The words of Jesus which are at the end of the passages concerning the anointing at Bethany are presented to us by Matthew 26:13 and by Mark 14:9. "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also what she has done shall be spoken of in memory of her".
What provoked Jesus to say this? The two evangelists quoted tell in almost the same words what had happened in the house of the Pharisee, Simon the Leper. While Jesus and his disciples were at the table invited by Simon, there came a woman with an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and she broke the box and poured it on His head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, "why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor". And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, "let her alone, why trouble yourselves with her? She has done a good thing to me. For you will have the poor with you always and whensoever you may will do them good, but me you do not always have. She has done what she could, she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world this also that she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her".
If the corresponding passage is almost identical in Matthew , the other two evangelists tell the story slightly differently - John, or very differently - Luke 7:36-50). Because, firstly, Matthew and Mark, say that "the Passover was due after two days" (Matt.26:2; Mark 14:1), while John places the event "six days before the Passover" (John 12:1), and Luke does not mention the feast at all. But what is more important is the personification of the woman in question. For John locates the scene at the house of Lazarus, that Jesus "raised from the dead" and identifies the woman with Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Martha was serving. Lazarus was one of the guests ".Then took Mary a pound of ointment of pure nard which was very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment".
Mary's act is not disapproved in John's gospel by the other disciples, but only by Judas Iscariot, because "he was a thief, and had the bag from which he used to take the contents". Jesus scolds Judas: "Let her alone, against the day of my burial has she kept this". But having added the same comments about the poor, we do not find the same appreciation of the woman. However, the scene still takes place in Bethany even if the house has another owner. John's text is shorter. What distinguishes it from the others is that he reveals the name of the woman, as Mary the sister of Lazarus. The surprise is still greater if you look for this text in Luke's gospel, a text which is longer and makes it clear that the scene takes place in the house of a Pharisee, without saying his name or the name of the place.
However, it ought to be in Judea because the last town mentioned by Luke is Nain (Luke 7:11) where Jesus brought back to life a widow's son. So Jesus "went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to rest. And, behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at a meal in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears and did wipe them with her hair, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment" (Luke 7:36-38). Luke emphasises the sinful state of the woman: "Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he spoke to himself, saying "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner". Interpreting his thinking, Jesus speaks to him : "Simon, I have something to say to you", and he tells him the parable of the two debtors who were let off their debt and he who had the greater debt will love his debtor more. And Jesus praised the woman for her generosity - generosity that Simon had not shown. "Wherefore say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much". Then he says to the woman "Thy sins are forgiven".
It is obvious that Luke does not wish to identify this sinful woman with Mary, sister of Lazarus. Exegesis experts believe that this text involves more likely the woman taken in adultery of whom John speaks to us in gospel John 8: 1 -11. But whether it is this 'sinful and adulterous woman or whether it is Mary, sister of Lazarus, this episode brings out- in all the texts- two very important points. Firstly, that love is the condition for dialogue with God, and there is no sin that cannot be forgiven if the sinner loves. And then, but this only appears in three of these texts, the woman had a premonition of the death of the Lord and that she used the aromatic oil which is used for anointing the bodies of the dead.
Whether it is Mary, another woman, sinner of not, one must emphasise the interest that Jesus takes in the woman and the kindness that accompanies his words. For he reprimands his disciples who were accusing the woman and Jesus praises her act. Not only does he protect her by defending her but he praises her generosity, her love, and finally the courage she shows in acting in this way - she, a woman, in front of the men. There was perhaps despair in her tears, for she felt that the Lord was to die. Tears and despair and love for Him who was Love.
This is what these texts underline: firstly, that the men present did not have a premonition about what was to happen to their Master; that the woman, on the contrary, does not settle for being sad, but acts with courage which is uncharacteristic of women and with love, uncharacteristic of men. She also highlights the pettiness of some of the disciples (or just Judas) or Simon the Pharisee. What must be added above all, is that at the end of this scene Jesus announces the exceptional position this woman will have in the life of the Church. He emphasises (it is the first two evangelists, Matthew and Mark who put it in these terms) : "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also what she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her".
These words, unique in the gospels, are of paramount importance. They refer to one single human being and that person is a woman. Note that she is the only one to benefit from the words of Jesus. At the Last Supper, it is only the apostle Paul who informs us of this (I Cor. 11:25) - Jesus urges his disciples to repeat his acts and his words "in remembrance of me". The Greek words of these texts (gospels and epistles) are similar in Paul, and in the two gospels.
If we consider the importance that must be accorded to this allusion to the past in Christian belief we must also consider the importance that Jesus gave to these acts on one hand, and on the other this sacrifice that redeemed ones sins is the centre, the heart of Christian life, and of Church life. It is his blood that he shed and which reminds us of the costly oil that the woman poured on him and which was prepared according to Jesus' instructions in his tomb. The principle which inspires the two moments is unconditional love.
For this reason even Luke's text, which seems to talk about a different person, she was not from Bethany, and she was a sinner- is of minor importance in relation to the significance of this act. Because it is love that characterises this woman, not her prostitution. In any case, it is not the first time that Jesus evaluates the two characteristics that make people different: the pure hearts of publicans and prostitutes outweigh the rigid adherence to the Law, exhibited by the Scribes and Pharisees. "Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you " (Matt 21:31), But this time the Lord makes a clear, unexpected and peculiar distinction. No-one has been so exalted by Him throughout the gospels. She is the only person linked by an allusion to the past constructed by Jesus himself, and in the same words as Paul, conveys to us regarding the Institution of the Last Supper.
Only one other person seems to be on the same level, but without this being stated by the Lord. Mary Magdalene, who, nevertheless was treated like the woman of Bethany. So it is not just an isolated incident, this attitude of Christ, it will not be the poor who will be blessed in the Kingdom, but the poor in spirit. It is not those who visibly respect the Law, but those who love God with all their heart and soul, who are called and received first in the Kingdom of the Christian God.
As for our Church, I am not sure if the woman of Bethany holds a privileged position in our worship. On the other hand, towards her equivalent, Mary Magdalene, religious books show particular respect. Her feast day, 22 July, is endorsed with the highest accolades that can be addressed to a human being, for she is "evangelist among evangelists" and "apostle of apostles". That does not mean she is worshipped individually (or has her own followers). Her praises are sung during Vespers and hardly any of the congregation realises the importance that is indicated by this: to be ".. apostle of apostles". Similarly, no-one up to now notices these words with which Jesus glorifies the woman of Bethany. For this formula "as a memorial of her" on the same lines as "in remembrance of me", opens up possibilities beyond imagination, because it does not describe terrestial phenomena, but extends to a horizon lost in eternal divine grace.
People do not yet appreciate the sublime relationships Jesus had with the women in his company. We have not yet got to the stage of understanding with a pure heart relationships between people, men and women, humans and God. It is perhaps woman's duty to get people to re-read the Gospels so as to make them understand according to the will of Jesus.