While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’
A Special Holy Week Message from Cindy: Doing what we can do
In 1998, the PBS Show Frontline produced a program called "From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians."
In their commentary they say, “Mark tells his story by thinking about the death of Jesus and by letting all the events that lead up to his death move us toward it and through it. Mark tells the story this way in order to make sense out of the death of Jesus.” As I was studying this gospel passage, I found this statement to be powerful as I wondered, “Well, isn't that why we tell the stories we tell … to make sense out of things?” This story of the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus embodies what are doing when we pray for healing … we are doing what we can do in our efforts to “make sense out of things.”
Many years ago I was in a small covenant group with 2 other women who are soul mates in my spiritual life, women who are still my best friends even though I have moved on and no longer live close to them. One of my soul mates (who has given permission for this story to be shared in my words) once prayed fervently and faithfully with a prayer friend for the healing of a dying woman they loved. There was a peace that fell upon them all. My soul mate received a call from the dying woman who told her before they prayed she was terrified to die, thanked her for coming to pray, and was in awe that now she was “ready” to die. She died peacefully shortly after that phone call. As we shared this experience, my soul mates and I marveled at the "healing" prayer that had taken place. We may not be able to make sense of things that happen but … we can always be about doing what we can do.
For me, it was in that small covenant group that I really began to wonder … what does it mean when we pray? What does it mean when we pray for “healing.” What does “healing” mean in the biblical context? Although we are often dazzled by the “miraculous healings” that seem almost “magical” … when we look deeper into their stories, we find people who have been forgiven and set free from the power of sin, we find people who return to their communities and people who are reconciled to their families. We even find people who have been suffering for so long they’ve lost the will to even seek healing, they get up and live again.
“Healing” in the biblical sense is rich in meaning. There are about 6-8 Greek words that are simply translated “healing” in English. Those same Greek words are also translated to be made well, to be made whole, to be cured, to be restored, to be saved, to be freed, to be made perfectly well … What I have found is that a ministry of prayer and healing is really about “wholeness” in body, in mind, in spirit, and in relationships. Wholeness that comes from knowing how deeply we are loved by God!
Let us contemplate God's love as seen in John 3:16 in a somewhat rambling way. For God loved the world (kosmos) so much that God sent Godself in human form, which is Jesus, that whoever believes (intellectual assent but also to trust and to be trusted ... so we are talking about a relationship) will not be destroyed but will have everlasting life (meaning that which has always been and that which will always be) ... so we are able to have union with God right here right now.
This gospel story of the unnamed woman who anointed Jesus as he was in the midst of the journey to physical death … embodies what I believe we are about when we engage in the ministry of prayer in general and healing prayer in specific … we sit with others right where they are and “we do what we can do.”
Jesus and the disciples went to dinner at the house of a leper … well that is already scandalous but obviously they are getting used to this. And maybe, Simon has been cured of his leprosy but the name got stuck. Bad enough, right … Jesus … allows a woman to enter his presence and anoint him with perfumes. And what an uproar that simple, kind and loving "scandalous" act created.
Where Jesus saw a beautiful extravagant act of loving service, the disciples only saw “wastefulness.” And all of this talk of the poor … honestly I don’t think this was about the poor at all.
Jesus has told them … I’m going to suffer, die, and be raised … 3 times beginning in Chapter 8. And I believe his friends entered into a grieving process … they were in denial, they were bargaining, and they were very angry … these are all normal human reactions to impending loss … self-centered, yes but also normal. (I believe the disciples were in a state of depression when they could not stay awake in the Garden for they had not yet reached the stage of acceptance :)
It takes time … to reach the point of accepting that tragic things happen … but this is clearly where the unnamed woman is. This enables her to minister to Jesus with an extravagant act of self-giving love. She breaks open the jar and pours the perfumed ointment upon Jesus head, anointing him and blessing him and helping him to prepare for the journey of suffering, the journey Jesus himself names as death as he says …
"She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial."
Just a few verses later … Jesus ministers to the disciples with his own extravagant act of self-giving love.
Just as the woman broke open a jar and poured perfumed ointment upon his head … Jesus breaks open the bread and pours the wine upon their lives and upon all of our lives ... to forgive us and bless us and love us and save us and heal us and make us whole human beings. When we celebrate communion as an act of God’s self-giving love, we are a receptive vessel of God’s love and grace. When we engage prayers of healing, blessing and anointing we give to others as an act of self-giving love and become channels of God’s love and grace.
As we journey together our community of faith then becomes God’s self-giving act of love to others. We experience mutual love relationships as we gather to share our joy and our pain in the context of God’s self-giving love. We invite one another to pray and enter into the mystery of God. We trust that we are on the journey to healing and wholeness and salvation.
My dear friends, as we continue our Holy Week Journey, even if we cannot make sense of things that happen ... let us trust God, and let us be trust-worthy enough to be about … doing what we can do.
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