The hour has come for us to prepare ourselves to behold the Son of Man lifted up for us on the cross, prefigured by the bronze serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness (Num 21) and set up as a sign, as John says: “As Moses lifted up the serpent…” For just as the Jews, by looking upon that serpent, were healed from the bites of serpents, so by looking with faith, affection, and imitation upon the Savior lifted up for us, we are healed from the bites of demons, from the injury of sin, and from the poison of temptation.
For Christ hanging on the cross is that in whom the perfections of all virtues, the heights of contemplations, and whatever pertains to salvation—whatever concerns the summit of spiritual insight—are read, learned, and shine forth in a wondrous, ineffable, and supernatural way.
Therefore the most glorious and most wise Evangelist, the sublime Apostle Saint Matthew, when about to describe the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ—in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection—began thus: “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished…” that is, when Jesus, the Son of God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (cf. Col 2:3), had completed or concluded these sayings, namely all those described in the preceding chapters, he spoke to his disciples, especially to the Apostles, to whom he had delivered the discourse set forth in the two previous chapters:
“You know that after two days,” that is, after this day on which I speak and the following day, “the Passover will take place,” that is, the paschal celebration will begin and the paschal lamb will be sacrificed. Hence Luke says: “The feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was drawing near.” Concerning the various meanings of the name Passover more will be said shortly.
Jesus spoke these things on Tuesday of the week of the Passion. The paschal lamb, however, was sacrificed on Thursday evening, at which time the paschal feast begins, namely on the fourteenth day (or moon) of April at evening, which month among the Jews is the beginning of the year and of months. For thus the Lord commanded Moses in Exodus. On that day and hour the Lord commanded the children of Israel to offer and eat the paschal lamb in Egypt.
Therefore Passover, which in Hebrew is called Phase, received its name not from “passion” but from “passing over,” according to Jerome and Augustine: first, because the children of Israel were to depart that night in haste from Egypt; second, because that night the destroying angel, seeing the doors of Israel marked with the lamb’s blood, passed over without touching them; third, because it prefigured Christ’s passing from this world to the Father.
And the aforementioned discourse was on the Mount of Olives; I think that in the same place he foretold his Passion. Indeed he foretold his Passion to the Apostles: first, lest he seem to be seized or to suffer unexpectedly; second, to strengthen the minds of the disciples against future trials, for foreseen blows wound less; third, to show that he did not fear those who kill the body, since he neither avoided the place of his Passion nor his adversaries but went to meet them.
It should also be noted that in the Savior’s statement, “You know that after two days…,” two things are included: one which the Apostles knew, namely that after two days the Passover would occur; the other they did not know, namely that after two days Christ would be killed. They knew from frequent predictions that the Son of Man would soon be put to death, but the precise day had not yet been determined.
“Then the chief priests assembled”—not “then” meaning the same day on which Christ spoke, namely Tuesday, but “then” meaning at that time, that is, the following day, Wednesday, when Christ remained in Bethany, giving the wicked opportunity and time to consult freely about his death. Yet he did not remain for the purpose of causing this, but so as not to hinder or hasten his Passion or alter what had been prophesied. For it was fitting, in order to fulfill the Scriptures, that he be betrayed by a disciple—which happened on Wednesday and would not have happened if he had returned to Jerusalem then.
Therefore the chief priests assembled, that is, the high priests, whose names Luke lists in Acts—Annas, Caiaphas, John, Alexander—and the elders of the people, who were seventy in number, judges and successors of the seventy elders appointed by Moses. Many of these were scribes and Pharisees. From those who seemed to govern the people, iniquity first went forth, for they first conceived hatred against Christ and then misled the crowd, turning the people away from him.
They gathered in the court of the high priest called Caiaphas, who was high priest that year according to John. And they took counsel to seize Jesus by deceit, that is, by treachery and fraud, for they did not dare seize him publicly nor could they bind him justly, and they sought to kill him with a most shameful death. For often before they had planned to kill him—at times to stone him, at times to seize him—but Jesus had escaped their hands, as John testifies.
After the raising of Lazarus, some who had witnessed it went and reported to the Pharisees; immediately the chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council saying, “What are we doing? This man performs many signs.” And when Caiaphas said, “It is better that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish,” from that day they resolved firmly to put him to death. But because he had often escaped them, they now deliberated about how to seize and kill him, especially since the previous day he had sharply rebuked and offended them and had said, “You will not see me henceforth…,” so they suspected he might flee and gather many disciples.
They said, “Not during the feast”—that is, let us not seize or kill him during the Paschal solemnity lest there be a tumult among the people. For crowds had come from everywhere to Jerusalem for the feast, and the chief priests knew that many believed Jesus to be a prophet or the Christ promised in the Law; therefore they feared opposition and resistance. Thus they feared the crowd more than God. Yet they did not wish to delay his Passion out of concern for scandal, but lest he be rescued by the people and escape. Nevertheless they later changed this plan when Judas came, giving them an unexpected opportunity.
“When Jesus was in Bethany”—that is, on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, as John says, “Jesus came to Bethany six days before the Passover.” After the raising of Lazarus, when the Jews had resolved to kill him, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness to a town called Ephraim; but six days before the Passover he came with his disciples to Bethany.
“In the house of Simon the leper.” Ambrose seems to say Simon was still a leper, saying Christ did not avoid the unclean in order to cleanse human stains. Jerome, however, says he had been healed by Christ but retained the name, as Matthew is still called “the tax collector.” This opinion is more common, since Jews were not permitted to enter the houses of lepers.
Present at this supper were not only the disciples but also Mary Magdalene, Martha, and Lazarus. John says: “They made him a supper there, and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining.” Some, following Origen, thought the supper was in Martha’s house because she served; but since Matthew and Mark clearly say the anointing took place in Simon’s house, it is said the supper was there, with Martha serving out of reverence or familiarity.
“A woman came to him,” namely Mary Magdalene, having an alabaster jar—that is, a vessel made of alabaster stone in which ointments are preserved—of precious ointment, and poured it on the head of Jesus as he reclined at table.
Twice in the Gospel we read that Christ was anointed by a woman: first in Luke 7 by a sinful woman; second in John, where Mary anoints his feet. The present passage concerns the latter. There is disagreement among the Fathers whether both were the same woman. Jerome and Chrysostom say no; Augustine, Gregory, Bede, and the Church commonly hold that they are the same.
It seems more probable that Mary Magdalene is the one, for John says Mary wiped his feet with her hair, and Mark says that Jesus first appeared after the resurrection to Mary Magdalene from whom he cast out seven demons, that is, seven mortal sins according to interpreters—showing she had been a sinner.
Moreover, she anointed both head and feet at the same time in Bethany. Matthew and Mark mention the head; John mentions the feet; therefore both occurred.
Some say the ointment was not thick but a subtle, precious liquid extracted from aromatic nard—pure and unmixed. Mark calls it “spikenard.” Because it was cooling, strengthening, and fragrant, Mary poured it on the head and feet of the Lord, who is read to have gone bareheaded and barefoot.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?” According to commentators, the plural is used for the singular by synecdoche, since Judas alone complained, though others were troubled for different reasons. Judas was grieved because he wanted to steal the money; others thought it better to give the price to the poor.
Hence it is said: “This ointment could have been sold for much and given to the poor.” John records Judas saying it could have been sold for three hundred denarii. Perhaps the disciples were influenced by him, who concealed his greed under a show of concern for the poor.
But Jesus, knowing how well that woman had acted and how unjustly Judas was indignant—or even others who were still immature and did not yet consider the dignity of their Master, whose nobility was such that all the ointments of the world were less precious than contact with and anointing of him—said to them: “Why do you trouble this woman?” For they were murmuring against her, according to Mark, as if he were saying: You are irrationally stirred up against her.
“For she has done a good work for me,” because by pouring this ointment upon me she has not wasted it, but has acted most devoutly out of charity and devotion, honoring and refreshing her Master. “For you always have the poor with you,” as long as you remain in this present life, and therefore you can do them good daily; “but you will not always have me” in this world in the manner in which I now live among you and walk with you and converse with you in a sensible way.
Of such presence Christ spoke after the resurrection: “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you,” and also before the Passion: “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?” Nor does it contradict what he says at the end of the Gospel, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age,” for there he speaks of his presence by grace and sacramental existence, and most of all of his presence through the majesty of his divinity and providence.
“For in pouring this ointment upon my body,” that is, upon the head and feet of my body, “she has done it for my burial”; that is, she has now done what she would have done for me in the tomb if she had been able. For Mary wished to anoint the body of Christ in the tomb but could not, because he had already risen; therefore Christ wished that what he knew would not be done on the day of the resurrection be done for him now. Or the sense is: By this act she has foreshadowed my burial soon to come, performing the office of burial—namely, the anointing of the body—which the Jews commonly performed for the dead, as Joseph and Nicodemus did for Christ after he was killed. Both interpretations agree with what the Savior says in Mark: “She has anticipated anointing my body for burial.” Hence also in John he says: “Let her keep it for the day of my burial.”
“Amen I say to you, wherever this Gospel is preached,” that is, the evangelical account of this deed or the evangelical doctrine in which the work of this woman is contained, “throughout the whole world”—behold, Jesus, now close to his Passion, knew that his Gospel would be spread throughout the whole earth—“what she has done will be told,” that is, that this woman performed these works of piety for me, anointing my head, washing and wiping my feet. Or thus: What she has done, namely this work of anointing which she bestowed upon me, “will be told in memory of her,” that is, for the praise of this woman; the deed will be recounted by the faithful as virtuous, to the praise of this devout woman, according to what Solomon says: “The memory of the just is with praise, but the name of the wicked shall rot.” And we see this fulfilled, for indeed we all commend Mary Magdalene in this work.
Spiritually, we also ought to anoint the head and feet of Christ with precious ointment—that is, with exemplary life and good reputation—honoring both natures of Christ, namely the divine, signified by the head, and the human, expressed by the feet, so that Christ may be glorified and magnified in his servants. Indeed, whoever delights in the Lord and strives in all things to do what is pleasing to God anoints Christ in such a way that the delights of Christ are to be with him. Those who are such can say with the Bride: “While the king was at his table, my nard gave forth its fragrance,” and with the Apostle: “We are the good odor of Christ in every place,” and likewise: “With all confidence Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”
“Then”—not on the day when the anointing just described took place and when Jesus spoke these words, but “then,” that is, about that time, namely on Wednesday—one of the twelve Apostles, called Judas Iscariot (of whom before the Passion Christ said, “Did I not choose you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”), went. Judas, therefore, was one of them by calling, not by predestination; by name, not by merit.
After Judas went out, that holy company was cleansed of the son of darkness and perdition; therefore Christ immediately after Judas’s departure said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” He is called Judas Iscariot because, as is read, he was born in a village named Carioth, which was in the territory of Issachar.
He went to the chief priests, whom he found assembled and reasonably judged to be consulting about the death of Jesus—especially since he had heard from Christ that after two days he would be delivered to be crucified—and said, “What will you give me, and I will deliver him to you?” as if to say: I know why you have gathered, and I am ready to bring your desire to effect, provided you give me what I want as payment.
But they agreed—that is, they promised—to give him thirty pieces of silver. According to Luke and Mark they rejoiced when they heard Judas’s words, for he promised to deliver him secretly. Therefore they changed their previous plan in which they had said, “Not during the feast,” for it seemed to them that no more fitting way of seizing Christ could be found than that he be sold and delivered by his own disciple, since in this way they would appear in some measure innocent and Christ would appear guilty, as one betrayed by his own disciple to death.
Judas promised to deliver Jesus to them when they had agreed upon thirty pieces of silver. The ointment mentioned earlier was of such value, and Judas was so grieved at being deprived of its price that, desiring to recover it, he sold Jesus. For each of those thirty pieces of silver is said to have been worth ten ordinary denarii, and thus thirty pieces amounted to three hundred denarii, which was the price of that ointment, as has been shown.
O unhappy Judas, how little was the Son of God worth in your estimation! Yet it is not surprising, since you were avaricious. And the avaricious man has not only Christ but even his own soul for sale.
“And from that time,” that is, from that hour, Judas sought an opportunity—that is, a suitable place and time—to deliver him to the Jews without the crowd that believed in or gladly listened to Christ.
CONTINUE
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