It was that Mary ... - See the Matthew 26:6 note; Luke 7:36-50 notes.

It was that Mary which anointed - There is much disagreement between learned men relative to the two anointings of our Lord, and the persons who performed these acts. The various conjectures concerning these points the reader will find in the notes on Matthew 26:7, etc., but particularly at the end of that chapter. Dr. Lightfoot inquires, Why should Bethany be called the town of Martha and Mary, and not of Lazarus? And he thinks the reason is, that Martha and Mary had been well known by that anointing of our Lord, which is mentioned Luke 7:37; (see the note there); but the name of Lazarus had not been mentioned till now, there being no transaction by which he could properly be brought into view. He therefore thinks that the aorist αλειψασα, which we translate anointed, should have its full force, and be translated, who had formerly anointed; and this he thinks to have been the reason of that familiarity which subsisted between our Lord and this family; and, on this ground, they could confidently send for our Lord when Lazarus fell sick. This seems a very reasonable conjecture; and it is very likely that the familiarity arose out of the anointing.

Others think that the anointing of which the evangelist speaks is that mentioned John 12:1, etc., and which happened about six days before the passover. St. John, therefore, is supposed to anticipate the account, because it served more particularly to designate the person of whom he was speaking.

It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment,.... Not the woman in Luke 7:37, as some have thought, whose name is not mentioned, and which history is not related by John at all: but Mary in John 12:3, who is both mentioned by name, and along with Lazarus her brother, and with whom all the circumstances of the affair suit; and though the fact was not yet done, yet John writing many years after it was done, and when it was well known, proleptically, and in a parenthesis, takes notice of it here:

and wiped his feet with her hair; instead of a napkin, after she had anointed them with oil; See Gill on Luke 7:37, See Gill on John 12:3.

Whose brother Lazarus was sick; this is observed, to show how well they were all acquainted with Christ, and affected to him.

Anointed (ἀλείψασα)

Three words for anointing are found in the New Testament: ἀλείφω, χρίω, and its compounds, and μυρίζω. The last is used but once, Mark 14:8, of anointing the Lord's body for burying. Between the two others the distinction is strictly maintained. Χρίω, which occurs five times, is used in every case but one of the anointing of the Son by the Father With the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9). In the remaining instance (2 Corinthians 1:21) of enduing Christians with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus the word is confined to sacred anointing. Ἁλείφω is used of all actual anointings. See Matthew 6:17; Mark 6:13; Luke 7:38; James 5:14. The same distinction is generally maintained in the Septuagint, though with a few exceptions, as Numbers 3:3.

(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

11:2 It was that Mary. As there are several New Testament Marys, John points out this one by the well known incident of the anointing described in Joh 12:1-11.

11:2 It was that Mary who afterward anointed, and c. She was more known than her elder sister Martha, and as such is named before her.

2. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, &c.-This, though not recorded by our Evangelist till Joh 12:3, was so well known in the teaching of all the churches, according to our Lord's prediction (Mt 26:13), that it is here alluded to by anticipation, as the most natural way of identifying her; and she is first named, though the younger, as the more distinguished of the two. She "anointed THE Lord," says the Evangelist-led doubtless to the use of this term here, as he was about to exhibit Him illustriously as the Lord of Life.

11:1-6 It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves, to be sick; bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces of God's people. He came not to preserve his people from these afflictions, but to save them from their sins, and from the wrath to come; however, it behoves us to apply to Him in behalf of our friends and relatives when sick and afflicted. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dealings of Providence, that they are all for the glory of God: sickness, loss, disappointment, are so; and if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. The families are greatly favoured in which love and peace abound; but those are most happy whom Jesus loves, and by whom he is beloved. Alas, that this should seldom be the case with every person, even in small families. God has gracious intentions, even when he seems to delay. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, is delayed, it does but stay for the right time.