John 12:7

7 Jesus, therefore, said, `Suffer her; for the day of my embalming she hath kept it,

John 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

John 12:7

Then said Jesus, let her alone
Do not disturb her in what she does, or hinder her, or blame her for it:

against the day of my burial hath she kept this;
this ointment, which she now poured on Christ; it was usual to embalm the dead with ointments and spices: Christ suggests, that the time of his death and burial were nigh, and that this woman had kept this ointment till now, for such a purpose; and whereas she would not be able to make use of it at the time of his interment, she had embalmed his body with it now, beforehand; though without any knowledge of his death, or any such intention and design in her, but the Holy Ghost so directing her: for this is not to be understood of her keeping any part of it till that time, which it does not appear she did.

John 12:7 In-Context

5 `Wherefore was not this ointment sold for three hundred denaries, and given to the poor?'

6 and he said this, not because he was caring for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and what things were put in he was carrying.

7 Jesus, therefore, said, `Suffer her; for the day of my embalming she hath kept it,

8 for the poor ye have always with yourselves, and me ye have not always.'

9 A great multitude, therefore, of the Jews knew that he is there, and they came, not because of Jesus only, but that Lazarus also they may see, whom he raised out of the dead;