The "Unnamed" Mary

A stark contrast to awful Jezebel (see earlier post) is the woman mentioned in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 12:

"Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.' But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, 'Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.' ”

Most scholars believe the unnamed woman in the gospels of Matthew and Mark is the same woman identified as Mary (as in sister to Lazarus and Martha) in John. It is interesting that her name is not important enough in the story to be included in two of the three gospel accounts. In Matthew and Mark she is just an unnamed woman who poured out this ointment onto Jesus and caused the disciples much consternation.

Jesus reminds them that they will always have opportunities to care for the poor, even down to our present day. There were very few opportunities left, though, to care for Jesus himself. The cross was quickly approaching.

Matthew Henry comments:

"The memorial of this woman was to be preserved, not by dedicating a church to her, or keeping an annual feast in honor of her, or preserving a piece of her broken box for a sacred relic; but by mentioning her faith and piety in the preaching of the gospel."

Isn't it much better to be an imitator of this "unknown" woman who displayed her faith and piety toward Jesus, than to have all the notoriety of a Jezebel?