The Anointing at Bethany

Today's Reflections 
 
     

The Anointing at Bethany 

http://graceandspace.org

Jn 12:1-11

¹Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ²They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. ³Mary 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. ⁴Then Judas the Iscariot, one [of] his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, ⁵“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” ⁶He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. ⁷So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. ⁸You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

⁹[The] large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, ¹¹because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Why was this oil not sold … and given to the poor? The evangelist John immediately exposes Judas’ hypocrisy: he makes this objection not because he cares for the poor but because he is a thief and holds the apostolic group’s money bag.

Mary can only do so much as to anoint Jesus’ feet with expensive perfumed oil. She will surely do more if given the chance. After all, Jesus has brought her brother Lazarus back to life.

On the other hand, being a disciple of Jesus, Judas should be happy for such an expression of love and devotion accorded to his Master. But he obviously has no genuine love either for Jesus or for the poor. He objects to the “waste” of perfumed oil because it means a lost opportunity for him to steal the money if it were sold instead.

For Judas, everything has a price; money is all that matters. Today he puts a price on the love of Mary for Jesus—300 denarii. A few days later, he will put the love of Jesus for him on bargain sale—30 pieces of silver.

“Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that, though in our weakness we fail,

we may be revived through the Passion

of your Only Begotten Son” (Collect for today’s Mass).