21/02/2026
𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 | 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀' 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝘁
Painter: Peter Paul Rubens
Painted between 1618 - 1620
We do not tend to associate biblical characters with our more popular notion of mysticism, but we know there are many in the Bible who had direct, personal, and extraordinary encounters with God that led to amazing transformations in their lives.
𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑢𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑧𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.
Before going further, take time for a slow read of the story in John 12:1–8.3
Therefore, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a dinner there, and Martha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him.
Mary then took a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, the one who intended to betray Him, said, “𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒊 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆?”
Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he kept the money box, he used to steal from what was put into it.
Therefore Jesus said, “𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒆.”
John tells us that the same Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet to listen to him while her grumbling sister prepared the meal, the Mary whom Martha had to seek out when Jesus came to raise Lazarus from the dead, is the very one who now comes to kneel at Jesus’ feet.
This time she comes with a jar of very expensive perfume worth almost a year’s wages to wash his feet with her hair. Such extravagance results in an angry outburst from Judas, who tells Jesus the money could have been given instead to the poor. Jesus acknowledges this beautiful gift of Mary’s and accepts this anointing as preparation for his approaching death and burial.
Now look carefully at the cover art. It is a depiction of this story by the Flemish artist Rubens. What most catches your attention at your first look? How does this painting enhance the Gospel story for you? How does it change the picture you may have in your mind?
The painting holds three distinct planes. In the background are people carrying serving dishes, and all looking toward Jesus on the right. In the foreground is Mary kneeling before Jesus, tenderly holding his right foot in her hands.
Rubens locates the scene in his own time and place. We can see the pillars, arches, richly and ornately carved wooden chairs, and drapery of his Flemish world. The table is laid with a bright, clean, white cloth. On it sits a basket or bowl of fresh fruit, framed by Jesus’ open hand. Behind the seated group are four busy servers.
They carry their platters high above their heads in the crowded room. There is one woman in this group of servers, who may well be Martha John adds this detail in his Gospel account.
Her figure is lit from the left corner of the painting, almost setting her apart from the other servers as she looks out of the scene toward the viewer. Framing the whole scene are two larger figures the dominant figure of Jesus on the right and, on the left, probably Simon, who is mentioned in the other Gospel accounts.
Most of the men seem to be focused on Jesus and his response to this highly unorthodox behavior. The man on the far left of the painting, behind Simon, adjusts his glasses to see Mary more clearly. Simon seems to be listening to Jesus with all his attention.
The others, for the most part, lean toward Jesus with looks of incomprehension, annoyance, and shock on their faces. The man closest to Jesus holds a cloth, perhaps a napkin, to his mouth, almost in disgust at this indecency.
A dog greedily and possessively gnaws at a bone in the lower left corner. Everywhere in the painting are movement and activity, eye and hand gestures causing our eyes to roam about the work.
But there is one place where time seems to stand still. In the center of the painting, the focus of the story, we see Mary at Jesus’ feet. In front of her is her jar of expensive ointment, a tiny but important element in the painting, which glows with reflected light. She holds Jesus’ right foot caressingly as she wipes it with her hair and precious ointment.
She wears no head covering. Her hair, which she uses to wipe the feet of Jesus, is completely loose. Her dress falls off her shoulders, exposing her skin in what her observers would consider an unseemly manner. Her eyes are closed in rapt attention to her task and to the person of Jesus. She is exposed, vulnerable, and partly naked before Jesus.
It was the custom of Jewish women in Jesus’ day to have their heads always covered in public after the age of twelve. On their wedding night, her husband was the one who loosened a woman’s hair. Is it any wonder that these men among whom Mary sits are shocked and deeply offended?
This is a very intimate action on Mary’s part, an act that is more appropriately done in the privacy of the marriage chamber.
Yet here she is, totally oblivious and uncaring of the adverse attention of those around her. Her devotion is absolute. Her experience of Jesus is physical and intense. She seems unaware of the comments from the others in the room.
The judgmental and critical looks make no difference to her act of devotion. She ignores them all in her utter love for her Lord. If we have never thought of this biblical event as one of mystical union with God, this visual interpretation of the story confirms it. Her experience of Jesus is direct, personal, quietly and gently ecstatic, and intensely intimate.
Rubens adds another very significant detail that is easy to miss. Look at the dish held high by the server in the center of the painting, above the heads of the seated men. It holds what looks like a peacock, a recognizable symbol of pride, standing in vivid contrast to Mary’s humility and self-abasement.
It is an invitation for us to look inward at our own posture when we come before Jesus. It is an invitation to join Mary in her humble, self-forgetting act, to kneel before Jesus and pour out everything we have as an offering to him. She is holding nothing back, offering Jesus all that is most precious to her. She reminds us of the self-negating, world-denying life of the early Christian mystics.
Mary’s stooped figure is highlighted by the sharp, horizontal line of the white tablecloth behind her, a line that cuts her off from the men at the table and their hostile responses.
The purity of its whiteness and its clearly defined edge serve to remind the viewer not only of the purity of Mary’s act of love, but also of the rigid law to which these participants in the scene adhered a law that, in their understanding, leaves no room for variance.
She goes against all established convention and taste to bring her gift to Jesus. His open right hand, gently outreached to answer these harsh judgments, softens the lines of the tablecloth. He receives her gift and offers grace and mercy, as opposed to the harsh condemnation of the other men in the room.
The artist has used color and form to emphasize this contrast. The elaborate detail of the finely carved chair in which Simon sits, with its swirls and uneven rhythms of small, broken forms, acts as a counterpoint to the figure of Jesus.
He is depicted in more sedate, calm lines and larger blocks of color, reflecting the dramatic conflict between the world of grace, peace, and love and that of agitated dogmatism and earthly values.
In 2 Corinthians 2:15–16, St. Paul reminds us that “we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.” This is surely the case in this painting as we look at the faces and gestures of the people who sit at this table. Look again at the man with the cloth covering his mouth and nose. To him, this act of devotion is an aroma of death.
𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓’𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
Take some time to enter into the story with your imagination. As you look at the painting, where do you place yourself? Are you one of those who sit at the table in judgment over this woman? Are you one of the curious but busy servers in the background?
What captures your attention as you sit or stand in this room? What smells, sounds, and tastes do you experience at this dinner?
Now put yourself in Mary’s place. How do you feel, kneeling in front of Jesus? Are you embarrassed by the negative attention that surrounds you? How engrossed or distracted are you as you offer your gift to Jesus? What would that gift—the most precious thing you have—look like for you?
Now attend to Jesus’ response to you. What does he say to you as a personal response to your unique and individual gift? What does his look communicate to you?
Join with the mystics across the ages. Come to Jesus with all that is most precious to you. Surrender it completely, and enter into a union with him that is beyond your imaginings. Dare to surrender even all your emotions as Mary has done, leaving everything behind in an act of pure devotion and love to God. Allow this to transform how you live and how you see others in the light of such love.
A short story for Peter Paul Rubens a painter of Mary washes Jesus' feet
The most popular Flemish artist of the seventeenth century, Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was born in Germany. His Protestant father, a lawyer, had fled with his family from Antwerp because of persecution for his Calvinist faith. After his death, the family moved back to Antwerp, where Rubens converted to the Catholic faith.
