If we were to conduct a survey with only one question on it, “What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ?” we would receive many different answers. Some would say that following Jesus means being religious, others that it means attending church, and still others that it means learning what Jesus taught, putting into practice the Sermon on the Mount, or loving your neighbor. But while these responses all get at part of the whole truth, their sum would not provide a complete answer.

It is a countercultural, widely unacceptable notion to say you are not the owner of your own body. Again and again we instead read or hear things like this: “You are your own person. What you do with your body is entirely up to you. It’s nobody else’s business.” So when we read Paul’s reminder to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, it hits like a ballistic missile, exploding the mythologies of our day.

Shortly before Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, the Gospel writers tell us of an encounter that is at once strikingly intimate and profoundly strange. As John records it, Mary the sister of Lazarus—the man Jesus had raised from the dead not long before—came to Jesus while He was eating with Lazarus and other guests, “took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair” (John 12:3).