John 12:1-8
At one time I served with a priest
who was fairly fastidious (in a good way).
Everything was always neat. His
desk was organized. He taught me how to officiate- how to lead a service. He
was very good at it. He was elegant, but real, polished but faithful. However, almost immediately, I knew that I
would not be able to pull that off. When he taught me how to administer ashes
on people’s foreheads on Ash Wednesday he would explain in a fairly elaborate
way, “First you dip your thumb in the oil soaked cloth, then you dab the ash on
the forehead and make the cross. You don’t want too much ash because then it
will run down people’s faces and get on their clothes.” This made good sense and I still use this
technique today.
Serving with him shaped me in many
ways. Despite the fact that I didn’t do
things exactly like him, I appreciated the orderliness of it all. I like things to be efficient and
organized. I dislike waste. While I love using homemade bread for
communion, it always stresses me out a little because the pieces are all
different sizes and people get overwhelmed when you give them too big a
piece—which means they are chewing for the next 5 minutes. What do you do with the left overs?
I am not proud of my weird little
idiosyncrasies. My husband tells me
that I am slightly preoccupied with efficiency.
So you can imagine that this passage from John rubs me the wrong
way. The Gospel begins with: “Six days
before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had
raised.” The timing is important because according to John, Jesus died on the Passover. This event occurred six days before his
death. Now I suppose having dinner with
some friends was a good thing to do in your final days. Yet it seems a little odd to me that he’s
just hanging out when he knows that he will die in a few days. Then the really
weird thing happens, Mary takes a pound of expensive perfume, anoints Jesus’
feet, and wipes them with her hair.
This was not the generic stuff you
get at the drugstore. This was extremely
expensive oil. It was worth a year’s
wages for your average day laborer. Normally people would anoint someone’s head,
but she anointed his feet…with the insanely expensive oil. She poured so much on him that the whole room
was filled with the scent. And then, she
wiped his feet off with her hair. I realize
that this is a lovely image and clearly a sign of deep love and affection, but
now she has oil all over her hair. She
has wasted even more than she would have had she just used a towel.
It is no wonder why Judas questioned
the lavish use of this oil. It’s true
that Judas was a thief and his intentions were anything but noble. I imagine
there were many people there who also perceived this as a waste. Wouldn’t you?
Jesus responded to this accusation with a statement that has been
misinterpreted for millennia. “You
always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” People often hear that as justification for
not giving to the poor and spending money on things that make us feel
good. After all, we can’t help all of
the poor people. Jesus was actually
quoting Deuteronomy: 11 There
will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you
to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.
Jesus
was not telling them to give up trying to help the poor as they would never fix
the problem. He was telling them to
continue to care for the poor, because there will always be people in
need. He was also reminding them that
his time on earth was limited. Never
again would someone be able to touch him and anoint him.
While
I know all that, it still seems extreme. I just can’t get past the waste and
the mess…oil everywhere. That room would
have smelled for days. She could have use an appropriate amount of oil, maybe a
little dollop on his forehead. She would
still have been anointing him. She would
still be having this intimate interaction. The rest of the money could have
been saved for future ministry or feeding the poor in their midst. That would be a sensible compromise. That was not the way she did it.
A
couple of years ago we had a healing service as part of our Lenten
program. We decided to use the oils that
are blessed by the bishop. We also use
them for baptism and blessing the sick.
I did not have enough experience with these oils, so I made a bit of a
mess. It was dripping down people’s
foreheads. I worried that I upset people
with all of this oil. The smell filled
the space. It was a good smell. I could smell it on my hands for days. Still now, when I smell that oil, I think of
the holiness and sacred messiness of that night.
Mary
was one of Jesus’ most beloved disciples.
Her love knew no limit. When she
anointed him, she wasn’t thinking about what was proper or efficient, or
liturgically appropriate. She shared
that oil much like she shared her love, much like she experienced God’s love.
It was abundant and overpowering.
Everyone in the room experienced that too and I bet they never forgot
that moment when they could see and smell God’s love.
Days later
as Mary sat at the foot of the cross, I imagine she could smell that oil on her
hair. She remembered that overpowering
love. Then when she went back to her
home, there it was again, the smell of abundant and reckless love. In her grief and sorrow it gave her strength
to be one of the first people who went back to the tomb. It helped her faith.
I
love the traditions of the Episcopal Church.
Sometimes I worry that they confine us too much. We start to believe that God’s love comes in
little hosts and tiny sips of wine.
God’s love is gloriously messy and overpowering. We should find ways to return his love in the
same way. I am not exactly sure what
that looks like. For now it might just look
like an open mind. Had I lived in Jesus
time and been in the room when Mary spilled all of that perfume, I definitely
would have judged her. I would have been
so annoyed that I would have missed the majesty of the moment. Let us try not
worry about what other people are doing, especially in how they express their
faith and their love.
More
importantly, try not to censure yourself. If you hear a hymn that makes you
want to dance a little, go for it. If
you need to sit in your pew and cry the whole service, that is ok too. God speaks to us in different ways and we
speak to God in different ways. Try some
different things out. Mary took
advantage of a moment. Had she not, she
would never have been able to show Jesus her love while he was still with
her. Think of the times when you lost
someone before you had a chance to share your love. Don’t let a moment pass.
Don’t let a moment pass to share God’s love and return God’s love.
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