Did you notice the important little detail. John has the order of events as Anointing in Bethany followed by the Triumphal Entry. Whereas the synoptic gospels have the Triumphal entry following the Anointing. What is going on here?
Most commentators think the anointing event in Matt 26, Mark 14 and John 12 are the same event. The substance of the story and many of the circumstances agree. But there is an issue of timing: one it was said happened two days before the Passover, whereas the other was done six days before. It is unlikely that Martha should serve in any house but her own. Therefore there is some evidence to think them different: i.e there are two different anointing events. But the commentators see the differences being one anointing describe in Matt. 26, Mark 14, and John 12. and another separate anointing in Luke 7. They don’t assume the events described in Matt. 26, Mark 14, and John 12 are different incidents but the same one.
How then do we reconcile the differences in the time setting for each story? Mark says the anointing happened 2 days before Passover; John says 6 days before Passover. But more important is the sequencing of events. Matthew and Mark place the Triumphal Entry first then followed by the Anointing at Bethany. John places the Anointing at Bethany before the Triumphal entry. We could easily explain it if there were two different anointing events at Bethany, one before the Triumphal Entry and one after it. But that is unlikely. Especially given the similarities in the stories and the things said. How else do we explain it?
There are two possibilities in terms of the arrangement of material. Firstly that John is deliberately rearranging the material or that Matthew and Mark are deliberately rearranging it. It is more likely that John is one doing the rearranging. He has already done that with the Cleansing of the Temple and he is usually the one to disregard time sequence in the interest of saying something profound. There are two elements that bother me with this story. [When I say bother me – I don’t mean bother me to the point of doubting the veracity, but rather bother me that I am not getting the full message from them].
One concerns the naturalness of the events. It seems more likely to me that Jesus would be in Bethany with “the family”, be anointed then and following that go to Jerusalem from whence He will not return. So John’s time sequence seems more natural. Also John includes the time statement “six days before Passover”. He doesn’t usually do that when he rearranges material. However he is the one who is most likely to have rearranged the set material from the synoptic gospels. But then Mark sets the timing at 2 days before Passover and has the anointing taking place at Simon’s house in Bethany.
I have to confess that I don’t have this one sorted out yet. The evidence seems to point both ways. The most likely scenario is that John is rearranging the account to bring the anointing story close to the Lazarus story. i.e. that Mary’s response in anointing Jesus is connected with what happened with Lazarus but the focus of the story is not that as we shall see tomorrow. But why the synoptic writers would rearrange things I fail to see. So I am left confused. Does this surprise you? Do you think I have everything sorted out Biblically? Set in its nice little package; all neat and tied with a bow? No way. Scripture is too deep and profound for that. I give these thoughts to you my readers to unravel further if you can. Tell me your findings please!
The privilege of a life time is being who you are.
Joseph Campbell
If you feel you have never made a mistake in your life, then it means you have never tried a new thing in your life.
Einstein
My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy.