vs 1
Oooh, some 'sly' way. How sneaky, TNIV. The NASB actually uses the word 'stealth', which wins at coolness for me. The KJV uses the term 'take him by craft' - so I assume they were going to build a prison out of paddle pop sticks.
vs 2
Apparently their patience wears thin pretty quick, though, after feast day.
vs 3
Mmmm, nard. Actually, nard does not sound all that appetising. It is expensive, though, and without second thought, she basically accosts Jesus with it more thoroughly than any of those department store perfume saleswomen. Can I also just point out that Jesus is staying at a leper's house. That is just way cool. One assumes that he's now an ex-leper.
vs 4
Sounds like something Judas might say... but we're not told here it was him specifically.
vs 5
Apparently Jesus lived pretty simply. He called himself king, but he ate with lepers. He walked around, did his teaching thing, stayed in other people's houses... apparently expensive perfume was not something the disciples were used to seeing on the balance sheet. Which now, it seems, makes them forget that Jesus actually is the messiah, and he can have nice things.
vs 6
See? Jesus likes his perfume bath. Moreover, he doesn't like that they're losing it at this poor woman.
vs 7
It's a fair point, made better in the NIV, I think. The TNIV's "You can help them whenever you want," does not really have the same link to Deuteronomy 15. In any case, Jesus is a limited time offer, and if you want to do something nice for the Lord of all creation while he's here, get in fast.
vs 8
Now, this should not have been a surprise to them. But I'll bet it was. Even she was likely surprised. But Jesus had been saying they were headed to Jerusalem and he was going to die for some time now.
vs 9
Now, it makes me want to ask, does this story make it in because Jesus said these words, or would it have made it in anyway, and so Jesus' words are just highlighting the point? I actually go for the latter, because of the whole burial preparation thing, which you would certainly not leave out if you were writing a gospel. It is worth noting that this is one of the few stories that makes it into all four gospels. So it is a pretty important story.
vs 10
Because Jesus rebuked him, as well as the others, for harassing the woman about the perfume? It's possible. Could have been the last straw. Some people draw Judas as a communist style sympathiser, and when he sees Jesus accept the perfume, he thinks Jesus is just like all the other would-be messiahs, he just wants to be rich. It's not impossible for people to have such disequilibrium in their minds (he stole from the poor bag, after all), but it would seem a little strange. I generally go for he got rebuked one too many times.
vs 11
In the end, the chief priests didn't even need to work very hard. It's like God planned the whole thing, and made sure that even the bumbling bad guys could get a break.
vs 12
They knew Jesus would want to celebrate it, after all - he did every other celebratory thing. And no doubt they were keen to celebrate it. Passover was a big deal - still is, for Jews.
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