Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-september-16-2024
John 12:1-8
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
I can’t help thinking this is one of the most under-appreciated stories in all of the gospels. And it’s a story with one of the most under-appreciated of all the original disciples of Jesus at its heart. I might even go so far as to say that what Mary did in this story might have inspired Jesus in washing the feet of others a few days later.
So if this story is so important, why doesn’t it get more attention in church teaching? Why aren’t there more hymns about this story in our hymnals? Ours doesn’t have any, although our denomination’s newest hymnal has a couple of hymns that mention the story in passing. My suspicion is that the story illustrates a feminine expression of spirituality that has been largely overlooked by the male-dominated leadership of the church over the centuries. (Maybe it’s even a little threatening to that male leadership.)
But in any case, the story strikes me as so important I’m always glad when it comes up in the lectionary.
It takes place at a dinner in the home of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Last week, when three of our Reflections were based on the story of Lazarus’ death and resuscitation, we said that these three siblings seem to have been among Jesus’ closest friends. And that was even before Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb.
The dinner was in Jesus’ honor, presumably to celebrate his raising Lazarus from the tomb. So there must have been a very unusual and emotional atmosphere about the occasion. When people gather for most celebrations – like a birthday party or a wedding reception – there are certain conventions we observe. We blow out the candles on a cake, we offer a toast to the bride and groom, and so on. But what are the conventions for celebrating someone being raised from the dead?
In a sense, we do that every Sunday, but we were raised with the idea of the resurrection of Jesus. But the people in the story had no precedent. Mary and Martha were honoring a dear friend who had just demonstrated the power to raise the dead. And he had done that by raising their beloved brother. So the emotional tone of the gathering had to be completely different from anything they had ever experienced. Joyful, and relieved, but also marked by a kind of awe and reverence that would be hard to adequately express.
In the course of the dinner, Mary got up from her place and poured a jar of expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet, then wiped his feet with her hair. Imagine the power of that moment. Put yourself in the scene, as people watched silently and the air was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Don’t you think you’d be holding your breath?
Two things about this gesture strike me as particularly important:
First of all, what Mary did was a gesture of profound worship. By pouring out this expensive perfume, Mary was expressing her belief that Jesus was worthy of the most extravagant of praise. In Hebrew tradition, the fragrance of special oils and incense was regarded as an important way to celebrate the holiness of God – and a practice of deep devotion.
And second, this was a very intimate gesture. In fact, the people around that table were probably shocked. In Hebrew culture, a modest woman would not unbind her hair around men other than her husband. So for a woman from that culture to wipe a man’s feet with her hair would have left most people speechless. I suspect what we’re supposed to see here is a form of sacrifice – a sacrifice of this expensive perfume, but also a sacrifice of some of the modesty Hebrew culture imposed on Mary.
And that’s where the issue of gender seems to come in – it’s hard to imagine a male disciple wiping Jesus’ feet with his hair. That would probably be just about impossible with the short hair men were supposed to maintain. But even so, Mary’s gesture strikes me as an expression of uniquely feminine spirituality.
Not surprisingly, someone objects to the great cost of this gesture. John says it was Judas Iscariot, and that he objected because he kept the money for the disciples and stole from it. But I can’t help wondering if this wasn’t a case of the male leadership of the movement being unable to deal with Mary’s expression of feminine spirituality, and looking for something about it to criticize. It’s easy to imagine objections like this being raised even today.
It has always seemed to me that no other disciple understood the mind of Jesus as well as Mary of Bethany did. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and hung on his every word. She seems to have understood what escaped her sister – that the teaching of Jesus was much too important to be missed. There would be centuries to serve snacks and help the poor, but only a few days to listen to the words of the Messiah. And to perform acts of reverent worship like the one described in this story.
Jesus’ life and death and resurrection was a one-time event in salvation history – an event that warranted an extravagant expression of reverence and emotion. God was physically present in the room that night, in a form that allowed Mary to see him as a beloved friend as well as a divine healer.
That’s why I think maybe Mary of Bethany was the only one who really grasped the significance of what was happening in Jesus. Maybe if we all understood Jesus as well as she did, we’d all be lifting up extravagantly emotional reverence and praise all the time.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for Mary’s great gesture of reverence and praise, and we pray that your Spirit might bend our hearts to be inspired by her example. Make us hunger to sit at Jesus’ feet, and make us willing to sacrifice everything – including our own dignity – to honor him. Amen.
May God bless you extravagantly!
Henry
Recent Comments