Anointing at Bethany,a reflection (Main Forum)

by Francis , Kingsgrove, NSW, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 18:18 (421 days ago)

Extravagant Holiness: Reflections on the Anointing at Bethany
Was the unnamed woman's anointing of Jesus with costly oil foolish, or a bold act of holy extravagance?
Alyce M. McKenzie,

Patheos, March 25, 2012

Lectionary Reflections

Mark 14:1-15

April 1, 2012

Gregory Jones, a professor of theology at Duke Divinity School, tells a story of how he was asked to preach at a large Episcopal church some years ago. He was to preach on Mark 14:1-9. The church administrator asked him for his title and he sent it to her. So he sat, robed and ready to preach, before the assembled congregation that Sunday. He opened up the bulletin and looked through the order of worship and saw, to his horror, this note. ‘We are grateful to have as our guest speaker this morning His Extravagant Holiness the Reverend Dr. Gregory Jones.’

Our passage for today is not about honoring ourselves. We know how to do that. It is about honoring Christ through following the example of a woman who showed him kindness in a cruel world, who honored him beautifully against a backdrop of brutality.

My parents were at a conference in Bermuda some years ago. They entered the dining room the first evening. The sun was setting, casting a lovely pinkish glow over the room. The candles at each table glowed, adding to the romantic atmosphere. The waiter seated them next to another couple attending the conference. The husband looked up and smiled, and said, ‘Please join us. We're happy to be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary tonight.’ Whereupon his wife hissed, ‘Make that 34. You took a year off from our marriage with that bimbo from the office!’

Bitterness in the midst of a congenial context can be jarring. We don't expect it. It takes us by surprise.

For example, suppose a woman poured ointment over Jesus and as the sweet fragrance filled the room, somebody at the table, rather than praise, her, grumbled at her extravagance.

Kindness in the midst of a context of cruelty is also startling. I'm a history buff and have been reading Bill O'Reilly's fascinating book Killing Lincoln recently. In it he recounts how, after the brutal battle of Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, the Confederates, realizing they were outnumbered, raised their musket butts in the air as a sign of surrender. Union soldiers rounded up these men, whom they had fought so savagely for the previous hour. Then, shocked by the sunken eyes and gaunt Confederate faces, some of the bluecoats opened their rucksacks and shared their food.

Mark 14:1-9, referred to as ‘The Anointing at Bethany’ is a beautiful act that is bracketed by brutality. Just before this event, the chief priests plot to kill Jesus (14:1) because he threatens their prestige and power. And just after this, Judas throws his lot in with theirs and begins to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus. What was his motive? I imagine his resentment has been building for months. Jesus has such charisma and influence. He has such powers to multiply loaves, to inspire crowds and to heal. If all those gifts could be harnessed to the cause of driving out the Romans, what a powerhouse he would be! He should be focusing his time and talents on working to undermine the Romans and gaining support for his uprising. He should be fundraising for his campaign. He shouldn't be praising a crazy woman who pours a year's wages over his head in one rash moment. That is the straw that breaks this camel's back.

And so Judas leaves the dinner to go and betray Jesus. And, in the gathering storm clouds of Mark's gospel, things are going to go from bad to worse. From here on out, Jesus can expect only cruelty from religious and political leaders. Even his disciples, slow studies all along, are about to desert him.

But in between the brutal brackets, there is this beautiful act, this extravagant gift. And it is offered by a nameless woman, not by a disciple. Ironically, the people in Mark's gospel who seem to really get Jesus' message and follow him, are not his disciples. The Gerasene demoniac does as Jesus asks him and proclaims the good news of what Jesus has done for him (Mk. 5:18-20). Bartimaeus (Mk. 10:46-52) after Jesus heals him, follows him to Jerusalem. The women disciples at the crucifixion keep vigil rather than head for the hills (Mk. 15:40-41). Joseph of Arimathea (Mk. 15:43) honors Jesus' body after his death. This woman who anoints Jesus with costly ointment deserves a star on the walk of fame, along with these other non-disciples who, in brief vignettes in the gospel, grasp Jesus' message and honor him in their own small way. This woman with the oil is among those who show him kindness in a context of cruelty.

This story in Mark 14 appears, with variations, in Matthew 26:6-13, Luke 7:36-50, and John 12:1-8. The purposes of the story differ. Luke uses it to emphasize the forgiveness of sins. John emphasizes the anointing of Jesus' body for burial. Mark and Matthew emphasize the need to proclaim her beautiful act of anointing to the whole world.

The settings differ. In Mark and Matthew, the event occurs in the house of Simon the leper. Luke locates it in the home of ‘one of the Pharisees.’ In John it takes place in the house of Lazarus. In Mark and Matthew the anointing comes between the authorities' plotting and Judas' betrayal. In Luke it comes closer to the beginning of Jesus' ministry (Lk. 7:36-50). In John it occurs just before Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. The protagonist varies as well. In Mark and Matthew she is an unnamed woman. In John she is Mary, the sister of Lazarus. In Luke she is ‘a woman in the city, who was a sinner.’ In Mark and Matthew, she anoints Jesus' head. In Luke she bathes his feet with the ointment and her tears and dries them with her hair. John's account mirrors Luke's, though Mary's action there is more matter of fact, minus the tears.

In all four accounts, somebody objects to her actions. In Mark, we are told that ‘some were there who said to one another in anger . . .’ (Mk. 14:4). In John, Judas is the one who complains (Jn. 12:4). In Matthew it is the disciples who angrily protest her action (Mt. 26:8). In Luke, his host the Pharisee objects, not on the grounds of extravagance but of morality, that Jesus would allow himself to be touched by a ‘sinner’ (Lk. 7:39).

Only John explicitly states that the argument for ‘concern for the poor’ is bogus. Jesus has offered his disciples the opportunity to give to the poor any time they choose, and to give loyalty to him right now. Mark and Matthew include Jesus' words, ‘The poor you will have always with you, but you will not always have me.’ Matthew and Mark connect this story with Jesus' passion. The early church may have wanted to include an anointing of Jesus' body, since no proper anointing was possible after his death (Mk. 16:11). In Mark and Matthew the passage ends with the theme of universal proclamation of the gospel to the Gentile Church by this unnamed woman.

There was a time when the fact that this woman with the oil was unnamed was all I could see about this passage. The apparent unfairness of nameless fame was foremost in my mind. Over time, I have come to view it as an opportunity to see myself in her. In Mark she commits an act of kindness in a context of cruelty. She honors Jesus with an extravagant outpouring of herself that fills a room with sweet fragrance. Her action is an oasis of honor in a desert of plotting and brutality. While Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus, she made an opportunity to honor him. Despite all the hostile power arrayed against Jesus, she manages to find a way to anoint him with a soothing, fragrant ointment. She doesn't ask for fame, just for you and me to do the same.

Alyce M. McKenzie is the George W. and Nell Ayers Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

My purpose is to remember the love that created me in God one with my brothers and sisters and with all life. My function is to extend that love and unity each moment to all.