In our gospel reading for today, Jesus is treated to an indulgence that would rival the indulgences of today's millionaires and billionaires. Mary takes a pound of pure nard, worth about a year's wages, and she anoints Jesus' feet with it – wiping his feet with her own hair when she is done. Many of the disciples gathered around the supper table consider this to be a colossal waste of resources – what on earth was Mary thinking? But Jesus defends Mary's action, this one time, because Jesus respects the gratitude that has led to it. And Jesus, as always, uses Mary's colossal waste to a good end, to remind the disciples of the sacrifice that Jesus himself is about to make...for them....
Most weeks, you can find in the newspaper an ad that reads like this: “The family of so-and-so would like to express their gratitude to Gregory's Funeral Homes, the doctors and nurses of Provost Health Centre, the ladies of such-and-such church, and the community for their support in the recent death of so-and-so.” Now, it takes money to run a local newspaper, so those ads aren't usually free. And my guess is that the so-and-so family had already vigorously expressed their gratitude to Gregory's and the hospital and the ladies and the members of the community. And, as a community, we already know the great work that Gregory's does, the awesome care we get from our nurses and doctors, and the wonderful ministry it is to help out at a funeral. So aren't these newspaper ads pretty much a waste? Absolutely not! For the so-and-so family who has been through a very difficult time, the gratitude they feel toward the service they received, needs to be expressed in a significant way...it needs to be expressed...publicly.
Mary had a moment of public gratitude with Jesus in our gospel reading today, a highly emotional moment. You see, Jesus had raised Mary's beloved brother Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had risked his life coming to her house in Bethany, not far from Jerusalem, where the chief priests were actively searching to kill him. Jesus was Mary's Messiah, her Lord, her Saviour, her Rabbouni (which means teacher), the one who accepted her and forgave her all her sins. In an emotional flood of gratitude, Mary did something rash and extravagant – she blew a small fortune in nard, smearing it on, of all places, Jesus' feet, and then in utter humility, used her own hair to wipe up the excess. You can just picture the other disciples sitting there in shock and horror, thinking, “What is she doing?! She's gone completely mental! Think of what else that money could have been used for! What a colossal waste!”
Maybe you've heard words like these directed at you as you explain to non-Christian friends how you donate money to the church. “What a waste! Think of what else that money could have been used for!” they might say. Or maybe you've heard words like these as you explain to them that yes, you still attend church. “You mean you take the only day in the week you can sleep till noon, and you get up at 8, so you can be at church by 10? You must be mental.” I remember seeing a book about worship in the library at seminary with this wonderful title: “A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshipping God.” And when you think about it, we could just as easily spend the time we're spending now in church, over at the food bank sorting soup cans, or putting on a charity run to raise funds for cancer research, or raking away the snow mould from seniors' lawns. But instead, we blow our valuable time here, singing and praying, hearing God's Word and sharing fellowship. HOPEFULLY, our motivation is GRATITUDE. Jesus is OUR Messiah, OUR Lord, OUR Saviour, OUR Rabbouni, the one who accepted US and forgave us all OUR sins. But sometimes, our motivation to be here is somewhat less inspirational – we get pressure from our family, we feel a sense of guilt and duty, we escape the loneliness and isolation of the rest of the week, we can't get enough of the amazing coffee. And sometimes, our motivation seems to fade entirely, and we go back to using the Sunday morning time block in a less wasteful fashion – making money, playing sports, or my personal favourite, sleeping in.