Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 14-16.

Every time I read the story about the woman who anointed Jesus with oil I always feel like there is more to it than I am seeing.  Perhaps someone reading this blog will be able to provide me such an insight.  So, I get one clear message from this story: we should not feel that our every thought, action, and expenditure must be to help the poor.  Further, sometimes we should do things to show our love to those around us.  Jesus made a point that wherever the Gospel is preached the story of what this woman did will be preached.  Which suggests that the message of this story is critical.  I was going to stop with that, but I had one more thought on this story.  When Jesus told those saying that she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor, He quoted from Deuteronomy 15:11.  The context of that verse tells us that we should give to the poor generously, that we should not be tightfisted towards them.  This woman was acting in a generous open-handed manner, while those rebuking her had a grudging heart.

I want to write a bit about chapter 16.  After much thought over the years I have become convinced the Mark ended his Gospel at verse 16:8.  I believe that the rest of chapter 16 is an accurate account, but was added to the Gospel from other sources.  I really think that Mark intended to end his Gospel with the cliff hanger of the women fleeing from the tomb, bewildered and afraid.  He wanted us to come away with the feeling that early that Sunday morning those who followed Jesus were bewildered and afraid, not just the women.  He wanted us to see the contrast between how they acted later and how they felt that morning.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.