Matthew 26: 6-13
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
This “Radical Love” was heard at [church name removed] yesterday and impacted more than a few hearts. As I reflected on this passage with Amy we came to several conclusions of our own aided by the pastor’s sermon.
This woman that used almost a year’s worth of wages on Jesus was showing her complete love and devotion to Christ. She did not do this to gain his favor, but she was reflecting the complete devotion that Jesus has for all his people. That he is willing to freely lay down his life for us. Her sacrifice while a great one for herself is incomparable to the sacrifice that Jesus is about to make. But he still accepts it and furthermore wants us all to remember it.
The church is the bride of Christ and thus his relationship with us, is to be reflected in our relation with him. It goes a step further than that though and is also to be reflected in our relationships with one another. This is not laid bare for us anymore then by the marriage relationship between the husband and wife. If the church as a whole is the bride, and we are to be wholly devoted to Christ as he is to us, then so shall the husband and wife be wholly devoted to one another in Christ Jesus.
The last part there is what a relationship that does not have Christ at the center of it is lacking. This is not to say that God’s countless graces cannot be revealed through a relationship that is lacking Christ, but how much more clearly can his devotion be made through a marriage that is both wholly devoted to him and to one another.
Amy & I remarked to each other that we hope when we have both grown old and people look back at our lives together that they will see a life of immeasurable love and devotion to each other. I want for us to be marked by two things above all – our intense adoration of our Lord & Savior AND our passionate devotion to one another. There are no two greater things in my life than that.
I wanted to share a little bit more about what I have learned about Mary and her offering to Christ since that sermon. Some have argued that Mary is the first great woman theologian of the New Testament. Undoubtedly, she is held in very high esteem by Christ himself. We are really only given three main portraits of her in the New Testament. This last portrait is the culmination of her learning under Jesus, when her theology is put into practice. Mary's act must go deeper then the sacrifice of a year's wages, because the other disciples sacrificed more than that, they gave up their lives to follow Jesus and it was never said of them, "I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." What was it that made this woman's act of love and devotion so much more radical? Let me set the stage. It is a supper at Simon the leper's house, six days before the Passover. He is gathered around the table with his 12 disciples, and Lazarus, anticipating his death that forthcoming. Martha is serving food. (In many ways this picture is so similar to Mary's first portrait.) However, Judas, one of the leaders in the group, is currently scheming to betray Jesus, while the rest are still star struck by his recent fame and are awaiting the consummation of his earthly kingdom. The disciples are all distracted, and no one is really focusing on Jesus, only on their own hearts and motivations. Jesus, therefore, awaiting his death, is completely alone. Being that he is fully God AND fully human, we as humans know that it is in those dark hours of sickness and near death that we most want to be in the company of friends and loved ones. But the disciples are divided, sinful, and unsubmissive to his actual calling for their lives, so Jesus finds himself alone. In steps Mary, a woman in the ancient middle east into a roomful of highly-respected, male leaders. She brings with her not a plate of food to serve, as Martha is doing, but a jar of perfume, the type of perfume that was often used to anoint the dead before their burial, and she uses it to wash Jesus' feet, drying them with her hair. The disciples immediately become outraged, shaming her for not selling the perfume and giving the money to the poor (Judas for selfish motivations, because he is stealing from the money box). Mary must have been humiliated by their public reproach of her, but Jesus does not scold her, he scolds them for not having that deepened theology that Mary has. You see, Mary was the only one there who understood what was going to happen to Jesus. She, more than the disciples, had sat at his feet and really learned from him. She was the only one who really listened to him and knew that he was going to die; that he had not come to establish an earthly kingdom but a heavenly one. This is why Jesus said that Mary's act would be "preached throughout the world" WITH the gospel message, because what she did WAS the gospel message. Carolyn Custis James says it this way, "By anointing his body for burial, Mary was the first of his disciples to proclaim the gospel--that Jesus had indeed come 'to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mark 10: 45). Ever after when the gospel was proclaimed, it would be the same message Mary had been the first to announce at this feast" (p. 165). Mary was coming alongside Jesus and strengthening and encouraging him to do the calling his father had sent him for, in a time when everyone else was a hindrance to him to complete his task. Not only that but Mary was the first human to witness to Jesus' own disciples of who Jesus was and what he had come to do. What an amazing student of theology. May we all abide at Jesus' feet and truly listen to what he has to say so that we may live such a life that is devoted to him and be witnesses through action and deed of who he is.
*reflection/quote taken from:
James, Carolyn Custis. (2001). When Life and Beliefs Collide: How Knowing God Makes a Difference. Zondervan: Grand Rapids. MI.