Ezekiel Kimosop Supporter

In Matthew's case, the incident took place in Bethany at the house of one Simon, the leper. (v.7). The incident is elsewhere captured in Mark 14:3-9 where the woman broke an alabaster flask containing very costly oil worth more than three hundred denarii [about 15,000 USD] and poured it on Jesus' head. One distinction however stands out. In Matthew's and Mark's narratives, the woman who wiped and anointed Jesus' feet is unidentified. No mention of Lazarus' presence is made by Matthew and Mark. Jesus' reaction in Mark's account is unique. He commended the woman for anointing his body in preparation for burial. 

The scene recorded in John 12:1-8 closely resembles John's narrative of the same event. John reports that the gathering took place at the home of Simon the leper and Lazarus was among those who welcomed Jesus in that home. Lazarus was perhaps a close associate of Simon the leper. 

The mention of Lazarus being raised from the dead in Bethany in John 12:1 is perhaps merely coincidental and serves to remind the Bible reader that the raising of Lazarus had taken place earlier. It is not necessarily evidence that it was a separate incident from the one described by Matthew. It is instructive that Lazarus is listed among those who sat with Jesus during the incident (John 12:2). 

My view is that the narratives captured by Matthew and John appear to focus on the same event from two distinct theological perspectives. While Matthew failed to mention the woman by name, John did. Curiously, Luke's account assigns a stigmatic title to the woman by identifying her as a sinful woman. This distinctive feature appears to significantly contrast Luke's narrative from the rest. 

Bible scholars acknowledge that Matthew's gospel was primarily intended for a Jewish audience under which the prominence of women was culturally suppressed. This could partly explain the anonymity of the woman in his context. It is instructive that all the four Gospel Books have captured this incident. A. M. Honore observes that three quarters of Mark's content is found in Matthew and Luke, and 97% of Mark is found in at least one of the other two Synoptic Gospels. This observation reveals that the narratives were of utmost importance to the Gospel writers.

The next question to address is thus: Is Mary the sister of Lazarus the woman mentioned by Matthew?

Some scholars say the woman in Matthew's context may have been a different Mary. However, given the location of the incident and the presence of Lazarus among the guests, it is most likely that his sister Mary had accompanied him to the house of Simon the leper where Jesus was expected. 

In John's context, Mary's act of pouring expensive perfume on Jesus' feet was perhaps an expression of her deep gratitude to Jesus for raising her brother Lazarus under the incident described in John 11. She was possibly not the only woman to have expressed gratitude to Jesus in this manner during His earthly ministry. Charles Huddon Spurgeon notably observes thus: “It ought not to astonish you that there were two persons whose intense affection thus displayed itself; the astonishment should rather be that there were not two hundred who did so....” 

In Luke's case, the sinful woman's encounter with Jesus took place at the house of a Pharisee who had invited Jesus to dine with him. Luke 7:11 suggests that Jesus was possibly still within the precincts of the city of Nain at this point. Some say the sinful woman who kissed Jesus' feet and anointed them with expensive fragrant oil was possibly a well-known prostitute in the city of Nain. Given the chronological sequence in the Synoptic Gospels, and Jesus' relationship with Lazarus and his two sisters described in John 11, it is difficult to conclude that Mary the sister of Lazarus was a sinful woman of the kind contemplated under Luke's narrative. 

It is therefore theologically difficult, in my view, to precisely establish the identity of the woman mentioned in Matthew 26:6-13

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