The cleansed leper starring in Leviticus 14’s unexpected love story has a face. Mark expertly integrated the gospel-drenched symbols of this remarkable play to reveal a flesh and blood person. It’s Mary of Bethany, the one who broke her alabaster jar of precious nard upon the Lord Jesus. She epitomizes a bride who loves Jesus with her whole being. Gospel hyperlinking to Song of Solomon stacks upon Mary a layer of Shulamite imagery. Mary is the new Shulamite bride to the One greater than Solomon—King Jesus! I hear a yearning in the body of Christ today to express heartfelt love for Jesus Christ in song and sermon that draws from Mary and her broken alabaster jar. The beauty of Leviticus 14 is that it’s a backstory that enlarges our spiritual perception of Mary’s actions that we so admire. This in turn shapes our own passion for the Lord. As we gaze at Jesus through Mary’s eyes, may our devotion be transformed from glory to glory!
Two very different brides are contrasted in Mark’s Gospel: the cleansed leper as the rogue, runaway bride and Mary of Bethany, exemplar of the true. The leper’s divorcing himself from the glorious symbolism of the Leviticus play actually turns out to be a dark backdrop upon which a sparkling diamond shines. Mary succeeds where the leper failed. Through masterful use of literary designs Mark showcased one who did succeed and fulfill everything! Mary of Bethany is the bride that captivates the heart of Jesus!
Blood applied to the leper’s ear, thumb, and big toe is a hyperlink to the Levite’s consecration to be a priest (Ex 29:19-20; Lev 8:24). But the priests had no šemen (sheh’-men) on ear, thumb, and toe as the cleansed leper did. We spent a good deal of time developing olive oil, šemen, as a symbol that drew up into itself all the fullness and fatness of the produce of Canaan’s abundance. The Bible lavishly describes the Promised Land as a land of richness, fatness, and abundance—vineyards brimming over with grapes, orchards laden with olives, and fruit trees popping with sweet produce. This šemen pictures all this and more! So as the anointing of šemen excelled the cleansing of blood, the cleansed leper had a superior consecration to the Lord than the priest! We now will endeavor to show how Mary of Bethany’ surpassing devotion to the Lord fulfills the šemen-anointed ear, thumb, and toe. Mary completes God’s picture of the priest He always wanted: a beautiful, wholehearted bride. And what was true in Mary’s life, Jesus desires to do in your life and mine.
First, there was the anointed ear. The ear anointed with šemen pictured the abundant fullness and fatness of spiritual life reaped by faithfully hearing the voice of the Lord. Metonymy, again, is where one part signifies the whole. “Wheels” means the whole car. The Lord’s “hand” means His power. The ear represents hearing, understanding, knowledge. To the Hebrews the ear meant more than hearing. The words of God first heard in the ear found their way onto the canvas of imagination, a seeing or envisioning. The ear is shorthand for understanding, whether by the hearing ear or the seeing eye. It’s all about spiritual perception. We’d sketched out the beauty of cleansed leper’s ear anointed with šemen as being fully satiated and satisfied hearing the voice of the Lord day after day. Let’s see how Mary fulfills the cleansed and anointed ear.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
Luke 10:38-39 ESV
The students of a rabbi in first century Judaism commonly sat at his feet to learn his ways. Mary here sitting at the Lord’s feet, therefore, is postured as a disciple. She kept yielding her ear to Jesus’ teaching, so the imperfect tense of “listened” indicates.
But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:40-42 ESV
Martha often gets a bad rap here, but she, too, loved Jesus, and Jesus loved her. It’s just that here she exemplifies a pitfall common to every disciple of Jesus. Her story intersects our story as a warning to nudge us towards maturity in Christ (Col 1:28). We often prioritize the hand of doing, Jesus the ear of listening. “Anxious and troubled” are picturesque words in the Greek, animated video snippets for the imagination. “Anxious” means to be drawn in different directions. “Troubled” is a one of a kind Greek word, nowhere else in the New Testament nor in the Septuagint. Interestingly, its noun cognate means a riot or uproar of a mob. Luke’s description of the riot at Ephesus is fitting: “Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion” (Acts 19:32). Martha’s mind was a riot of thoughts clamoring one thing or another, drawing her off into multiple directions. They confused her perception of the Lord’s heart towards her: “Do you not care?”
Conversely, the ecosystem of Mary’s thought life was qualitatively different. The good news of blood applied to the cleansed leper’s right ear lobe preached to Mary a freedom from riotous thoughts. As a true priest, her ear had been consecrated to listen to the highest and best: God. Rather than being pulled in umpteen different directions, Mary’s ear was fully tuned to Jesus’ words. “One thing is necessary.” Her šemen-anointed ear paid huge dividends of spiritual perception as we’ll see later on, exceeding even the apostles who saw and heard Jesus night and day.
Now notice this. Underneath this sibling squabble is tremendous insight into what we’ve all been given as cleansed and anointed lepers: choice. We all have equal access, but what do we do with that access? Jesus’ words here are a goldmine of truth! “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Mary chose the better part, that which has been allotted to her! If you have been baptized into Christ’s death, you have the blood and šemen applied to your ear, thumb, and toe. These belong to you, they are your allotted inheritance. You’ve been given the choice to exercise those privileges. Mary’s example inspires us to choose the better part, to have our ear satiated with the words of God. Like the queen of Sheba whom Jesus commended, Mary drew near to hear His wisdom. “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food” (Isa 55:2). The same choice is ours to exercise or not. By Mary embracing the good news of these symbols with arms wide open, she received one of Jesus’ highest commendations ever given.
Unlike Mary, the cleansed leper didn’t choose the better part of listening to Jesus’ instruction. Jesus was in essence saying to the leper, “I don’t want you to do the preaching. I want you to listen to the gospel preaching of Moses through the symbols you’ll experience with the priest.” Sadly, he didn’t do that. He heard but didn’t heed. By disobeying Jesus’ clear command, “See that you say nothing to anyone,” the cleansed leper stopped his ears to His voice. His ear was listening, but not to Jesus, which had negative consequences.
Next, what does a šemen-anointed toe look like practically? As the ear signifies hearing, the toe signifies our feet and where they bring us. It’s all about location, where we find ourselves, our comings and goings, the direction of our lives. We’ve seen the anointed toe already at work in Mary. Martha’s toe had her in the kitchen, listening to rioting thoughts, whereas Mary’s toe had her at the feet of Jesus, listening to peace-producing words. Our ear recruits our toe as an accomplice. Although the ear, thumb, and toe represent diverse activities in our lives, they do harmonize together.
The ear comes first because of its immeasurable impact for good or ill on the thumb and toe. The Bible is populated with people whose toe drew near the Lord, like this disobedient leper, but whose ear was unclean. They had impure motives for getting into the Lord’s presence. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (Jn 6:26). The blood on our right ear cleanses us from unclean motivations for seeking Jesus. Because Mary’s ear was consecrated to listening to Jesus, her toe brought pleasure to Him as we’ll see in this next vignette and especially the last.
When [Martha] had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. … Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11:28-29, 32 ESV
I love this! When the Teacher calls her, Mary immediately moves towards Him. A šemen-anointed toe is one that rises quickly to go to the Lord. A consecrated toe prioritizes the presence of the Lord, being where He is. In all three snapshots of Mary of Bethany in the Gospels, she’s always at Jesus’ feet. That’s what a priest does. That’s what a bride does.
Israel was both to be a nation of priests and a bride to the Lord. “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride,” the Lord reminisces, “how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (Jer 2:1). But this bride had a major toe problem. Unlike Mary she didn’t go to Him. She didn’t say, “Where is the Lord?” Rather than being purified from defilements of the world, her feet traveled eagerly to its allurements. “And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?” (2:18) Her feet were nowhere to be found in paths leading to Him, “the fountain of living waters” (2:13). It broke the Lord’s heart.
What about the leper that Jesus cleansed? How did his toe fare? Well, Jesus directed his toe to go to the priest and participate in the Leviticus 14 play. Instead, his wayward toe took him into town, where he testified to many of the miracle Jesus did for him. So much for, “See that you say nothing to anyone”! What was the result of the cleansed leper’s “ministry”? “But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town” (Mk 1:45). Just prior Jesus had briefed Simon Peter and company, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out” (1:38). Having these accounts side by side points out that the cleansed leper’s disobedience hindered Jesus from doing what the Father had called Him to do! Jesus could not enter a town to preach. Instead He was forced into the wilderness (where the leper used to live, by the way).
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.
John 11:33-35 ESV
“Deeply moved” is the verb we’d observed, embrimaomai, that Mark cleverly employed to contrast Jesus’ response to the cleansed leper in chapter 1 and the disciples’ response to Mary in chapter 14. Commentators have a variety of reasons for Jesus acting this way, but what I want to focus on is the response to Mary: “Jesus wept.” Jesus is a sympathetic high priest whose ear is open not only to the words of our lips but the griefs our hearts and tears of our eyes. Jesus reciprocated Mary’s yielded ear to Him by yielding His ear to her. Friendship. The šemen-anointed toe positions one in a posture to listen to Jesus and Him listen to you. Effectual prayer. In that proximity is communion in words and in tears.
Finally, what about the šemen-anointed thumb? As the ear signifies hearing and the toe going, the thumb signifies giving, working or serving, those things which our hands accomplish. What does Mary of Bethany do with her anointed thumb? Let’s check it out in Mary’s third and final vignette.
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.
Mark 14:3 ESV
Mary’s thumb breaks the alabaster jar and pours it out as a love offering on Jesus. Since Mark has purposefully contrasted Mary and the cleansed leper, let’s take a deeper look. The cleansed leper had a clear word from Jesus to obey but didn’t. Mary had no commandment to offer her costly flask of pure nard but did it anyway. The breaking of the thin neck of the alabaster vase to empty its precious contents was a pouring out of her love upon Jesus. Mary’s spirit reminds me of the mighty men who, upon overhearing a mere sigh from David, rushed headlong into the face of danger of encamped Philistine warriors at Bethlehem to fetch water from its well. Love seeks to please the beloved even when no explicit command is given. Love excels law’s letter. Mary chose willingly to use her šemen-anointed thumb to bless Jesus. She could have used her expensive nard for her brother Lazarus’ burial not many days prior. But she didn’t. She was free to do with it as she wished. She saved it for Jesus.
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 14:6-8 ESV
In Mary’s first Gospel appearance we saw her listening at Jesus’ feet. Our Leviticus 14 play’s depiction of the leper’s right ear lobe anointed with šemen connotes the abundant fullness and fatness of spiritual life reaped by faithfully hearing the voice of the Lord. It’s a blessed accumulation of spiritual perception. Let’s see now how her šemen-anointed ear paid huge dividends of spiritual insight. Jesus seems to be drawing attention to this here. “She has anointed my body beforehand for burial.” Matthew says it slightly differently: “In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial” (Mt 26:12), while John states: “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial” (Jn 12:7). There’s scholarly debate (of course!) about whether Mary did this knowingly or ignorantly. Connecting the dots with Leviticus 14 strongly suggests Mary’s šemen-anointed ear that’s been tuned to Jesus’ words now reaping a harvest of spiritual understanding. When all around her were clueless, Mary, like Issachar of old, understood the times and knew what she should do (1Ch 12:32). She brought the most costly thing in her life to anoint her Lord’s body for burial.
As we close, let’s reflect some on Mary’s ministry contrasted with the disobedient cleansed leper’s. The leper had a big splash in a little pond. The crowds in Judea flocked to him.
But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
Mark 1:45 ESV
When this leper first came to Jesus, outwardly he looks like a perfect disciple. He prostrates himself in reverence, perhaps even worshiping. He’s confident of Jesus’ ability can heal him. Sure, he had doubts about His willingness, but I think we can cut him some slack. This early on there wasn’t a track record of healed lepers he could draw assurance from. After the miraculous cleansing, he boldly heralds what Jesus did for him. Crowds of people are hearing about Jesus! He’s out preaching and crowds are flocking so much that Jesus can’t even enter the city. Jesus was calling people to be fishers of men. Isn’t that happening here? This former leper seems to be doing a stellar job. From man’s viewpoint, his ministry is a roaring success. Having huge crowds flock to hear about the mighty miracle that Jesus did seems like a great thing, right? What’s not to love?
But something about this leper evoked an indignation, groaning, or deep sighing in Jesus. His embrimaomai response was window into His heart. Jesus came seeking first for a bride, not a co-laborer. The bottom line was this leper didn’t love Jesus as the Bridegroom. Oh, he loved the benefits: the cleansing, the restoration back to society, the popularity it brought him. But Jesus he didn’t love. How do we know this? “If you love Me,” Jesus said, “keep My commandments.” 1 Corinthians 13 says that ministry without love is like a banging gong or a clanging cymbal.
Certainly God’s love for the world demands a response of going into all the world and preaching the gospel. The cleansed leper put the proverbial cart before the horse. Oftentimes Christians approach witnessing that way. “Look at the need all around you! The world is going to hell! How will they hear without a preacher?” But Jesus wants us to go deep with Him first, like Mary of Bethany. Then we’ll have a ministry that impacts the world.
And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Mark 14:9 ESV
Unlike the leper becoming an overnight sensation in the towns, Mary of Bethany didn’t draw crowds. But Mary got her priorities right. She directed her šemen-anointed ear first to Jesus. She chose the better part, listening to the Lord, that wouldn’t be taken from her. Unlike the leper’s splash in the pond—here today and gone tomorrow, Mary’s ministry, immortalized by Jesus’ commendation, would be remembered forever.
In this memorable scene, Mary exhibits all three šemen-anointings. She came to Jesus with an alabaster flask—anointed toe. She broke the flask and poured it over His head—anointed thumb. She has anointed His body beforehand for burial—anointed ear. Mary’s life teaches us that one who prioritizes Jesus first is one who effectively ministers to mankind. The leper’s ministry touched a few local Judean towns; Mary’s ministry touched every language, tongue, tribe and nation to the ends of the earth, “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world.”
Mary has been given to us to unshackle our minds from incorrect or incomplete images about what a priest is and should be. She’s been given to us to re-imagine a priest. Before the Word became flesh and lived among people, it was really tough to envision what God was really like. The Old Testament presented shadows of realities that could only be fully realized the Christ appeared. You can only tell so much about a person from the contour of his or her shadow. The fuzzy mosaic of rules, laws, regulations, tabernacles, temples, glory clouds, etc. all coalesced distinctly in the Man Jesus. In Jesus all things God came together in unprecedented clarity.
The Levitical priesthood, too, was a shadow awaiting future fulfillment. Like the temple superseded the tabernacle, the cleansed leper superseded the Levitical priest, and Mary of Bethany supersedes the cleansed leper. The vibrant life and vitality of Mary’s wholehearted devotion to Jesus swallowed up the shadows of that disappearing priesthood of Levi. So now we can dismiss monk-like priests with fancy robes and meticulous temple protocols from our thinking. Mary of Bethany now models the kind of priest who’s totally taken up with Jesus that we are to be. She shows us what our Creator most values and treasures in a “royal priesthood” (1Pe 2:9). Mary answers Leviticus 14’s unanswered question, “Will this cleansed leper choose to dwell with the Lord and his tent?” Mary of Bethany chose abiding with Jesus every time. Will I?
As we close this series, I’d like to leave one final thought with you. Psalm 1 invites us to meditate on God’s law. The word for “law,” tôrâh (to-raw’), is more than laws and statutes but a compendium of God’s self revelation about Himself. Psalm 1’s invitation to meditate on the Torah applies to Leviticus 14! “This shall be the law [tôrâh] of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing” (Lev 14:1). Psalm 1 provides an incentive that if we delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night, we’ll be like a tree planted by the waters, ever green and always fruitful. So as we meditate on this gospel presentation of Leviticus, a tôrâh of the eternal Prince revealing this epic love story about His bride, we will become as firmly planted trees perpetually bearing the lovely fruit we see in Mary.
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 