Word to the Wise
Monday, April 3, 2023 - Holy Week - Mon
[Isa 42:1-7 and John 12:1-11]Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit...[Isaiah] 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."......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." [John]
It can be a difficult experience to recount the final days of someone we love. The quality of their suffering and death can move us to tears because we find ourselves re-living the experience. Every word or gesture of their life that we remember comes back to us and we wish they were still here. The process of grieving is a process of remembering until the memories become "enshrined" in us as an inheritance of friendship/kinship. Holy Week is like this. We reach for ways of understanding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus which are the foundation of our faith. The New Testament is one great example of this process.
During Holy Week, the words of Isaiah in the "songs of the Suffering Servant" are one example of placing Jesus' life into perspective. One of those songs forms the first scripture for today. The most graphic of them will be featured on Good Friday. The gospel scripture for today recounts the poignant dinner at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus that takes place just before Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. The presence of Lazarus, newly raised from the dead, would be spectacular enough, but it is Mary's gesture that is principally remembered. She performs a customary gesture of hospitality [cf. Luke 7:44] but adds an anointing with very expensive aromatic oil. Jesus' comment, in response to Judas' cynical reaction, is poignant and points the way to the rest of Holy Week. In the process of grief, every tender gesture is recalled as the story of the life of the beloved is recounted.
Holy Week is the time to tell the story of Jesus' last days. We are not mere spectators. We are intimate beneficiaries! We are baptized into this story and are called to tell it. The old hymn, "Tell me the old, old story!" captures the challenge of living this week of salvation. AMEN