ACC ~ Matthew 26 v6 - 7

THE HOUSE OF SIMON THE LEPER

JEROME: About to suffer for the whole world and to redeem all nations by his blood, Jesus tarries in Bethany at the home of obedience. [1] It was once the house of Simon the leper—but he was no longer a leper. After he had been cured by the Savior he was still known by his original name, that the power of the healer might appear. In fact, one of the apostles listed with his original occupation and vice is Matthew the publican, though he certainly ceased to be a publican. There are those who want the house of Simon the leper to be known as that part of the people who believed in the Lord and were cured by him. Simon himself, moreover, is termed the obedient one. [2] His name can be interpreted also as “the clean one” in whose house the church was healed. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.26.6. [3]

[1] “Home of obedience” is the etymology of Bethany. As for Simon the leper, in the Gospels Jesus is not said to have cured him, but it is considered implicit that this occurred.

[2] “Obedient” is the meaning of the name Simon.

[3] CCL 77:246.

JESUS WAS AT BETHANY

CHRYSOSTOM: It may seem that this woman is the same in all the Gospel narratives. But I doubt it. In John she is another person, one much to be admired, the sister of Lazarus. [1]

But not without purpose did the Evangelist mention the leprosy of Simon. He did this in order to show how the woman gained confidence and came to Jesus. Leprosy seemed a most unclean disease and to be abhorred. Yet she saw that Jesus had both healed the man and had gone into his house. This is why he remained with the leper. She grew confident that he could also easily wipe away the uncleanness from her soul.

It is significant that the city is named Bethany, that we might learn that it is of his own free will that he comes to suffer. If before he was fleeing from their envy, now he comes near, within about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem. His former pattern of withdrawing himself now belongs to a past dispensation. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 80.1. [2]

[1] Jn 12:1-3 also tells of the anointing of Jesus by Mary sister of Lazarus, but in Matthew the woman anoints the head of Jesus, and in John the feet. Hence Chrysostom believes that there were two distinct episodes. See also p. 241 n. 13.

[2] PG 58:723-24; NPNF 1 10:480.

A WOMAN WITH AN ALABASTER FLASK

CHRYSOSTOM: The woman therefore having seen him, and having become extraordinarily confident, came directly to him. This was wholly unlike other women in the narrative, for example, the woman with the issue of blood. She was conscious of her uncleanness and approached him with fear and trembling, slowly and shrinking back. [1] And so it was with many women, the Samaritan, [2] the Canaanite [3] and others. This woman is conscious of her impurity. She comes to him in a private house, not publicly. And whereas all of these other women came to him for the healing of the body alone, this woman came to him to honor him only, and for the amendment of the soul. She was not at all afflicted in body. This is what makes her especially remarkable. And she does not come to him on the premise that he is a mere man. If that were so, she would not have wiped his feet with her hair. Her action was directed to one greater than man. Therefore she brings to Christ that part which is the most honorable member of the whole body, her head, and lays her hair over his feet. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 80.1. [4]

[1] Mk 5:25-34.

[2] Jn 4:4-42.

[3] Mt 15:21-28.

[4] PG 58:724; NPNF 1 10:480.

AN EXPENSIVE OINTMENT

HILARY OF POITIERS: This woman prefigures the Gentile people, who gave glory to God in the suffering of Christ. She thoroughly anointed his head. Recall that Christ’s head is God. [1] Ointment represents the fruit of good works. And special thanks are due to the female gender for the care of the body. So then, he transferred all care of his body and all affection for his precious soul to the honor and praise of God. But the disciples, keen on saving Israel, become quickly upset as usual: “This ought to have been sold to help the poor.” But the ointment the woman carried was not for sale. ON MATTHEW 29.2. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 11:3.

[2] SC 258:218-20.

SHE POURED OINTMENT ON HIS HEAD

ORIGEN: With good reason, therefore, when Luke spoke of the woman who was a sinner, he introduced her as weeping copiously. She thus washed the feet of Jesus with her tears … only “anointing,” and not his head but his feet. [1] This woman, however, who was not described as a sinner, did not anoint but “poured” ointment, and not on his feet but “on his head.” [2] As to what is written about Mary, the sister of Lazarus, she too “anointed” the Lord’s “feet.” Note what the Gospel says: The whole “house was filled with the odor of the ointment.” [3]

Perhaps the differences in these women therefore may signify the differences in the faithful. Some of them pour out precious ointment “over the head” of Jesus, others do not anoint the head but only the feet, and others do not pour out abundantly but anoint only so much. Some of them anoint with ointment, leaving the whole house filled with the odor of his divinity. Then there are others, also acceptable to Christ, for they anoint his feet with ointment, which the Pharisees did not even anoint with “oil.” COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 77. [4]

[1] Lk 7:36-38.

[2] Luke 7:36-50 also tells of the anointing but in a context different from both Matthew (with Mark) and John, defining the woman who anoints the feet of Jesus (as in John) as a sinner. The anointing of the feet links Luke with John as opposed to Matthew, which speaks of the anointing of the head, but Origen does not think it possible that Mary the sister of Lazarus could have been defined a sinner. He is inclined to believe that there were three distinct women, uniting the accounts of Matthew and Mark only.

[3] Jn 12:3.

[4] GCS 38.2:181-82.

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