I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. This Sunday we’ll be starting chapter 14 as we continue on in our study of the gospel of Mark. We’ll be reading the first 11 verses.
This will be another Markian sandwich – where one event is tucked in between two other, connected events. In this case, it’s the plotting of Jesus’ arrest and execution surrounding an account of a woman performing an extravagant act of devotion and worship of Jesus.
We’ll consider it a contrast of loves.
As we consider the “bread” of this sandwich – the plot to kill Jesus and then initialization of it by Judas – what do you think these characters love, which would motivate them to do such an insidious deed?
The woman does something altogether different. Obviously, we live in a different culture, so some things are hard to understand in this. Pouring oil on a guy’s head wouldn’t go over quite so well in our culture (at least since the 1950’s). In that time and culture, taking baths wasn’t something a person had the opportunity to do as often as we do. People would quickly develop a certain odoriferousness (funk) about them. So, this sort of thing was a welcome way to put a sheen on the hair and diffuse the pungency of human odor.
The point is, it was a good thing – and not only that – it was costly to her. Clearly, Jesus is the object of her love, which prompts her actions. How would you describe her action? What does it teach us about how our own love for Jesus is demonstrated?
Jesus interprets her act as a forecast of his coming death. How would his death and her sacrificial devotion be connected to each other?
Jesus declared that this woman would always be remembered. Interestingly, Judas would also be forever remembered, but not in such reverential ways. Think of all the contrasts you can of what the woman is remembered for compared to what Judas is remembered for.
The core question if this text is: Who do you want to be?