Anointing of Jesus with the precious ointment
When Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him, having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head as He sat at the table. Mathew and Mark have reported that Jesus visited the house of Simon, the leper. Jesus chose to take supper in the house of a leper! Can you and I visit the house of a leper just to have fellowship with him? Under the Old Testament, lepers were social outcastes. How are we ministering to those who have been afflicted with this dreaded disease? Are we following the footsteps of our Master?
This Bible passage depicting the anointing of Jesus by a woman before His crucifixion is so significant that Jesus Himself said that wherever this gospel would be preached in the whole world, this incident shall also be told for a memorial of her. I wonder whether our evangelists tell about this woman, while preaching the gospel.
Mathew and Mark have not mentioned the name of this woman whereas John has identified her as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. When Mathew and Mark saw her pour out this ointment on the head of Jesus, John saw her anoint His feet with this ointment and then wipe His feet with her hair. All the three writers of the gospel, though inspired by the same Holy Spirit, have reported the same incident but from different angles. This is how the Holy Spirit functions through the members of the Body of Christ. When one member of the same Body gets revelations from the Word about certain truth, some other member gets revelations from the Word about the same truth from a different angle. When we put together both their revelations, we get at the whole truth. When we put the different accounts given by Mathew, Mark and John together, we come to know that a woman identified as Mary poured out the precious ointment on the Body of Christ, first on His Head and later on His feet, and that she anointed His feet with that ointment and wiped His feet with her hair. We can neither ignore both the two versions nor can we attach importance to one of these two versions.
John says that in Bethany, they made Him a supper and Martha served but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Jesus. It is thus apparent that when Jesus visited the house of Simon, the leper, Martha was also there to serve Jesus. When Martha chose to serve Jesus at the table, her sister Mary chose to anoint His feet with the precious ointment. Lazarus who had been raised alive from the dead was there, taking supper along with Jesus. He was there not to serve Jesus. These days, there are many people like Lazarus who, after receiving great blessings from Jesus, do not want to serve Jesus or to work in His vineyard.
Now the disciples, especially Judas Iscariot, were indignant with Mary. Judas said that this fragrant ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii’s and this money given to the poor. It was not that he cared for the poor but because he, a thief, used to pilfer the money put into the money box (John 12:5-6). Judas could not have misappropriated the entire money in the moneybox meant for the ministry of Jesus but have definitely misappropriated a part of the money in the box. Many ministers in our midst misappropriate a part of God’s money.
Mary gave the best gift in her possession to the Body of Jesus Christ. This is symbolical of our sacrificial offerings to the Church, the Body of Christ. If we love Jesus today, we have to give the best of our worldly possessions to the Body of Christ. We may not find the resurrected physical Body of Jesus today. However, we can find His Body, the Church today. Christ is the Head of the Church (Gal.5: 23). As we pour out our precious ointment on His Head, it will flow over His Body, and will reach His feet. O dearly beloved in Christ, you have to wipe His feet with your hair. There are precious ministers of God in our midst who work in far-off mission fields in other nations. They preach the gospel to those who have not heard the gospel. These ministers constitute the feet of Christ today. We have to anoint them with our precious gift and to wipe out their tears, fear and anxieties through our words of comfort and through our intercessory prayers. In this regard, I mention below the testimony of the wife of an evangelist in a mission field in India as reported by Indian Evangelical Missions:
“I SAW DIFFICULTIES IN EVERYTHING BUT GOD!”
I heard about Jesus Christ when I was a child through my believing parents, relatives, church pastors, my Sunday school teachers and many other people. As I grew up, my desire to know Him more grew within me. When I became a college student, I committed myself for God’s ministry. Years later when I got married to a missionary, little did I realize that serving God as a cross-cultural missionary was not as easy as I thought it would be. I enthusiastically went to the mission field along with my husband. However, all my enthusiasm and zeal died out in the very first month of my stay in the village.
Difficulties galore!
I started seeing difficulties in every thing – financial, lack of facilities, difficulty in moving around and even difficulty in getting water. More than anything else, I kept hearing stories of persecution from almost everyone. I wept in my heart, “O Lord how can I survive in this place? How can I do Your ministry here with all these struggles and difficulties of non even being able to meet the basic needs of our lives?”
An unknown fear gripped me and I started thinking negatively about everything. The passion for serving the lord faded away and I became irritable and started complaining about everything. In my heart, I struggled to cope, even though outwardly I seemed all right and adjusting. I found it difficult to take the first step of faith. Eventually I realized that I was a failure. I felt angry with myself.
However, the Lord was patient with me. He gently dealt with me through His Word. I read in Hebrews 12:10-11, “but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it”.
I said, “Lord, I understand that You want me to be disciplined and You want me to produce a harvest of righteousness. Yes, my Lord, help me to accept Your disciplining in my life with joy. I surrender myself to be trained by You so that I may “share in Your holiness”. Slowly, His Word began to work in me. All my negative attitudes vanished. I started loving the people. I accepted our cultural differences and tried to adapt myself to their culture. I started even loving the small hut in which we lived! I found myself enjoying life in spire of poor facilities. I felt the joy of serving my Lord with hardship. Yes, God worked in me patiently. He taught me to serve Him joyfully. He restored my faith and made me strong, firm and steadfast. He removed my fear and negative attitudes and filled me with His love and peace. He continues to work in me and helping me in my ministry.
- Job Anbalagan