Agnus Day.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Gospel Reflection<\/h3>\n
While I am a huge fan of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, I have to admit that I understand the point Judas makes in regards to this Gospel text from John…at least at first.\u00a0 As you heard or read, Mary took a pound of perfume costing some three hundred denarii and anointed Jesus’ feet with it, so much so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.\u00a0 To put the cost of the perfume in perspective, my Bible has a footnote which says that a day’s wage at the time of Jesus was one denarius, so Mary’s 300 denarii perfume would be worth almost an entire year’s wages.\u00a0 According to the U.S. Census Bureau the median household income in the U.S was just over $50,000 in 2011.\u00a0 Now just imagine someone going out, buying a $50,000 bottle of perfume and then pouring it over someone’s feet.\u00a0 It just doesn’t make sense!\u00a0 It just isn’t right!\u00a0 Certainly the money could have been used for the poor or some other good cause.<\/p>\n
However, consider the context of this act of Mary and one can see how she may have been moved to not count the cost of her perfume.\u00a0 Just one chapter earlier (John 11:1-44) Jesus had raised Mary’s brother Lazarus from the dead\u2026from the dead!\u00a0 At this dinner in Jesus honor we are told that Lazarus was at the table with Jesus and Mary and Martha.\u00a0 How could Mary not look at her beloved brother who was once dead and not feel a very deep and abiding love for the one who raised him from the dead?<\/p>\n
What is more, we are told that this dinner took place “six days before the Passover.”\u00a0 That may seem insignificant but in John’s gospel it is on this Passover day that Jesus is crucified.\u00a0 This meal is Jesus last supper, not with his disciples, but with his best friends.\u00a0 We also know from the Gospel writer Luke that Mary was a very good student and disciple of Jesus (Luke 10:38-42).\u00a0 Perhaps Mary connected the dots and knew that Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem and that things could go badly there.\u00a0 It seems that Jesus thought so when he said “Leave her alone.\u00a0 She bought it [the expensive perfume] so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”<\/p>\n
It was out of an extravagant love that Mary poured the expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet and then wiped his feet with her hair.\u00a0 It was a custom of those times for the women to anoint a dead person with perfume.\u00a0 Mary’s great love for Jesus caused her not to count the costs.<\/p>\n
And Mary was right.\u00a0 For six days later, Jesus would show extravagant love for the world by giving up his life on the cross.\u00a0 In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus you and I have been forgiven and set free from sin.\u00a0 We have been given a new life in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 How can we possibly give rightful thanks for all that God and Jesus have done for us?<\/p>\n
So, while indeed Judas may have a point concerning the expense of the perfume, Judas couldn’t grasp what was going on in the moment.\u00a0 Judas had no understanding of the depth of Mary’s love for Jesus or of the love Jesus had for all people.\u00a0 Sometimes we have to do the extravagant even when it seems crazy by worldly standards.<\/p>\n
Discussion Questions<\/h3>\n