Daily Reflection
March 30, 2026

Two perspectives struck me on reading John’s account of Jesus’ anointing. Love is spontaneously poured out and Love is graciously received.

Here is Jesus, six days before Passover, among good friends - Lazarus, Martha and Mary in the home of Simon the Leper, and the apostles. Jesus knows His time is short and I think Mary intuits His approaching death, moving her to extravagantly foreshadow His death by anointing His feet with precious, fragrant nard and wiping them with her hair. The perfume filled the whole room with its fragrance. Cries of opposition arose from several or from Judas depending on which Gospel account you read, but Jesus urged restraint and backed Mary’s loving gesture. He graciously accepted her loving anointing without embarrrassment.The money spent to purchase this very expensive perfume could have been given to the poor as some in the company protest. Jesus knows when to place a different act of charity ahead, explaining that the poor we will always have with us but He will not always be present in this manner. There is room in His mind for Mary’s almost outrageously generous outpouring of love and care.

John’s well-known account of Jesus’ anointing is unique among the several gospels recounting the story, pointing to the later account of Jesus’ washing of the apostles’ feet.  What struck me most when I compared the different accounts was the actual act of anointing - Mary, Martha’s sister, pours the expensive contents of an alabaster jar on Jesus’ head in two gospels, but in John’s gospel, she anoints only His feet, then wipes His feet with her hair. The nard used is used even today as a hair treatment - Mary’s act of kindness also blessed her. Perhaps we can claim a blessing from our acts of kindness as well.

During this Holy Week, what can I do to both give and receive love and kindness?  The fragrance of acts of kindness can fill the whole room.