4-2-19 - Extravagant Love

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

There are some who posit that Jesus of Nazareth was not the celibate religious leader depicted in the Gospels, that he was intimately involved with, perhaps even married to Mary Magdalene. Certainly, a married religious leader would have been acceptable, even normal in that place and time, but the Gospels convey not the slightest suggestion that Jesus was romantically linked to anyone.

Had he been, my candidate for the identity of the lucky girl would be not Mary of Magdala, but Mary of Bethany. She’s the one who neglected her household duties to sit at his feet, taking in his teaching while her sister prepared a meal alone (Luke 10:38-42). Later, when Jesus finally arrived days after their brother Lazarus had died, it is Mary for whom he asks. And when she comes to him and gently rebukes him for having arrived too late, it is her tears, and those of onlookers, which appear to move him to action (John 11). There is no reason to imagine their connection went beyond friendship, but it seems to have been a deep connection.

This is evident in the enormous intimacy and generosity of Mary’s gesture at the dinner in her home in this week's story: Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

This act is shocking on several levels. There is the intimacy of anointing Jesus’ feet, well beyond the expected obligation to wash the feet of a guest. It would have been unseemly for a male religious leader to be in such close proximity to a woman. Mary's using her hair to wipe the oil required a physical closeness that might have made onlookers squirm. To kneel at someone’s feet and tend them with your hands and hair is a posture of profound worship and devotion.

Then there is the shocking extravagance, wastefulness even, of using the entire jar of ointment. Nard was extremely precious and very potent; no one would use a whole jar for one use, even to anoint a whole body. The house being filled with the fragrance tells us how excessive this gesture was. But its very excess is what commends Mary’s action. She holds nothing back, not for economy nor for propriety. She acts upon her instinctive awareness that Jesus’ time among them is coming to an end; she seizes the opportunity to demonstrate her great love while he is yet with her.

We are in a different situation – Jesus is not going anywhere; in fact, we’re waiting for him to return in fullness. But our time in this world is limited. Don’t we want to fully embrace God’s love in the here and now?

Where in our lives do we hold back on expressing our love for Jesus, for God? 

Do we content ourselves with the hour or so a week we spend in church; the amounts we pledge that stretch our budgets but little; short prayers at the beginning and end of the day, and anytime a crisis arises in between? Or do we take the time for spiritual practices that draw us closer to God, offer our gifts and resources in ministry?

In what ways do you lavish your time and resources on God and God’s people? 

Can you think of times when you have left nothing in reserve?

Mary demonstrated her extravagant worship in both quality and quantity. She held nothing back, lavishing love and care on her Lord. How might we love Jesus the way she did?

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