The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) suggestion for the
gospel reading on the Fifth Sunday in Lent (today) is the account in John 12:1-8 of the
anointing of Jesus at Bethany. The story
tells of Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, as she anoints Jesus’
feet with “a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard.” (verse 3)
Reading this account, a couple of things happen. First, the story sounds familiar, and yet
some of the details seem – what else to call it – wrong. That is due in part to the fact that all four
gospels contain a similar story. Matthew
and Mark tell (in almost identical language) of an event that happens in
Bethany in the House of Simon the Leper.
Luke tells of a meal in the Galilean ministry of Jesus in the home of Simon
the Pharisee where a “sinful woman” anoints Jesus' head with oil and then washes
his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. John places the story in an anonymous home
(though one could make the textual argument that it is the home of Lazarus,
Mary and Martha) in Bethany.
I will come back around to some of these things later. But here, I want to make the observation that
in only one of these tales the name of the woman appears. And it is in today’s reading, from John. As I have said, the woman is Mary of Bethany,
sister of Lazarus and Martha.
The identity of the woman is important to the story, and
also to a better overall understanding of many accounts in the New
Testament. This is because at times it
is like there is a Mary behind every rock and tree in the gospels. Popular perception identifies many of the “sinful
women” of the gospel stories as Mary Magdalene.
This is a terrible disservice, as there is no gospel reading that
disparages this Mary. Jesus exorcised
many demons from Mary Magdalene. After
this she was one of the women who financed Jesus’ ministry. She was an onlooker at the crucifixion of Jesus. And, depending on which gospel account you
read she was one of four, or three, or two or was the sole witness to the empty
tomb on Easter morning and was a/the recipient of the resurrection announcement
from the angel(s). At no point do any of
the gospels point an accusing finger at Mary Magdalene.
Of course, there are others.
We start with Mary the mother of Jesus.
There was Mary the mother of James and Joseph (from Matthew 27:56). There
is “the other Mary” (from Matthew 28:1) who may or not be the same woman named
in Mt. 27:56). Mark 15:40 speaks of Mary
the mother of James the younger and of Joses, again perhaps this is the same
woman, or then again, perhaps not.
As for some of the other stories, the woman “caught in the
very act of adultery” in John 8 is anonymous in the text. Likewise, the “sinful woman” in the house of
Simon the Leper in Luke 7 is without a name in the gospel. Many other women sometimes receive the name
Mary in our telling or re-telling the stories, but that reporting is frequently
in error. The woman at the well, the
woman with the issue of blood, the Syro-Phoenician woman – none of these are
Mary Magdalene, nor any other Mary, nor women whom the gospel writers name at
all.
It is the variety of participants in these accounts that
help give them their power. Jesus’ did
not manifest his glory to a few, to an “inner circle” of hand-chosen individuals. He was merciful to all, no matter what their
station, and no matter what their name.
In Mark 14:3-9 (& Matthew 26:6ff) Jesus tells the folks who witness
the act of this unnamed woman who extended such kindness to him that Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is
proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of
her. I daresay that, in light of
this, it behooves us to get the story right.
No comments:
Post a Comment