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 12:1-11
Kevin Murray
Director of Youth Ministry
Holy Week can be a confusing time in the life of the church because we are on the road to Easter; which, is exciting and joyous, but the week beforehand is supposed to be somber and painful.
It is kind of hard to get in a somber mood when you know the happy ending of Jesus resurrecting. How do get in the right spirit?
The short answer is you must do both – be excited and sad… maybe bittersweet is not the best word, but it comes to mind.
Jesus says both/and
The story in John 12 reflects this both/and attitude from Jesus. Mary takes a large amount of an expensive perfume/oil and anoints Jesus’ feet, wiping his feet with her hair. Hard to imagine that kind of public intimacy taking place without someone commenting on it – and Judas is the one who does: “Why was this perfume not sold and the money given to the poor.”
Pretty valid point, but the author makes clear his true motives (i.e. he wanted the money to skim some for himself). Jesus’ response contextualizes the whole exchange for us as readers: ‘she bought this to use on my dead body, and my time is indeed short – your work with the poor will continue even after I am gone’.
Flowers for the living
Jesus does die in the story; we can remember the weight of his death by the reactions of the people closest to him. Mary decides that she does not want to wait to give Jesus’ dead body the perfume but instead let him enjoy it while he is alive since his time is almost up.
Kind of like the ‘don’t bring me flowers when I am dead’ saying. Mary shares her all and her love with Jesus in the precious time they have together before his death.
Share the love now
Just like this story at some level we know the end of our own stories – we die, the general resurrection, and God’s eternal life for us.
Sharing in our love and abundance now with one another is a way we can cope with the sad reality of death.
During Holy Week, acknowledge the fact that you and your loved ones will not always be around. It will be sad and painful when that life is gone, so use today to reach out and share love with those close to you in whatever way you can.
