What does it mean to be anointed? Growing up, I mostly heard it used in a metaphorical sense, like when you want to describe a particularly beautiful solo of a hymn that\u2019s a little too high for most of us. (\u201cDid you hear her sing? Wow, she\u2019s anointed!\u201d) And then there are people in many Christian traditions who wouldn\u2019t think twice about dabbing a little olive oil on someone as they pray as a physical, tactile practice of symbolic weight. But as we see in today\u2019s readings, anointing carries a rich tradition behind it. Throughout Scripture it\u2019s a tangible way to set someone or something apart for a holy purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From our perspective, this story of Mary anointing Jesus feels like a story about extravagant, impractical worship. \u201cThen Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus\u2019s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume\u201d (John 12:3). Judas griped about this foolish woman\u2019s wastefulness. Jesus came to her defense, honoring her actions as beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know for most of my life, I thought the lesson I should get from this story was, \u201cLook at how freely Mary gives her worship! You should do that too!\u201d But if I\u2019m honest, there\u2019s a little bit of my reserved, practical self that wonders if maybe Judas has a point. Dig a little deeper, and questions start to surface. Why perfume? Why all of it, and not just a tasteful dab? Everything about this moment feels so lavish and impractical, and if I were in Mary\u2019s shoes, I know I\u2019d feel ashamed for being so extra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, Jesus didn\u2019t see it that way at all. He saw how Mary overflowed with gratitude to her teacher, her friend, the healer who elevated her at every turn and raised her beloved brother from death. Her response echoed the work of her ancestors, who lavished their most expensive fragrant oils on priests and instruments and altars (Exodus 30:23\u201333). In her world, this kind of anointing was kept for only the most sacred tasks. What could be more sacred than the anointing Jesus carried: \u201c…to bring good news to the poor…to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…to give them…festive oil instead of mourning\u201d (Isaiah 61:1\u20133)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLeave her alone,\u201d the Anointed One admonished Judas as the perfume dripped from Him. \u201cShe has kept it for the day of my burial\u201d (John 12:7). In this moment, while the plot to kill him built to a crescendo and before He had ridden into Jerusalem on a humble donkey to walk toward His destiny in Jerusalem, perhaps the gift of Mary\u2019s anointing was the scent of courage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does it mean to be anointed? Growing up, I mostly heard it used in a metaphorical sense, like when you want to describe a particularly beautiful solo of a hymn that\u2019s a little too high for most of us. (\u201cDid you hear her sing? Wow, she\u2019s anointed!\u201d) And then there are people in many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":72653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72756],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE ANOINTED ONE<\/b>
\r\nby Jen Yokel<\/i>
\r\n
What does it mean to be anointed? Growing up, I mostly heard it used in a metaphorical sense, like when you want to describe a particularly beautiful solo of a hymn that\u2019s a little too high for most of us. (\u201cDid you hear her sing? Wow, she\u2019s anointed!\u201d) And then there are people in many Christian traditions who wouldn\u2019t think twice about dabbing a little olive oil on someone as they pray as a physical, tactile practice of symbolic weight. But as we see in today\u2019s readings, anointing carries a rich tradition behind it. Throughout Scripture it\u2019s a tangible way to set someone or something apart for a holy purpose.<\/p>
\r\n
From our perspective, this story of Mary anointing Jesus feels like a story about extravagant, impractical worship. \u201cThen Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus\u2019s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume\u201d (John 12:3). Judas griped about this foolish woman\u2019s wastefulness. Jesus came to her defense, honoring her actions as beautiful.<\/p>
\r\n
I know for most of my life, I thought the lesson I should get from this story was, \u201cLook at how freely Mary gives her worship! You should do that too!\u201d But if I\u2019m honest, there\u2019s a little bit of my reserved, practical self that wonders if maybe Judas has a point. Dig a little deeper, and questions start to surface. Why perfume? Why all of it, and not just a tasteful dab? Everything about this moment feels so lavish and impractical, and if I were in Mary\u2019s shoes, I know I\u2019d feel ashamed for being so extra.<\/p>
\r\n
Thankfully, Jesus didn\u2019t see it that way at all. He saw how Mary overflowed with gratitude to her teacher, her friend, the healer who elevated her at every turn and raised her beloved brother from death. Her response echoed the work of her ancestors, who lavished their most expensive fragrant oils on priests and instruments and altars (Exodus 30:23\u201333). In her world, this kind of anointing was kept for only the most sacred tasks. What could be more sacred than the anointing Jesus carried: \u201c...to bring good news to the poor...to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives...to give them...festive oil instead of mourning\u201d (Isaiah 61:1\u20133)?<\/p>
\r\n
\u201cLeave her alone,\u201d the Anointed One admonished Judas as the perfume dripped from Him. \u201cShe has kept it for the day of my burial\u201d (John 12:7). In this moment, while the plot to kill him built to a crescendo and before He had ridden into Jerusalem on a humble donkey to walk toward His destiny in Jerusalem, perhaps the gift of Mary\u2019s anointing was the scent of courage.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"19","scripture":"John 11:55-57, John 12:1-36, Exodus 30:23-33, Isaiah 61:1-3","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}