Nameless
Read Matthew 26:1-13.
Waste.
Useless.
Poor judgment. A person of ill repute. Woman.
She has no name, but that doesn't mean names haven't been hurled her way. We don't know who this woman is who interrupts the next-to-last supper at the home of Simon the Leper, though attempts have been made to harmonize this event with other, similar stories in other Gospel accounts. And yet Matthew tells her story just the way he wants us to hear it—nameless woman and all.
It's the night before Jesus' last meal with his disciples—Wednesday night. They are gathered for what was likely a lively celebration, a formal meal with sparkling conversation. And into that gathering comes a woman. Interestingly, no one tries to stop her. Was she already there? Was she one of the people serving Jesus and the disciples? Had she been around all evening? Did they assume she was just setting more things on the table as she comes around to the middle? They all seem to watch, speechless, as she zeroes in on Jesus and drops the equivalent of twelve thousand dollars worth of perfume on his head.
What a waste! What a mess! What a smell!
Had anyone noticed her up to this moment? Most of the people Jesus had a profound impact on and many of the ones he talked with and ministered to were "no-name" people. They were people who lived on the underside of life (those who lived well usually had very little good to say about Jesus). They were folks who had probably been called names. Even Jesus' host for the evening, Simon the Leper, would have been until recently on the underside by the nature of his disease (which Jesus obviously had healed him of). So this woman had likely either been ignored or maybe even actively ridiculed and shamed.
And because of that she is drawn to Jesus. There is something in her spirit that calls her to give up this enormous treasure for his sake. (This may have been her dowry!) Even when those at the table begin to complain, Jesus protects her and assures her that her story will be told for generations to come.
And it has been. We know the story. But we don't know her name. Did Matthew not know her name, or is there something else going on here? Perhaps she is our stand-in in this story. By not having a name, this woman becomes every person who has ever been on the underside of life, every person who has, at one point or another, felt rejected by all those around them...around us. We are all this nameless person, having at some point been made to feel less than. What this woman found is what we all can find: that when she gave everything to Jesus, she became more than. When she poured out what she had and gave it to the service of Jesus, she became more than her past, more than her present, more than her circumstances and more than her name. She gave it all and became a child of God.
This nameless woman is us. The question for us, then, as we approach the incredible events of Holy Week, is this: what do you have that you need to pour out to Jesus so that you can be captured and changed by his love? Where do you find yourself in this story?
Waste.
Useless.
Poor judgment. A person of ill repute. Woman.
She has no name, but that doesn't mean names haven't been hurled her way. We don't know who this woman is who interrupts the next-to-last supper at the home of Simon the Leper, though attempts have been made to harmonize this event with other, similar stories in other Gospel accounts. And yet Matthew tells her story just the way he wants us to hear it—nameless woman and all.
It's the night before Jesus' last meal with his disciples—Wednesday night. They are gathered for what was likely a lively celebration, a formal meal with sparkling conversation. And into that gathering comes a woman. Interestingly, no one tries to stop her. Was she already there? Was she one of the people serving Jesus and the disciples? Had she been around all evening? Did they assume she was just setting more things on the table as she comes around to the middle? They all seem to watch, speechless, as she zeroes in on Jesus and drops the equivalent of twelve thousand dollars worth of perfume on his head.
What a waste! What a mess! What a smell!
Had anyone noticed her up to this moment? Most of the people Jesus had a profound impact on and many of the ones he talked with and ministered to were "no-name" people. They were people who lived on the underside of life (those who lived well usually had very little good to say about Jesus). They were folks who had probably been called names. Even Jesus' host for the evening, Simon the Leper, would have been until recently on the underside by the nature of his disease (which Jesus obviously had healed him of). So this woman had likely either been ignored or maybe even actively ridiculed and shamed.
And because of that she is drawn to Jesus. There is something in her spirit that calls her to give up this enormous treasure for his sake. (This may have been her dowry!) Even when those at the table begin to complain, Jesus protects her and assures her that her story will be told for generations to come.
And it has been. We know the story. But we don't know her name. Did Matthew not know her name, or is there something else going on here? Perhaps she is our stand-in in this story. By not having a name, this woman becomes every person who has ever been on the underside of life, every person who has, at one point or another, felt rejected by all those around them...around us. We are all this nameless person, having at some point been made to feel less than. What this woman found is what we all can find: that when she gave everything to Jesus, she became more than. When she poured out what she had and gave it to the service of Jesus, she became more than her past, more than her present, more than her circumstances and more than her name. She gave it all and became a child of God.
This nameless woman is us. The question for us, then, as we approach the incredible events of Holy Week, is this: what do you have that you need to pour out to Jesus so that you can be captured and changed by his love? Where do you find yourself in this story?
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