Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Twelve

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-11

Six days before Jesus' last Passover on the earth, He came to visit with His friends and followers, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. They made Him a supper. The fact that Martha and Mary and the people with them did not believe that Jesus could help Lazarus after he was dead could indicate that Lazarus happened to be the first person that Jesus raised from the dead, and He raised the widow of Nain's son and the little girl afterwards. This could mean that some length of time had passed between Jesus raising Lazarus and His visit to see them. Luke 7:11-15; Luke 8:49-56.

Mary demonstrated her great love for Jesus when she anointed His feet with a costly perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. She did that to honor Jesus and to demonstrate her faith in Jesus' prophecy that He would be crucified, buried, and resurrected. She witnessed that she believed that Jesus' body would not be corrupted, but He would rise from the dead with the perfect scent of Heaven on Him.

Judas Iscariot protested that the perfume could have been sold, and the money given to the poor. But he only wanted to steal the money because he was the treasurer. Even today, many crooks claim that they want to help the poor, but they really only want to put themselves into a position where they can enrich themselves.

Jesus rebuked Judas Iscariot, and He defended Mary for the love and worship she had shown Him. Jesus taught that His followers should always help the poor, but He would not be with them in the future in His physical human form. He meant that Mary's anointment of His body for His burial was a very special act of love. Jesus did not mean that He would not be with His believers after His ascension. His Spirit will always be with His believers. Jesus will always be with His believers saved by grace. Hebrews 13:5.

Jesus rose from the dead with a spiritual body; that is, a body that could be His Spirit or physical, or both at the same time, as He willed. Luke 24:36-43. Jesus had a limited, physical body before His resurrection, but He was still God. Before His resurrection, the entire Holy Spirit filled the body of Jesus. John 3:34. Nevertheless, Jesus could extend His Holy Spirit to influence others. The Holy Spirit actually extends from Jesus and His Father throughout God's entire creations. The Holy Spirit happens to be God's Consciousness of His creations as the objects of His Consciousness. The Holy Spirit was conscious of Jesus' earthly body as being an absolutely perfect creation of God. Whatever happens to be absolutely perfect can only be within God's Consciousness as being One with His Consciousness. After Jesus' resurrection, His perfect body and His Holy Spirit merged into One being which constitutes His spiritual body. II Chronicles 6:18; Luke 24:36-43.

Mary had worshiped Jesus as her God and Savior before His crucifixion which was a very special act of love indeed because none of His other followers had thought to do that.

Many Jews came to see Lazarus alive to prove to themselves that Jesus had raised him from the dead. But the chief priests wanted to put Lazarus also to death in order to try to cover up any evidence that Jesus was God. Many Jews believed in Jesus because of Lazarus, and so the chief priests planned to get rid of him too.