Many women touched Jesus' life and ministry as he made his way to Calvary's Hill. There was the Syrophoenician woman that her daughter deserved some of the "crumbs of grace" that fall from God's table. There was the Samaritan woman who engaged in a rather deep conversation with Jesus when they met at Jacob's Well. There were more of course- the widow of Nain, Suzanna, Johanna, and Martha- but it seems that the most influential women in Jesus' world... were all named "Mary." There was Mother Mary, Mary from Mandala, and Mary from Bethany, who is featured in the passage before us today. (John 12:1-8)
We've been introduced to Mary earlier, you may recall, when she insisted in sitting at Jesus' feet with the men, as her sister, Martha, did all of the work in their kitchen. We also encountered Mary when Jesus resurrected her brother, Lazarus. You may recall this story as well. After he had heard that Lazarus was dying, Jesus delayed for a couple of days and then traveled to Bethany, as Mary and Martha had requested of him. When he arrived, Lazarus was dead and his sisters were devastated. They both felt free to tell Jesus that their brother would've lived if Jesus had been there and then, even knowing that he would resurrect Lazarus, Jesus broke down a sobbed. When he looked into the emptiness and the sadness that had engulfed his two friends, it broke his heart. But he did raise Lazarus from the grave and as we enter the story now, we see that Jesus and some of his followers are visiting his friends one last time. They are on the way to Jerusalem. Tomorrow will be Palm/Passion Sunday and they have stopped to share a meal at Lazarus' house.
Martha is preparing and serving the meal while Jesus and the other men (including the recently resurrected Lazarus and Judas) recline at the table. It is a settled and ordered fellowship moment, but now Mary kneels at Jesus' feet. It was something that most women would not have done, but it paled in comparison to what Mary did next. In something that was becoming a spectacle, Mary undid her hair and let it fall. She let her hair down, which was something that women in her day only did in front of their husbands. She let her hair down, as if she didn't care or didn't know the rules... and then, she emptied a $20,000 bottle of perfume on Jesus' feet. The aroma filled the house as the mens' eyes got wider and wider. Foot washing is a central theme in the Gospel of John, but this was an expensive ointment- this was an anointing- this was at the hands of a woman in a room filled with men. Everyone in the house knew that a "bad moon was rising" for Jesus. They knew that returning to Jerusalem was not safe and they knew that Jesus' days were numbered. But Mary, this Mary, seemed to be under the spell of a love that she couldn't control. Her love for her friend and rabbi, for this man who had resurrected her brother and changed her life, demanded that she pour her heart out and give him everything she could. A woman, in front of a man, with her hair hanging down, rubbing his feet with perfume- it was sensual and indecent. It was disorderly and unacceptable, but they hadn't seen anything yet... because Mary then began to wipe Jesus' feet with her own hair.
O Lord, I'm embarrassed. Embarrassed for Jesus (who has accepted Mary's outpouring of love without minimizing or rejecting it), embarrassed for Mary (who should've kept herself under control), and embarrassed for myself. Judas, for motives that John disparages, raises a point that any good accountant would raise: the money spent on the perfume could have been given to the poor. It could have been saved for a rainy day, and it could have. But Jesus said "leave her alone!" Let love have its way with her. There will always be poor people to serve. You will always have budgets to plan and meetings to hold. But when I am standing before you- when you see me in your sanctuary or in your food pantry- the only appropriate response is to give me your best. There's more than enough time to play church, but when you see me naked, clothe me; and when I'm hungry, feed me. When I am lonely, take the time to visit me; when I have fallen, pick me up; and when you see the wounds in my hands and side, you must, like Thomas, fall to your knees and cry out, "My Lord and my God!"
On this final Lenten Sunday, we are challenged with these questions: 1) who really was the better steward of God's blessing- Mary or Judas; 2) Is extravagance the same thing as excess; 3) Is love real if it can't be touched, seen, heard, tasted, or smelled? If love doesn't find a real expression, is it real? Can real love even be controlled? 4) If Jesus visited us tomorrow, what would we do? If he was on the way to the cross, would we anoint him or simply make small talk about the weather or current events? 5) If we were at the foot of his cross, would we say something like, "Save yourself," or would we cry out, "Surely, this man is the Son of God!" Amen.
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