The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ: Episode 57

Rev. Sun Myung Moon: The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ
Chapter 6: Jesus’ Last Week in Jerusalem, A Woman Anoints Jesus’ Feet with Oil, Page 149

A Woman Anoints Jesus’ Feet with Oil

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have 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 throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:6-13)

 

Why is Mary remembered in Christianity? Why is it that her name has been passed down through many generations in memory? Jesus said it should be so. At that time, who would have tolerated a lowly woman pouring 300 denarii worth of aromatic oil on the feet of a bachelor and wiping it with her hair? Why did Jesus say that the name of Mary would be remembered wherever the Gospel was taught? The disciples laughed at him, Judas Iscariot protested, and everyone opposed him on this. He spoke these words because, more than his beloved disciples or countless other people, the actions of Mary in that hour set the condition of having offered all of her heart and effort.

To Whom Do You Belong?
March 16, 1958

Judas Iscariot chastised Mary … as she knelt and poured three hundred denarii worth of oil on the feet of Jesus and washed them with her hair. When he did so, Jesus defended her. Mary was not acting unreasonably. Because she was concerned for the heart of Jesus, who was to be killed, an aspect of God’s pained and indignant heart was reflected through her. Therefore, Jesus predicted that her name would remain wherever the words of the Gospel spread.

The Father and I
July 12, 1959