The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
Isaiah 43:16-21 – Philippians 3:4b-14 – John 12:1-8
I have to confess to you, I think the twelve disciples are highly overrated. I don’t mean the disciples in general. I mean the ones we call “the twelve.” After all, Jesus had a lot more disciples than twelve. The word translated "disciple" simply means follower or student. Those who went around with Jesus, who learned at his feet, witnessed his ministry and followed his example, included a much larger group than twelve. It is clear that of his disciples Jesus appointed “the Twelve” for specific tasks. But he also appointed 70 for a mission trip. And many of the wonderful individuals whose stories are told in the gospels are not among the twelve. In fact, Matthew and Luke have different lists of who the twelve were and John barely mentions them at all.
Today I want to tell you about a disciple named Mary of Bethany. You may think you have not heard of her, but there are three stories about her in scripture. Do you know any stories about Thaddeus? He was listed as one of the twelve. How about Bartholomew? Know anything about him? But let me tell you about Mary.
She lived in Bethany with her brother Lazarus and he sister Martha. Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem and according to scripture Jesus visited there often. In fact, in his last week after he triumphantly entered Jerusalem, he didn’t stay in the city. Apparently then as now, accommodations in the big city were more expensive and harder to come by during important holidays. So he stayed at his friends’ house in Bethany.
While you may not be familiar with Mary of Bethany by name, you probably know at least one of her stories. How about the time Jesus came to her house and she eagerly sat at his feet while her sister Martha complained that she wasn’t helping? Jesus encouraged her then. She took her place as a disciple to learn all that he taught and to take it to heart. Then there was the time that her brother Lazarus was deathly ill. The sisters sent a message to Jesus, but by the time Jesus got there Lazarus was dead and buried. Martha meets him, and it is to Martha that Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And it is Martha that proclaims in return, “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the son of God, the one coming into the world.” Then Mary falls at the feet of Jesus weeping for her brother. Jesus is so moved by her that he also begins to weep. He commands them to remove the stone from Lazarus’ tomb and he calls Lazarus out.
Now, six days before he will begin his own death march, Jesus comes again to the house of his friends. Martha is serving, Lazarus is at the table, and Mary comes. Mary loved Jesus. He had been a guest in her house many times. He was a friend. She had sat at his feet and listened to him teach. She had seen him perform great miracles, including raising her brother Lazarus to life. She understands discipleship. Now she comes to offer her gift—an extravagant gift. She bathes his feet in scented oil. The house is filled with the fragrance as all are bathed in her love and care for Jesus, in her devotion, in her service. It is intimate, loving, and pure gift; and Judas cannot abide it.
There are some people who don’t know what to do with abundance, who cannot understand generosity and are angered by selfless acts. There are some people like that and I suspect there are some times like that for any of us. In the face of such devotion, Judas cannot remain silent. So he pulls the rug out from under her, “That’s 300 denarii’s worth of oil!” Somehow the fragrance of her outpouring of love was unable to reach his heart. He must deny its strength its potency and the only way to do that is to call its worth into question. This is a waste, why that oil is worth 300 denarii!
Now one denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer. So 300…a year’s salary. By naming its monetary value, Judas undermines the gift. He removes it from the category of generosity and casts it as a commodity, something material, part of a market economy. Then he pulls the guilt card—you could have done better; you should have fed the poor! Judas turns what is an act of devotion and service into a financial transaction and calls it lacking. In doing so he undermines the Gospel itself.
You remember the Gospel? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. When has Jesus ever said is was a market transaction? When has our salvation ever been about our net worth? Since when is God’s grace and mercy a commodity?
For Judas it is either/or. Either you can adore Jesus, or you can feed the poor. Either you can love God, or love your neighbor. Either/or thinking is the calculation of scarcity and of desperation. It is a stance that mistrusts true generosity. True generosity is generative. For Mary it is not an either/or transaction; it is a both/and. She can love Jesus, and she can serve others. She acts out of abundance. Who is the caring disciple? Who is the faithful one?
In anointing Jesus’ feet, Mary cares deeply—as Jesus would care deeply for others at the end of the week when he washed the feet of his friends. Perhaps Mary was one of those whose feet he washed. Perhaps she had shown him the way to this act of service.
We live in a market economy where we value things that we can count: money, hours in the day, test scores. We are so easily led into an operating system of scarcity in which we think in terms of material gain, limited resources, and must-have commodities. But love is not a commodity that you can market. The Gospel is not about anybody’s bottom line. God’s generosity is not limited. For Mary it is both/and. She can love her Lord extravagantly, and she can reach out in service to others. For Jesus its is both/and. He can sacrifice his life for God’s people, and show us the way to eternal life.
And for us? We are called to both/and. We are called to love God and love our neighbor, to carry our cross and to bear one another’s burdens, to serve others and to be served. After he washes his disciples’ feet, Jesus tells them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. Mary loved extravagantly because Jesus loved extravagantly. I give you Mary of Bethany—a faithful disciple full of love and truth.
Copyright © 2007 by Anne E. Kitch
