This is the second part of the series of articles I wrote yesterday about a story of an expensive perfume. In that post, the narrative talks about a woman from Bethany who poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet and I highlighted the theme of worship disorder to understand the narrative. Such a disorder leads to contempt for property and life that cannot be solved by economic, technological, or political means. It requires a spiritual and theological solution that should remind us to return to true worship to address these societal issues.
The Passion Week
John 12 verses 1 to 11 are very significant in the Passion Week narrative not only because we find here the last of Jesus’ public teaching before his crucifixion, but also because we are taught here that not unless the church and society realize the real essence of worship, the problem about private property and life, will never be addressed. The Holy Week narrative covers John 12 verse 1 to chapter 19 verse 42. Chapters 13 to 17 contain only Jesus' private instruction to his disciples.
The Passion Week is a significant period in the Christian liturgical calendar that commemorates the final week of Jesus' life here on earth. In that week, we read of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the introduction to the Holy Week that we celebrate in this country as the Palm Sunday. And then in the following days, we read in the gospels, of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, of Judas' betrayal, of Peter's denial, of His priestly prayer in Gethsemane, of his arrest, court trial, crucifixion, death, and burial. The Holy Week then culminates in Easter Sunday, celebrating Jesus' resurrection.
In this series, I will just cover the event that is generally neglected in the celebration of the Holy Week and John 12:1-11 talks about a perfume story.
Similarities and Differences
Before we go to the details of the story, let me just call your attention to a parallel narrative written by Matthew, also a disciple of Jesus. The passage is Matthew 26:6-16 and there are interesting similarities and differences between these two narratives:
The two narratives mentioned the same place where the perfume story took place – Bethany.
In the gospel of John, Bethany was associated with Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead whereas in the gospel of Matthew, the house where the perfume story happened was identified as owned by Simon the leper.
Another interesting difference is that in the gospel of Matthew the woman who brought the expensive perfume was not identified while in John, a certain Mary was mentioned.
One last difference is that in the gospel of John, it was only Judas Iscariot who objected to the wasteful use of the perfume whereas in Matthew, there was no mention of Judas. Instead “the disciples” were named as the ones complaining about the wasteful use of perfume.
I am not sure if we are dealing with the same story written by the two disciples, John and Matthew, or if the two disciples are sharing two different stories. However, one thing is sure. This perfume story happened before the triumphal entry of Jesus to Jerusalem.
What lessons can we learn from this perfume story?
And I will try to answer this question in the next posts.