Matthew 26:6-13, Jesus Anointed at Bethany

6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Comments

All four gospels have a story of a woman anointing Jesus. Matthew uses his story as an interlude. Simon the leper, perhaps a man Jesus had cured, remains unknown to us. The ointment used by the woman was probably nard, imported from India and used in Israel to anoint the dead. Symbolically it acknowledged Jesus as the Anointed One. While the disciples regarded this gesture as a waste of resources, Jesus declared it a beautiful act of devotion that prepares him for death that will be remembered in the proclamation of the gospel around the world.

Prayer

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(BCP, p. 214)