A Midsummer's Reflection Series

Friday, June 12, 2026

Meditation 12: Matthew 26:6-13

The Bedroom, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Arles, October 1888

In Matthew 26:6–13, we find one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ anointing in Bethany. We find here two instances of hospitality. First, we find Simon the leper’s hospitality, as he welcomed Jesus into his home. Second, we find the hospitality of a visitor to Simon’s home, an unnamed woman who came to anoint Jesus’ feet. In the one instance, we have Simon the leper who welcomed Jesus into his home, living hospitality. Not only did Simon the leper let Jesus in, but Jesus’ disciples were also there (26:8).

Simon was probably no longer a leper. The others wouldn’t have been present with a leper since a leper was unclean. Rather, Simon was probably known as the leper because he had been a leper. He was probably a leper whom Jesus had healed, and by the evangelist mentioning him as “the leper,” we get both a means of distinguishing him from other Simons (like Simon Peter)—since Simon was a very common name among Jewish men of that time and also in the New Testament—and also a means of emphasizing what Jesus had done for him. Simon’s hospitality is thus likely linked to his gratitude for what God had done for him.  

The unnamed woman, too, was offering a level of hospitality to Jesus, by coming to anoint his feet. Jesus pointed out that He would not always be physically present with the disciples (26:11), and He praised the woman’s gesture, which he called “a beautiful thing” (26:10). Jesus welcomed her action and stated, “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (26:13). This statement is fulfilled through the accounts of this event in the written Gospels of the New Testament. We, too, like Simon the leper, and like this unnamed woman, should strive to extend hospitality to Jesus, serving Jesus in those we meet, and making room for Him in our homes, in the places in which we work, and above all in our hearts. 

Lord, help us find ways to welcome you in, as did Simon the leper. Help us to discover how we can “anoint” you as did the woman you praised in the Gospels. Help us create in our hearts a hospitable home for you so that you might live and reign in and through us. 

Dr. Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D. is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Director of the St. Paul Studies Center at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He spent 15 years as a professor of theology at Seton Hall University’s Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. In his final year in that role, Dr. Morrow worked on the Preaching as Hospitality Formation Program, writing these reflections on Scripture through a lens of hospitality. 

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