Did the Twelve even Know her Name?

In the fourteenth chapter of his gospel, Mark presents his readers with two interesting stories sandwiched together. The Passover is approaching in Jerusalem, and many of the religious leaders of the Jewish people are plotting to kidnap Jesus, but away from the crowds to avoid a riot. Mark then quickly changes scenes to Simon the (former) Leper's house, where Jesus and his disciples are having dinner with their host and many others. A nameless woman comes in and extravagantly pours a whole jar of expensive perfume on his head. The guests (the disciples, from what we know from the other gospels) are not happy about this, and Jesus uses the situation as another opportunity to teach his disciples and give them a glimpse of why he is truly there. Mark then shifts the back to the original story as Judas meets with the chief priest to betray Jesus, perhaps dismayed by the woman and perfume, meets with the chief priests to portray Jesus. The whole passage seems to work together.

These first 11 verses of Mark 14 are significant. The first thing that catches my eye is how these two stories are put together. What can we learn by combining the priests and Judas' attempts to capture Jesus with the nameless woman who anoints Jesus? We can learn much. Obviously, the priests and Judas either did not understand who Jesus was or refused to believe it, which I believe is more likely in the cases of some of the priests. Despite having the purpose of leading the people of Israel to God, these priests are missing what God is doing. Personal standing and power in the community are more important, as well as the struggle with Rome, than God's redemption of Mankind and new covenant. Judas, despite living with and being taught by Jesus for 3 years, doesn't understand. Perhaps he is frustrated over money, such as the wasted perfume, or maybe because Jesus has not made any attempt to free Israel from Rome. Perhaps Judas really does start to understand Jesus' purpose, but freedom and redemption are not what he wants, at least in an eternal since. He wants to be free from the embarrassment of being subject to Rome, so he turns Jesus in when he realizes Jesus has no plans to free Israel from Rome in governmental sense.

In the middle of this story, we have Jesus and a nameless woman pouring perfume on his head. To start, Jesus is once again associating with outcasts by having dinner at a leper's house, perhaps one he had healed. This woman comes in and anoints Jesus for burial, but perhaps even more importantly, anoints him in the tradition of the Old Testament: as a king, a priest, or someone chosen by God to carry out God's work. I think all are combined here. This nameless woman, of who knows what background, who doesn't have near the education of the priests or the face time with Jesus that the disciples had, understood who Jesus was and what was about to happen. Mark has written a clever contrast here. The supposedly knowledgeable, the upstanding, the inner circle, do not understand, but the lowly ones of God do.

What has recently struck me is the absence of the woman's name. Mark gives us the name of the host, Simon the Leper, but perhaps the most important character in this narrative other than Jesus is unnamed. I spent a lot of time thinking about this this week. I came to a few conclusions, and one I consider pretty good. The Bible, including Mark, is obviously God's word, and God did this through Mark, but God at times uses the human limitations of the writer for his purposes for the growth of the Kingdom, and I think that is what is happening here with the absence of the woman's name: Did the twelve disciples (whom it's thought Mark got a lot of his gospel material from, especially Peter) even talk to this woman afterwards? Did they even get her name? They obviously talked and associated with Simon, the owner of the house. Of course they did, he is a man and in other gospels recognized as a priest (I think). But, even after Jesus rebukes and teaches them from this woman's actions, they still do not take the time to talk to her and even learn her name.

These are the people who God uses. The Christians who are lowly even in the eyes of other Christians.