“Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Luke 7:50, NKJV)
This third prototypical figure, who most of the disciples had merely referred to as a “sinner” without name, had with this prophetic act delivered an undeniably strong testimony. Jesus addresses his host, Simon the leper, about the suspicion that he had in his heart toward this woman – “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman ahs anointed My feet with fragrant oil” (Luke 7:44-46).
In the gospels we often read of how people who were ill, fearful, possessed, needy or who had sinned had thrown themselves at Jesus’ feet. Not only does this have idiomatic significance, but it was clearly also an indication of that which Paul had spelled out in 1 Cor 15:25 – “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under his feet.” The anointing of Jesus’ feet is thus no random act. As Jesus washing the feet of the disciples had been a very pertinent symbolic act, so this act of anointment was also of great importance. Why do we say this?
In Gen 3:15 God makes this crucial statement – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Just after Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples, he says about Judas – “He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.” (John 13:18). Earlier He made this terrible statement – “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil!” (John 6:70). The no-name brand Eve who had washed Jesus’ feet with her tears had turned back to the God she had originally betrayed. She knew Satan’s voice and his bite on the heel. And she knew that she carried guilt because she had listened to the snake and had been disobedient, but here was an opportunity to reverse the prototypes.
But she does more than this – she also anoints his feet. In the Middle-Eastern heat this was not an unusual thing to do, but here this simple act – in Jesus’ words – clearly carries the significance of a ritual. She is anointing Him for his funeral.
But then there is a second event, very similar to the first, of which we read in Matt 26:7-12. In verses 6-7 we read, “And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.”
It seems as if these two loose-standing events are confused by the disciples. Clearly the one takes place two days before the crucifixion, the other eight days before. One takes place at the house of Lazarus, the other at the house of Simon the leper. It is as if the identity of the women who were doing these acts can not be pinned down – is it an unknown woman, a hardened sinner, Mary the sister of Lazarus, Mary Magdalene. We are not exactly sure, but we do know that this is undeniably Eve.
The women were ready for the path back to paradise. Matt 27:61 always tugs my heart when I read – “And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.”
- Sela: Pray and ask God to free you from false knowledge.
- Read: Ex 20-22
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Ex 20:8 (Tip: Heb 4:9)
