Passage
It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
John 11:2 (WEB)
Nearby Context
John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
John 11:2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
John 11:3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”
John 11:4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "mary", "anointed", "lord", "ointment", "wiped", "feet", "hair", and "whose". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mary" and "anointed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Now a certain man was sick Lazarus..." into verse 3's "The sisters therefore sent to him saying...", so "mary" and "anointed" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mary" and "anointed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.