Essential: of the essence. Basic. Fundamental. Necessary. Inherent. The woman who anoints Jesus knows what this means. She has sensed the need—the need of Jesus, her own need—and moves with grace to give what is perhaps costliest to her, perhaps the only thing she can give. In her hands she bears essence—perfume—but she also bears in her own flesh, in her own heart, her essence. That which is basic to her.
Her essence is a fragrance pleasing to Jesus. The others at the table dismiss and ridicule her beauty-infused act as frivolous. They miss the essence completely.
In defending her, Jesus does not intend to slight the poor or relieve the rest of us from our calling to be in community with them. Rather, he points out that acts of healing, of ministry, of hospitality can be beautiful. He honors the woman as a bearer of radical grace. In doing so, Jesus reminds us of what the woman already knows: that what is essential is the outpouring of ourselves, our essence, with as much grace as we can muster.
In her book Do What You Have the Power to Do, Helen Bruch Pearson writes of this woman and notes that “song, dance, drama, poetry, painting, sculpture, art, movement, gesture—these are not luxuries. They are essentials to the Christian experience…they take us to God’s heartbeat and the rhythms of all life.” Heartfelt, grace-filled offerings are not frivolous. They are of the essence—of ourselves, of God.
Questions for reflection
How can acts of artfulness and grace be acts of ministry and justice, and vice versa? Where have you seen this happen?
From Sacred Journeys © Jan L. Richardson
