Two
Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday April 6 – 5th Sunday in Lent
Scriptures: Isaiah 43:16-21 and John12:1-8
Six days before the Passover celebration, Jesus and his disciples return to the
village of Bethany. It wasn’t too many
weeks ago that Jesus had been there, summoned by his friends Mary and Martha,
summoned because their brother and Jesus’s friend Lazarus had been sick, on the
verge of death; and by the time Jesus arrived in Bethay on that last trip,
Lazarus had already died. On that last
visit, Jesus had wept with Mary and Martha for the loss of his friend; but then
had ordered the tomb to be opened, despite the stench that would be expected of
a 3-day-old body; he prayed to the one whom he called Father; he cried out
loudly, commanding Lazarus to come out of the tomb; and then Lazarus stepped
forth.
We aren’t told what happened next, but I can only imagine the celebration that
would have erupted in that moment. The
brother, the friend, who had died was now alive again. I can imagine celebration and feasting and
tears of mourning turned into tears of gratitude. I can also imagine maybe just a little bit of
fear tinging the celebration. After all,
we can understand death and the finality of death, but what if death is no
longer final? Has the earth’s axis been
tipped a little bit off-kilter in that moment?
And now, some weeks later, Jesus and his disciples have returned to Bethany,
returned to the house of Mary and Martha, and yes, of Lazarus too, now able to
receive guests in his own home.
They throw a feast to welcome Jesus and his followers, a grand
celebration. Not only are they welcoming
a friend to their home, but they are also celebrating a brother restored to the
family.
Martha is serving the guests, but partway through the meal, Mary enters the
room where guests are reclining on cushions around a low table. Mary is holding a box in her hands, and a
silence falls on the room when she enters and falls to her knees at the feet of
Jesus. Into that silence, she opens the
box, and the heavy smell of spicy perfume fills the air, tickling everyone’s
nostrils. A pound of precious perfumed
oil, a value of a year’s salary, held in Mary’s hands.
In the silence of the room, Mary pours the precious oil over Jesus’s feet,
massaging his feet, massaging his lower legs, and then she takes the veil off
her hair, loosens her hair from its braid, and she uses her long loose hair to
wipe away the excess oil. All the time,
she is saying, over and over again, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you,” tears of gratitude mingled with her words.
The silence is broken by Judas, complaining that the money spent on the oil
could have been better used elsewhere.
Jesus rebukes Judas. “You are
free to do what you want with your own money. There will always be poor people
around you to share your money with. Are
you able to be as generous as Mary is? Mary
has chosen to use this oil as a gift of gratitude.”
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Six days before the Passover celebration, Jesus and his disciples return to the
village of Bethany. It wasn’t too many
weeks ago that Jesus had been there, summoned by his friends Mary and Martha,
summoned because their brother and Jesus’s friend Lazarus had been sick, on the
verge of death; and on that visit Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.
Now, some weeks later, Jesus and his disciples are back, attending a
celebration feast at the home of Mary, Martha, and yes, Lazarus. Martha is serving the guests, and Lazarus is
hosting, and Mary… Mary, part-way through the meal, enters the room where the
guests are reclining at the low table, carrying a box.
As silence falls on the room, she opens the box she is carrying, and the heavy
smell of spicy perfume fills the air, tickling everyone’s nostrils. A pound of precious perfumed oil, a value of
a year’s salary, held in Mary’s hands.
This is perfume fit for the palace of a king, not a village home on the
outskirts of Jerusalem.
A gasp rises, as Mary falls to the floor and pours this precious oil over the
feet of Jesus. Oil this expensive should
be reserved for anointing a king. It has
been almost 600 years since there was a true king over Israel or Judah – the
current kings like Herod are only puppets of the Roman Empire. The kings of ancient times were anointed by
the royal prophets at the time of their coronation with oil like this, and here
a whole pound of it is being poured over the feet of Jesus. Yet it isn’t a royal prophet doing the
pouring – it is just Mary, our friend and neighbour. What kind of topsy turvy kingdom is Jesus
being anointed for, where the precious oil of kingship is poured over his feet
by a woman in a small village?
The next day, Jesus and his friends are going to leave the home of Mary,
Martha, and Lazarus, and travel the short distance to Jerusalem. When they get
there, Jesus is going to ride into the royal city like a king, but he is going
to be riding a donkey rather than a war horse.
Six days later, Jesus is going to be crowned and raised up on a throne, but the
crown that he will wear is made of thorns, not of gold and jewels; and the
throne that he sits on will be a cross.
The king of a topsy-turvy kingdom indeed; one where the last shall be first and
the first shall be last, and Mary offers the oil of anointing.
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.
Six days before the Passover celebration, Jesus and his disciples return to the
village of Bethany. It wasn’t too many
weeks ago that Jesus had been there, summoned by his friends Mary and Martha,
summoned because their brother and Jesus’s friend Lazarus had been sick, on the
verge of death; and on that visit Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.
Now, some weeks later, Jesus and his disciples are back, attending a
celebration feast, and partway through the feast, Mary enters the room carrying
a box filled with expensive perfumed oil, made of pure nard – oil that, in the
original Greek is “myron,” the same word that is the origin for
myrrh. Is there any world in which
Mary’s anointing oil is the same myrrh that was presented to Jesus at his
birth?
The oil clings to Jesus’s body, and six days later, as he is dying, nailed to
the cross, the smell of Mary’s extravagant gift reaches his nose, and the
reminder of the love that surrounds him fills his lungs and comforts him in his
dying breaths.
Eight days from now, the women will visit his tomb, carrying myrrh and other
spices to prepare his body for the grave.
The grave will be empty, there will be no body for them to prepare, but
that is OK, as today, Mary has already prepared his body for the tomb.
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.
.
.
.
Six days before the Passover celebration, Jesus and his disciples return to the
village of Bethany. It wasn’t too many
weeks ago that Jesus had been there, summoned by his friends Mary and Martha,
summoned because their brother and Jesus’s friend Lazarus had been sick, on the
verge of death; and on that visit Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.
Part-way through the feast, this feast that celebrates new life and restoration
and friendship, Mary enters the room, carrying a box of expensive, precious
perfumed oil, the value of which would cost a full year’s salary. Oil that was imported from a far-off land.
Silence fills the room as she falls to her feet. The air that had been filled with
conversation is now filled with the heavy, spicy scent of the oil. All of the guests watch, mesmerized, as she
pours out this extravagant gift over the feet of Jesus; and as they watch, she
removes the veil from her hair, loosens it from its braid, and tenderly,
vulnerably, uses her hair to wipe the feet of her Lord.
What does Mary know about Jesus in this moment?
He is her dear friend, but he also raised her brother from the dead. He said to Mary and Martha, at that time, “I
am the resurrection and the life; everyone who believes in me will not die but
have eternal life.”
Does Mary know, as she pours out her oil on the feet of Jesus, that she is
holding the feet of the one who brings new life, not only to her brother but to
the whole world? Does Mary know that that
she is anointing Jesus, not only for his death, but also for his
resurrection? Does Mary know that, in
that moment, she is holding the feet of the I AM who created the heavens and
the earth, she is holding the feet of the I AM who led the people to freedom,
that she is holding the feet of the I AM who is always doing a new thing in the
world?
Does Mary know that her oil is not only an outpouring of gratitude, is not only
the anointing oil of a king, is not only preparing Jesus’s body for the tomb,
but is also an act of worship, offering her best to her Lord and her God?
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Six days before the Passover celebration, Jesus and his disciples return to the
village of Bethany. Six days before his
death; eight days before his resurrection, Mary kneels down, and offers the
very best of who she is to Jesus.
“Anointed”
Lauren Wright Pittman
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