Day 5 - 2 days before the Passover
"And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night." Matt 21:17
"When evening came, they went out of the city." Mark 11:19
"While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with a alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head." Mark 14:3
Monday night Jesus is in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3). A woman breaks open a jar of expensive perfume and pours oil on Jesus' head. There is no mention here of Jesus' feet, or Mary's hair or tears as in John 12:1 or Luke 7:36-50. Given that a few verses before we are told that Passover is now only two days away, we may conclude that Mary anoints Jesus for the third time. Perhaps the two previous anointing ceremonies have used up much of the perfume. This would explain why Mary breaks the jar perhaps to get enough ointment for this last anointing.
This occasion is apparently the last straw for Judas. He had objected to the "waste" on Friday night and others join him in his opinion this Monday night. He has enough and goes to the Chief priests. He is promised 30 pieces of silver and watches for chance to hand Jesus over. John tells us that Judas did not really care about the poor but was a thief, embezzling from the common moneybag.
Matthew and Mark; An Aside
In Matthew and Mark, the anointing of Jesus' head at Simon the Leper's house is recorded after the events of Tuesday. If we insist that the text be interpreted strictly in the order it was compiled, we would most naturally place this supper on Tuesday night and push the Lord's Supper to Wednesday night. If we move the Last Supper to Wednesday night we push the Day of Preparation and the crucifixion onto Thursday. This creates the following problems.
1. It forces Jesus to travel and arrive in Bethany on a Sabbath. Both the "six days" and "two days" before the Passover seem to reference the official Passover meal after the lambs are sacrificed.
2. It leaves the women no opportunity to prepare spices and still rest on the Sabbath as Luke tells us they did. (Friday becomes a "high Sabbath" and Saturday is a "Weekly Sabbath"; see lesson 6)
3. We must again rationalize the prophecy of Jonah according to a supposed "habit" of the Jews. At least in this circumstance we can reasonably get three nights and part of three days. Since, however, the first of the women show up before daylight and Jesus is already gone, He has now been raised the third "night" not the third "day." We must now reason that the third "day" is a generic term.
1-Thursday night, 1-Friday,
2-Friday night, 2-Saturday,
3-Saturday night, 3-Sunday morning (while it was still dark?)
If our chronology is correct, however, Tuesday night is already occupied by the Lord's Supper. If we stay this course, we must make an assumption. This assumption is that Matthew and Mark did not record this event in strict chronological order but at this point make an aside to the previous night (or earlier).
The literal Greek is "The and Jesus being in Bethany??p;quot; (Matt) and "And being him in Bethany" (Luke). The NIV translators treat this phraseology as an idiom meaning "While Jesus was in Bethany".
Matthew 26:6-13 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
Mark - While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
Since we are not up against a wording like "Now, that night??p;quot; or "Then Jesus??p;quot; as in other places, suggesting an aside here is not out of the question. Therefore, Matthew and Mark refer back to the story of the anointing Monday evening after reporting the events and teachings of Tuesday morning and afternoon.
Why would they do this? I would suggest that the account is placed at the end of the day rather than at the beginning because there is so much teaching and testing on Tuesday. These parables and events take up many pages of text. The account of the "anointing for burial" may be saved until after this long accounting in order to keep it in closer literary union with the crucifixion.
In each Gospel just a few verses before the account, we are told that the Passover is two days away. This still places the anointing Monday night within the "Tuesday" window as reckoned by Jewish standards and it remains the night before the Last Supper. Given that we will see growing evidence in the next few lessons that the crucifixion was on Wednesday, the closest night open is Monday night. However, since I am suggesting a "flash back" and Jesus was in Bethany every night, I remain flexible about the night this event occurred.
I see this as the most problematic issue for this version of events. We do have chronological "curiosity" here but the language does not force us into "conflict". We have not, by this interpretation, rationalized the meaning of the text by suggesting "what the text really meant was??p;quot;. The other option is to let this "curiosity" change the course of our chronology. The result is to produce larger questions in terms of prophetic and textual integrity and thus we have just produced more problems than we solved.
Tuesday Morning as Jesus is headed back to Jerusalem he curses the fig tree again
"Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered." Matt 21:19
One reason this must be a second curse is that Jesus invokes a slightly different curse here than in Mark 11:12. The second reason is that the fig tree dies immediately this time. The disciples are amazed at the speed, in fact it is point of their inquiry.
"'How did the fig tree wither so quickly?' they asked."
Mark tells us that Jesus cursed the fig tree on Monday. He also tells us that Peter walks up on the tree the next day, "In the morning", and notices the tree is dead. If it had died immediately the day before, Peter would have seen it because he was there to hear and remember the curse.
"In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi" look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" Mark 11:20
We should get in the habit of allowing the text to shape our faith and resist the urge to rationalize the text to fit an exiting faith or understanding. If we believe that the text is an accurate witness, we must conclude that Jesus cursed the fig tree twice. Allowing only one creates textual conflicts. Based upon this philosophy, our task is to figure out a real life scenario that does justice to all the eyewitness accounts. A scenario such as the following is plausible and leaves the Gospel record in tact.
Suppose some disciples including Peter hear Jesus curse the tree on Monday. Then Peter is not present on Tuesday morning when the tree is cursed a second time and dies. As the disciples with Jesus wonder over the dead tree, another group of disciples, including Peter, walk up and remember the curse of the day before.
In my mind, I see Jesus and the twelve always together but this probably was not the case. The Gospels tell us that, at this time, there were hundreds of disciples, not just the twelve.
Commentary - Thinking out loud
There is more going on here than simply the killing of an unproductive plant. Jesus is not angry about the lack of physical food rather the lack of spiritual food from the spiritual tree, Israel. Perhaps the prophetic message lies in the fact that the tree was cursed twice and the second time it died "from the roots". One of the lessons Jesus teaches here is the prophetic power of the believer's prayer.
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
"This" mountain is where Jerusalem sits. It is also national Israel. In Biblical prophecy, the "sea" represents the nations (Rev 13:1, 17:15). We know from other prophecy and history that Jerusalem was to be thrown down and Israel dispersed among the nations. And so it has come to pass. Curse #1 - Burning of the Temple 70 CE. Curse #2 - The complete destruction of Jerusalem 135 CE.
The tree is symbolic of the role of national Israel as a kingdom of priests. The fruit or lack thereof, represents national Israel's task to be a light to the nations and evangelize the gentiles (see Jonah).
"Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
Exodus 19:6
"I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."
Acts 13:47; Paul quotes from Isaiah 49:6
National Israel in the Diaspora has never again "born fruit" in terms of evangelism. Until Jesus is accepted as messiah they will remain a "dead tree." The Church has never "eaten" or looked to the Jews for anything of value and shuns them even to this day.
Monday's Curse - "May no on ever eat fruit from you again" Mark 11:12
Tuesday's Curse - "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered." Matt 21:19
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD."'I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them. '" Jeremiah 8:11-13
"They stumble because they (Jews) disobey the message-which (message) is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into a great light. Once you were not a people (gentiles) but now you are (part of) the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." 1 Peter 2:9-1
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