Luk 7:37-38, Joh 12:3, 2Cor 2:15 | JFB | STEP | 37, 38. a sinner —one who had led a profligate life. Note.—There is no ground whatever for the popular notion that this woman was Mary Magdalene, nor do we know what her name was. (See on .) an alabaster box of ointment —a perfume vessel, in some cases very costly ( ). "The ointment has here a peculiar interest, as the offering by a penitent of what had been an accessory in her unhallowed work of sin" [ALFORD ].

Luke 7:37-38

37, 38. a sinner—one who had led a profligate life. Note.—There is no ground whatever for the popular notion that this woman was Mary Magdalene, nor do we know what her name was. (See on Lu 8:2.)

an alabaster box of ointment—a perfume vessel, in some cases very costly (Joh 12:5). "The ointment has here a peculiar interest, as the offering by a penitent of what had been an accessory in her unhallowed work of sin" [ALFORD].

38. at his feet behind him—the posture at meals being a reclining one, with the feet out behind.

began to wash, &c.—to "water with a shower." The tears, which were quite involuntary, poured down in a flood upon His naked feet, as she bent down to kiss them; and deeming them rather fouled than washed by this, she hastened to wipe them off with the only towel she had, the long tresses of her own hair, "with which slaves were wont to wash their masters' feet" [STIER].

kissed—The word signifies "to kiss fondly, to caress," or to "kiss again and again," which Lu 7:45 shows is meant here. What prompted this? Much love, springing from a sense of much forgiveness. So says He who knew her heart (Lu 7:47). Where she had met with Christ before, or what words of His had brought life to her dead heart and a sense of divine pardon to her guilty soul, we know not. But probably she was of the crowd of "publicans and sinners" whom Incarnate Compassion drew so often around Him, and heard from His lips some of those words such as never man spake, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour," &c. No personal interview had up to this time taken place between them; but she could keep her feelings no longer to herself, and having found her way to Him (and entered along with him, Lu 7:45), they burst forth in this surpassing yet most artless style, as if her whole soul would go out to Him.

John 12:3

3. spikenard—or pure nard, a celebrated aromatic (So 1:12).

anointed the feet of Jesus—and "poured it on His head" (Mt 26:7; Mr 14:3). The only use of this was to refresh and exhilarate—a grateful compliment in the East, amidst the closeness of a heated atmosphere, with many guests at a feast. Such was the form in which Mary's love to Christ, at so much cost to herself, poured itself out.

2 Corinthians 2:15

15. The order is in Greek, "For (it is) of Christ (that) we are a sweet savor unto God"; thus, the "for" justifies his previous words (2Co 2:14), "the savor of HIS (Christ's) knowledge." We not only scatter the savor; but "we are the sweet savor" itself (So 1:3; compare Joh 1:14, 16; Eph 5:2; 1Jo 2:27).

in them that are saved—rather, "that are being saved . . . that are perishing" (see on 1Co 1:18). As the light, though it blinds in darkness the weak, is for all that still light; and honey, though it taste bitter to the sick, is in itself still sweet; so the Gospel is still of a sweet savor, though many perish through unbelief [CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies, 5.467], (2Co 4:3, 4, 6). As some of the conquered foes led in triumph were put to death when the procession reached the capitol, and to them the smell of the incense was the "savor of death unto death," while to those saved alive, it was the "savor of life," so the Gospel was to the different classes respectively.

and in them—in the case of them. "Those being saved" (2Co 3:1-4:2): "Those that are perishing" (2Co 4:3-5).