Shouting Stones: The Woman Anointer

Last updated on: March 21, 2011 at 12:14 pm by Elizabeth Nordquist

3 Comments

Shouting Stones: The Woman Anointer 2011-03-21T12:14:16+00:00 Elizabeth Nordquist

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is one in a series of Lenten reflections on the men and women who became the “shouting stones” for Jesus on his way to the Cross. How do the actions of these everyday folk invite us in our Lenten journeys? In this reflection, pastor and spiritual director Elizabeth Nordquist reflects on the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus with expensive oil.

A Bearer of Beauty
Mark 14:3-9

She appears out of nowhere in the story of Jesus, unnamed, without resume, into the company that Jesus was keeping. Jesus himself is moving around in a perilous atmosphere with authorities trying to do away with him. He is keeping questionable company with one who is called Leper, an outcast either in his present condition or in past history. The Passover festival is two days away, and tensions are high in many quarters. And here she comes.

What she brings into this gathering is beauty: alabaster, a mineral stone that could become translucent in the right light; nard, an expensive scent used for calming and used for preparing bodies for burial; and an act of graceful touch, pouring the scented compound on Jesus’ head. And the gallery says, “What a waste!” But for Jesus, the One who will be walking this lonesome journey, the beauty is not a waste. The RSV renders Jesus’ words as, “She has done a beautiful thing to me,” and it means something.

To a practical mind, beauty is not useful. For the economist, beauty does not balance the numbers. For the activist, beauty does not advance the cause. For the strategist, beauty does not give the upper hand. But Jesus, without addressing her directly in this text, affirms her presence and her actions in terms of who she is, what she does, and what the collateral blessing will be.

She has done what she could. As a woman she had no seat of power conferred on her from which to make decisions, or even enter the important conversations about the Jesus Way, about the current state of politics or the economy. Therefore, she begins where she is: What do I have? What can I do? What risks am I willing to take?

There is no way to know how to answer those questions for her. I wonder if she came from a wealthy family, had access to the wealth in the house, or saved the alabaster jar as an inheritance from a long time ago. But she began where she was. If she had been a 21st-century middle-class North American, the seductions would all beckoned her to rush out to buy something else, to hire someone to cater an event, to enlist the community to do something quite spectacular. But, what she did was spectacular enough. Doing what she could puts her in the company of the Little Shepherd Boy who played his drum for Jesus or the Clown of God who juggled to make the Baby Jesus smile. The train of bearers of the beautiful stretches out into our own stories—the one who gathers flowers from the garden to bring color to the drabness, the one who offers clean sheets and a well-lighted place to the traveler, the one who sings lullabies to tiny ones for their comfort and rest.

In some ways, according to Jesus, the woman with the alabaster jar is a forerunner of those who work for Hospice. Those professionals and volunteers have no power or mandate to stop death. However, they do what they can to accompany the dying one on the journey for physical life to life with the Mystery. They take great care to keep the dying one clean and comfortable.

The woman with the ointment of nard used her hand to spread the aroma and texture into the hair, scalp, neck, and shoulders of Jesus—for respite from pain, for removal of tension, for blessing in the present moment. Jesus recognized this act as an anointing for his burial. He will be anointed again after his physical death by the women who followed him so closely during his ministry, but now he is able to feel and savor the beauty that meets him in this moment of tension, trepidation, and wondering.

I wonder if the sense memory of his first anointing will be one of the gifts that he will recall amid the pain and the agony of his dying. He remembers the one he calls Father on whom he calls in his extremity. He certainly remembers the scriptures of his tradition that were part of the beauty of the liturgy he knew from his grounding in his faith community. He remembers his relationships of family and friends who stand with him. Will this gift from the alabaster jar remind him of the love that God provided for him among the people of the world God gave him to love?

And the woman. Jesus declares that her story will be told and remembered in the whole world. It is. But what did she remember? What did she know? Far from technology and worldwide webs, far from news flashes and instant replays, I am imagining that she had no idea of the way her story would be carried forward in word and deed. In my imagination she went about her daily tasks in Bethany that day, and heard that Jesus, whose teaching and presence had given her life, was going to be at Simon the Leper’s. She let her eyes and sensibilities be open to what was within her power to do, picked up the precious bottle with the healing ointment and walked into the place of the meal, unexpected and uninvited, to offer her love and gratitude to one who was in danger and need. She may even have anticipated the push-back from the critics. But that didn’t stop her from doing what she could, something beautiful. And Jesus welcomed her.

May we this Lent do what we can for those in the world we are given to love and honor, whatever the risks or criticism; it will be beautiful.

Elizabeth Nordquist is a pastor, a teacher, a spiritual director, a family lover and a friend. She has written articles for the Presbyterian Church (USA), and preaches and teaches in a variety of places where she is called. She blogs at A Musing Amma at Patheos.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 18, 2011

God Was NOT In The Earthquake

Next Post

March 23, 2011 Rob Bell's Universalism?

Recent Comments

3 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Author Interviews Battle Over the Body and Blood of Christ Bearing Beauty Book Reviews Christian Education christian spirituallity christianity Christmas Church Church Leadership Contemplation Creation Care Death and Dying Death Penalty Disruptive Change Disruptors Series Easter Education Evolution and Faith Future of Progressive Christianity Gun Violence Health & Wellness Holy Week Interfaith Israel-Palestine Leading Differently Lent LGBTQ Living with Cancer Meditations on the Cross Mental Illness millennials Mimetic Mondays Monday Meditations Movie Reviews New Monasticism Pando Populus Parenting Patheos 10+1 Q&A Series PC(USA) Politics Pop Culture Practical Theology Series Prayer progressive christian Race Relations Reformation religion Religion and Politics Religion in America Rethink Church Social Justice Spirituality Spirituality of the Body Stump a Scholar Technology and Faith Thanksgiving Theodicy Trust Me Church Uncategorized Why I'm Still Christian Youth Ministry

Select a Month December 2025 April 2025 January 2025 September 2023 September 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 November 2021 October 2021 May 2021 February 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Why did Joseph's brothers sell him?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Poverty Mercy Love Jealousy