26:7-13 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment―(7) There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his
head, as he sat at meat. (8) But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is
this waste? (9) For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. (10) When Jesus
understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
(11) For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. (12) For in that she hath poured this
ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. (13) Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be
preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.‖
Throughout the Bible, there are a number of individuals who are called by name to be remembered for
certain actions or events that they either caused or took part in. Even though the woman noted here in
Matthew and also in Mark is not mentioned by name, it seems logical that she was Mary, the sister of Martha
and Lazarus; and quite possibly one of the women who continually helped to support Y‘shua in his ministry
(Luke 8:1-3).
Washing and anointing Y‟shua‟s feet―And when a certain woman in the city, who was a sinner, knew that he was eating a meal in the Pharisee's
house, she brought an alabaster vial of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to
wash his feet with her tears, and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them
with ointment" (Luke 7:37-38 Para)
―Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard [i.e., pure nard], very costly, and anointed the feet of
Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment" (John 12:3
KJV)
There are four important things to learn from these two accounts:John clearly records that the woman who did the anointing of Y‘shua‘s feet was Mary, the sister of Lazarus
and Martha:
―And there was a certain sick one, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. And it
was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was
sick" (John 11:1-2 Para)
Mary is said to be a sinner – but are not all people sinners? Without going into a detailed explanation, most
Bible scholars feel Mary was more than likely a very well-known and prosperous prostitute. She was also the
sister of Lazarus and Martha and a person of enough importance to be allowed into the house of the self-
righteous Pharisee, Simon.
Coming into the house, Mary sees Y‘shua reclining in the traditional eastern manner at a table on a low
couch with his feet stretched out behind him, while eating with his right hand. Mary comes up behind Him,
kneels down, breaks open the vial of ointment, and washes His feet with her tears before rubbing sweet
smelling ointment on them.
During this time, it was a sign of great immodesty for a Jewish woman to allow her hair to flow over her
shoulders in public. Mary's actions show that she was not concerned about what people thought of her,
because she had more important things on her mind than the customs and prohibitions of that day.
Simon's Indignation―Now when the Pharisee saw this he said to himself. If this man were a prophet, he would have known that
this woman that touches him is a sinful person" (Luke 7:39 Para.).
Simon the Pharisee was full of self-righteousness. He could not understand how Y‘shua would allow a
person as sinful as Mary to touch him, and Simon condemned him for it. In Simon's thinking, this was proof
that Y‘shua was not the Messiah.
Simon believed in a social caste system that there were minor and major sins. He did not understand that
whether a sin is great or small, it is still a sin. The end result is the same – all sin, unless forgiven, is
punishable by eternal death (Rom 6:23).
Herein is a great truth of the Gospel message. The Father and Y‘shua have always loved their human
creations who are all sinners, and it is because of and through their great love for their creation that we have
hope for salvation: