What does John 12:1 mean?
The events of this segment happen less than a week before Passover. In this case, the date in question is the Passover where Jesus will be sacrificed for the sins of mankind. In the chapters leading up to this, John has provided mountains of evidence that Jesus is divine, which is the purpose of this entire gospel (John 20:30–31). That evidence includes miracles, testimonies, and references to Scripture. Among the more spectacular of those points was the raising of Lazarus—dead four days—from the grave in front of a crowd of witnesses (John 11:38–44).Jesus now returns to the site of that miracle, being treated to a dinner in the hometown of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. The verses which follow present several examples of how Christians present their testimony of faith in God and the hardness of resistant hearts. Mary's self-sacrificing gift to Jesus is, probably, the same event as described in Mark 14:3–11, meaning this occurs in the home of a man named Simon.