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Texts -- Mark 14:1-9 (NET)

Context
The Plot Against Jesus
14:1 Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread , the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 14:2 For they said , “Not during the feast , so there won’t be a riot among the people .”
Jesus’ Anointing
14:3 Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper , reclining at the table , a woman came with an alabaster jar of costly aromatic oil from pure nard . After breaking open the jar , she poured it on his head . 14:4 But some who were present indignantly said to one another , “Why this waste of expensive ointment ? 14:5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor !” So they spoke angrily to her . 14:6 But Jesus said , “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a good service for me . 14:7 For you will always have the poor with you , and you can do good for them whenever you want . But you will not always have me ! 14:8 She did what she could . She anointed my body beforehand for burial . 14:9 I tell you the truth , wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world , what she has done will also be told in memory of her .”

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • Mary

    [ebd] Hebrew Miriam. (1.) The wife of Joseph, the mother of Jesus, called the "Virgin Mary," though never so designated in Scripture (Matt. 2:11; Acts 1:14). Little is known of her personal history. Her genealogy is given in Luke ...
    [isbe] MARY - ma'-ri, mar'-i (Maria, Mariam, Greek form of Hebrew miryam): I. DEFINITION AND QUESTIONS OF IDENTIFICATION The Name Mary in the New Testament II. MARY, THE VIRGIN 1. Mary in the Infancy Narratives 2. Mary at Cana 3. M...
    [nave] MARY 1. The mother of Jesus, Matt. 1:16; Luke 1:26-38; 2:5-19. Visits her cousin Elisabeth, Luke 1:39-56. Attends the feast at Jerusalem with her husband and her son, starts on the return, misses Jesus, seeks and finds him...

  • LORD'S SUPPER; (EUCHARIST)

    [isbe] LORD'S SUPPER; (EUCHARIST) - u'-ka-rist GENERAL || I. DEFINITION II. NEW TESTAMENT SOURCES 1. Textual Considerations 2. Narratives Compared (1) Mark (2) Matthew (3) Pauline (4) Luke 3. Other Pauline Data III. PREPARATION FO...

  • LAW IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

    [isbe] LAW IN THE NEW TESTAMENT - lo The Term "Law" Austin's Definition of Law I. LAW IN THE GOSPELS 1. The Law in the Teaching of Christ (1) Authority of the Law Upheld in the Sermon on the Mount (a) Christ and Tradition (b) Sin o...

  • MARK, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO, 2

    [isbe] MARK, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO, 2 - VI. Sources and Integrity. We have seen that, according to the testimony of the Fathers, Peter's preaching and teaching are at least the main source, and that many features of the Gospel su...

  • JESUS CHRIST, 4E1

    [isbe] JESUS CHRIST, 4E1 - E. THE PASSION WEEK--BETRAYAL, TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION Importance of the Last Events: We reach now the closing week and last solemn events of the earthly life of Jesus. The importance attached to this part ...

  • Jesus, The Christ

    [nave] JESUS, THE CHRIST. Index of Sub-topics History of; Miscellaneous Facts Concerning; Unclassified Scriptures Relating to; Ascension of; Atonement by; Attributes of; Compassion of; Confessing; Creator; Death of; Design of His...

  • SIMON (2)

    [isbe] SIMON (2) - si'-mon (Simon): (1) Simon Peter. See PETER (SIMON). (2) Another of the Twelve, Simon "the Cananean" (Mt 10:4; Mk 3:18), "the Zealot" (Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13). See CANANAEAN. (3) One of the brethren of Jesus (Mt 13:5...

  • Simon

    [ebd] the abbreviated form of Simeon. (1.) One of the twelve apostles, called the Canaanite (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:18). This word "Canaanite" does not mean a native of Canaan, but is derived from the Syriac word Kanean or Kaneniah, w...
    [nave] SIMON 1. See: Peter. 2. One of the twelve apostles. Called The Canaanite, Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:18; Zelotes, Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13. 3. A brother of Jesus, Matt. 13:55; Mark 6;3. 4. A leper. Jesus dines with, Matt. 26:6; Mark ...

  • BETHANY

    [ebd] house of dates. (1.) The Revised Version in John 1:28 has this word instead of Bethabara, on the authority of the oldest manuscripts. It appears to have been the name of a place on the east of Jordan. (2.) A village on the s...
    [isbe] BETHANY - beth'-a-ni (Bethania): (1) A village, 15 furlongs from Jerusalem (Jn 11:18), on the road to Jericho, at the Mount of Olives (Mk 11:1; Lk 19:29), where lived "Simon the leper" (Mk 14:3) and Mary, Martha and Lazarus ...

  • OLIVES, MOUNT OF

    [isbe] OLIVES, MOUNT OF - ol'-ivz, (har ha-zethim (Zec 14:4), ma`aleh ha-zethim, "the ascent of the mount of Olives" (2 Sam 15:30, the King James Version "the ascent of (mount) Olivet"); to oros ton elaion, "the Mount of Olives" (M...

  • Women

    [nave] WOMEN Creation of, Gen. 1:27; 2:21, 22. Named, Gen. 2:23. Fall of, and curse upon, Gen. 3:1-16; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14. Promise to, Gen. 3:15. Had separate apartments in dwellings, Gen. 24:67; 31:33; Esth. 2:9, 11. Ve...

  • MARTHA

    [isbe] MARTHA - mar'-tha (Martha, "mistress," being a transliteration of the feminine form of mar, "Lord"): Martha belonged to Bethany, and was the sister of Lazarus and Mary (Jn 11:1 f). From the fact that the house into which Jes...

  • Spikenard

    [ebd] (Heb. nerd), a much-valued perfume (Cant. 1:12; 4:13, 14). It was "very precious", i.e., very costly (Mark 14:3; John 12:3,5). It is the root of an Indian plant, the Nardostachys jatamansi, of the family of Valeriance, growi...
    [isbe] SPIKENARD - spik'-nard (nerd; nardos (Song 1:12; 4:14); neradhim; nardoi (Song 4:13), "spikenard plants"; nardos pistike (Mk 14:3; Jn 12:3), "pure nard," margin "liquid nard"; the English word is for "spiked nard," which com...
    [smith] (Heb. nerd) is mentioned twice in the Old Testament viz. in (Solomon 1:12; 4:13,14) The ointment with which our Lord was anointed as he sat at meat in Simon?s house at Bethany consisted of this precious substance, the costlin...
    [nave] SPIKENARD An aromatic plant, Song 4:13, 14. Perfume prepared from, Song 1:12. A fragrant oil from, used in anointing, Mark 14:3; John 12:3.

  • OIL

    [isbe] OIL - oil (shemen; elaion): 1. Terms 2. Production and Storage 3. Uses (1) As a Commodity of Exchange (2) As a Cosmetic (3) As a Medicine (4) As a Food (5) As an Illuminant (6) In Religious Rites (a) Consecration (b) Offerin...

  • JUDAS ISCARIOT

    [isbe] JUDAS ISCARIOT - is-kar'-i-ot (Ioudas Iskariotes, i.e. 'ish qeriyoth, "Judas, man of Kerioth"): One of the twelve apostles and the betrayer of Jesus; for etymology, etc., see JUDAS. I. Life. Judas was, as his second name ind...

  • Alabaster

    [ebd] occurs only in the New Testament in connection with the box of "ointment of spikenard very precious," with the contents of which a woman anointed the head of Jesus as he sat at supper in the house of Simon the leper (Matt. 2...
    [isbe] ALABASTER - al'-a-bas-ter (alabastron (Mt 26:7; Mk 14:3; Lk 7:37)): In modern mineralogy alabaster is crystalline gypsum or sulphate of lime. The Greek word alabastron or alabastos meant a stone casket or vase, and alabastit...
    [smith] from the Arabic al bastraton , a whitish stone or from Alabastron , the place in Egypt where it is found. It occurs only in (Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37) The ancients considered alabaster to be the best material in whi...
    [nave] ALABASTER A white stone. Vessels made of, Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37.

  • Box

    [ebd] for holding oil or perfumery (Mark 14:3). It was of the form of a flask or bottle. The Hebrew word (pak) used for it is more appropriately rendered "vial" in 1 Sam. 10:1, and should also be so rendered in 2 Kings 9:1, where ...
    [isbe] BOX - The passages in which this word occurs are 2 Ki 9:1,3 (Hebrew pakh, "cruet," "flask," the Revised Version (British and American) vial) and the synoptic passages Mt 26:7 the King James Version; Mk 14:3 the King James Ve...
    [nave] BOX For oil, 2 Kin. 9:1-3. Made of alabaster, Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37.

  • Ointment

    [nave] OINTMENT. Not Sacred 2 Kin. 20:13; Esth. 2:12; Eccl. 7:1; 10:1; Song 1:3; 4:10; Amos 6:6; Mark 14:3-5; John 12:3-5. The alabaster box of, Matt. 26:7. Sacred Formula for, Ex. 30:23-25. Uses of, Ex. 30:26-33. Compounded...

  • Passover

    [ebd] the name given to the chief of the three great historical annual festivals of the Jews. It was kept in remembrance of the Lord's passing over the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12:13) when the first born of all the Egyptians ...
    [nave] PASSOVER Institution of, Ex. 12:3-49; 23:15-18; 34:18; Lev. 23:4-8; Num. 9:2-5, 13, 14; 28:16-25; Deut. 16:1-8, 16; Psa. 81:3, 5. Design of, Ex. 12:21-28. Special passover, for those who were unclean, or on journey, to be ...

  • Frugality

    [nave] FRUGALITY. 1 Kin. 17:5, 6, 10-13; Prov. 11:16; Prov. 12:27; Prov. 13:22; Prov. 21:17, 20; Prov. 22:3; Prov. 23:20, 21; Prov. 31:27; Matt. 14:20; Matt. 15:37; Mark 7:28; Mark 14:4, 5; Eph. 4:28 See: Extravagance; Industry. ...
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Sermon Illustrations

General; Matthew 26:14-16; Broken Things in the Bible

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • 1:12-14 The Shulammite girl (6:3) described the effect that seeing Solomon had on her as he reclined at his banquet "table."She wore nard (spikenard, "perfume"NASB, NIV; cf. Mark 14:3; John 12:3), which was an ointment that c...
  • 9:27-28 This is the first time in Matthew's Gospel that someone called Jesus the "Son of David"(cf. 1:1; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:9, 15). This was a messianic title, and the blind men's use of it undoubtedly expressed thei...
  • I. Introduction 1:1-13A. The title of the book 1:1B. Jesus' preparation for ministry 1:2-131. The ministry of John the Baptist 1:2-82. The baptism of Jesus 1:9-113. The temptation of Jesus 1:12-13II. The Servant's early Galil...
  • Mark may have intended this sentence to introduce the ministry of John the Baptist since that is what follows immediately. It could also refer to the inception of Jesus' public ministry and therefore be a title of the Gospel'...
  • Mark omitted Jesus' year of early Judean ministry (John 1:15-4:42), as did the other Synoptic evangelists. He began his account of Jesus' ministry of service in Galilee, northern Israel (1:14-6:6a). Because of increasing oppo...
  • This pericope introduces Jesus' continuing ministry in Galilee following the religious leaders' decision to kill Him (cf. 1:14-15; 2:13). It provides much more detail than the parallel account in Matthew.3:7-8 The sea to whic...
  • Mark again returned to the opposition theme (cf. 2:1-3:6). He directed his readers back and forth between Jesus' acceptance on a superficial level by the multitudes, His disciples' growing commitment to Him, and the increasin...
  • The picture the writer painted was of Jesus and his disciples in a house in Capernaum. Jews wanting healing or some other favor from Jesus barged right in the door. There were so many of them that Jesus could not even eat a m...
  • The healing of the deaf man with the speech impediment resulted in a confession of Jesus' greatness that fell short of identifying Him as God (7:37). The healing of the blind man was the incident that God used to open the dis...
  • This was Jesus' second messianic act that constituted part of His formal presentation to Israel. The first was the Triumphal Entry (vv. 1-11).11:15-16 The market atmosphere existed in the court of the Gentiles, the outermost ...
  • The Olivet Discourse is the longest section of Jesus' teaching that Mark recorded (cf. 4:1-34; 7:1-23). Mark used this discourse as a bridge between Jesus' controversies with Israel's leaders (11:27-12:44) and the account of ...
  • This is another section of the Gospel that has a chiastic or "sandwich"structure (cf. 3:20-35; 5:21-43; 6:7-31; 11:12-26; 14:27-52). Mark's account of the conspiracy to kill Jesus (vv. 1-2, 10-11) surrounds Jesus' anointing i...
  • 14:3 For thematic reasons Matthew and Mark both placed this event within the story of the hostility of Jesus' enemies. It is apparently out of chronological order (cf. John 12:1). This rearrangement of the material highlighte...
  • If the preceding incident happened on Saturday evening and Judas betrayed Jesus on Wednesday, Mary's act of extravagance did not lead Judas to betray Jesus immediately. The Gospel writers did not explain Judas' reasons for be...
  • The main feature of this pericope is the unusual method by which Jesus' directed His disciples.14:12 The Jews commonly referred to the first day of the combined Passover and Unleavened Bread feasts as the feast of Unleavened ...
  • Mark did not record all that happened in the upper room. He stressed the announcement of Jesus' betrayal and Jesus' explanation of the significance of the bread and wine.14:17 This would have been Thursday evening. Because th...
  • 15:21 Probably only Mark mentioned Simon's sons because the Christians in Rome knew them or knew of them (cf. Rom. 16:13). Evidently Simon became a believer in Jesus. Mark mentioned very few people by name other than the Twel...
  • 16:1 The Sabbath ended with sundown Saturday evening. The women did not come to the tomb until Sunday morning (v. 2, cf. Matt. 28:1). Why did Mark refer to the Sabbath at all? Probably he did so to clarify that Jesus had been...
  • Mark said that Jesus appeared to the Eleven on this occasion. However, John qualified that statement by explaining that Thomas was absent (John 20:24). Mark was speaking of the Eleven as a group.16:14 This event evidently hap...
  • 16:19 This event happened 40 days after the appearances that Mark just recorded (cf. Acts 1:3). Mark narrated the ascension and session of Jesus simply. The title "Lord Jesus"occurs only here and in Luke 24:3 in the Gospels. ...
  • Adams, J. McKee. Biblical Backgrounds. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1965.Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to Mark. 1881. Reprint ed. London: Banner of Truth, 1960.Alexander, William M. Demonic Possession in the N...
  • This incident, appearing only in Luke's Gospel, illustrates the truth just expressed in verse 35. Here is a case in point of what Jesus had just described happening (v. 34). Jesus reached out to a sinner only to receive criti...
  • Luke omitted the story of Jesus' anointing in Bethany (Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:2-8). He had already narrated a similar event that happened on another occasion (7:36-50). By his omission Luke allowed the story of t...
  • In this pericope John stressed Jesus' deliberate purpose in allowing Lazarus to die and the reality of his death.11:1-2 "Lazarus"probably is a variant of "Eleazar"meaning "God helps."379The Synoptic writers did not mention hi...
  • The scene now shifts from the region near Bethany of Perea (1:28; 10:40) to the Bethany in Judea. Both towns became sites where people believed on Jesus.11:17 There is some evidence that the later Jewish rabbis believed that ...
  • The emphasis in this pericope is on Jesus' compassion in the face of sin's consequences.11:30-32 Mary's physical response to Jesus was more emotional that Martha's had been, perhaps reflecting her temperament. Again we find M...
  • The raising of Lazarus convinced Israel's leaders that they had to take more drastic action against Jesus. John recorded this decision as the high point of Israel's official rejection of God's Son so far. This decision led di...
  • In contrast to the hatred that the religious leaders manifested stands the love that Mary demonstrated toward the One she had come to believe in. Her act of sacrificial devotion is a model for all true disciples. This is the ...
  • The writer concluded his warning by reminding his readers of their former faithfulness when tempted to encourage them to endure their present and future testings (cf. 4:12-16; 6:9-20)."The juxtaposition of 10:26-31 and 32-35 ...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Mark 10-16
  • And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. 7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. 8 She hath done what she co...
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