Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus 1; Do you have the 'anointin'?

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 8:18 pm by Kurt Willems

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus 1; Do you have the 'anointin'? 2011-07-06T20:18:38-07:00 Kurt Willems

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.

Have you ever been to an old fashioned southern church? You know the kind of place where you unable to stand still while you are worshiping the Lord. It is truly a full body experience. Billy Blank’s Tae-Bo has nothing on a worship gathering of this sort. Even during the preaching, people are moving and shouting. They would say that they have the anointin’ and that this force has taken over what is happening in the room. Now, I am not mocking church traditions that operate in this fashion and I am certainly not denying the power of the Holy Spirit flooding a church community (I happen to be a ‘closet charismatic’ myself), but simply drawing out the meaning of a word as I have seen it used in some Western contexts. This word would have meant something entirely different for Jesus and his followers in the First Century.

In chapter 1 of Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, Spangler and Tverberg explain a the word in the following way:

“Anointing a guest with oil was a common, expected act of hospitality (see Luke 7:46). But Mary’s use of a breathtakingly expensive vial of perfumed oil in John 12 made her action hint at the anointing of a king… By anointing him with expensive fragrances, Mary may well have been making a statement about who she believed Jesus was, proclaiming him as Messiah. In fact, the Hebrew word for Messiah is Mashiach, which literally means ‘the Anointed One.’” (16)

In chapter one we find ourselves in Mary and Martha’s home. Martha is busy cooking and preparing a feast when Mary begins to pour expensive oil at the feet of Jesus. The obvious interpretation Jesus clarifies by stating that this action is to prepare for his burial, but there are some actions in Scripture that the original audience would have understood without having been explained with words (do you agree with this statement?). This indicates that Jesus is King!

It reminds us of the anointed kings in the Hebrew Scriptures. Solomon, the authors point out, is placed on King David’s mule and escorted to Gihon when Zadok the priest anoints this King before all the people. This is similar to what happens after our episode in John’s narrative, which leads to Jesus being placed on a donkey and escorted into Jerusalem as Israel’s rightful king (sorry folks, this isn’t a story about how meek and humble Jesus was… it is about him being KING!).

The fragrance of Jesus would have followed him for days, and everyone who would have been in his vicinity would have recognized the scent of royalty. So, who is the one with the anointin’? Well, it is not his followers, at least not directly; it is Jesus himself. He alone can be the Anointed One. He alone is the King of Jerusalem and the Cosmos. According to Paul, we may not be the Anointed Ones, but we are the fragrance of his Messianic anointing (2 Corinthians 2).

Here are the questions at hand: Do you have the Anointed One and are you living as the aroma of his Kingly rule over the world? Also, does this interpretation from Spangler and Tverberg raise any new questions or insights for you? Can we appropriate interpretations like this even if they are not bluntly explained in the text?

Books

Theology

Previous Post

March 31, 2009

Quote to Ponder: Is Giving to Charity the Easy Way Out? Shane Claiborne

Next Post

April 20, 2009 Discussing the Atonement When Its No Longer Cool!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 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 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 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many minor prophets are there in the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

15 12 10 7

Support this
Column