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Home , Anointing of Jesus

davidsvard.se 2014

The Significance of the of ’ Feet David Svärd SBL International Meeting, St Andrews, Scotland, July 8, 2013

Introduction The theme for this session is the Johannine Letters. I will to some degree make use of notions expressed in the First Letter of John in order to interpret the anointing motif in the of John. So my focus will be on the Gospel. In John, Jesus is described as fulfilling Old Testament (OT) prophecies about an eschatological royal, priestly, or prophetic . The kings and the high priest of Israel’s past were anointed having oil poured on their head according to the OT – in most cases by a male prophet. Consequently if the John wanted to describe Jesus as an anointed one in line with these OT motifs; if he wanted to describe Jesus as the Messiah it would be most convincing within the Jewish community if a male prophet anointed Jesus by pouring oil on his head. In Mark and Matthew a woman anoints Jesus in this way. The procedure matches the OT stories, but the fact that a woman, who is not designated “prophet,” performs the act contrasts these stories. In John a woman named Mary is first said to have anointed (11:2). And then the feet are singled out as the object of the anointing (12:3) – not the head but the feet. This is one further aspect which seems to be in contrast to the OT motifs. Some scholars have argued that the reason for these contrasts is that Mary’s anointing is not intended to identify Jesus as the Lord’s Anointed One. I have not found this objection convincing, partly since the explicit overall purpose of John is to promote the faith that Jesus is the Anointed One – the . In this paper I will assume that the anointing episode is intended to describe Jesus as the Messiah.

Research Problem One important question can now be asked. Why does John single out the anointing of Jesus’ feet? Why is John not content with doing like Mark and Matthew? To single out the feet means taking a risk that the contrasts to the anointing stories become too large and that some of the addressees as well as perhaps scholars of today miss the messianic allusion. I think that the solution to this problem is that the Fourth Evangelist has a deliberate purpose for this emphasis. There is a specific Christological point and a specific ecclesiological point that he wants to make.

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Hypotheses I have formulated these points as four hypotheses. The last one is dependent on the first three ones. 1. The anointing of Jesus by Mary confirms that Jesus is God’s Anointed One as a self- sacrificing servant. 2. The anointing of Jesus by God with the Holy Spirit provides for a Spirit-anointing that will be given to all believers, including them of low social status. 3. It was a widely spread notion that the human body represents a community and that its feet represent servants. 4. The anointing of the feet of Jesus emphasizes that Jesus is anointed as a self-sacrificing servant; and that all the lowly of God’s people will be anointed.

Analysis I will now present evidence in support of each of the hypotheses.

Hypothesis 1 The Anointed Kings of Israel’s Past The anointed kings of Israel’s past, specifically Saul, David, Jehu, and perhaps also Solomon were anointed by God’s agent with oil, and by God himself. These kings received God’s Spirit and stood in a special relation to the Lord. They were anointed to be leaders of the nation, and were given certain tasks. Saul and David were commissioned to save Israel from its enemies. Jehu was commissioned to strike down the apostate house of Ahab. They saved and punished with a sword in their hand.

The Serving and Self-Sacrificing King in John In John, Jesus is also an elevated king commissioned to save, but his kingdom is not of this world and he saves people primarily from their sins. He rules through servantship expressed e.g. in the footwashing scene, and he saves through his self-sacrifice, through his death. That this is his messianic task is confirmed when he is anointed on his proleptic burial day. Mary had kept her ointment for his burial day (12:7). Jesus is never called “servant” in John, but several scholars have argued that Jesus is portrayed as the Suffering Servant of Isa 53. For instance Dr. R. Bauckham argues in God Crucified that John interprets Jesus’ identity in the light of the Lord’s Servant of Isaiah chapters 40-55.

Summary The anointing of Jesus by Mary is performed on his proleptic burial day and thus is connected to his humble self-sacrifice. The anointing confirms that Jesus is God’s Anointed One as a servant .

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Hypothesis 2 Jesus Receives the Spirit and Gives the Spirit to Any Believer From early on in John’s Gospel it is clear that Jesus having received the Spirit himself will pass it on to his disciples. In view of some OT anointing passages, such as Isa 61:1, the event when the Spirit descends upon Jesus should be considered to be an anointing of him by God – with the Holy Spirit. That the Spirit will be given to all believers and not only specially chosen kings and priests is clear from Jesus’ cry in the temple: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (7:37) A reference to the gift of the Spirit. Let us turn to the second chapter of the First Letter of John. The author claims that the addressees have been anointed by the Holy One and have knowledge. They have no need that anyone should teach them. His anointing teaches them “about everything.” This passage seems to assume that there was formerly a situation in which the common people were dependent upon teachers who had knowledge such as priests, prophets and kings. This situation of spiritual and social hierarchy is removed or at least relativized in the new or renewed covenant.

Old Testament Promises of the Spirit for High and Low The two verses from First probably contain an allusion to Jer 31:34. In the context of the pronouncement of the new covenant, the Lord declares that each man no longer shall teach his neighbor and his brother – “for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest .” This passage speaks of a social hierarchy among the Lord’s people. Some were considered to be “the least” and some to be “the greatest.” In the new covenant alluded to in 1 John all of God’s people would know the Lord. And this as a result of the anointing which I think is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The eschatological gift of the Spirit is mentioned in Ezekiel. And in Joel it is emphasized that the Spirit will be poured out upon male and female servants.

Summary OT prophecies about a new covenant in which the Spirit will be given to both the socially high and the socially low within the community are fulfilled through the Spirit-anointing of Jesus that opens up for a Spirit-anointing of everyone, also the servants.

Hypothesis 3 The notion that the human body represents a community seems to be near at hand in OT and the metaphor is used in Jewish, Greek and Roman sources.

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Dio Chrysostom When Dio Chrysostom justifies that he had helped the common people in His Past Records , he says:

“We know that, in the case of the body, it is always the ailing part which we treat, and that we devote more attention to the feet than to the eyes, if the feet are in pain and have been injured while the eyes are in sound condition.” ( Admin . 3)

Here the feet represent the common people that in a certain situation needed special care, which Chrysostom likens with surgery of injured feet. The eyes in this image represent some kind of individual leader or the Council. Chrysostom acknowledges the social hierarchy between the common people and the leadership. His choice to identify the people with the feet and the leaders with the eyes indicate that he also acknowledges a corporeal status hierarchy.

Artemidorus Daldianus When the professional diviner Artemidorus Daldianus speaks about dreams which involve the body or a part of the body he gives expression to the notions that different bodily parts represent persons one is related to:

“For example, the head refers to a father, the foot to a slave, the right hand to a father, son, or brother, ...” ( Onirocritica 1:2)

He comes back several times to the idea that in dreams feet represent slaves. At one instance he claims to “know of a certain man who imagined that his eyes, falling out, fell upon his feet. And he … married off his daughters to his household slaves, so that greater things mingled with lesser.” (1:26) Apparently there is a status hierarchy within the body according to Artemidorus, for instance between head and feet, which corresponds to a social status hierarchy. Specifically the feet represent slaves.

Paul In 1 Corinthians the addressees are described as members of a body, the body of Christ. The description of the relations of the bodily members seems to utilize familiar notions of status hierarchies between bodily members, even if Paul wants to object to them. The bodily members represent individuals or groups of differing social or spiritual status in the Corinthian church. No member must look down upon others. For instance: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” (2:21) Paul alludes to the notion that feet generally are considered to be of low status.

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Summary I have given three examples of ancient authors that express the notion that the human body represent a community, and that its feet represent persons of low social status, such as slaves. These notions seem to have been widely spread. I picked out these examples since they specifically contrast the head with the feet.

Hypothesis 4 Jesus’ Body Represents a Community with Many Parts In John Jesus’ body represents a community. Within Judaism the temple was the place for God’s presence, but also a meeting place of God and his people. When Jesus is in the temple, in his Father’s house, in chapter 2, his body is said to be a temple. In :2 we learn that this house(hold) contains many rooms. The believers are expected to dwell in Jesus, in the many rooms of his temple-body. They are also expected to dwell in Jesus as branches in a vine. Thus the body-temple of Jesus represents the community and is made up of many parts that correspond to individual believers. Maybe John is inspired by the notion of a body with its many members.

The Head and the Feet of Jesus John shows some interest in the human body and its members. Some of the members of Jesus’ body are of particular interest. As Mary stooped to look into the she saw “two in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.” (:12) This is at least an enigmatic scene that spotlights the head and feet of Jesus. The glory of the white-dressed angels is connected to Jesus’ head and to his feet. Since there is one associated with the head, and one angel associated with the feet there seems to be no status hierarchy between the head and the feet within the body of Jesus in this scene. His entire body is glorified and resurrected.

Summary In this last step I have tried to show that John understands Jesus’ body as representing the community of believers, and also that his bodily parts may represent individual believers. I have suggested that the scene of the empty tomb supports the notion that the head and feet of Jesus have a symbolic meaning within the gospel. If this is so it is likely that the anointing of Jesus’ feet is an anointing of Jesus as a humble servant and an anointing of all the lowly ones of God’s people. The hierarchy between the head and the feet – between leaders and servants – has been removed – since the latter category also has been anointed.

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Conclusion I have argued that the author of John singled out the feet in his description of the anointing of Jesus because he wanted to portray Jesus as a serving, suffering, and dying Anointed One of the Lord, and because he wanted to emphasize the notion that the lowly ones of God’s people also would be anointed with the Holy Spirit.

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