Who was Simon the Leper?

Simon the Leper, at whose house 'a woman' anointed the head of the Lord. Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3. By comparing these passages with John 12:1-3 it seems evident that Martha and Mary lived in Simon's house (they were perhaps in some way related to him), and that Mary was the woman alluded to. There is no authority for associating this anointing of the Lord with that recorded in Luke 7:36-50, described as being by 'a sinner.'

Verse 6. It was known as the house of Simon the leper. He was a cured leper, and it is possible, as some have thought, that he was the father of Martha and Mary, and Lazarus. It is also called Martha's house, she received the Lord into her house. We cannot be positive who this Simon was, so we say no more except that it is not the Simon who is spoken of in Luke 7. That scene is in Galilee, this in Judea. And further, the woman of Luke 7 was an immoral person, a well known sinner, but there is not a single syllable to indicate anything like that of Mary of Bethany. Again, the woman in Luke comes uninvited and was one whom. Simon did not want to see; but in John 12. it is a family scene. Then the woman of Luke 7 came prepared to anoint his feet — not to wash them; but she found them soiled. The common courtesies of the East were lacking on this occasion, but she washed the Saviour's feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and anointed them with ointment. With Mary, it was hers but to anoint (His head and) His feet, as love and care had already not been wanting — His feet were clean. Here at Bethany the house is filled with the odour of the ointment. Here is worship, and as we worship we should carry away the savour of it too. The unnamed woman of Luke 7 remains unnamed. She was not Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven demons had been cast,but known as a "sinner" — "her sins many."

The Family. — A family of three dwelt there — two sisters and a brother, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Another person is named by Matthew and Mark as dwelling in the village — one Simon the leper. In his house Mary anointed the Lord — a friend evidently of the family, as Martha could busy herself in serving under his roof (John 12:2-3). Nothing is known of him to support the idea, that he was the kinsman of the family, or that he stood in a closer connection as the husband of Martha. "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" we read (11:5), which would apparently intimate, that those three comprised the whole family circle. That Martha had a house of her own is definitely stated in Luke (10:38). Into it she on one occasion received the Lord. How she came to have a house is a question, the solution of which is beyond our power.

The supper was made for the Lord, who had raised Lazarus from the dead (John 12:1-2). And Lazarus, we here learn, formed one of the company; whilst Martha, true to her natural character, was serving. But where did the supper take place? On this John is silent; but his brother Evangelists, the son of Alphaeus and the son of Mary, have both placed on record. It took place in the house of Simon the leper. Of him, as we have before remarked (p. 239), we know nothing more, than that he, who had been a leper, owned a house at Bethany, in which they now made a supper for the Lord. Our knowledge, however, of the supper being in his house, explains why Lazarus is mentioned by John as sitting at the table on that occasion with the Lord. For if the supper had been in Lazarus' house, such a notice would have been superfluous.

A happy company it must have been. For if Simon was healed by the Lord at some previous time, as has been supposed, full to overflowing must his heart have been for the mercy vouchsafed. No wonder he would make Him a feast. And Lazarus there, raised from the dead, what proofs were two of that company of the Lord's power and goodness! God only could heal the leper; God only could raise the dead. A leper healed, a dead man raised, and the Son of God, who had healed the one, and had raised the other, here also at the table — never before, we may say it without fear of contradiction, had a supper taken place under such circumstances. Nor is that all; for Lazarus at the table, after he had been in the tomb, seems a foreshadowing of Israel's history, when the nation will emerge, as it were, from their grave (Ezek. 37:12-14), and enjoy the blessing of the Lord's presence with them. Millennial anticipations are by no means infrequent in the Word.

Mary. — Martha serving, Lazarus feasting, what was Mary about? Her history, as previously recorded (Luke 10:39), would lead to the supposition that she was not unconcerned with the Lord in their midst. Her love to Christ, and her gratitude for what He had done to her brother, were no less fervid than those of her sister, and of her brother. If Martha would show her gratitude in serving, Mary would show hers in anointing the Lord. And to John are we indebted for our knowledge that it was Mary. He alone mentions the name of the woman. Matthew and Mark tell us that it was a woman. All three are agreed that the ointment was very precious, Mark and John tell us it was spikenard, and John has preserved from oblivion that it was a pound in weight. The Holy Spirit delights, we may say, in recording service done to Christ.

A pound of ointment! Twelve ounces of spikenard, very costly! On whom before had so much been bestowed? But nothing was too costly for her to expend on Him. Mary's estimate of Christ remained unchanged and unchangeable. She had sat at His feet, and had drunk in His words (Luke 10). She had rejoiced with Martha in the restoration to them of their brother Lazarus from the tomb (John 11). Now she testified by her act before all what Christ was to her. Sitting formerly at His feet, she now anointed them, — so John writes; whilst Matthew and Mark relate that she poured the ointment on His head. And John only tells us of her wiping His feet with her hair. A woman's natural ornament and covering was honoured by being put to such a use.

In the feast at Bethany the names of Martha and Mary are prominent in service and worship. We are not told just the connection between them and Simon the leper (of course a cleansed leper), at whose house, as we learn in Matthew, the anointing took place. There is no need for the supposition which some have made that Martha was married to him; others, that while the feast was in his house, the hosts were the family so devoted to our Lord. This latter, however, is not unnatural to Jewish customs. "There they made Him a supper" (John 12:2) might thus include both Simon who opened his house, and Martha and her family who gladly ministered there.

A disciple whom Jesus loved: she was apparently the head of the household at Bethany, which Jesus at times visited. Martha was probably the widow of Simon a leper (comp. Matt. 26:6-13 with John 12:1-8), and superintended domestic arrangements. She received the Lord into 'her house.' Luke 10:38. Having the Lord for a visitor she was burdened with much service, and begged Him to instruct her sister Mary to help her. A contrast is here drawn between the two sisters: the one occupied with what she could do for the Lord; the other with what He was: self being plainly uppermost in Martha, while the Lord Himself was paramount with Mary. 'That good part' should not be taken from her. But in John 12, when the Lord was again at Bethany, and they made a supper for Him, Martha's service is in no way qualified, the raising up by the Lord of her brother Lazarus, and His dealings with herself, having doubtless taught her the needed lesson. Service in communion with Himself is acceptable to Him.

This Gospel of Matthew was written for the Jews, and nothing is given therein to puff them up. So in the next incident (8:5-13) we have no elders of the Jews mentioned as in Luke 7:3. The beloved physician, writing to Gentiles, appropriately gives us in his Gospel the honoured place of the Jews as God's people, for at that time the middle wall of partition was not yet broken down. In both these cases — of the leper, and the centurion — there is faith. In the first, it is personal faith, but in the case of the centurion it is the faith of one person for another. If leprosy represents sin in its polluting character, palsy shows man in his helplessness. It is a great point for a sinner to make that discovery. It is more to acknowledge I am helpless than that I am a sinner. To the Gentile centurion the Lord says, "I will come and heal him." In the case of the nobleman in John 4. He says, "Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe," and in spite of his reiterated request that the Lord would come down Jesus did not go, although he healed his son. No doubt he belonged to Herod's court. As the leper in the beginning of our chapter is the only one specifically mentioned in the three Synoptic Gospels some think he was "Simon the leper" (Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3) in whose house at Bethany "they made him a supper" (John 12. i8).

The remarkable scenes of the anointing of the blessed Lord by the woman in Simon the Pharisee's house, and by Mary of Bethany, will for ever remain precious to those who value the Person of Jesus and the grace that brought Him down from heaven to speak to our troubled hearts, and to bring us to know His deep love so that we could respond in affection and worship.

Some have thought that the incidents of Luke 7 and John 12 are one and the same, but careful examination shows that they are quite distinct events, even if they have some features in common. In both the ointment was poured from an alabaster box, and in both the feet of Jesus were anointed.

Matthew, Mark and John all record the same event, John telling us that the woman was Mary of Bethany, and Matthew and Mark revealing that the anointing took place in the house of Simon the leper. The anointing of Luke 7 was in the house of another Simon, even Simon the Pharisee. There are many Simons named in Scripture, the nine of the New Testament all being carefully distinguished the one from the other. There is nothing that would make us suppose that Simon the Pharisee was the same person as Simon the leper.

222 John 12:3. — Cf. Ps. 23:5. Origen and Chrysostom considered that there were three anointings: (α) in house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7); (β) in house of Simon the leper (Mark 14); (γ) in Martha's house (John 12). Some find but two, regarding Martha as wife of Simon the leper. There seem to be six Simons mentioned in the Gospels.

And now the second scene. It takes place in the house of Simon, the leper, most likely called by that name because he had been afflicted with leprosy. The beautiful incident, full of precious lessons, is followed by the murmuring of the disciples, especially from the side of Judas, as we learn from the Gospel of John.

"But Jesus being in Bethany, in Simon, the leper's house, a woman having an alabaster flask of very precious ointment, came to Him and poured it out upon His head as he lay at table. But the disciples seeing it became indignant, saying, To what end was this waste? for this might have been sold for much and been given to the poor. But Jesus knowing it said to them, Why do ye trouble the woman? for she has wrought a good work toward me. For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For in pouring out this ointment on my body, she has done it for my burial. Verily I say to you, Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her" (verses 6-13).