FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C

April 6, 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm 126

Philippians 3:4b-14

John 12:1-8

 

All four Gospels record some version of the story we’ve just heard of a woman anointing our Lord’s feet with costly ointment at a gathering for a meal. But they differ on the details. In today’s Gospel, from Saint John, it takes place in the house of Lazarus in Bethany, a village located on the Mount of Olives about a mile and a half outside Jerusalem, and the woman is identified as Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

 

In Matthew and Mark, it also takes place in Bethany, but in the house of Simon the Leper, and the woman’s name is not mentioned. In Luke, a similar incident takes place, but in an unnamed village, with the woman a notorious but repentant sinner—traditionally identified as Mary Magdalene, although without a shred of scriptural evidence.

Biblical scholars tend to agree that the existence of such slightly differing versions of the same story attest to its basic historical reliability. Some actual event was memorable enough to get verbally repeated over and over in such a way that these variances in detail crept in before the different Gospel accounts were written down in their final form. 

 

In any case, today the lectionary gives us the account in John’s Gospel, so that’s what we’ll engage with. And the key point in John’s Gospel is that this episode takes place in the context of rising tensions that follow directly upon the Lord’s raising Lazarus from the dead.

 

For in John’s Gospel, this wonderful miracle precipitates the authorities’ decision to put Jesus to death. The members of the Jewish ruling Council, the Sanhedrin, frantically ask one another: “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” To which the High Priest Caiaphas responds: “You know nothing at all. You do not understand that it is expedient for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” And John adds: “So from that day on they planned to put him to death.”

When today’s Gospel begins, then, Jesus is already a marked man. The religious authorities are trying to track him down and catch him away from the crowds so they can arrest him and hand him over to the Romans for execution.

 

Amidst this rising tension, Mary of Bethany lovingly anoints the Lord’s feet with precious and costly oil and wipes them with her hair. This action has enormous symbolic significance because both the Greek title “Christ” and the Hebrew title “Messiah” mean “the Anointed One.” Mary is thus identifying Jesus as the Messiah of Jewish expectation: God’s Anointed, the Christ.

 

In the Gospels, Jesus receives at least three different anointings. The first is at his baptism in the River Jordan when the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the likeness of a dove. In a sermon in the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter proclaims that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power ...” The second anointing is the one in today’s Gospel. And the third takes place after the crucifixion, when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bring “a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight” to prepare the Lord’s body for burial.

 

Now, it happens that in ancient Israel, individuals were anointed for three different roles or offices: prophet, priest, and king. And the Church has traditionally understood Jesus as the supreme embodiment of these offices of prophet, priest, and king. So, it’s just possible that the three anointings that I’ve just mentioned correspond to these three offices. The Holy Spirit descending in the likeness of a dove at the baptism anoints Jesus for his prophetic office of preaching and teaching throughout the towns and villages of Galilee. His anointing by Mary of Bethany in today’s Gospel anticipates his priestly office as the one who offers himself on the Cross as the one, full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. And the anointing by Joseph and Nicodemus at his burial points to his kingly office as the Lord of heaven and earth, the one who will triumph over even death and the grave.

 

In this context, several details in today’s Gospel assume special significance. If Mary of Bethany had simply poured the oil on Jesus’ head, the symbolism would have been that of a coronation—anointing a king about to enter upon his reign. But anointing the feet is characteristically done in the Jewish rites of burial. Mary’s action thus points to the Lord’s crucifixion. Moreover, the costliness of Mary’s offering, her loving extravagance, anticipates the infinitely greater cost that Jesus will bear on the cross as the expression of God’s extravagant love for all creation.

 

Finally, when Mary anoints Jesus’ feet, “the whole house [is] filled with the fragrance of the ointment.” Similarly, our Lord’s approaching death on the cross is a sacrifice of sweet savor that brings life, health, and salvation to the whole world.

 

So, today’s Gospel identifies Jesus as the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ of God. A point not to be overlooked, however, is that as Christians we’ve all been anointed too! In the Church’s sacramental life, we were anointed with the oil of chrism at our baptism, and perhaps at our Confirmation as well. When we get seriously ill, we can be anointed with the oil of the sick in the Sacrament of Unction. At their ordination, priests receive an anointing of the hands to set them apart to handle holy things.

 

These various sacramental anointings point to our common Christian calling, whether lay or ordained, to participate in Christ’s prophetic, priestly, and royal offices in a manner appropriate to our circumstances in life. We share in the prophetic office by bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel and giving an account of our faith as the opportunity presents itself. We share in the priestly office by joining faithfully and regularly in the Church’s worship, its continual offering of praise and thanksgiving to God. And we share in the royal office by taking part in the stewardship, care, and governance of the wider world in which we live.

 

Most of all, today’s Gospel suggests that the authentically Christian life is marked by radical self-giving born of love. We’re called to give it our all. Mary of Bethany enacts this extravagant generosity in her anointing of our Lord’s feet, just as Jesus will soon offer himself for the world in his total self-sacrifice on the cross. And it’s precisely this same quality of costly, all-outpouring love that we’re called as the members of the Church to manifest in the world today, as we seek to follow Christ, and serve God and our neighbor in his name.