Holy Week – Wednesday – Jesus Anointed and Judas Arranged Betrayal

“And while He was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head…She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.-Mark 14: 3, 8-9 (ESV. Read 14:3-9). Then Judas Iscariot who was one of the twelve went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought opportunity to betray him.” –Mark 14:10-11 (ESV).

Jesus and perhaps his disciples likewise were guests in the house of Simon in Bethany. By adding “the leper” to the account, scholars assume that this is the person whom Jesus healed of leprosy earlier in His ministry. He was taking this opportunity to show hospitality to the Master. While they were at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask filled with costly ointment and anointed Jesus’ head (unidentified in Mark’s account, but in John 12:4-6 she is identified as Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. In John’s account, she anoints both head and feet). One of the disciples, identified elsewhere as Judas, condemns what he considers a grave waste and says the ointment should have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. A commendation was in order from Jesus. “She has done what she could! What she has done will be told wherever the gospel is proclaimed.” Truly the ointment was expensive, “more than 300 denarii” (Mark 14:5), which would have been a year’s wages for an average worker of that day. The act was done in devotion, and Jesus said, anointing Him in advance for his burial. Did the woman have a foreknowledge of Jesus’ impending death? We are not told that she did. Her act was from her respect and love for Jesus. But it became more than an act from a woman in Bethany: it was a testimony about one who was willing to give the very best she had in recognition of the Teacher who had given so much of His knowledge, capacity to heal and raise from the dead, and love for others.

In contrast to the woman’s devotion, we have the account of Judas’ arrangements for betraying Jesus. Mary gave expensive ointment—nard—to anoint Him for his impending death and burial. But Judas sought out the religious authorities and made a deal with them—for money—to betray the Master. The paltry sum for Jesus’ betrayal was the price of a slave. We see evidences all along that Judas had divergent views from those taught by Jesus. Instead of an earthly kingdom in which Judas hoped to have a part, Jesus spoke of His heavenly kingdom. Judas had already embezzled money from the common treasury of the disciples. Thirty pieces of silver was his price, we learn in Matthew 27:3-10. Afterward, Judas was filled with revulsion by his actions, took the money back to the chief priests, and threw it down in the Temple. Then he went out and hanged himself. Because the money was “blood money,” given for one who was captured and condemned, the Jewish leaders used the money to purchase Potter’s Field, a burying place for strangers. This action was a fulfillment of prophecy found in Zachariah 11:12-13.

We see the contrast of a woman who demonstrated to Jesus a firm devotion and a disciple who succumbed to the temptation of betrayal, swayed by the love for money. Both played a part in the final week of Jesus’ life. Both deeds are written as testimonies of their actions. May we, like the woman, find some offering of great worth to bring as anointing for our Lord. He wants and deserves our very life, laid down as an offering in His service.