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Jesus Anointed with Oil Today's Gospel reading for Daily Mass is the account of Jesus having been anointed with perfumed oil worth a year's salary by Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, in John 12:1-11. This event occurred after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11:1-44 and before Jesus' Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem in John 12:12-19, which we celebrated yesterday. Notice that in the story of Jesus' anointing, Judas Iscariot who would later betray Him protested what Mary was doing in honoring Jesus, saying that the costly perfumed oil could have been sold for a year's wages and the proceeds given to the poor. Sacred Scripture states that he made this assertion not because he cared for the poor but because he carried the money bag and would steal for himself from its contents. Judas Iscariot is like every politician who came after him, claiming he will institute social justice and serve the common good (as long as we vote to keep him in power) while he impoverishes the Res Publica through his greed, malice and lust for power. Note well that Mary anointed Christ, NOT Caesar, NOR the people.