A Woman Anoints Jesus © Jan Richardson
As our Lenten journey draws us toward Palm Sunday, our theme this week comes from a chapter of Sacred Journeys titled “Loving Beyond the Boundaries: The Woman Who Anoints Jesus’ Head.”
Invocation
Compassionate God,
you beckon us to touch
and to heal.
Move through us,
so we may know
the strength that comes
from living with passion
and compassion.
Text
In the rhythm of the Christian liturgical year, this week we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This familiar story, which has inspired songs, poetry, sermons, and paintings, tells of Jesus’ sending two disciples ahead to prepare the way and of the crowd that greets him with hosannas. It constitutes a memorable, festive, dramatic moment in a perilous journey.
Yet there are others who help prepare the way for Jesus in his final days; others who accompany him in times of certain loneliness. We find one such companion in the woman who anoints Jesus’ head as he sits at table in the house of Simon the leper. This woman emerges from beyond the boundaries of the table, a table most likely filled by men. She, of all those present, seems to know who Jesus is and what he needs. In her act of anointing, which is both a gift and a sign, she names Jesus as Christos, the Anointed One. In her touch, she reveals her awareness of his pain and her longing to heal it. She offers a prophetic act of beauty and grace. She both bears and becomes a balm for his wounds.
Jesus knows the depth of her gift and receives it with equal grace, delighting that one among them all possesses the heart to touch him. In his receiving he makes known his openness to those who possess the courage to touch, to love, and to heal beyond the boundaries that others set.
Jesus’ gratitude is so deep that he promises that “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” Yet often we have forgotten her story and her grace-filled act, missing its vital message in our passage from Palm Sunday to Good Friday and beyond. As we live into this unnamed woman’s story, we continue our Lenten journey. And we remember anew.
Questions for reflection
Where do you find yourself at this point in your Lenten path? Did you have hopes or expectations at the outset of this season? How have these played out? As we move into the final stretch of Lent, how do you want to move through the coming days? As we cross into the story of this woman who anoints Jesus, what do you notice? What gift might she offer to you for the way ahead?
Adapted from Sacred Journeys © Jan L. Richardson
For an introduction to the Lenten journey we’re making here at Sanctuary of Women, visit A Season of Spiraling. Today’s artwork originally appeared in Garden of Hollows: Entering the Mysteries of Lent & Easter © Jan L. Richardson.
