Reading: Matthew 26:1-2, 6-13; Mark 14:3-9.
“Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
She anointed Jesus just two days before His crucifixion. Unlike the other anointing women, she poured it on Christ’s head rather than His feet. Again there were objections. Would not it have been better to sell the ointment and give the money to the poor? Jesus responded:
“Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for
Jesus’ words bring the woman’s action into focus. He said, “She did it for My burial” Matthew 26:12. We do not know whether the woman understood the meaning of her action, but Matthew 26:1 tells us that Jesus had just told “His disciples” that He was about to be crucified.
Since women were among His disciples, it is possible that she knew exactly what she was doing. Hers was undoubtedly an act of love, but it may well have signalled an understanding of what Jesus faced that the male disciples lacked.
This anointing, and that of the other anointing women, was destined to be the only anointing Jesus’ body would receive. Before the women who planned to anoint His dead body returned to the tomb where Jesus was laid, He had risen from the dead.
No wonder then that the retelling of this incident is a “memorial to her” Matthew 26:13. It was this woman, and quite possibly Mary of Bethany, who alone were sensitive to the suffering Jesus would soon face. In anointing Him, they showed that they shared His pain.
