fifth Sunday of lent

It’s the night before Palm Sunday, Jesus has already travelled much of the way to Jerusalem from the town of Ephraim where he went after raising Lazarus from the dead. He has faced many trials along the way.  He has spent a lot of time, energy, feeding people, healing people, confronting his enemies, being confronted himself and challenged, and all the time walking, walking, walking along the way to his inevitable death on Good Friday.

Jesus knew that raising Lazarus from the dead guaranteed his death at the hands of the High Priests, Scribes and Pharisees, so he kept out of the way by going to Ephraim, which was near to the wilderness area, and from there he travels to Bethany, back to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. These are very special friends of Jesus, we know he cried at the death of his friend. And as friends do when a special friend comes to stay, they gave a dinner for Jesus in celebration of his visit, and Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus feet, and wiped them with her hair. Martha had already acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, when he raised Lazarus from the dead, and now Mary, in her actions is doing the same thing.

We might link this episode to Jesus’ Baptism in the River Jordan, when God spoke, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased”, and his identity is revealed. And this night before Palm Sunday, which some call Spikenard Saturday, can be linked to the night before the Cross, the Last Supper, Maundy Thursday.  The link being feet; Spikenard Saturday features the anointing of Jesus’ feet with nard – a costly ointment made from the root and spike of the nard plant – while Maundy Thursday features Jesus taking the role of a slave or servant, wrapping a towel around him and washing the Disciples feet. And there is an even more important link, which touches us today. Both are unconditional acts of love. And that’s really what John is intent on telling us in this Gospel reading, there is a fundamental response to the story of Jesus, and that response is love. Jesus’ love for Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and their love for him, is why Jesus is in their house having dinner with them.  Interestingly they are the only people named in the Gospels as Jesus’ friends.

The story appears in different guises in each of the four Gospels.  In Luke the woman was a sinner, who sheds tears on Jesus’ feet and then wipes them with her hair, which she has obviously let down, which was a shocking thing for a Jewish woman to do, before anointing his feet with perfume. And Martha is portrayed as a busybody who is reprimanded by Jesus for being distracted with her chores. In John’s Gospel the story is given a different twist. Martha isn’t portrayed as the busybody, far from it, she is portrayed as one of the first to receive the revelation of who Jesus is, and one of the first to declare her faith in him.  And Mary anoints Jesus’ feet in recognition of his status.

You see, the community for which John was writing was a Church in which women played a prominent role.  And it would seem that as a “beloved Disciple” of Jesus, Martha was the spokesperson for that community.  She was the one who presided “at table”, just as she does here in this story. Her recognition, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world”, parallels that of Peter, who when Jesus asks him, “But who do you say I am?” answers, “You are the Messiah”.  Martha, in other words is the one responsible for articulating the faith of John’s community.  She stands in the centre of the Church’s life in that community. And this is very important for us to understand. After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, key disciples effectively had their own followers, so Peter had his community of followers, and John had his community of followers, and clearly Lazarus, Mary and Martha were principle followers of John, with Martha occupying a key role.  Which, when you think about it rather demolishes the argument that women played a subservient role in the early church, and should play a subservient role in the church today. It certainly adds a different dimension to the argument about women Priests and Bishops!!

However, here in this passage, it is her sister Mary who is the centre of the action.  Mary, too, played a central role in the community of faith that surrounded the Apostle John.  Mary had many followers who came to believe in Jesus because of her.  But what is it about Mary that inspires faith? That is the focus of this story in John’s Gospel. Mary is a close friend of Jesus.  He knows she loves him.  She knows he loves her, which makes what she did and the way she did it even more awkward.  At dinner in front of all their other friends, mainly Jewish men who would have followed the strict rules about etiquette between men and women, she loosens her hair, which was a brazen thing to do, only women of low morals would have done such a thing in front of men, no wonder Luke called her a sinner, then she pours balm on Jesus’ feet, not on his head as would be the custom. 

Only slaves and the lowest servants washed the feet of guests.  This was completely out of the ordinary, but in a week’s time Jesus himself would take the place of a servant and wash the feet of his disciples. A single woman caressing the feet of a Rabbi, even if he was a friend is completely out of the ordinary, counter-cultural.  The fact that the perfume made from pure nard, would have cost 300 Denarii, enough to feed a family for a year, was even more bizarre, enough to make Judas complain about its extravagance. From the standpoint of discipleship, in particular service to someone who championed the plight of the poor, it was a response that made a lot of sense then and still does today.  How can we justify extravagance in our own lives when we know millions are starving throughout the world? “She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial”, is Jesus’ response.  Which may seem as odd a response as what Mary did?

But you see, it’s not the sermons we preach or the words we get to say that matter, nor is it the theological formulations that we manage to articulate, or the scientific explanations that we provide to support our words. Neither is it the confessions of faith with which we manage to impress others. In the end it comes down to whether or not we are prepared to demonstrate our love for and fidelity to the people who need to know that they do not go to their own Jerusalem alone, not just throw money at the problem, as helpful as that may seem at the time but to give our time as well. When people face the cruelty, the dangers and difficulties of this world, when they face their own fears because of illness or disease or desolation in their lives, it can be very costly for us to demonstrate our love for them as individuals or as groups, by showing them that they don’t walk the road to their own personal Jerusalem alone, but we walk with them in support and love.  That’s what Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta did.

As Christians, it is the only response we can give, we cannot walk by on the other side, no matter how costly it may be to us as individuals.  We have to stand and be counted, that is what Jesus did. He was prepared to become slave or servant and serve others, that’s what Mary did, no matter what the cost to her reputation or financial cost.  Its all about love, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.

But there is something else about love here. John tells us, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”.  John is very good at giving us two meanings to ponder on, one which lies on the surface and is easily understood, and one which is underneath, a deeper meaning.  Many Fathers of the Church and Christian scholars take this to mean that the whole Church is filled with the sweet memory of Mary’s action.  A lovely deed becomes the possession of the whole world and adds to the beauty of life in general, something which time can never take away from us.  Mary’s love is an example for us all to follow. Are we prepared to sacrifice our own personal reputation and our financial well being in the service of others?  Amen.