The Anointing: Joy That Defies Empire
The Extravagant Act That Prepared Jesus for the Cross
The Woman Who Understood
In Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, Jesus sits with the disciples. A woman enters. John identifies her as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, but we don’t know her name. She clutches in her hands a jar of expensive and luxurious ointment. Did she look into Jesus’ eyes and hint at what she was going to do, or did she just do it? I like to think she smiled at Jesus as she walked around him, before breaking open the jar, and pouring it on his hair, anointing him and messaging it into his hair and scalp.
The disciples are outraged. The ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor. “But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me (Mark 14:6).’” He then explains that she understands what is happening in a way they don’t.
This story is found in Matthew 26:6-13 (cf Mark 14:3–9; John 12:1–8). Mary of Bethany is the disciple who sat at Jesus’ feet, listening and learning (Luke 10:38–42). Unlike the others, she understands Jesus has come to Jerusalem to die, and in this moment she is refusing to stay her action, but provides a moment of relief and joy for Jesus in the midst of the hardest week of his life.
This Mary brings celebration and joy into this very serious moment in a way the other disciples don’t understand. Joy is toxic to the imperial power of Babylon, and celebration while interfering with injustice confuses them. She is walking the way of Jesus, celebrating his life and anointing him, proclaiming him king, priest, and messiah through an embodied act of devotion and joy.
The Anointing and the Kin-dom
When the woman with the alabaster jar anoints Jesus’ head it shows vital principles of the kin-dom. In that one act, the woman’s anointing holds multiple meanings at once, she is proclaiming him:
King: anointed on the head (1 Samuel 16),
Priest: consecrated for sacrifice (Exodus 29),
Sacrifice: prepared for burial,
Guest: honored in love, and
Messiah: revealed through action.
Matthew and Mark place it right before the Passion to make this clear: Jesus is being “anointed” not for a throne, but for a cross.
It reminds us that self-care, joy, and celebration break the power of Babylon and fuel the resistance.
Also, the anointing is the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit given to believers for ministry, witness, and holy living, often associated with a distinct experience called the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Anointing Promised to Us
This same anointing is promised to those who follow the way of Jesus. Jesus promises that the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon us (Acts 1:8), and we will witnesses in Christ to the whole world.
Acts 1:8
8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
John explains to us how:
1 John 2:20, 27
20. You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.
Through this anointing, we will sit in the temple of our hearts like Mary of Bethany at the feet of Jesus, the Living Word within us. We learn from this inner Light. Just as God is a mutually interactive verb. God is not a force acting upon us from above or a presence we receive. God is a nature we participate in, a flow that moves in both directions at once, two subjects each becoming object for the other. This is the same relationship between Christ, the Anointed One and the Anointing. So the anointing is not just something done to Jesus. It is the same reality shared with those who follow him. It is presence, empowerment, indwelling.
Just as Mary of Bethany sat at the feet of Jesus, listening and learning so she understood the peace and ease he needed in the midst of this final act, we through meditation, prayer, and embodied action listen to the voice of the Living Word within us, never forgetting to bring joy, delight, and celebration to everything we do.
Joy as Sacred Protest
When we bring joy and celebration into moments of suffering and resistance, empire quakes. Imperial powers need people to be tired and filled with despair so they do not have the energy to rise up against them.
Joy breaks this power. Joy is a deep, steady sense of well-being and meaning that isn’t dependent on circumstances, but arises from connection, purpose, or love. Psychologically, it stabilizes us, broadens our thinking, and builds resilience, helping us recover from stress and stay open to life even in difficulty. This manner of healing is free to everyone and it erodes the power of empire over us.
Outrage cannot do this. Outrage is an intense emotional reaction of anger and shock in response to something perceived as deeply unjust, offensive, or wrong. That shock wears us down. Joy build us up.
Duty cannot do this. Duty is a sense of moral or social obligation to act in a certain way, regardless of personal preference. It has no connection and drives us forward even when we don’t have the energy to do go on. Joy connects us with our community and grows our sense of meaning and purpose.
Compassion alone cannot do this. Compassion is the awareness of another’s suffering paired with a genuine desire to help relieve it. If we don’t check compassion with something, it can fatigue us, because there is alway more suffering to discover. We cannot do everything all the time, and that can lead to a sense of helplessness. Joy relieves the pressure on us and allows ourselves a respite to recover and focus for the days to come.
Mary of Bethany gave Jesus just a moment of joy, and after he corrected the other disciples, he was able to recharge to continue the work ahead.
The Strength to Carry On
The work we are called to can be all consuming, and if we allow that to happen, we will burn out and not be able to continue in the work. Only when we take the time for joy, delight, and celebration even in the midst of the most important things we are doing, will we have the strength to carry on.