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Anointing Traditions

Teresa J. Hornsby

The account of Jesus’ anointing is one of the few events recorded by all four Evan-
gelists (Matthew 26:6–13; Mark 14:3–9; Luke 7:36–50; John 12:1–8). Although
the Gospels agree in basic details, such as Jesus’ being anointed by a woman in the
presence of others, they are inconsistent about where, with whom, how, and why
the anointing happens. Matthew’s, Mark’s, and John’s anointings take place in
Bethany, whereas the Lucan scene appears set somewhere in Galilee. Matthew,
Mark, and Luke place the event in the home of Simon, and John tells us it is in the
home of Lazarus. John names “Mary” as the anointer, Luke identifies the unnamed
woman as “from the city” and as a “sinner”; Matthew and Mark leave her nameless
and otherwise unidentified. The host, Simon, is a leper in Matthew’s and Mark’s
versions, but he is a Pharisee according to Luke, and according to John he is
Lazarus, a man Jesus recently raised from the dead. According to John and Luke,
the woman anointed Jesus’ feet; according to Matthew and Mark, she anointed his
head. Matthew, Mark, and John all associate the anointing with Jesus’ death and
burial; Luke uses the story to comment on hospitality and forgiveness.
As we look at other anointings that occur in literature roughly contemporary
with the Gospels, it becomes apparent that Jesus’ anointing has its familiar cir-
cumstances and its unique ones. My concern is here, primarily, with the anoint-
ings in Luke and John; to the numerous students who read the Gospels and con-
clude, “That’s what all the women did with their hair things back then,” the
evidence suggests rather something unexpected has occurred between Jesus and
the anointing woman.

Anointing in the LXX and the New Testament

The Septuagint records various types of anointing. It uses the term christō (He-
brew: mashach) exclusively to denote a ceremonial anointing, such as the ritual
installation of kings and priests (see, e.g., Exodus 28:41; 29:36; Judges 9:8; 1
Samuel 9:16; 15:1). I have located no other example where a kiss is a part of the
340 TERESA J. HORNSBY

anointing ceremony of a king or priest; Samuel’s kiss is not a strong evocation of

the woman sinner in Luke 7:38 who kisses Jesus.
Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him. (1 Samuel 10:1)

She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears
and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing
them with the ointment. (Luke 7:38)

Of the Evangelists, only Luke uses christō for “anoint,” but the context is not
the woman’s ministrations to Jesus. Rather, it is Jesus’ quotation from Isaiah in the
Nazareth synagogue: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed
me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18).
The words aleiphō and murizo, which appear in Luke 7, can be used for anoint-
ing kings and priests, but they also are used for the anointing that one performs
to adorn oneself, to soothe tired feet, to heal, or to mask offensive odors. Such
anointing is a gift or favor a host would graciously provide a guest; it is also the
responsibility of a slave to his or her master. The action could thus be compared
to the washing of feet, such as found in Genesis 18:4 (Abraham), Genesis 19:2
(Lot), 1 Samuel 25:41 (Abigail), and John 13 ( Jesus), as well as in the Odyssey
and throughout Greek and Roman literature.
For example, Naomi tells Ruth to wash and anoint herself (aleiphō) for Boaz
(Ruth 3:3 LXX; Hebrew such). On the other hand, a person mourning eschews
being anointed. Daniel is in mourning for three weeks; during this time, he does
not eat rich food, eat meat, drink wine, or anoint (aleiphō) himself (Daniel 10:3).
Likewise, in 2 Samuel 14:2, Joab tells a woman to pretend to be mourning: “Do
not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning
many days for the dead.” However, Matthew 6:17 states that those who fast
should anoint (aleiphō) themselves with oil. Mark 6:13 and James 4:14 use
aleiphō to describe the anointing of the sick. Anointing (aleiphō) seems to signify
good health and happiness, and its lack suggests sickness, sadness, and death.
Murizo is similar to aleiphō but emphasizes the use of fragrant oil; it may thus
be translated “pour perfume” rather than “anoint.” This term is absent from the
LXX, and in the New Testament it appears only in Mark 14:8: after the woman
“pours” (katacheō) expensive oil on Jesus’ head, he proclaims that she has
“anointed” (murisai) his body for the tomb (14:8).

Anointing and Feet in Greek and Roman Writings

Homer

In the Odyssey (19.385–402), Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, returns to his

home. His wife, Penelope, asks an old servant woman, Eurycleia, to bathe and
anoint the man’s body with oil. As she washes (niptō) him, she discovers a scar
that unmistakably identifies the man as Odysseus (see MacDonald). Striking
ANOINTING TRADITIONS 341
about Homer’s anointing account is the theme of recognition, which finds faint
echoes in Matthew and Mark, where the woman recognizes Jesus’ kingly role and
tragic fate (Matthew 26:12; Mark 14:8). The old woman’s response to Odysseus is
reminiscent of the anointing woman in Luke: overcome with emotion, she weeps.
She is also like Thomas, who according to John 20:27 recognizes Jesus because of
his scars (see MacDonald).

Petronius

One of the most intriguing details about the Lucan and Johannine accounts is
that the woman uses her hair to wipe the excess ointment from Jesus’ feet. This
detail is without parallel in literature contemporary to or preceding the Gospels.
Petronius’s Satyricon may be the only other attestation combining a banquet,
anointing, and long hair. This satire, written by Nero’s arbiter elagantia—adviser
on all things fabulous—was composed in Latin in 61 CE. Only fragments remain.
The longest fragment, “The Cena,” describes the lead character, Trimalchio, who
invites all types of men to an excellent banquet:
I am ashamed to tell you what followed: in defiance of all convention, some long-
haired boys brought ointment in a silver basin, and anointed our feet as we lay, after
winding little garlands round our feet and ankles. (69)

We might conclude that the Lucan and Johannine women similarly acted “in de-
fiance of all convention.” Whether the Lucan scene is meant to convey, or dis-
rupt, erotic connotations remains debated.

Clement of Alexandria

Clement’s reference to anointing suggests a concern about whether or not the

anointing was “useful.” Clement uses Jesus’ praise for the woman to defend
limited—that is, not excessive—use of scents and perfumes.
Yet, let us not develop a fear of perfume. Let the women make use of a little of these
perfumes, but not so much as to nauseate their husbands, for too much fragrance
suggests a funeral. . . . Since we make no allowance for pleasure not connected with
a necessity of life, surely let us also make distinctions here and choose only what is
useful. There are perfumes that are neither soporific nor erotic, suggestive neither of
sexual relations nor of immodest harlotry, but wholesome and chaste and refreshing
to the mind that is tired and invigorating to the appetite.
A luxury without a useful purpose gives grounds for the charge of being sensual
in character, and is a drug to excite the passions. But it is entirely different to rub
oneself with oil out of necessity [as opposed to being anointed for pleasure]. The one
makes a man womanish but to anoint out of necessity is the better.

Clement believes that an anointing that goes beyond necessity invites slander and
may lead to sexual arousal. He does not appear to see—or, more to the point, he
does not want to see—the anointing of Jesus as excessive, or at least as pleasurable.
342 TERESA J. HORNSBY

Josephus

Flavius Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, gives numerous accounts of

anointings in his Antiquities of the Jews and one account in Jewish Wars. All save
one reference in the Antiquities describe the anointing of priests and royalty:
Aaron (3.8.3), Saul (6.5.4), Solomon (7.14.5, 10), Jehu (9.6.1, 2), and Esther
(11.6.2). For the accounts of kings, priests pour the oil over the head of the des-
ignate. Queen Esther is anointed by eunuchs, and whereas Josephus hints that
Esther’s is a royal anointing, the Septuagint indicates that it is purely cosmetic
(Esther 2:9). The singular account of an ordination not involving priests or kings
is in reference to Caius, a man who is seeking an alibi for a murder he has com-
mitted. Josephus tells us that he has anointed himself so that he appeared to have
been with his wife (19.4.1). Concerning the Essenes, the Jewish Wars states that
members of this group refuse to anoint themselves: “They think to be sweaty is a
good thing” (2.8.3).

Bibliography

Brock, Sebastian P., and Susan Ashbrook Harvey, eds. Holy Women of the Syrian Orient.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Hornsby, Teresa J. “The Gendered Sinner: The Appropriation of a Woman’s Body in the In-
terpretations of Luke 7:36–50.” Ph.D. diss., Vanderbilt University, 2000.
Josephus, Flavius. Complete Works. Translated by William Whiston. Grand Rapids, MI:
Kregel Publications, 1960.
MacDonald, D. Ronald. “Renowned Far and Wide: The Women Who Anointed Odysseus
and Jesus.” Pages 128–35 in A Feminist Companion to Mark. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine.
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.
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