Today we hear a very striking Gospel account of Jesus' encounter with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus. Mary is in a home near the city of Jerusalem during the last Passover that Jesus would partake in just before his death. Mary takes a jar of enormously expensive perfume that would cost thousands of dollars in today's money. Mary lovingly anoints Jesus' feet with the perfume. In response, Judas remarks that it would be better to give this money to the poor, that this is an extravagant waste.
Mary was the one whom Jesus complimented for have gathered at his feet to listen to his teachings. Also, when her brother Lazarus died, it was Mary who rushed out to Jesus when he came to their home, weeping & pleading, “Jesus, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.”
In today's Gospel, Mary falls at Jesus’ feet as if she knew something the others did not recognize: that Jesus would soon die and would need to be prepared for burial. Sensing something, Mary wants to do something special for him.
In ancient Israel, anointing was used for rituals of elevating one's status, such as anointing the head of one becoming a priest, prophet, or king. Anointing was used in a status transformation, for example, in anointing the whole body of a dead person who moves from his earthly family to becoming a deceased ancestor. Here, neither Jesus' head nor his whole body is anointed, just his feet. In ancient Israel, the feet were the body part that symbolized action. The anointing of Jesus' feet points to a ritual of a forthcoming transformative action in which Jesus would do something significant. We must remember that the streets where people walked in Ancient Israel were very dirty, so it was customary for guests to have their feet washed by a slave when entering a home before they ate a meal. In this case, a slave does not do the washing, but rather Mary, the wealthy mistress of the household. In this action, she acknowledges this forthcoming significant action that will occur in Jesus' life.
As we hear this wonderful Gospel story today at the beginning of Holy week, we might wonder: In the circumstances of our own personalities and our own daily lived reality, how can we be like Mary in this Gospel story, especially in this new reality we are facing in the world with the Coronavirus pandemic. Mary’s life had been so deeply touched by Jesus that she wanted to do something precious and significant in return to honor him. How can we do the same? Can our lives be so deeply touched by Jesus acting in our lives that we also want to respond in a special way? May we really think about this as we approach Holy Week and Easter.
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