“Just read Jesus,” my counselor and spiritual mentor suggested.  “For the moment, forget the Old Testament, forget Paul, forget everything you’ve ever known about Christianity.  Just read Jesus.”

 So I began reading just the stories and the words of Jesus, focusing on his interactions with individuals.  As I read, I was profoundly moved.  Time after time he responded with such amazing tenderness and sensitivity.

I was moved by many stories, but three of Jesus’ actions gripped me particularly: the way he honored the woman who anointed his head with perfume, the way he touched the woman suffering from an issue of blood, and the way he responded to the sisters, Martha and Mary.

The first story is recorded in Mark 14:3-9.  It’s a passage I read over and over again during that era, and every time I read it I wept.

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard.  She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?  It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.”  And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus.  “Why are you bothering her?  She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them anytime you want.  But you will not always have me.  She did what she could.  She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.  I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”  

I wept because that woman’s action came straight from her soul.  It wasn’t about logic or practicality.  It wasn’t a strategic move.  It was pure passion, love, and adoration.  It was the most tender act of intimacy the situation allowed.  It flowed straight from an intuitive understanding of what was needful in the moment.  I doubt she understood in her head that Jesus was going to die.  And yet he saw her intuitive act as preparation for his burial. 

I wept when I read this because I realized that Jesus understood the human soul—and especially the unique soul of a woman.  He understood that place inside a woman that wants to express itself in tender and affectionate ways and wants to connect with others on a very deep and intimate level.

So he accepted that gift of love she offered with her whole being and with all the feeling and emotion in her soul.  In response to those who criticized her act, Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing for me.”  Furthermore, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”  I don’t know how there could be a greater affirmation of the soul of a woman than that.

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