Reading the Gospels Together Anointed by a Woman – Part 3 John also tells a story of a woman anointing Jesus just prior to the fateful Passover during which Jesus would be killed. John tells his readers that it was six days before Passover. And John provides the identity of the woman. She was Mary, the sister of Lazarus whom Jesus had just raised from the dead and who lived at Bethany, the same location Mark has given to his story. As we read John’s story it seems clear that he has the very same story in mind that Mark has told. There are many similarities, though a few significant differences. Mark told his readers that the ointment was costly. So does John. Mark told his readers that unspecified people in the house protested what the woman did for Jesus. So does John, although John specifies that is was Judas who protested and John gives Judas’ motive – he was the keeper of the money bag and a thief yearning for the money the woman wasted on Jesus. Mark tells his readers that the woman has anointed Jesus in preparation for his burial. So does John. The similarities are strikingly evident. This is the same story. One significant difference does emerge. Mark had told his readers that the woman anointed Jesus’ head. John says it was Jesus’ feet – a remark that strikingly matches Luke’s version of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with her tears and ointment. Another minor difference is that Mark identifies the house as belonging to a leper named Simon. John says it was the home of Lazarus, Mary’s brother. And John has placed this story just slightly earlier in the sequence of events near the end of Jesus’ public ministry but not quite attached to the passion narrative. Some questions we might ask are these. Why did Mark place this story where he did? Why did John tell the story in a way that removes it slightly from the passion narrative? And why did Luke move it to a completely different place in his story? Those are all questions we cannot answer with complete certainty. For Mark the story becomes a kind of trigger that launches his passion narrative. For John the story contrasts the sinister plots of the Jewish religious leaders who not only plot the death of Jesus but now of Lazarus as well. For Luke the story highlights the power of forgiveness. We hear one story with many uses. What a wonderful story! Thankfully we do not need to decide which version is right. They are all right in their use by these gospel writers.