Well, I've let the weekend get completely away from me. I had some time today that I could have used to finish this step and start on the next one. Now I feel as if I'm rushing, but the next step needs to be covered today. So just a few words about the anointing at Bethany from St. Mark's perspective (Mk 14:3-9, with a brief thought about 10-11, too).
First of all, this story is very similar to the version recounted by St. Matthew. One difference is that Mark indicated that "some" became indignant, as opposed to Matthew's "the disciples." To me, this tends to support my previous supposition that maybe Matthew was among those who felt offended. I'm not judging Matthew for that, if he was, nor the others who were upset with the woman. We all need to learn Jesus' perspective, and we all are sometimes embarrassed at how slow we are to get it.
More important to me on this final reflection is Jesus' response, which is the same as whenever someone is accused in the gospels: gentle acceptance, and a redirection of the thinking of those who are doing the judging. Jesus role for all eternity is to answer the accusation against us, whether or not we are guilty of offense, and he doesn't fail to do so throughout the gospels. Then as now, it seems that women bear too large a portion of our accusation.
The final thought is also common to Matthew's gospel: this anointing in both Matthew and Mark occurs after Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I didn't realize this, in part because of reading John's account first. So in John's gospel, the events at Bethany inspire both Judas' betrayal and the procession into the city, but in these two only the former, as the latter has already taken place.
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