The Anointing of Jesus (Matthew 26:6-13) - The Bittersweet Atmosphere

Introduction

The story of a woman anointing Jesus is one of the few incidents mentioned in all four gospels. In the gospels of Matthew (26:6-13) and Mark (14:3-9), the incident happens in a place called Bethany and the woman is unnamed. In the gospel of Luke (7:36-50), she is a “sinful” woman and in the gospel of John (12:1-11), this woman is identified as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, from Bethany. But what interests us most is the common pattern in all these stories. Jesus is in somebody’s house, having a meal. A woman steps on to the scene and anoints Jesus with expensive perfumed oil, as expensive as a year’s wages for a labourer. Just as she anoints him, the onlookers are indignant and voice out their dissent and Jesus responds in a way that it totally shuts them up and the story simply ends.

The Sweet Atmosphere

The account by Matthew which in all probability is an updated version of Mark’s story, gives us enough evidence to develop strong theological themes because of the very act of anointing. Anointing with oil is by and large a ritual seen in various cultural and religious traditions. In Jewish tradition, guests were often given sweet-smelling oil or perfume at formal banquets. Moreover, the pouring of oil on the head of Jesus simply affirms Jesus as the Messiah symbolically alluding to the anointing of Israel’s kings, prophets, and priests. The anointing is also understood as the preparation of Jesus’ body for his burial, as said by Jesus himself in the passage. Jesus, in fact, recognizes her work as “Kalos” in Greek which can be translated as “beautiful”. This passage also elevates the very divine nature of Jesus. 

All these interpretations legitimize the act of this woman as something that was predestined and was meant to be. Moreover, one of the pioneers of Feminist theology, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza based one of her greatest works, “In Memory of Her” on this very story. She, along with other feminist scholars argued for the role of Women in the Jesus movement and went on to convincingly say that the Jesus movement was primarily a “discipleship of equals” in which Women played even leadership roles. This has led to a positive outlook towards Women ordination in the churches. Perhaps, a community like ours can testify to this even as we celebrate a number of women in our family who have been ordained. All this is sweet. It creates a sweet atmosphere which approves women being used by God himself to bring about his plans for Jesus and for the whole world!

The Bitter Atmosphere

But, was the anointing of Jesus just a sweet atmosphere after all? Now, if one would keenly notice, there are basically four characters in this story: the narrator, Jesus, the crowd, and the Woman, but only three voices are heard. The Woman simply remains silent. The works of another feminist scholar named Kathleen E. Corley throws a different light on this story. In her book “Private Women, Public Meals”, Corley reads the narrative in the context of the customs surrounding this Greek-style meal, known in Jewish circles as the “habura” meal. 

This meal, she says, was an all-male meal and she suggests that the woman in this story is actually a “public” woman who was sexually available and that the anointing is sexual in connotation. She says that Mark, followed by Matthew may have associated this incident with Jesus’ death to transform a scandalous episode into an irreproachable service offered by a Woman. I wonder if this is the reason why the Woman’s voice is not heard in this story. This is also a possibility primarily because of the drama that happens in verses 8, 9, and 10. As the woman anointed Jesus, the onlookers, the disciples in this case, had something to say. The disciples, predominantly men, literally mocked her act of anointing. Mark even says that they “scolded” her. 

For all we know, the whole issue of “money” and “giving to the poor” thing in verses 9 and 11 in this context might have actually been intended to be a distraction! Now, many commentators suggest that the very task of anointing with oil, either as an act of showing hospitality by the host or in connection with preparing the body for burial was in the job description of Women alone. These tasks were primarily carried out by the Women in that society. Naturally then, the question is, why did the disciples have a problem only with this particular Woman? What’s the big deal in what she did if that was such a normal thing to do?!

As an aside, while we are still pondering on these questions, I like to draw your attention to a modern day scandalous story.

The year was 1974. The incident was a stage performance called Rhythm 0. The artist was Marina Abramovic. 

Abramovic put her life and body at huge risk and completely at the mercy of her audience. She decided to stand passively for 6 hours with a table in front of her with these instructions on it.

Rhythm 0

INSTRUCTIONS
There are 72 objects on the table that can be used on me as desired.

PERFORMANCE
I am the object. During this time I take full responsibility.

The 72 objects on the table included roses, feathers, chains, “a perfume bottle”, and even a gun.

A night at the gallery quickly turned into a horror show. They took the scissors off the table and cut off all her clothes, one man tried to rape her, another loaded the pistol with the bullet and pointed it at her head, another still cut the skin on her neck and drank her blood.

At the end of 6 hours, Abramovic went from passive object to active agent again. As she walked towards the audience dripping with blood and tears, they all ran away from her.

(Here's Marina Abramovic herself sharing her experience on this performance: Rhythm 0)

This is the harsh reality of the world we live in. Marina Abramovic taught everyone a lesson that day, as she teaches us even today, at the expense of her own life. This is one of the harsh realities of the plight of women on earth that we dare not miss. I wonder if this stage performance would’ve been any different if it was done by a man!

The Women in this world are in many ways still bound by patriarchal chains and are objectified. They have been made silent by the maleness of this world. For this reason, I really feel that interpretations of the anointing of Jesus by a Woman which tend to create a sweet atmosphere should not be considered solely authoritative because in reality, the atmosphere for most women, right from the time of conception till death, is a bitter one. 

If the Biblical story we are looking at today was indeed an all-male meal and if the Woman was only called upon for entertaining the crowd, which translates to being mocked by the crowd, then this would really change the very direction of our understanding of this story. This opens up a possibility for us to look at the bitter atmosphere of the incident as well. We do not exactly know what was running through the Woman’s mind as she poured out that costly perfumed oil on Jesus. We do not exactly know why she did what she did! 

The Bittersweet Atmosphere

In our theological tasks, I think we too at times do not know why we do what we do. Most times, we simply include a forward slash and Mother in the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father/Mother, who art in heaven...) to either impress a professor or to simply avoid being termed as “non-inclusive”. We say we are feminists, but in our heads, women are still supposed to wash our plates and cook our food. This is the point in which we need to take a look at the response of Jesus critically. Not the fact that he legitimized her action as a predestined action for this may as well be the author’s words put into the mouth of Jesus primarily because each gospel writer records Jesus’ response quite distinctively. We have to look up to Jesus’ response solely because it silenced the critiques and never gave them a chance to speak back. Jesus realized that he was in a bitter atmosphere as much as he was in a sweet atmosphere and he gladly took it upon himself to deal with the issue.

Conclusions

We live neither in a sweet atmosphere nor in a bitter atmosphere, but in a bittersweet atmosphere. An atmosphere where Women are rising in terms of doing things that men do and sometimes even outdoing the men, but at the same time, an atmosphere in which they are still treated as objects. The tradition of a woman anointing Jesus was a strong one in early Christianity. Women were trying to make meaning of Jesus of Nazareth after his death because he was their good friend and companion. We are still trying to make meaning of this same Jesus this very day. Jesus, as in verse 10 was “aware of the situation”. Jesus calls us to respond today with awareness. Are will then still going to settle with the sweet atmosphere in which the woman anointed the body of Jesus? Or, are we going to be bold for Christ’s sake, to realize the cruelness of the bitter atmosphere of that event, a bitter atmosphere in which we continue to live and do something about it?