Wednesday of Holy Week is shrouded in mystery. We do know that Jesus at the beginning of the Jewish Wednesday (Tuesday evening, Mark 14:3-9) was anointed with an alabaster of expensive burial perfume. The very quantity and quality of it would have meant the fragrance remained with Him for many hours. So Wednesday He carries about the sweet smell of a prophesying perfume. The Anointed One is anointed for dying.
“And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.” Mark 14:3-8 (ESV)
