Holy Monday - A Repost
From a meditation I gave in Holy Week, 2007:
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair" (John 12:1-3).
This touching story in John’s Gospel is one, which calls out our own Christian commitment. What does it cost me to show my love and devotion to Christ? What does it cost me to belong to God’s people in this faith community? What personal cost do I bear in living out the promises of my baptism and participating in God’s mission in the world? I think these are the kinds of questions that Mary’s extravagant love and gratitude put to us across the centuries. And it is a question we should ponder with serious intention as we travel this Great Week of Jesus’ passion. Our salvation, our wholeness, and our reconciliation to God and one another, cost Jesus everything.
The other central character in this story is the disciple named Judas Iscariot. He criticizes Mary and asks, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?” John tells us that Judas really cared less about the poor, and because he kept the common purse, he used to embezzle what was put into it. It is then that Jesus says, “Leave her alone. She bought it that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The perfume was worth a years wages. We can imagine the useful things that could have been done with such a sum of money. There is irony here. However useful the money gained from the sale of the perfume, would its usefulness have inspired and moved countless millions of people thousands of years later as did Mary's selfless devotion? I think history has surely proved her right. I think it is also important to remember that Jesus' response to the poor was not simply material, but incarnational. We may do things for the poor, but in what ways are we with the poor?
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