Though the United Bible Societies' Synopsis of the Four Gospels, Third Edition (edited by Kurt Aland, NY: UBS, 1979, pages 277-279) presents all four accounts of Jesus being anointed under the heading, "The Anointing in Bethany," there continues to be scholarly debate as to the relationship of the four accounts. There seems to be quite a bit of agreement that

Conclusion #1: Mar 14:3-9 and Mat 26:6-13 represent the same incident, with Mat 26:6-13 being based entirely upon Mar 14:3-9. (Of the four gospels, Mark is assumed by most scholars to have been the first, to which the authors of Matthew and Luke, and possibly John, had access when writing their gospels.)

Conclusion #2: Luke 7:36-50 may represent a completely different historical incident, which chonologically would have come earlier in Jesus' life.

Conclusion #3: John 12:1-8 represents a confluence or combination of the other two incidents, plus the addition of Martha serving, as derived from Luke 10:38-42.

For further exploration of these the relationship four accounts, the following are especially helpful, including all the footnotes and commentary that precede or follow the pages mentioned below:

• C.K. Barrett's The Gospel According to St. John, Second Edition, pages 408-409
• J.H. Bernard's St. John, Volume II, pages 409-413
• Rudolf Bultmann's The Gospel of John, pages 414-416
• Raymond Brown's John I-XII, pages 449-454 (summary on pages 450-452)
• Robert J. Karris' commentary on Luke in the The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (page 697)
• G.W.H. Lampe's commentary on "Luke" in Peake's Commentary on the Bible, page. 831
• John Marsh's Saint John, pages 452-454
• D.E. Nineham's Saint Mark, pages 371-373
• Jane Schaberg's commentary on "Luke" in Women's Bible Commentary, pages 373-375
• Rudolf Schnackenburg's The Gospel according to St. John, Volume 2, pages 370-373

Summaries of conclusions from each of the above scholars:

(A) Bernard, Bultmann, and Brown concluded that:

The 4 gospels represent a total of 2 anointing incidents:

• 1st chronologically --- represented by Luk 7:38-50.

• 2nd chronologically -- represented by Mar 14:3-9, upon which Mat 26:6-13 is totally dependent; and by Joh 12:1-8, which incorporates some details from Luke. .

(B) Marsh and Schnackenburg concluded that:

The 4 gospels represent a total of 2 anointing incidents:

• 1st chronologically --- represented by Luk 7:38-50.
• 2nd chronologically -- represented by Mar 14:3-9, upon which Mat 26:6-13 is totally dependent.

• Joh 12:1-8 is an amalgamated story, incorporating details from both incidents and adding details from Luk 10:38-42.

(C) Barrett concluded that:

The 4 gospels represent a total of 1 or 2 anointing incidents:

• 1st chronologically --- represented by Luk 7:38-50, which may be simply a variation on the Mar 14:3-9 story.
• 2nd chronologically -- represented by Mar 14:3-9, upon which Mat 26:6-13 is totally dependent.

• Joh 12:1-8 is an amalgamated story, incorporating details from both incidents and adding details from Luk 10:38-42.

(D) Karris, Nineham, and Schaberg concluded that:

The 4 gospels represent a total of only 1 anointing incident:

• 1st and only incident --- represented by Mar 14:3-9, upon which Mat 26:6-13 is totally dependent; by Joh 12:1-8; and by Luk 7:38-50, which "is to be regarded as a variant form of this story" (Nineham).

For bibliographical details about each of the above-mentioned books, browse:

• http://www.bibletexts.com/bibliogr/04com-b.htm
• http://www.bibletexts.com/bibliogr/06com-nt.htm

Regarding the anointing in Mar 14:3-9:

Nineham, as do others, makes some interesting points regarding the remembrance of the Mark's unnamed woman who would forever be remembered as anointing Jesus' head:

As we have seen earlier, the word Messiah means literally 'the anointed one' (i.e., in practice one whose head has been anointed); according to St. Mark's version of this incident (contrast the form of the story in Luke 7:38 and John 12:3), it was precisely an anointing of Jesus' head, and the Evangelist may well have seen in it a token of his Messiahship.

Regarding the anointing in Luk 7:38-50:

In Jane Schaberg's commentary on "Luke" in Women's Bible Commentary, Expanded Edition, with Apocrypha (edited by Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998, pages 373-375), Schaberg writes:

Accounts of a woman anointing Jesus appear in all four Gospels... What seems likely is that one event lies behind them, an event that was changed radically in the telling, and to which Mark's version is in some respects the most faithful... In Luke.. a social outcast takes on herself the role of servant in gratitude to Jesus. But by erasing the female prophet from the Markan source, Luke has refused to honor her memory. Given the emphatic nature of Mark 14:9, Luke's editing displays real arrogance. Politically, prophetically, what she has done will not be told in memory of her.

[Note: The following excerpts from Schaberg's commentary will help provide a more complete understanding of her conclusions (pages 367-368, 380): "There is also a noticeable tendency in this Gospel [of Luke] to defend, reassure, and praise women... In terms of sheer quantity, Luke has more material about women: forty-two passages, of which twenty-three are unique to Luke. But careful comparison must be made of the quality of female roles and functions and of the liberating potential of each Gospel... Luke, on the other hand, fosters women's silence in the Gospel as a whole... Luke's depiction of women must be placed alongside reconstructions of the early Christian movement, which indicate that the movement was truly egalitarian in its initial stages, with women in positions of leadership and authority (see, e.g., Romans 16)... One begins to see how influential Luke has been in the creation of Christian assumptions, ideals, and institutions that do not affirm women but instead relegate them to the margins of the community and especially of its leadership."]

G.W.H. Lampe, in his commentary on "Luke" in Peake's Commentary on the Bible (edited by Matthew Black and H.H. Rowley, NY: Nelson, 1962, p. 831), writes:

Lk. has probably taken the Marcan story and recast it so as to illustrate the same theme as that of the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Robert J. Karris, O.F.M, in his commentary on Luke in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (cited above, pages 697) writes:

Luke is heir to a tradition that is found also in Mark 14:3-9; Matt 26:6-13; John 12:1-8. He has modified this tradition in two major ways.

In accordance with his pervasive theme of care for the poor, Luke has eliminated Jesus' statement that the poor you have always with you (Mark 14:7; Matt 26:11; John 12:8).

He has set the tradition with in the framework of a Hellenistic symposium genre, which he employs also in 11:37-54 and 14:1-24. The dramatis personae of this genre are host, chief guest, and other guests. The structure is invitation (v 36), gradual revelation of who the host (v 40) and other guests (v 49) are, the fait divers or action that prompts the speech of the chief guest (v 39, Simon's unspoken reaction), and the speech of the chief guest (vv. 40-50).

Frederick Danker, in his Jesus and the New Age: A Commentary on the Third Gospel, provides a different perspective on Luke 8, which immediately follows Luke's account of the anointing of Jesus' feet. Under the heading, "Women Disciples," Danker writes:

It is clear from the preceding account what Luke means with the comment that Jesus was spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is God in action claiming men for himself and breaking down the barriers of separation, whether those are sin or legalistic walls that divide the righteous from the 'sinner.' … [Regarding] "the reference to the twelve and to the women,] to the more discerning reader it would also be apparent that Jesus' choice of women for his company was highly unusual for a 'rabbi.' Women were equated with children as respects capacity for knowledge of the Torah. Some rabbis in fact questioned whether they should even be taught the Torah… Non-conformist that he was, Jesus refused to permit tradition to make second-class citizens of women, whom he considered his sisters. His enemies would say, as at Luke 23:5, that it was poor judgment to flaunt custom in this way; Jesus would reply that those who hear and observe God's words belong to his family (8:21).

Regarding the anointing in Joh 12:1-8:

Bultmann, in his The Gospel of John: A Commentary, provides an interesting summary of the participants in Mark's, Matthew's, and John's account:

According to Mk. 14:3 par. the meal takes place in the house of Simon "the Leper". It is hard to believe that the Evangelist [the writer of the Fourth Gospel] struck out this statement. If it originally belonged to the tradition, it could have been eliminated when the persons of Martha and Mary were brought into the story. It should now be clearly understood that Jesus is a guest with the sisters, as in Lk.10:38-42. According to Sanders (see on p. 397 n.1) op. cit. 39, Simon is the father of Martha and Mary and Lazarus.

Gail R. O'Day, in her commentary on John in Women's Bible Commentary, which is cited above, writes:

This story of the anointing anticipates three crucial parts of the remainder of the Gospel of John.

First as Jesus' words to Judas suggest, the anointing anticipates Jesus' death and burial...

Second, this anointing, in which Mary anoints Jesus' feet rather than his head (cf. Mark 14:3; Matt. 26:7), anticipates the footwashing in John 13:1-20, which has two meanings. One meaning is very familiar: the footwashing models service and discipleship (13:12-16). The second meaning is less familiar: to participate in the footwashing is to participate in Jesus' suffering and death (13:3-11). Mary's anointing of Jesus anticipates both of these meanings. It is an act of service, but it also participates in the events of Jesus' passion. Mary does for Jesus now what Jesus will do for his disciples later.

Third, Mary's anointing of Jesus anticipates the love commandment that Jesus will give his disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (13:34-35). The depth of Mary's love for Jesus is signaled by the extravagance of her gift. Mary is the first person in the Gospel to live out Jesus' love commandment.

In chap. 11 Mary modeled the robust faith that makes it possible to embrace Jesus' gift of new life. In this story Mary models what it means to be a disciple: to serve, to love one another, to share in Jesus' death.

Regarding the historiosity of the Fourth Gospel:

The following quotes from other BibleTexts.com Web page articles are relevant:

Though all of the books of the New Testament, including the Gospel of John, were first written in Greek, Jesus primarily spoke in Aramaic, a colloquial Semitic language related to Hebrew and entirely different from Greek. (Having come from Nazareth, Jesus also certainly did know and speak Greek, as appears to be the case from the account of his conversation with the Syrophenician woman in Mar 7:26 and other accounts, including possibly Joh 12:20.) With only a few exceptions, all of Jesus' authentic dialogue in the Greek New Testament is a translation from Aramaic to Greek…

Regardless of the issue of authorship, there is much that is very special about the Fourth Gospel. Comparing the Fourth Gospel with the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the Fourth Gospel might be described as being more like a painting of Jesus' life; whereas, the synoptic gospels might be described as being more like snap-shot photographs. The synoptic gospels may have some of the dialogue and many of the "sayings" more literally correct and from earlier recorded sources; however, the author/s of the Fourth Gospel with his/her/their artistry, Greek-language symbolism, and spiritual insight seems to present the authentic texture and essence of Jesus' message. This may be due to the writing of the Gospel of John representing a source with more intimate familiarity with the life and ministry and thinking of Christ Jesus. This is my current conclusion.

The two immediately preceding paragraphs are quoted from the following:

• http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/i-am.htm
• http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/bd.htm
• http://www.bibletexts.com/versecom/joh21v15.htm