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Study 1 - Simon the Leper and an Unnamed Woman

Make sure the members of the group know each other. Share a little informally as you begin the series.

You might ask the members why they have come to a group during Lent. What was special for them in studying the events leading up to Good Friday and Easter Day, the Easter holiday period, nowadays covering the school holidays. (Always accept any thoughts people have without judgment)

Begin the study by referring to some of the points in the Introduction.

Particularly that we are focussing on Mark’s Gospel and what is recorded there, not drawing on different references in other Gospels, nor different stories in the others. We are concentrating on chapters 14 and 15. Briefly look at these two chapters and the ground covered by noting the paragraph headings. They follow through as a connected story.

Here is some input for the leader to share:

It is only quite recently in New Testament studies that we have realised how much the Gospels have grown out of their Jewish background. It is very probable that these two chapters of Mark’s Gospel were the first part of the gospel to be written and their purpose was to "Christianise" the Jewish Passover Feast. They may also have been used as a kind of Statement of Faith for new converts who were accepted into the community of Christian faith at the Easter season. If this is so what is significant about the incidents recorded and the thumbnail sketches of some personalities? Let’s find out.

Chapter 14 begins by telling us the day – two days before the Passover Feast - which that week meant the Tuesday. The scene is set by the reference to the Jewish religious leaders meeting and planning how they might get rid of Jesus, this trouble-maker, but not at the time of the festival of Passover because he was popular and there might be a riot.

The first incident is about a dinner at the house of Simon the leper. He is previously not mentioned, an unknown in Bethany. As a leper he would never be allowed to live in his own house and still be part of the community.

He must be a healed leper allowed to return to the community after the priests had pronounced him clean – cured of this dreaded skin disease.

Let your mind wander – someone still identified as a leper, though cured. Is he really cured? How can he be offering a large dinner party at his house? Is it really safe to be there? Think about people with TB in the days before antibiotics were available – shut away from human contact as much as possible. Attitudes to them when they were supposedly cured?

(An elderly lady who died recently had been institutionalised in a Sanatorium for much of her childhood and adolescent life. All these years later her daughter felt deprived. There had never been any show of affection in her home from her mother. The daughter found it a help when it was suggested that family and others had probably felt they mustn’t touch her mother when she was growing up for fear of infection. Maybe that continued even when she was pronounced cured.)

This description gives us the setting for the incident that follows. It may be indicating that Jesus in accepting this invitation, presumably along with his friends, at least some of the Twelve, if not all – was publicly demonstrating that he went further than the Jewish legal (and hygiene) requirements – an implicit criticism of the Jews.

He would eat at the house of this person. He would associate with him socially. Of course we do not know if this was a leper Jesus had healed. It would be nice to think this was a gesture of generosity and gratitude by Simon.

Certainly what follows is a story of unimaginable generosity.

Invite one of the group to read Mark 14:3.

It is difficult to read this story and not add details from other Gospels. Here the woman has no name. She is not a known sinner. So why did she do this? We don’t know.

Spend a few moments setting the scene. A group of men reclining round a central low table. Serving girls. Possibly some entertainers. Into this comes a woman:

· An unknown off the street?

· One of the servers suddenly changing roles?

· Or Simon’s wife wanting to express her gratitude at Simon’s healing?

· We don’t know - but the possibilities make us think..

The ointment would have been in a small alabaster (marble) bottle with a narrow neck which she broke – so that not even the jar could be used again. She pours out all the contents, not just a little which would have been sufficient to act as a symbol.

Imagine your reaction if you had been there Encourage the members to share their reactions – all answers are correct!

Ask one member to read what the recorded reaction was. Mark 14: 4,5.

What’s your reaction to this? When have you heard anything similar? Think of some contemporary examples or parallels.

Read verses 6-9

Let the group volunteer ideas of what the significance of anointing Jesus’ head with this precious ointment might be.

(a) When in comparatively recent times have you been reminded of an occasion of anointing? – with oil on the head? What does it signify?

(b) In Jesus’ time it was the custom to use precious oils to anoint dead bodies before burial. What was this woman doing? Jesus accepted what she was doing. Did he also recognise the double significance?

Verse 9 Jesus says what she has done will always be remembered - - -

How often have you heard this story read in a church service? How many sermons have you heard on this text?

(Shhhh – it was the text I preached my first sermon on – 55 years ago! But I know more about the story now than then)

Finish the session with a few minutes quiet reflection on the story and any brief comments. The woman was making her statement of faith not using words but by using a symbol saying she recognises that Jesus is someone very special – royal – and that he is soon going to die – woman’s intuition? Don’t despise it!