Encounters Along the Way Christ’s Encounter with a Woman with an Alabaster Jar Mark 14: 1 - 11

A Scriptural Sandwich

“Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.” While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”

The Jewish leaders were actively scheming to have Jesus arrested and killed, but decided that due to the proximity of the Passover, they should hold off on activating their plan because they feared a riot might ensue. Passover was a highlight holy day in Israel, a festival to celebrate the exodus from Egypt, marking the deliverance of the people of Israel from slavery. Pressing pause on their active plan to get rid of Jesus, the religious leaders began looking for a quiet way to arrest and execute Jesus away from the crowds and masses that had gathered for Passover.

The hatred of the religious leaders is highlighted towards the close of our passage, as they were “delighted” – they “rejoiced” - when Judas came to them with an offer of betraying Jesus to them. Our passage today is bordered by narrative on the plotting of the religious leaders to rid themselves of their little Jesus problem. What happened in the meat of our sandwich that gets us from the delayed execution plan of the religious leaders to an active imminent incident involving Judas? There is something within the account of the woman’s anointing of Jesus that acts as the straw that broke Judas’ back.

The accounts of this incident in Matthew, Mark and John all agree on the basic facts; while stationed in Bethany a woman poured an expensive perfumed oil over Jesus. she was rebuked by some who were present for her waste of such a costly item. Christ identified this act as an anointing for His death. Each account indicates the expensive nature of the perfumed oil; John tells us that it would have cost nearly a year’s wages – around $50,000 in today’s money. John indicates that it was Judas who reacted the most strongly to what he had deemed as the waste of this oil. In our text, Judas suggests that his outrage is related to the fact that this oil could have been sold to care for the poor, but John informs us that Judas saw this waste of expensive perfume as a dent in his possible personal income; his outrage is rooted in greed.

First, anointing was used culturally to indicate admission into one of three official roles within Israel; prophets, priests and kings were anointed with oil. What we are reading here might be the inauguration of the Prophet greater than Moses, the Great High Priest, and the King of Kings, as Jesus filled each of these roles in a once and for all and eternal sort of way. The second important use of anointing within Jewish culture is in regards to one’s burial; the body was anointed with aromatic oils to prevent the stench of decay and, in a symbolic way, to prepare one for entry into God’s eternal Kingdom. Jesus’ comment in our text that “she poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial”, points to the second use of anointing as more important to us today.

The shift in Judas’ behaviour is due to two factors found in the meat of our passage – his greed and Christ’s teaching about the grave. Whereas the woman approached Jesus in humility and submission seeking to give unto him, Judas approached Jesus seeking what he might gain; their reasons for following Jesus were foundationally different. Many people initially followed Jesus because they believed that there would be some substantial material blessing to being linked to the messianic king of Israel. When Judas began to see that his route to wealth would not run through his association with Jesus, he began to enact another plan to financial security. While Judas’ greed was certainly a major contributing factor to his betrayal of Jesus, our passage also suggests another reason.

The grave became an imminent reality in Jesus’ conversations and Christ’s death, by any means, seems to have been an unthinkable outcome for Judas. Many felt that Jesus’ story should culminate on a throne and not in a grave. In our text, we are made aware of this woman who, in accordance with His teachings, prepared Jesus for His death - she might have understood far more clearly than even the disciples the approaching death of Jesus. When Jesus commended the woman’s actions as an act of clear spiritual understanding, the proverbial straw broke the camel’s back for Judas. If his temporal riches and fame were not assured in Jesus and he was following a Messiah to a grave, then he would have no part of it.

The first question we ought to ask is this – why should I follow Jesus? We do not follow Jesus “so that” we get these things; we follow Him “and” these things are given to us. Our pursuit is of Jesus, not the benefits associated with Him. We follow Jesus because He is worth following; in fact, He alone makes it worth giving up all things. Why should you follow Jesus, then? Because He loves you, He died for you and He is worthy of our following! What then are the “thirty pieces of silver” in your life that might be preventing you from following Jesus today?

The second question is “what is preventing me from following Jesus in the way of the woman?”. The barriers for us differ; for some it might be greed, others fame or popularity, but we’ve all got something that we find hard to submit to God. Rather than the “all or nothing” thing we sometimes make it, I’ve found it far more helpful to think about how I can submit more of myself to Jesus today than I did yesterday. What step of submission might Christ be calling you take today? What is the “alabaster jar of oil” in your life that you can offer in worship of Jesus?

My hope and prayer for each one of us is that we find ourselves able to submit to God in increasing measure each day, following Him because He is marvellously and gloriously worthy of following!