A woman brings perfume to a party. She pours it on Jesus’ head. The disciples get all upset.

Jesus defends her. He says, “When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.”

I wonder if she knew that’s what she was doing?

It’s possible that she had paid attention when Jesus talked about his death in a couple of days. It would mean that she was standing close when he had told his disciples. And though Jesus announced it to the twelve, he may have said it to a larger group.

But even if she knew, I don’t think she knew. I mean, everyone knew about anointing bodies for burial. It happened all the time. But usually the process happened when the person was dead. To do the anointing before a person died was not anything anyone would consider.

What we know now, of course, is that no one was going to be able to anoint Jesus’ body after he was dead. When the women went to the tomb on Sunday morning with that intent, the body was gone. Jesus knew that this was going to be all he would get, all he would need.

He knew the value of the action, more than the disciples and even more than the woman.

I think that still happens. There is some action, some gift, some expense that we just have to do for Jesus. We aren’t sure why, we know it may look foolish, but we know we need to offer this word of encouragement, this hand of help, this walk of faith. And then, just when we think it was the silliest thing ever, Jesus says, “That’s exactly what I needed.”

Which means we have to listen. If the woman hadn’t, no anointing.