Mary Magdalene, Prophetess and Penitent
The Gospel tells us that the Risen Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene. Probably, Mary of Bethany is also Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, prophetess and penitent.
Once, while Jesus was reclining at table, Mary “came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head.” Our Lord himself calls attention to the importance of this action, and solemnly declares, “Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
So, what is it exactly that she has done?
(1) What she did was a prophetic act. Mary proclaims a truth not by words but by an act. She proclaims the truth about Christ and about what was going to happen.
The truth is that he is the Messiah, the Anointed One – the Christ. As kings and priests were anointed in ancient Israel, so Mary anoints Jesus to proclaim and reveal what he already is. She doesn’t make him the Anointed One, but by her devotion she confesses him as the Christ.
(2) She is an apostle. The truth she proclaims about what is to come is made explicit by our Lord: “She has anticipated anointing my body for burial.” She proclaims his death – precisely the thing the Apostles were so deaf to. Thus, her actions proclaim him as both the Christ, and the Victim for our sins. This act reveals Mary as the “Apostle to the Apostles.” She proclaims to them what they will later proclaim to the nations.
(3) She showed a total, complete and absolute attitude of self-giving to Jesus. That’s conveyed by the financial waste, which the disciples pick up on immediately. Their reaction is harsh. They are “indignant” and “infuriated.” They rebuke her, “Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages and the money given to the poor.” Indeed, the jar and oil combined could have totaled tens of thousands of dollars.
She did what they hadn’t yet done; she gave all. She squandered her savings out of love for Jesus. Her act expresses her love of Jesus; he’s worth everything. Judas only values him at thirty silver pieces.
By Baptism, we all have a share in Christ’s prophetic office. But we typically keep our powder dry by slavery to human respect. What will people think? What will they say? Mary of Bethany teaches that to proclaim Christ means not to take account of such things.
The shattering of the alabaster and the pouring of the oil reveal also a penitential act. It’s an expression of gratitude for sins forgiven. Here the prophetess and penitent intersect. She proclaims him as the Christ who has freed her from sin and possession.
Video: