Dinner with Simon the Pharisee

Some have tried to make this the same event as the anointing of Jesus just days before the crucifixion, but it was a separate event with similar elements. The common element is a woman who anoints Jesus with an expensive perfume. Some who try to make it the same event discount the differences as inconsistencies—which is allowing the conclusion to establish the facts.

Here, they are in Simon’s home. In John 12:2-11, the home isn’t mentioned but we are told that Martha served. It would be very odd that she would have served the Sabbath dinner anywhere other than in her own home. Here, the woman is not named while in John 12, we are told it is Mary, Lazarus’s sister. Here, the woman is a stranger. In John, she is part of the family.

Moreover, this anointing seems to be early in the ministry of Jesus, where the anointing in the home of Lazarus was at the end.

The woman, not identified here, was most likely a town prostitute. Some have wondered if she might have been Mary Magdalene. Though that would enhance the story, Luke doesn’t identify her. Some feel it probably wasn’t her, Otherwise Luke would have identified her, since Mary Magdalene was among the women who followed Jesus. Others say, it might have been her, but because of her past, Luke doesn’t embarrass her by identifying her.