Anointed / Consecrated

By Jessica McCarlson

I rifled through my wallet, checking my Christmas cash to help pay for this week’s buy-one-get-one-free deal at my local gas station. I also got points toward my next gas purchase because I bought a bottle of water. And using cash, it was basically “free” money, as any budgeter knows.

This has become a big part of my life: looking for deals, calculating expenses. I am a little bit worried about finances—with good reason—while between jobs.

Cautious.

This word is the opposite of what the woman, believed to be Mary, exemplifies in Matthew 26:6–13 when pouring expensive perfume on the head of Jesus (also referenced in Mark 14:3–9 and John 12:1–8). While the disciples cried, “Why this waste?” she had one thought: worship.

Extravagant worship of the long-awaited Messiah.

Caution isn’t a bad thing. As Jesus implies, though, there is a time for caution and a time for worship, “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have me” (v. 11). He chastises the disciples and upholds Mary. She was not worried about what others would think of her behavior, and she was not anxious about how she could have “better” used this costly item.

To put her motives in perspective, recall that earlier in her recorded story, Jesus raised her brother from the dead (John 11:32–44). She was focused on the One with power, even over death itself.

Jesus’ fame at this time had grown significantly due to his authoritative preaching, bold claims, and miracles— including raising two others from the dead: a widow’s son and Jairus’ daughter. While the raising of Lazarus wasn’t unique in his ministry, Jesus had been revealing himself and his authority over and over again. If there was any question about his identity as the Messiah or his God-given power, surely this should have cleared it up. But many, including some of his disciples, were still uncertain. They were cautious, or worse—hostile—toward him.

But not Mary. As Jesus said of her earlier, when she sat at his feet listening, “Mary has chosen the good part” (Luke 10:42). She heard his teaching, saw his miracles, and believed in him, to the point that we see her here, in the final week of Jesus’ earthly life, offering up this costly perfume to her Messiah. Jesus said, “She has done a good deed to me” (Matthew 26:10). Honoring him is good and right for believers.

That is the surface story of Mary’s worship. But Jesus goes further, foreshadowing his death. He says, “When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial” (Matthew 26:12). Later in the Gospels, we see other women intending to use perfumes and spices to anoint him after his death, as was customary (Luke 23:56 and Mark 16:1). But burial isn’t the only reason in the Bible for someone to be anointed.

While the word “anoint” doesn’t appear in the Matthew account of Mary’s homage to Jesus, we see it in John 11:2. The Greek word is aleiphō. In the Old Testament’s Hebrew, it is māšah, meaning “to anoint, consecrate.”

This was practiced in Jewish culture for significant reasons. Kings, priests, sacrifices, etc., would be anointed as a form of consecration. This sets these things apart for a special, holy task. Jesus is King, Priest, and the sacrificial Lamb needed to achieve the forgiveness of sins. He is the Anointed One, or rather the māšîah. Messiah.

Like Mary’s perfume, Jesus is a fragrant offering, the aroma that pleases a holy God who demands we be holy as he is holy (Leviticus 11:44). We cannot be holy. But through his life, death, and resurrection, the Anointed One won holiness for us.

Mary, though she may not have understood fully what he was about to do, knew Jesus came for a purpose and prepared him for what was yet to come.

This Lenten season, as we consider the events leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is appropriate to reflect upon our shortcomings. Personally, I was convicted as I read Matthew 26:6–13. I would have rolled my eyes and chided Mary for not being more cautious. “Why this waste?” My heart echoed with the disciples’ criticism.

Again, caution is not a bad thing. The disciples were right; we are called, as followers of Jesus, to not only be wise with what we’ve been given but also to bless others with our resources. Managing our time, money, and energy well helps with that aim. We still have the poor with us today, as Jesus said. We also still have the resurrected Messiah with us. And as Jesus told Mary, it is a “good deed” to honor him. For those of you reading who, like me, see yourself in the disciples more than in Mary, join me in repenting to the giver of forgiveness and holiness this Lent.

Lord, have mercy. And prepare my heart, and all our hearts, to worship you come Eastertide like Mary did— extravagantly.

McCarlson, of Sauk Centre, Minn., is a 2010 graduate of the Free Lutheran Bible College. “Mary Kisses the Feet of Christ” by Bernard Picart, 1683–1733, Rijksmuseum.