Psalm 8:1; add Psalm 31:1-4

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, trying to remember when Mary anointed Jesus’ head with oil. I cannot account for the spiritual resistance I experienced trying to access that information.

He laid me down in Matthew 26, where I found the account.

Matthew 26:6 ¶ Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,

Matthew 26:7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.

The account in Matthew does not identify Mary of Magdala as the “woman.” It is possible that another woman, unknown to the Apostles, was moved by the Father to do this, as happened much earlier in Jesus’ ministry, when “a woman” entered the house of Simon the Pharisee, where Jesus was a guest and anointed His feet with an expensive alabaster box of oil (Luke 7:36-47). In each account, she is referred to as “a woman.” In the Luke 7 account, “Mary called Magdalene” is named as a disciple of Jesus, and we are told He had cast seven devils out of her (Luke 8:2). I believe Mary, called Magdalene, is the “woman” of both stories.

Magdalene did this 2 days before Passover (Matthew 26:1). This would be the day before what John called “the Jews’ preparation day” (John 19:42), the day the passover lambs were killed for the Passover meal, the day Christ was crucified, the day before the passover meal was eaten. She anointed His head only.

Four days earlier, the day before His triumphal entry (Palm Sunday), Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who very likely had often anointed Jesus’ head with oil, as that was a common practice in that culture, took a pound of ointment of spikenard, “very costly,” and anointed His feet, and wiped His feet with her hair (John 12:1-3, 12). This was the day before His presentation as Messiah to the Jews in Jerusalem.

Along the still waters, I reflected on the interesting fact that Mary, sister of Lazarus, anointed His feet with expensive oil (no alabaster box is mentioned), on the day before He rode into Jerusalem on the foal to present Himself as KING. Then, on the night before Jesus presented the Lord’s Table to His disciples and was arrested in Gethsemane, Mary, called Magdalene, anointed His head with oil from an alabaster box.

Mary, sister of Lazarus, went from anointing His head to kneeling and anointing His feet, and like the account of Mary Magdalene, she wiped His feet with her hair, though she did not kiss them. The day before sweat drops of blood would drop to the ground from His brow, Mary, called Magdalene, moved from His feet to His head, and anointed that precious brow with oil from her alabaster box.

In the valley, kneeling in the shadow of His Cross, I thought: The cross calls us all to humble ourselves at His feet, to be lifted up to His Head. Glory! Mary, called Magdalene, was the first to see Him alive after she noticed the head wrap neatly folded on the slab in the tomb where they had laid Him (John 21).

At the table, He anointed my head! Wait, full stop! He anoints our head with His oil and fills our cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed as we went together into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏