Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary
Anointing honored guests as a sign of hospitality and respect is found in ancient Egyptian and Greek sources, as well as the New Testament. Each of the four gospels includes a scene in which a woman anoints Jesus with scented oil at a dinner where he is a guest. No two accounts are identical. (Compare versions in Mt 26, Mk 14, and Lk 7 with today’s gospel reading, John 12:1-8.) Many scholars see these stories as variations on a single event; others posit two distinct scenes. Matthew, Mark, and John set the event just days before Jesus’ death. Only John identifies the woman as Mary.
Jesus’ close relationship with Mary and Martha is attested in Luke (10:38-42), as well as John (both ch 11, the raising of Lazarus, and here in ch 12). In ch 11, Jesus calls Lazarus “our friend” (11:11). Jesus is familiar with these three siblings. After Lazarus’ release from the tomb, the three honor Jesus with a dinner at their home. Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with costly perfume, wiping his feet with her hair.
John, Mt and Mk all record that the lavish outpouring of valuable nard is criticized as a thrown-away opportunity to do great good for the poor. Only John puts this criticism in the mouth of Judas, and only John suggests that his motives are selfish: as group treasurer, Judas habitually takes a cut of any donations (v 6). Yet, Judas’ motivations aside, his protest does not seem unreasonable. Some of our listeners will have exactly this thought, and wise preachers will acknowledge it. That said, it is Jesus’ reframing of Mary’s act in relation to his Passion that should guide our preaching on this day.
In Mt and Mk, as well as John, Jesus’ response to the anointing has three parts. First, in each gospel, Jesus tells the woman’s critic(s) to stand down. In Mt and Mk, he says, “Why do you trouble the woman?” John phrases it, “Leave her alone.” Jesus asserts that this lavish anointing has a sacred integrity in this moment, one they do not understand. Next, in Mt and Mk, as well as John, Jesus states that—with a foresight her critics lack—the woman has anointed him for burial. Mary may have learned of the murderous anger of the Jerusalem leadership, ignited by Jesus’ raising of her brother. Her extravagant action is prophetic, signifying that she understands his destiny in a way others do not. It parallels, in a sense, the remarkable confession of faith John attributes to her sister Martha in ch 11, who runs to meet Jesus on the road, while Lazarus still lies in his tomb (11:25-27).
Lastly, Jesus calls Judas’ bluff. If Judas is indeed so devoted to the poor, he will have (and always has had) plenty of chances to show it. But for Jesus, time is running out; and the question in this critical, unrepeatable moment before Jesus’ final Passover is whether or not Judas—and the rest of Jesus’ followers—will remain devoted to him as the horizon darkens and the noose tightens around him.
Mary’s anointing of Jesus, full of gratitude, sorrow, and love, is an affirmation of her death-defying faith in one destined to die. It is an outpouring of selfless, wordless worship of the one whose glory will be revealed, paradoxically, on a Roman cross. There, death itself will become death’s undoing. The tomb’s seal will be forever broken, and the breath of inextinguishable life will fill the world.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 