John Calvin Commentary John 11:2

"And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick." — John 11:2 (ASV)

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord. It is a similar display of ignorance to imagine that this Mary, the sister of Lazarus, was the woman of wicked and infamous life, who is mentioned by Luke (Luke 7:37). This mistake was caused by the anointing, as if it were not evident enough that Christ was anointed on various occasions and even in different places.

The woman who was a sinner, of whom Luke gives an account, anointed Christ in Jerusalem, where he lived; but Mary later anointed him in Bethany, which was her own village. The past tense used by the Evangelist, who anointed, must be understood as referring not to the time of the event he is now relating, but to the time when he wrote. It is as if he had said, “It was this Mary who later poured the ointment on Christ’s head, which caused a murmuring among the disciples” (Matthew 26:7).