Notes for Tuesday class on Jn. 12:1-8

1) One theme can be holy waste. This would be about a year's wages for the perfume. when is it good not to be prudent for something connected to worship, for instance?
2) Does it cause you some disquiet to agree with Judas?
3) Do you find the feet being anointed and the hair as a towel more than a bit off-putting? Our writer (Thoughtful Christian, Pausing on the road to Jerusalem) touches on sensuality, but moves quickly into a discussion of the material world being good.
4) Did you think Mary Magdalene did this? Are you surprised which Mary it was in John?
5) Consider comparing it to the accounts in Mt 26:6-13) Mark 14:3-9 and Luke 7:36-50)
6) I've heard the end of this passage used so many times against both charity and seeking social justice.
7) Earlier Jesus was told that the body of Lazarus had begun to decay, so it stank. Now did the amount of perfume, oftne used ot anoint a body, now make the room stink? Notice jeuss sees it as enacted prophecy.
8) Mary's act is an intimate one. What are the barriers to emotional and spiritual intimacy in a congregation?
9) Please notice that this is an anointing, after all. Chirstos means anointed one: In the Reformed tradition, Calvin emphasized that 3 offices:priest, prophet, king were all anointed ones and applies them all to the work of Christ.
10) How, if at all, do you then read this into the next chapter with the footwashing?