The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John,
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.
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so 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.” (John 12:1-8 )
————————————–
Jack was a brusque sort of guy. He worked at the steel mill. He worked hard. When he came home he wanted his dinner, and a cold beer, and to sit and watch television for a while, especially if there was a game on.
Jack and Brenda married in the fifties, when most wives were stay at home wives, and Brenda didn’t seem to mind the way Jack was.
That was Jack.
She kept a nice clean home, made great meals, did a great job looking after the kids, and Jack liked the way she was. It suited him fine, and it seemed to suit Brenda too.
When the children were in bed, and Jack was watching the game, she would spend time with her journal. Her journal was something that Jack teased her about.
“Why can’t I see what you are writing?” he would ask, “Do you have something to hide?” He didn’t really care. He was just teasing.
She knew he was teasing, and she only pretended to be offended,
“This is my private life, Jack Brison, and you are never to see what is in here.”
”Women and their secret thoughts, “ he would sigh to himself, then turn back to the television set.
Life went on that way for some time. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and months into years. The boys grew up. John went to the mill with his father, and Eddie went to university.
Then one day Jack came home from work to find Brenda lying down on the sofa, and looking definitely unwell. “Hey, honey, what’s wrong?”
“Oh I don’t know,” she whispered. “ I just feel so tired. And I have this pain.”
Over the next few weeks, Brenda saw four doctors. The final word was that she had a few months to live.
It turned out to be a few weeks. And Brenda was gone.
Jack was broken-hearted. He was off work for some time. He just couldn’t seem to let her go. Until finally, six months after Brenda had passed away, he began to go through her things.
He gathered up her clothes to send to the Second Time Around store. He got her small amount of jewelry together. And he found her journal.
Feeling guilty at first, at opening up Brenda’s secret thoughts, he began to read. And what he read wrenched at his heart.
He could clearly see that she had loved him. She wrote such complimentary things about him. But he also began to see the extent of her loneliness.
He couldn’t believe it at first. How could she be lonely, with a husband and two fine boys and lots of things to keep her busy? But reading on, he began to understand how she had longed for him to take her in his arms and say, “I love you.”
How she longed for him to say, “Let’s go away for a week-end, just you and me, and relive our younger days.”
How she had suffered an intense loneliness as he, absorbed in his work, and his sports, had not shown the slightest sign of affection to her for the past twenty years,
She had died broken-hearted.
Jack remembered that he hadn’t even kissed her or said he loved her, as she lay dying.
And now it was too late.
Oh he had loved her. He had enjoyed her company. He had always appreciated how she had looked after him and their children.
But he had never taken time to say so.
And now he couldn’t.
Mary, one of Lazarus’s two sisters in the house where Jesus was staying before going into Jerusalem for the Passover, loved Jesus.
You may remember that her sister Martha had always been the one who showed her love by preparing food, and keeping the home clean and inviting, for guests. Mary was the passionate one. She had sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to him as he talked with the disciples and other guests.
This time, she brings out a jar of costly perfume, the sort that was most commonly used to anoint the body of someone who had died, and pours it on Jesus’ feet.
Not only that, but she loosens her hair and wipes the feet of Jesus.
The house was filled with the scent of the perfume.
She knows Jesus is the Messiah. She knows he is a wanted man. She may not be able to do anything else for him before he dies. So in this act of loving extravagance she anoints his body – symbolically – in advance of his death, as it were.
Some of his disciples, Judas chief among them are outraged at this – to them –wasteful act. Shouldn’t something more appropriate have been done with the ointment. Like sell it and use the money to feed the poor.
They don’t yet understand that Jesus is going to die. He has told them but they can’t see it. They think he will be with them for ever.
Mary knows differently. And Jesus sees the love that is inherent in this act of humility.
Anointing was usually done by pouring oil on the head. That is an act that exalts the person doing the anointing, even as it honours the person being anointed.
But Mary couldn’t exalt herself, so she humbly anoints Jesus’ feet.
This story is also told, with some differences, in the other Gospels. Mark for example has it taking place after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. John places the story earlier, as Jesus and his friends take shelter in Bethany.
John wants us to see that the cross looms large even now. Even now, before Jesus triumphantly, and courageously, enters Jerusalem – where those in authority are plotting to kill him.
There is something else of note in this story. Mary understands that the words, “extravagance,” and “ waste” are irrelevant where Christian love is concerned, because the death of Jesus was no waste. She knows that true love never counts the cost, or keeps a balance sheet. True love just gives.
She understands also, perhaps better than her sister, that when Jesus of Nazareth is visiting their home, every possible moment must be spent in his presence.
And she realizes while Jesus is with them for the very last time, in the days before his passion, that nothing could be less wasteful than offering him a token – a sacramental token – of loyalty, understanding, and devotion.
And Jesus commends her for her loving insight. [1]
Yes, the everyday loving and caring, for the poor and the sick and the lost will continue, but for now, time has been taken out to recognise and accept the wonderful gift of life that Jesus will make, and does make, for the good of mankind.
The meaning of what Mary has done won’t be recognised by the disciples until after his death and resurrection.
I was brought up to be a penny-pincher. I am a Yorkshireman, and it’s said about Yorkshiremen that they are slightly less generous than Scotsmen.
And I can count on one hand, perhaps not more than three or four fingers when I have done an extravagant act.
Once in Montreal Susan and I were going into St. Joseph’s Oratory, and on the steps, a man in workman’s clothes asked me for money. I wanted to help him but I was on holiday and had a lot of cash in my wallet. It didn’t seem like a wise thing to do to open my wallet in front of a stranger.
So I said ‘No.”
As soon as we went inside I regretted it and took a twenty out of my wallet to put into my pocket to give him when we left .
Too late.
He was gone.
I have always regretted that.
When I have given help, it has always felt good. I don’t know why I don’t do it more often.
Contrary to what my upbringing taught me, I didn’t sink into financial ruin because of any acts of extreme generosity.
To my shame, I have been the recipient of many more acts of generosity than I have given.
I once tried to count all the blessings in my life. I fell asleep long before I was finished.
We are not to be wasteful with what we have. We are not to be foolish with what we have been given.
But recognizing what Jesus did for us, can’t we, just once, just once, stop counting, and lash out with generosity, with extravagance, in His Name, and for His Kingdom?
And soon?
Who knows, if we hang around, instead of doing it, we might just miss the chance.
The real tragedy in that story of Jack and Brenda, is not only that Brenda didn’t experience evidence of generous love from Jack, during her lifetime, but that Jack himself missed out so much on the joy he would have found from giving. And their relationship suffered because of it.
The poor will always be with you, Jesus said.
Ordinary daily demands will always be with us.
Most things we can do any time we want – go to work, out to dinner, to the movies, visit friends – but there are some things we will never do unless we grasp the chance when it comes.
We may want to do something big and fine and generous. We may want to act differently this time, but we put it off.
Maybe tomorrow.
And it never gets done.
We are moved by some act of goodness toward us, and we want to offer our thanks, but the time just doesn’t seem right and it is left unsaid.
Let’s remember to do the important things now, when we have the chance.
It’s never the wrong time to say, ‘sorry’ or ‘forgive me’ or ‘I love you’ or to reach out to someone.
Amen.
[1] See R,V,Tasker’s The Gospel According to John, The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids Michigan, 1988.