:6. Multitudes, like Judas, excuse themselves from one class of duties by pretended zeal for others—they compensate neglecting Christ’s cause by affecting concern for the poor.—It is the successors of Mary and not of Judas who really care for the poor.—He was a thief, and yet an Apostle—privileges alone convert nobody.—A man may go far in Christian profession without inward grace.
Joh_12:7. Christians do not always know the full meaning of what they do—God uses them as His instruments.
Joh_12:8. The existence of pauperism is no proof that States are ill governed or that Churches are not doing their duty.—Relieving the poor is not so important a work as doing honor to Christ. (During His absence from us is He not honored by our ministering to the poor (Mat_25:40; Mat_25:45)?—E. R. C.)
Joh_12:8. Me ye have not always: These words overthrow the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation.—From Owen: Joh_12:4-5 (in connection with Mat_26:8; Mar_14:4). How pernicious, even upon good men, may be the example and influence of one, who with apparently charitable motive decries the benevolence that would surrender all for Christ.—The Evangelist does not seek to cover up the disgrace brought upon the family of Christ by having cherished so long in its number this bad man: it is thus (by their honesty) that the sacred writers manifest the truthfulness of their statements.
Joh_12:8. The inference is clear that it is a Christian duty to relieve the wants of the poor.]
Footnotes:
Joh_12:1.—[In Cod. Sin. B. L. X.
ὁ ôåèíçêὠò
is wanting, on which account Lachmann and Alford have bracketed the words, and Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort have omitted them. Probably this purposely significant term was employed as expressive of the fact that a man who had lately been dead did, by means of the miracle of Christ, appear as one of the guests at the feast. It is, however, superfluous, the fact being sufficiently indicated without it.—P. S.]
Joh_12:1.—[Tischendorf, Alford, etc., read
Ἰçóïῦò
in accordance with Sin. A. B. D. e.g., etc. The text. rec. omits it.—P. S.]
Joh_12:2.—[
äåῖðíïí
should perhaps be better translated dinner or feast, than supper, for it was the chief meal of the Jews, as also of the Greeks and Romans, taken after the work and heat of the day early in the evening and often prolonged into the night.
ἄñéóôïí
is breakfast, lunch.—P. S.]
Joh_12:3.—[
ἐêìÜóóù
or
ἐêìÜôôù
, to wipe off, to wipe dry, in poets and later prose writers, for the Attic
ἀðïìüñãíõìé
and
ἐîïìüñãíõìé
.—P. S.]
Joh_12:4.—Instead of
Ἰïýäáò Óßìùíïò
̓
Éóêáñéþôçò
in accordance with Codd. A. Q. and the Recepta, Tischendorf simply reads
Ἰóêáñ
. in accordance with Cod. B. and several minuscules.
Óßìùíïò
appears doubtful, being now become superfluous. Omitted also from the Sin. [Tischendorf, ed. 8, Alford, Westcott and Hort read
Éïῦäáò ὁ Ἰóêáñéþôçò
, without
Óßìùíïò
.—P. S.]
Joh_12:6.—[A
äçíÜñéïí
(Lat. denarius=10 asses), a Roman coin, is equal to the Attic drachma, about 15 or 17 cents of our money. Three hundred denarii therefore are about £9 16s. sterling, or from 45 to 50 Am. dollars. The E. V. gives a very false idea of the value of this ointment. Dimes or shillings (in the New York sense) would come nearer.—P. S.]
Joh_12:7.—Instead of
åἰò ôὴí ἡìÝñáí ôïῦ ἐíôáöéáóìïῦ ôåôÞñçêåí
[hath kept]
áὐôü
(comp. Mar_14:8), Lachmann and Tischendorf [Alford, Westcott and Hort] read in accordance with
à
. B. D. K. L. and others, Vulgate and other translations and Fathers:
ἵíá åἰò ôὴí ἡìÝñáí ôïῦ ἐíôáöéáóìïῦ ô çñÞóῃ
[may keep]. The Sin. likewise.
Joh_12:8.—The eighth verse is wanting in Cod. D. “and might be suspected of having been introduced from Mat_26:11; Mar_14:7, if it came before
ἄöåò
, and the characteristic order of the words were the same as in the Synoptists (
ðÜíôïôå
first).” Meyer. Here, however, the complete preponderance of Codd. is alone decisive in favor of the verse. [Tischendorf, ed. 8, Alford and Westcott and Hort retain it.—P. S.]
[
ðñὸ ἓî ἡìåñῶí ôïῦ ðÜó÷á
, instead of
ἓî ἡìÝñáéò ðñὸ ôïῦ ðÜó÷á
, is no Latinism (ante six dies, instead of six dies ante pascha), but very frequent in later Greek writers (Philo, Josephus, Plutarch, Appian, etc.), see Winer, p. 518 f., 7th ed. The same combination is formed with
ìåôÜ
, and in local specifications, comp. Joh_11:18,
ὡò ἀðὸ óôáäßùí äåêáðÝíôå
. Greswell (as quoted by Alford) defines the expression to be exclusive of the period named as the limit ad quem or a quo (according as
ðñü
or
ìåôÜ
may be used), but inclusive of the day or month or year of the occurrence specified.—P. S.]
[Wordsworth: “This Supper at Bethany was probably on the Sabbath before-is death. It was on a Sabbath—the Sabbath before that great Sabbath, on which Christ rested in the grave and fulfilled the Sabbath, and prepared the grave as a place of rest for all who pass from this life in His faith and fear.” He also allegorizes on the meaning of Bethany, a house of passage, as prefiguring the passage to the spiritual banquet in Paradise.—P. S.]
[The Greek
ëßôñá
, the Latin libra, a pound, was adopted into the Aramaic, and is found in the Rabbinical writings as equivalent to a mina (see Friedlieb, Archäol. der Leidensgesch., p. 33, quoted by Alford). The Roman libra was divided into 12 ounces, and was equivalent to nearly 12 ounces avoirdupois—P. S.]
[Lit., a tongue-box (from
ãëþóóá
and
êïìἑù
) or reed-case for keeping the tongues or mouth-pieces of pipes and flutes; then any kind of chest, or box, or pouch, or purse for money. Found only in late writers. Mark the striking contrast between the money-box of Judas and the alabaster box of Mary, his thirty pieces of silver and her three hundred denâries, his love of money and her liberality, his hypocritical profession of concern for the poor and her noble deed for the Lord, his wretched end and her blessed memory throughout the Christian world to the end of time.—P. S.]
[Meyer, while substantially agreeing with Lange, objects that
âáóôÜæåéí
means to seize only in the literal sense of
øçëáöᾶí
(Suidas).—P. S.]
