Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
Read Chapter 26
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
When Jesus was in Bethania St. Augustine observes, that this pouring of the ointment on Jesus is not related by St. Matthew in due order of time. It was not done on this Wednesday, but as St. John expressly tells us, (xii. 1.) six days before the Pasch, or Paschal feast, began. This anointing was different from that done in the house of the Pharisee, and in Galilee, set down by St. Luke, Chap. vii. 37. (Witham)
St. Matthew mentions the fact in this place, because it was in some measure the occasion of Judas's treason. (Bible de Vence)
St. Ambrose seems to assert, that the Simon here mentioned was at that time a leper, in the following words: "Hence, it appears, that Christ did not flee the company of lepers; he kept company with the unclean, that he might purify them from their uncleanness. "St. Jerome is of opinion that Simon was not then a leper, but had been cured of a leprosy by our Lord; and that he afterwards retained the name of leper, as St. Matthew, after he was called by ou...
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. 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.
About to suffer for the whole world and to redeem all nations by his blood, Jesus tarries in Bethany at the home of obedience. 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. His name can be interpreted also as “the clean one” in whose house the church was healed. .
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. And so it was with many women, the Samaritan, the Canaanite 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, h...
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. 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
