Mark 16:1

1. And Salome Besides the three women here mentioned, Luke mentions a fourth, Joanna, the wife of Chusa, adding that there were others, of women from Galilee. It was, therefore, a numerous party. Sweet spices Consisting of myrrh, aloes, and other preventives of putrefaction, and odorous perfumes. These spices had been prepared upon the previous Friday evening. Previous to this, the sacred body had been embalmed by Nicodemus with spices to the enormous amount of a hundred pounds in weight, inclosed within the linen cloth that enwrapped him. Why was this exceeding copious amount of spices lavished upon the Lord’s body? The ancient Egyptians adopted the practice of embalmment with the idea of preserving the body undissolved and unmarred for the day of resurrection. Did these friends of Jesus provide these ample preservatives under a somewhat similar conception? As Mary unknowingly anointed his body for his burial, so these disciples seemed half unconsciously to be embalming him for his resurrection. It is almost impossible to suppose that some thought of his prediction of his rising again should not cross their minds, and it seems naturally to have shown itself in this munificent honouring of the sacred body.