Luke 12:1-8
After graduating from seminary, but before receiving a call, moved to a faraway state. During that time, while my grandmother was living in a nursing center—due to a stroke—she had a second one that finally took her life. Being so far away and, at the time, living on a bare-bones budget, I was told by my mother not to make the trip home. She said the important thing was that I had visited my grandmother regularly while still living nearby. And that’s what really counted.
Not long after the funeral—when Mom and I spoke on the phone—she mentioned that a lot of people had stopped by the funeral home and also attended the service at the church. But reflecting on that, she didn’t feel particularly grateful for their presence. She said, “Where were most of them when Grandma was still alive? Why didn’t they see her then? When she was still in her own home, and lonely for visitors?” My mother was a very sweet woman, hardly ever criticizing others for anything. So I know that she was really upset.
At the time I didn’t understand one of the main purposes of funeral home visits, the service itself, and the meal afterwards. In essence these events are like family reunions that also include old friends, neighbors, and coworkers. The entire affair is a time to get together to share memories about the one who’s died—or simply to catch up with one another’s lives. Even so, had I known at the time about that social function and explained it to my mother, I doubt it would have made any difference to her. The fact remained most if not all of them could have, if they wanted, visited my grandmother while she was still alive, alleviating some of her loneliness, showing her that they cared.
In a vastly different, incomparable way, Mary wasn’t going to let that opportunity pass. She wasn’t going to wat until Jesus died before showing her love for him. She wasn’t going to wait until his lifeless body was lying in the tomb before anointing him with that sweet-smelling lotion. She was going to do it while he was still alive. Now, whether she actually knew what she was doing—that is, before Jesus said anything to Judas—is a completely different matter. Most likely she brought out the jar of nard and rubbed it on his feet strictly as an act of extravagant thanks, of gratitude for having raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.
Her way of expressing her thanks, as strange as it may seem to us—and perhaps even more so to those in her own time and place—it’s not at all out of character for her. Think about it. We know that Mary has a very sensitive nature about her. She seems to know intuitively what truly matters. We know the story about her and her sister Martha—the second of whom is likely the older one—hosting Jesus on an earlier occasion. While Mary is sitting at his feet, hanging on every word coming out of his mouth, Martha scolds her for being of no help whatsoever.[i]It’s somewhat the same when their brother Lazarus has died. Martha’s the one who goes out to meet Jesus, telling him that their brother has already succumbed to his illness. She’s the responsible one who keeps her emotions in check. When Jesus asks her whether she believes that he is the Messiah, she acknowledges that she does, but, in her grief, perhaps says it a flat tone, maintaining a stiff upper lip. On the other hand, there’s Mary. Coming soon after to meet
Jesus, she kneels at his feet, and simply starts sobbing.[ii]Although I know it’s not fair or right, yet sometimes I can’t help but try understanding people in the Bible according to what’s known as personality temperament—what an individual’s basic character is. And that’s how it is with Mary. I imagine her to have the following traits, these attributes:
- First, she is introverted. Naturally quiet. Unlike many younger siblings, she doesn’t seek the limelight.
- Second, she may have a strong sense of intuition—either that or she simply gravitates towards those things that seem to have an inner beauty about them.
- Third, she’s very demonstrative. Although not outgoing, she’s not afraid to show her feelings, her emotions. In fact, she’s sometimes rather spontaneous about them.[iii]
So, while Martha is again preparing a meal—a special time in celebration of Lazarus literally receiving a new lease on life—what does Mary do? Help her sister? Or at least be a good host to Jesus by engaging him in conversation? No. Not at all. What she does, perhaps, is disappear into another room, to return soon with that large jar, which she then breaks and the contents of which begins pouring all over Jesus’ feet. The fragrance of the nard fills not only the room, but even the entire house. On top of that, the lotion is very costly. In today’s currency, it would be worth as much as $12,000 or more. And she uses every last bit of it!
That’s not all. She wipes Jesus’ feet not with a towel but with her hair—first undoing it, letting the long, flowing locks fall to the floor. In that time and place, a woman just did not do such a thing in public, but only privately and for her husband. But Mary doesn’t care what other people think. She gives freely of herself. She expresses an extravagant love, expending everything. Just as she holds back not even one ounce of the lotion.
How do or how might some of us show such devotion to Jesus? How often, in service to God or neighbor, might we throw caution to the wind? Yet doing so doesn’t seem reasonable, does it?
It doesn’t seem practical. We remind ourselves to stretch out our resources, make them count, make them last. Doing anything else would indeed be irresponsible….Or would it?
In answer to that question, I’d like to share a story with you—not my own, but yet a very good story. It comes from a “Pastor Dawn,” who serves a Lutheran congregation in Ontario, Canada.
I got my very first job when I was just ten years old. Our neighbours were going [on a vacation] and…needed someone to take care of their cat…. [They were going to pay me] a dollar a day for ten days. All I had to do was go into their house each day and feed [it]. There was no litter tray to deal with because [there was a] little trap [door], and the cat could go outside whenever it needed to So, I signed on…for those ten days…I went into the neighbours’ house and I opened a tin of cat food and I filled a dish with water…. When the neighbours came home…, they actually gave me [an extra] dollar as a bonus. Eleven whole dollars! I was wealthy beyond my wildest dreams! I knew exactly…what I was going to do with [it]…Christmas was just a few days away and for the first time in my life I had money to buy Christmas presents! My parents insisted that there was no need for me [to do that…T]hey suggested that I should save my money. But I just had to buy presents. To this day…remember the joy of [laying] my hard-earned cash onto the drugstore counter to purchase my carefully selected merchandise. I…still remember those two…gift sets. The first one was for my [d]ad. It was manufactured by the Old Spice Company, and inside it had a soap on a rope, and two bottles. On of [them] contained aftershave and the other…men’s cologne. I didn’t know what cologne was. [S]o I…ask[ed] the saleswoman, who explained…it’s what they call perfume for men, and I knew that my [d]ad just had to have some of that. Now the second gift set was a real bargain….I wasn’t fooled by all those tiny bottles of perfume that were so…expensive. No, I picked the gift set that had the biggest bottle of perfume. It also had a…container of something that looked like talcum powder, but…said it was…dusting powder, and it came with a little puffy yellow thing [to put] the powder all over [the] body. I knew that my [m]om would just love [it]. Together, the two gift sets cost…just [a] few pennies less than eleven dollars. I don’t think that I have ever enjoyed Christmas quite the way I enjoyed that one.[iv]
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More than Pastor Dawn for her parents, even more than Mary for Jesus, or anyone for that matter for anyone else, God has given us the most extravagant gift of all—the life of his only son. That’s how much God loves us!…How, then, might we express our extravagant thanks to our heavenly Father?
[i]Luke 10:38-42.
[ii]John 11:17-37.
[iii]David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates, Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types (Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis Book Co.): 176-78 and 203-07.