Monday of Holy Week, March 29, 2021

John 12:1-11

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Mary of Bethany’s extraordinary action has been explained by some as that this is the same event as described in Luke 7, 37-38, and that Mary did this out of remorse for the sinful life she had led.  But the two events are clearly distinct from each other, and the women involved are not the same person.  Thus, these were two anointings.  Mary’s anointing of the Lord in this way might be connected with the raising of her brother Lazarus, as recounted in John 11: either as a sign of her repentance after reproaching the Lord for not coming before her brother died, or out of gratitude to the Lord for raising him up.  Mary also unwittingly performed a sign that pointed to the Lord’s burial in just a few days.  The pouring out of the ointment, which was actually pure spikenard costing up to a thousand dollars in today’s money, shows how her heart poured out unreservedly to the Lord.  The wiping of his feet with her hair is something that not even a slave would be expected to do.  It is a sign of her readiness to act on her faith in him no matter the consequences.  During all of this, she speaks not a word.

St. John presents a contrast of Mary with Judas, who objects: “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?”  John points that Judas said this not because he cared for the poor but because he was a greedy thief.  We see Mary, silent, performing her good work, and then Judas, making a great show of concern for the poor, but in fact doing nothing for them.  As a rule of thumb, the flashier a campaign to raise money for the poor, the less likely the poor will see any of it.  

“Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  The Lord makes this startling announcement in the midst of a feast to celebrate his raising of Lazarus.  This is most meaningful for us today because we will not always have the opportunity to serve the Lord in our world, not because he is leaving, but because we are, and we know neither the day nor the hour.  While we should perform charitable acts while we can, our primary work is the worship of the Lord and carrying out his will in our daily lives.  We offer this worship in our prayers throughout the day and most especially at the Sacrifice of the Mass.  The worship of God is central to our lives as human beings and as Christians.  If we worship God here on earth while we can, then we will always have the Lord, in heaven.  

“And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.”  And John contrasts Mary with the chief priests who, rather than celebrating this unprecedented miracle by the Lord as a sign of his divinity, seek to destroy this sign as though they could destroy divinity itself.  Mary, in her humble, quiet way serves, and the chief priests, with all their learning and responsibility for doing good, rage.