The House Was Filled with the Fragrance of Her Ointment

Herold Weiss’ online article in the Spectrum Column focuses on the Fourth Gospel’s story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in contrast to the reports in Matthew and Mark. However, Weiss more importantly places this story against the backdrop of other important stories that feature women in the Fourth Gospel and the likelihood that women played a formative and significant role in the Christian community that produced and developed this Gospel, starting with the claim that a woman was the first witness of the resurrection of Jesus and first apostle to bring that good news to her male and female colleagues.