There are lots of things going on in today’s Gospel passage. There is Lazarus sitting at the table, like a hinge in the narrative between his own return from the dead to the living and Christ’s seemingly reversed fate and his own expectation of imminent death.
There is the scholarly debate around what day exactly this is happening on, as the narrative of the Gospel is taking us closer and closer to the Passover. It is possible that the day in the story is Monday 10th of the month Nisan, on which, according to Exodus 12.13, sacrificial lamb was consecrated. Thus, there is a symbolic parallel between Jesus and the lamb already at this stage.
There is another debate about what exactly John has stolen from the synoptic Gospels, what he has changed and what the significance of this is. For example, in Mark, the woman anoints Jesus’ head, in Luke she weeps over his feet, dries off the tears and then anoints the feet. John seems to offer a symbolically charged combination of both narratives, with not just a woman but the named woman – Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha – anointing Jesus’ feet and then wiping them with her hair.
But one underlying theme that is impossible to ignore is that of money and wealth. The underpinning conflict is like a triangle between Mary who seems to waste a huge amount of very expensive perfume, the fact that this perfume could have been sold and the money given to a good cause and finally Judas who reckons he could appropriate this money under the pretense of doing something good. This conflict is what I would like to explore.
There seem to be three models of financial behaviour in this story. The first one, if not exhibited then at least intended by Judas, is to take what is not yours and live a happy life until such time when your own conscience overpowers you, as it did Judas. The second one, proposed by Judas as clearly the most socially acceptable one, hence his voicing this model and not his true feelings, is to keep the money in a collective pot to be given to those who are most in need. And finally, the third one is enacted by Mary: an extravagant financial gift, a spontaneous outpouring of love and generosity to honour Jesus and to prepare him for his sacrifice.
The first model is blatantly dishonest and very clearly smells of avarice, which, we know, is a vice. The second model does indeed seem socially acceptable, and in fact is the financial approach the disciples used building the first Christian communities. It is what is commonly referred to as the pooling of resources, which allowed sharing with those in need at the time of need. Also, didn’t Jesus say that sharing our clothes and food with the poor is the same as sharing it with him? But in this passage it is the last model that Jesus seems to approve of by saying: ‘You will always have the poor with you but you will not always have me’, implying that Mary’s extravagant act is justifiable as she uses probably her last opportunity to do something of outstanding value for Jesus.
All of this makes me wonder about what we do with our resources, how we share them, what models of financial behaviour we use and, most importantly, which ones of them are good and Biblical. It is especially pertinent now, when we are frankly struggling more then before in everyday life, when the young people are unable to get onto property ladder because they are renting someone else’s property and paying off someone else’s mortgage, when two parents in full-time work still struggle to feed a family, when a certain well-known person, having promised to donate 6 billion dollars to solve world hunger instead bought Twitter, and, I guess closer to home, when local churches struggle to pay the bills and, God forbid, raise money for any repairs or improvement work, while more and more questions are asked of how the Church Commissioners – a charity entrusted with the Church’s money – is managing the resources.
We worry about money – I certainly worry about money – do tell me afterwards if you don’t and if you have any tips. And I feel like the more I worry, the more I think about it, the more it governs my life, the more helpless I feel, and the more angry I get on behalf of those who really struggle, those same parents who are stressed and anxious and the children who have an almost sneaky breakfast when they get to school in the morning because they clearly didn’t get any food at home. We have plenty of resources globally, and my instinct is to go with what Judas is proposing and what is also good and Biblical – give the money to the poor! This is how I would like to live. I would like to have a pool resources to respond to different needs. At one point I was thinking of establishing something like a community fund managed by the church. Everyone can chip in and on a regular basis money can be given out for a range of things, whatever the needs are. This is, after all, how the apostles lived. Maybe one day I will do this. The problem is: this is not what Mary and Jesus seem to be advocating.
Mary’s behaviour is, yet again, a challenge to me. I did not understand her when she was sitting at Jesus’ feet while Martha was doing all the work and I don’t understand her now when she wastes expensive perfume like this – water could have done just fine and I’m sure Jesus would have appreciated it all the same.
But me not understanding it is surely an invitation to confront it. In the story of Mary and Martha, Jesus did not say that what Martha did was wrong – it was good, but what Mary chose was better. In the same way, sharing with the poor surely cannot be wrong but what Mary does is better. Perhaps through some prophetic powers she is the only person in the room who understand what is going to happen to Jesus. Or perhaps she somehow is able to see through the eyes of God, to see what he sees?
Pope Francis has said that modern economic systems support themselves through a culture of waste. When at the core of the system humanity is replaced by money, then whatever does not serve this logic is discarded. Thus, in the eyes of the world, Mary’s offering seems a waste, and yet, if you look at the life of a Christian, a lot of the things we do, seen through the same worldly lens, can be perceived as waste. Going to church on a Sunday, spending time praying or doing any volunteer ministry is a waste of time and therefore money, because everyone knows that time is money, donating to a church that is ‘failing anyway’ is a waste of money, visiting people at homes and in hospitals, offering communion and listening to those who just need to talk is a waste of energy, which could be better used making money. And yet, each one of these things that we do is good. So if we do these things and consider them worthy, perhaps we too can see something through the eyes of God, even though we see it through the glass dimly? What is certain is that we can see goodness in waste, and maybe what Mary does is not such a shocking alien act after all. Mary observes who is before her and submits fully to him.
We are in a financial mess but let us observe what we can and cannot do. On that day, it was not the poor in front of Mary, it was Jesus. Mary noticed that it was he who was the Passover lamb prepared for slaughter and knew that this was the moment to offer him all she had. And if we pay attention, we can also see him when he is before us. We will see him in the church today and give him all of our worship; this is, after all, why we are here. But once we have done this, tomorrow, we will be able to see him in the face of someone in need and give them all that we can. We just need to observe and to be prepared to live our lives being as wasteful as possible, every day. Amen.
Get more updates and engage with the church community on our Facebook page