Anointing With Oil

Lore & Background

In Matthew 26:6–13, while Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. The disciples were indignant, saying 'Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.' Jesus replied, 'Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.' In Mark 14:3–9, the woman broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some present said indignantly, 'It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.' Jesus said, 'She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.' In John 12:1–8, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived. Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. Judas Iscariot objected, 'Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages.' Jesus replied, 'It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.' In Luke 7:36–50, a woman in that town who lived a sinful life came with an alabaster jar of perfume. She stood behind him at his feet weeping, wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. The Pharisee Simon thought, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.' Jesus told Simon a parable about two debtors, then said to the woman, 'Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'

Reader's Guide

The accounts differ in location, timing, and details. Matthew and Mark place the event in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, with an unnamed woman anointing Jesus' head. John also places it in Bethany but names the woman as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, and has her anoint Jesus' feet and wipe them with her hair. Luke places the event in the northern region, at the home of Simon the Pharisee, with an unnamed sinful woman who anoints Jesus' feet with perfume, tears, and her hair. The criticism in Matthew, Mark, and John is about the cost of the perfume and the potential to give to the poor; in Luke, the criticism is directed at Jesus for allowing a sinner to touch him. Jesus' response in Matthew, Mark, and John links the anointing to preparation for his burial; in Luke, Jesus connects it to the woman's sins being forgiven and the lack of hospitality of his host. The central message in Matthew, Mark, and John is very similar with 'The poor you will always have with you' and 'She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.' These are not in Luke, who instead records comments on hospitality and forgiveness of sins. Most modern scholars agree that the sinful woman in Luke, Mary of Bethany in John, and the unnamed woman in Matthew and Mark are three different characters, and there is no reason to assume that the sinful woman was named 'Mary' as well.

Did You Know?

• In Matthew and Mark, the woman anoints Jesus' head; in John and Luke, she anoints his feet and wipes them with her hair.
• The perfume in Mark and John is specified as pure nard, worth more than a year's wages in Mark and a year's wages in John.
• In Luke, the sinful woman uses her tears to wet Jesus' feet and her hair to wipe them, an action not recorded elsewhere in literature from the time.
• The hosts receiving Jesus are four different characters: Simon the Leper (Matthew/Mark), Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7), Martha (Luke 10), and Lazarus of Bethany (John 11–12).
• In John, the critic is identified as Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus, and the text notes he did not care about the poor but was a thief.