What would it be like to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to the conversations with His disciples? What would it be like to be immersed in the prayers, feasts, history, culture and customs that shaped Jesus and those who followed Him? Would it change the way we read Scripture and deepen our understanding of the life of Jesus?
Would we emerge from it with new excitement about the roots of our own Christian faith?
In their book “Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus” – How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg present a vibrant and stirring documentation of Jesus in the first-century Jewish context.
Gabi Barkai, an eminent Jewish archaeologist, has said that “every day in Jerusalem is a day of discovery.” It bolsters the historical realibility of the Gospels.
God promised Abraham that the Gentiles would be blessed through his descendants. When we honor this ancient people by learning about their culture and customs, God blesses us with a deeper understanding of our Scriptures and of Jesus, our Messiah. Tuning into the customs of Jesus’ time and to the conversations of the rabbis who lived at that time can deepen our faith, transforming the way we read the Bible.
Just one example from this very interesting book.
Let’s look at the dramatic gesture Mary made one day, sitting at the feet of Jesus. John 12:3 describes the scene like this: “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
Without understanding the cultural background in which this event occurred, it’s easy to miss the full significance of Mary’s gesture. What exactly was she trying to communicate? Jesus Himself clarified one aspect of the story by commenting that Mary was preparing Him for the day of His burial (Matt. 26:12). We understand that her act of devotion pointed toward Christ’s death at the end of the week. But we miss something else that the disciples would have immediately realized, something so obvious that Jesus didn’t even need to mention it. By anointing Him with expensive fragrances, Mary may well have been making a statement about who she believed Jesus was, proclaiming Him a Messiah. In fact, the Hebrew word for Messiah is Mashiach, which literally means “the Anointed One.” Christos, or “Christ,” is the Greek equivalent.
But why “the Anointed One”? The word “Messiah” alludes to the ceremony used to set apart someone chosen by God, like a king or a priest. Instead of being crowned during a coronation, Hebrew kings were anointed with sacred oil perfumed with extremely expensive spices. Only used for consecrating objects in the temple and for anointing priests and kings, the sacred anointing oil would have been more valuable than diamonds. The marvelous scent that it left behind acted like an invisible “crown,” conferring an aura of holiness on its recipients. Everything and everyone with that unique fragrance was recognized as belonging to God in a special way.
In the ancient Middle East, the majesty of a king was expressed not only by what he wore – his jewelry and robes – but by his royal “aroma.” Even after a king was first anointed, he would perfume his robes with precious oils for special occasions. Listen to a line from King David’s wedding song:
“You love righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia” (Psalm 45:7-8).
Consider, too, the passage about King Solomon: “Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel” (Song of Songs 3:6-7).
Now take a look at another scene from the Old Testament. It describes a newly anointed Solomon being led into Jerusalem from the spring of Gihon, just outside the city, and then parading through the streets on a mule while people stood by and cheered:
“So Zadok the priest…went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ And all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound” (1 Kings 1:38-40).
Now consider a striking parallel in the life of Jesus. It happened the week before His death, right after Mary anointed Him with the expensive perfume. Just as Solomon had done a thousand years earlier, Jesus rode a donkey on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Imagine the scene as recounted in John 12. The crowd was not greeting an ordinary rabbi. No, people were shouting out: “Hosannah! Blessed is the king of Israel.” They were remembering Solomon, the son of David, who long ago had ridden through their streets on a mule, and now they were proclaiming that Jesus was the promised “Son of David,” whom God had sent to redeem His people.
But the significance of Mary’s action doesn’t stop there. It seems likely that the smell of the perfume with which Mary anointed Jesus would have lingered for days. God may have used Mary’s act of devotion to telegraph a subtle but powerful message. Everywhere Jesus went during the final days of His life He had the fragrance of royalty. Jesus smelled like a king.
Imagine, in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Judas and the guards approached Jesus to arrest Him, the guards must have sniffed the air and wondered who stood before them. When Jesus was on trial, mocked whipped, and stripped naked, even then the aroma may have clung to Him. What an amazing God we have!
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ {the Anointed One} among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).
What a fascinating parallel, which shows what Paul meant by the “aroma of Christ.” As Jesus’ followers, we spread the fragrance of our sacred Messiah everywhere we go.
(Source: Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, ISBN 978-0-310-28422-2)
Tags: book & film reviews, Book and Film reviews, Jesus, Judaism, Temple
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John 17.17 says His Word is truth and hence the true way to be wise is to sit at His feet and hear His Word. Truly enjoyed the reading of this article. It is indeed true.
TRUE READING