The Woman at Bethany

"And during dinner a woman came in carrying an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment…and shattering the alabaster jar, she poured it over his head (Mark 14:3-4)." Marks description of the encounter between the anonymous woman and Jesus at Bethany illustrates the cosmic significance of just one small act of kindness. When the woman broker the alabaster jar and poured the oil on Jesus's head, his disciples and some of the Pharisees berated her for wasting such a lavish gift worth an entire year's wages. Yet the original Greek text of Mark's Gospel relies on the words "kalos" and "agathos" to convey the beauty and honor, the gracious humanity, of the woman's actions. Jesus rebuked his disciples and the Pharisees, telling them the woman's actions would be remembered wherever the Gospel was proclaimed throughout the world.

Sources: Donahue, John R., and Daniel Harrington. Eds. Sacra Pagina Series, Volume 2: The Gospel of Mark. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2002. Pp 383, 387.