April 3, 2022 Lent 5
John 12:1-8 (The Message)
Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.
Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.
Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.”
Extravagant Love
The prayer of the Day gives us a clear hint what this text is all about: “Open our hearts to be transformed by the new thing you are doing, that our lives may proclaim the extravagance of your love given to all through your Son...”
There are times and places for extravagance - even when there are plenty of poor who also need our attention, and our help.
Jesus words - “you always have the poor with you” were not spoken as a reason not to care. It was a reminder that we can celebrate the gifts of life - as he was celebrating the gift of Lazarus’s life - even as we ache for those who have life violently disrupted and taken from them. Even as his life was soon to be violently taken from him.
There will always be the “poor” who need our help. We certainly see this in what is happening in our world right now! And they do need our help!
But not at the expense of extravagance in celebrating the love we feel, both human and divine for the gift of our lives.
We can do both! Be extravagant
in our celebration of life and be
equally extravagant in our care
of the “poor”!
Prayer thought for the week:: “Lord, it sometimes feels selfish to be happy when so many are in great distress. Help me to celebrate the love which sustains me even as I seek to sustain those who have lost all reason to rejoice.” Amen
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