Scandal!

Dinner parties are always something of a celebration. Usually we’re just celebrating our friendships with others. But, now and then, the occasion is very special and the celebration calls for something equally special. That’s the scene in this coming Sunday’s Gospel. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus have invited Jesus to a dinner party to celebrate Jesus having raised Lazarus from the dead. 

We can understand that impulse can’t we? Even dramatically smaller good deeds done by a friend urge us to respond in some way. With the restoration of a family member, because of Jesus’ love for him, the urge to respond knows no bounds. To prove that, when everyone is gathered, Mary takes a pound of “pure nard” and anoints Jesus’ feet. Spikenard, from which nard was extracted, was a very expensive aromatic ointment. Because of its value, it was typically kept in an alabaster box, also an expensive material. Just how expensive was this anointing? A pound of nard in Mary’s time was worth a year’s income!

Not only does Mary offer this precious ointment, she humbles herself at Jesus’ feet to anoint them and then wipes his feet with her hair. As the full bloom of the sweet nard fills the house, no one could have missed the radically intimate and sacrificial offering Mary has made. I’m certain the conversation came to an abrupt halt as everyone watched this sensual and extraordinary gift. Of course, some of that silence may have resulted from the forbidden nature of a woman actually touching a man who was not family, never mind touching the feet and wiping with her hair. To everyone except Mary, such boldness was unthinkable.

How could all who witnessed this failed to be touched? You would have been; I would have been. Sometimes when I think about this incredible act, I almost tear up at her devotion and love. Of course, not everyone was touched. Judas ruins the moment by complaining the nard could have been sold and given to the poor. And it surely could have. As I write this, Catholic Cardinals have gathered from around the world in what can only be described as the splendor of the Sistine Chapel to elect a pope who will reign from the extravagance of St. Peter’s. All that money associated with those two buildings could have been spent on the poor too. The cost of this gathering and the cost of the papal garments the new Pope will wear could have been given to the poor. In the novel The Shoes of the Fisherman, the newly elected and reluctant Pope makes it clear he intends to begin to divest the Church of its wealth for the sake of those in need. A scandalous idea then and now.

This is always the tension we face as Christians. We feel driven to give our best in our buildings to honor our God and the passion and victory of Jesus. We use silver and gold vessels as a sign of our desire to show reverence to the consecrated bread and wine which sustains us spiritually. At the same time, we know we could use jelly glasses and paper plates with the cost of the silver and gold helping the poor. In some way, we must find it in ourselves to do both. To offer our nard while also multiplying loaves and fish to feed the hungry.

It is not an easy path and no matter how it’s walked we will be subject to criticism. However, the certain truth is that both these impulses--to honor with magnificence and to honor with service--are seen in the Gospels as valid. Balance, that must be that for what we strive. And, balance will always require sacrifice.

In thanksgiving for God’s generosity, Jerry