If you are a person who has grown up going to church you probably know well the gospel story we just read. Unfortunately, that is probably to your disadvantage. This is one of those stories that shows up in all four of the gospels; or at least some form of a story with a woman anointing Jesus. We mix them all up in our heads and inadvertently bring parts of one into another. But, in order to get the most out of what Mark intends we need to put blinders of sorts on.
Matthew’s gospel portrays pretty
much the same scene as Mark with just a couple tweaks of the details. John’s gospel tells it differently. He also says it happens shortly before the
crucifixion. He says it happens in the
house of Lazarus, not Simon the Leper, and he says the anointing is done by
Lazarus’ sister Mary. Further, Mary does
not anoint Jesus head. She anoints his
feet and wipes them with her hair. To
say John’s version of this has sexual overtones is huge understatement! These days what Mary did would be seen as
clearly in the realm of sexual harassment.
But Luke’s version of the story
takes it even farther. In John’s gospel
we could dismiss Mary’s action as a woman deeply in love with Jesus and she is
losing her head in devotion. In Luke we are back to an unnamed woman. It takes place far earlier in Jesus
ministry. In that case Jesus is eating a
meal at the house of a Pharisee named Simon.
The woman is simply called a “sinner”, in other words a prostitute. She comes up from the street while Jesus is
at the table, washes his feet with her tears, anoints his feet with perfume and
wipes them with her hair. Of course this
raises the eyebrows of good upstanding citizen Simon. The whole scene is filled with
embarrassment. And you probably find the
woman repugnant, or perhaps you nearly break down in tears for her. She is clearly desperate to be treated with
just a scrap of decency from a man.
But, with all of that named, let’s
look at Mark – and only Mark. We are
going to look at this story on Mark’s terms and keeping Mark’s own storytelling
style in mind.
We are told that it takes place in
Bethany in the house of Simon the leper.
The name of the homeowner is an odd detail to put in. Simon the leper nowhere else appears in the
gospel. But of course this is Mark’s
gospel. No detail, no matter how minute,
is insignificant to Mark. And we know
from previous passages, like the way the only named person who receives a
healing from Jesus is Bartimaeus – spoofing Plato’s work Timaeus, names can be
of immense significance to Mark.
So, Simon is named. And then Mark seems to go out of his way to
make sure the woman in the story is unnamed.
Now before you start jumping to conclusions, keep your blinders on
Mark’s gospel alone. This scene takes
place in a house. It is not public. The woman is either a close follower of
Jesus, or quite likely a member of the family who lives with Simon.
Decades ago some feminist scholars
used to rip into this text as sexist.
Yet time has shown that doing so is not only bad scholarship but
contrary to Mark’s storytelling style.
It is no small fact that in Mark’s
gospel we meet lots of women. Some of
them are named, but none, not one, no female character of those who were
disciples are ever named…
Until…
Jesus
dies.
And
then Mark starts pouring out the names and identities of these women: Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. Why?
Well, let’s just say that’s not the only time they appear – and it’s
also not the only time Mark gives their names.
But you’ll have to wait until Easter to learn about that. For if Mark’s not ready to start divulging
the names of the female disciples yet I’m not going to force it into his story
either.
For
Mark the anonymity of this woman at this point is essential. It sets up Jesus later words, “Truly I tell
you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done
will be told in remembrance of her.” In
remembrance of who? Her. Just her.
Identity never to be revealed.
Most likely though, a member of the household of Simon the leper.
The
woman breaks open an entire jar of nard and pours it on Jesus’ head. It is extravagant. It was extreme. The whole house was certainly overwhelmed by
the smell. It probably spilled out into
the surrounding streets!
I
put myself in the role of some of those gathered in the house and cry out in
indignation, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for
more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.”
That
indeed is a very practical statement.
After all, a denarii was a day’s wages for a laborer. So this ointment was worth basically a year’s
income! What a waste!
When
I see this scene as Mark tells it I get the feeling Simon the leper was a
fairly well to do follower of Jesus. And
if this unnamed woman was a member of Simon’s household it makes sense that she
would have some expensive perfume at her disposal.
And
for reasons we do not know, she decides to take what is perhaps her entire
stock of perfume and pours all of it only Jesus in one tremendous gesture of…
of what? Is it love, sadness, fear,…? We do not know.
Our
English translations say that those who saw this scolded her. That’s not entirely correct. More literally translated, they “snorted” at
her. This wasn’t scolding. This was derision… ‘You stupid woman! What are doing? You’re a silly idiot!’ (If there is sexism in this passage it is
there!)
We
don’t know why she did it, but we do know this.
People did not bathe regularly in those days. This perfume was strong. This takes place on a Wednesday evening. Jesus has the Last Supper with the disciples
on Thursday evening. He will be
arrested, tried, sentenced and executed by mid-day Friday. The smell of the perfume was surely still
with him through it all.
If
that is the case, and I think Mark intends it, then we owe this anonymous woman
a debt of gratitude we can never repay. You
see, when Jesus gets arrested the disciples start to peel away. Peter lingers but all too soon also denies
Jesus. The religious leaders hand Jesus
over to the Romans. They don’t want
Jesus either and hand him over to the soldiers who mock him and flog him. They then hand him over to be executed.
And
on the cross Jesus is taunted and mocked by those who pass by. And don’t overlook this detail in Mark’s
gospel when we read it on Good Friday.
In Mark’s gospel even the two bandits, or “evildoers” taunt Jesus. You see, in Mark’s gospel event the criminal
element of society mocks Jesus.
In
other words, in Mark’s gospel every aspect of humanity rejected Jesus. He was truly alone on that cross.
Except…
through it all there was one act of kindness done by humanity that lingered –
the scent of nard poured out on him by that anonymous woman.
That
is the only act of appreciation we humans gave our Lord as he saved us.
A
year’s salary wasted on perfume?!? That
price doesn’t begin to cover what we owe.
Once
again we find that when we put ourselves in the hands of our gospel writer Mark
he both shocks and absolutely humbles us.
Don’t let it be lost on you that
this lone act of kindness from a person is the event which sends Judas (a
clearly named character) to the religious leaders. And speaking of money, Judas literally sells
out Jesus.
What do we take away from this
text? Perhaps nothing to learn. Only an appreciation for what that woman
did. It is a desire to give a huge thank
you to someone you can never even give a name to.
And perhaps, when it comes to acts
of love and devotion, sometimes it is best to not always be shrewd and calculating,
but give and give to a level of absurd abundance.
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