Day 35—Holy Monday, March 30

John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

St. John the Evangelist inserts this event temporally between the raising of Lazarus from the dead and the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We know that by this time Jesus had a price on his head. In the verses that immediately precede this passage, John tells us, “Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.” Jesus had crossed over the limits of acceptable and tolerable religious and civil discourse, inciting the “powers that be” to be anxious and vengeful.

Jesus took refuge in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany where he had been invited to dinner to honor him as friend, teacher, and spiritual leader. Jesus often stayed with them when he came to nearby Jerusalem for festivals. Mary, as well as her two siblings, were aware of their guest’s jeopardy. But he was their shepherd in life. They loved him. In anticipation of his arrest, as an act of devotion, Mary anointed his feet with expensive aromatic oils called nard. This deed foreshadowed two imminent events: his burial where Jewish tradition called for the anointing of the body, and the other being his washing of his disciples’ feet at the last supper, only a few days hence which we remember on Maundy Thursday.

Anointing in the Hebrew scriptures was reserved for the consecration of kings, priests, and prophets. In the New Testament we see it used also for healing and burial. And in 2 Corinthians Paul proclaims, “But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his spirit in our hearts…” In both testaments it signifies the setting apart of a person for special purposes. Mary recognized and celebrated the special calling of Jesus by the Father and wanted to honor him in what she knew were his last days.

How might we honor our God? How might our God be honoring us with spiritual anointing? For what special purposes might the Holy One be setting us apart and calling us to holy living?

Let us Pray: Loving Father, as we now begin our journey through Holy Week, may we be empowered and honored to hear and answer your anointing call. Amen

-David Dixon