An unnamed woman

Alongside my Holy Land notebook is a considerable cache of pilgrimage material including my diary.  I shall try to avoid overdoing more references because those who have not been to Jerusalem can just as equally visualize the agonizing steps that Jesus takes this week.  And picture them we should because there has never been a week like this in the history of the world. Each step Jesus takes, each event he faces, speak of his love on his mission to save us.

My diary records how we visited Bethany where the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus is especially remembered with the site of Lazarus' tomb nearby.  Of course we visited and read Scripture but we also were ushered inside a tiny flat roofed house where a lady with nine children greeted us. (Yes, it may have been a relative of our guide!)   It was crowded, so only a few could go in at a time. It spoke of another house in Bethany belonging to Simon the Leper where something significant occurred.

Traditionally this Monday is the day when many remember how Jesus was anointed in Simon's house by a woman who broke a bottle of expensive perfume over his head stirring up the indignation of the disciples about the sheer waste.  And Jesus says: She has done a beautiful thing to me.  When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached through the world, what she had done will also be told in memory of her.

In Matthew's account (26:6-13) the woman is unnamed. That seems so important.  We need to remember how this unnamed person perceived what this week is all about.  The disciples are still unaware of the tragedy ahead for their Master but she gets it.

Lord, help me to perceive your worth, to offer my love to You, in the midst of all the other stuff going on in my life and to focus on your way to the Cross for me.