Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany
John 12:1-8


Yesterday. we spoke of our need for God’s
presence to be with us in our journey throughout the ups and downs of this
life.
As you begin this Holy Week journey, let us take a moment and
become aware of the presence of Jesus with you now as we step forward this week.

Take a moment to lay out the plans you have for
the upcoming day and week, and invite the presence of Jesus to walk with you throughout
your time this week.
If ever there was a Gospel scene that invites prayer with
all our senses, this is it. Mary touches Jesus in love and sorrow and fills the
house with the scent of her precious oil. Her passionate generosity contrasts
with the hardness of the criticism she receives from Judas’.
 
Judas seems to scold Mary for her extravagance angrily,
saying that the perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii, and
the money was given to the poor.”
 
If we are honest with ourselves, and had we not known the
We would probably be saying the same thing for the rest of the story.
 
The money would be better spent on feeding and clothing the
poor rather than wasting it on a single moment of outrageous worship. We
might be inclined to agree that this kind of worship is a misspent endeavour.

But we would be wrong.
Jesus defends Mary by calling what she did a beautiful
thing.
This leaves us with much to ponder. Is it not true that
there is no higher priority than doing good works of justice?
Jesus indeed teaches us to provide for the poor—this is part
of the second commandment to love your neighbour as yourself.
But the first command is to love God with all of your heart.
If we love God with no evidence of us seeking Justice in his
name, do we truly love God?
And conversely, Justice that is not rooted in the worship of
God has no coherent foundation.
So Jesus endorsed the extravagant anointing that Mary
bestowed upon him.
When you read this story from Mark's account, he says, "wherever
the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in
memory of her.” This emphasizes that the gospel is not a salvation
formula but the entire story of Jesus.
The physicality of Mary’s sorrowful actions becomes the model
for Jesus’ symbolic act of service to his disciples at the Last Supper. How
would it feel to be Mary in this dramatic scene? What feelings and thoughts
would you want to convey to Jesus in this loving gesture?

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