Simon the Leper

Biblical Account

Simon the Leper appears in Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9. According to these two Gospels, after entering Jerusalem and shortly before His Passion, Jesus was dining "in the house of Simon the leper" in Bethany. Mark places this event immediately after noting that it was two days before the Passover (Mark 14:1).

During the meal a woman came with an alabaster box (a stone vessel for holding ointment) of very costly ointment and poured it on Jesus' head. Mark records that "some" were indignant and rebuked the woman, saying that the ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred pence and the money given to the poor. The denarius (rendered "penny" in the KJV) is generally understood to have been a silver coin equivalent to a laborer's daily wage at the time. Matthew identifies those who objected as the disciples. Jesus said that the woman had prepared Him beforehand for His burial, and that wherever the gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what she had done would also be told in memory of her. In both Gospels this account is followed immediately by the scene in which Judas Iscariot goes to the chief priests and agrees to betray Jesus.

Scripture records nothing that Simon said or did, nor anything about his family or later life.

Significance Within Scripture

Because the New Testament includes several men named Simon, such as Peter, Simon the Canaanite, and Simon of Cyrene, the term "leper" is understood as an epithet distinguishing this man from the others. The word rendered "leprosy" in the Korean Bible (Revised Korean Version) is generally regarded as referring broadly to a range of skin diseases, not only to what is today called Hansen's disease. According to Leviticus 13:45-46, a person with such a disease had to live apart, outside the camp. For this reason, many commentators hold that because Simon was able to receive guests in his home, he had already been healed, and that the epithet derived from his former illness. The text, however, does not say when or how he was healed.

In this narrative Simon appears only as the host who provided the setting. The focus of the account is the action of the woman who poured out the ointment, the words of Jesus, and His approaching death.

Interpretations and Debated Questions

• Relationship to the Gospel of John: John 12:1-8 also records an anointing at a supper in Bethany, six days before the Passover. In that account Martha serves, Lazarus sits at the table with Jesus, and Mary anoints Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair. Simon is not named. Many scholars regard it as the same event recorded in Matthew and Mark, but interpretations differ on how to account for the differences in date and detail.
• Simon the Pharisee in Luke: Luke 7:36-50 tells of "a woman in the city, which was a sinner" who anointed Jesus' feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Because this event is recorded as taking place during Jesus' Galilean ministry, most regard it as a separate incident, though some hold that the two Simons were the same man.
• Traditions Not Found in the Text: The stories that Simon had been healed by Jesus, or that he was the father of Lazarus and Martha and Mary or the husband of Martha, are later conjectures without basis in Scripture. In addition, from the Middle Ages onward a tradition spread in the Western church identifying the women who anointed Jesus with Mary Magdalene. The Eastern Orthodox Church, however, has traditionally distinguished them, and today many Protestant and Catholic scholars also distinguish them.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church this passage is treated mainly in sermons and Sunday school lessons around Holy Week as the story of "the woman who broke the alabaster box." The emphasis usually falls on the woman's devotion and on the meaning of her act as preparation for Jesus' burial, with Simon mentioned briefly as a background figure. Some sermons also note that Jesus shared a meal in the home of a man who may have been marginalized by his community.