4:46 Now he came again to Cana 1 in Galilee where he had made the water wine. 2 In 3 Capernaum 4 there was a certain royal official 5 whose son was sick.
11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 6 11:2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil 7 and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 8
1 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
2 sn See John 2:1-11.
3 tn Grk “And in.”
4 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-C3; Map3-B2.
5 tn Although βασιλικός (basiliko") has often been translated “nobleman” it is almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.
6 tn Grk “from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”
7 tn Or “perfume,” “ointment.”
8 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It is a bit surprising that the author here identifies Mary as the one who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, since this event is not mentioned until later, in 12:3. Many see this “proleptic” reference as an indication that the author expected his readers to be familiar with the story already, and go on to assume that in general the author in writing the Fourth Gospel assumed his readers were familiar with the other three gospels. Whether the author assumed actual familiarity with the synoptic gospels or not, it is probable that he did assume some familiarity with Mary’s anointing activity.