Extravagance

 John 12:1-8

Maybe it was because he had raised her brother from the dead. She was so happy to have him back and this anointing is to show her gratitude. One extravagant act for another. Or maybe it was because she sat at his feet and listened instead of being busy and overwhelmed by all their guests. She took what he had said to heart or maybe listening to God incarnate healed her heart and this is the response. 

We don't know what the motivation for Mary, sister to Lazarus, a man who in the chapter before was a friend of Jesus and had died and was raised by him. We just know from the story that this is where all the turmoil begins. This is where the authorities decide that Jesus is going to get them killed if they don't take a stand against this and appear to be on Rome's side. We do get from this that this is an act before Jesus washes his own disciples feet.

You see in John we get the story of not the last supper with the bread and wine, but of Jesus showing his disciples that in order to be something you have to serve everyone. Mary starts with this. She pours out the costly nard onto his feet and there is so much she has to wipe it off with her hair. 

Of course the disciples are outraged. It could have done so much more. But it is near the end and they haven't understood it. Nor do we truly understand it. The show of abundance in a world of scarcity and need. 

Isn't that much like today. We see an urgency, we believe in the urgency, we take action on either side of the table and we loose our sight on the things of heaven because we are so concerned about this world and what may happen. 

Mary chose, in the face of all the turmoil and debate to do one last act of kindness and communing. To go to Jesus, to lay at his feet, to anoint him, not on his head, but on his feet. She showed the cost of being a follower. To know when to lay everything down and worship. To sit in silence, to not hear the objections, to follow her heart into God.

This is a part of what we have been doing in Taizé worship, to lay down the clamor of the world and its urgency. To listen at the feet of Jesus, through scripture, through prayer, through the silence. To watch and pray. 

We read of this act today to remind us of this. To know we have to listen to the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Because wilderness is the time we are living in. We don't have the bandwidth to listen, to be patient, to have self-control. These are all fruits of the Spirit as Paul calls them. The ones we are supposed to live into as Christians.

During these last weeks of Lent let us remember these small gifts. Ones which give so much in a hurting world. A world that is consumed with right and might. May we find the peace to encounter the Spirit within and know we are loved and that God provides in the time of need, not what we want, but what we need. So take the time to be silent. Take the time to be patient. Take the time to listen to the small voice within. And give out those gifts with extravagant abundance.