Many Acts of Beauty
Lent V; March 25, 2007
John 12:1-8
There are five characters named in this story. You and I are among those invited to this dinner party, watching and listening to the interchange. What shall we say about these characters and what are the lessons?
The brother and two sisters are among Jesus’ closest friends. Let’s talk about them first, because each of them does something beautiful for Jesus. You may know that I have borrowed that phrase. Malcolm Muggeridge’s book about Mother Theresa of Calcutta and the documentary based on it was called Something Beautiful for God. Mother Theresa herself had suggested the title. When asked why, she said that every morning when she awoke her passion was to do something beautiful for God, and what could be more beautiful than to console the distressed (www.datanumeric.com/vlm/10-97/7.htm). Likewise, Martha, Mary and Lazarus each have the passion to do something beautiful for Jesus.
You may remember Martha from a companion story in the Gospel of Luke (10:38-42), when she fusses around over a big dinner and then complains that her sister isn’t helping. Jesus then scolds Martha and praises Mary. Evidently Martha simply took the lesson and didn’t get offended, because she continues to do what she can for Jesus. And what can she do? She has a dinner party. She is not going to change and become the contemplative, sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to his teaching, not when she can honor him by making a nice roast with all the trimmings and fresh baked bread. When Jesus had visited earlier and she fussed over a big meal, it was not what he needed; Mary provided what he needed – someone to talk to – and so he told Martha she should not be upset at her sister. This time, though, a dinner party is the perfect idea.
Martha doubtless had other gifts she could offer Jesus, but both Luke and John remember her talent as a hostess. The woman could cook, and cook she did for Jesus.
Mary is something of a mystery. She is obviously deeply devoted to Jesus and is something of a mystic. She always seems to be at the feet of Jesus: Luke describes her sitting at his feet, listening to him teach; when he comes calling after her brother has died, she kneels at his feet and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32); and here you see her pouring expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair. Mary does not raise herself up, but humbles herself before Jesus. And then she does this extravagant, amazing thing.
Mary is such a remarkable, compelling figure that we have tended to fill in more of the story than we should. Roman Catholic tradition says that this Mary, Mary of Bethany, Mary the sister of Martha, is the same Mary as the one we remember as Mary Magdalene, the first witness to the Resurrection. Roman Catholics also say that this Mary is the sinner woman in Luke 7:37. Consequently, they say, Mary Magdalene was the sister of Martha and she was a reformed prostitute. Both Protestants and Eastern Orthodox reply, “Nonsense, that is not what the Bible says,” but because Roman Catholic tradition is so strong and pervasive, their story is the one that dominates in our art and our media. That is the portrayal of Mary in Jesus Christ, Superstar, for example, as well as in other more recent shows. Please wash that notion out of your head. This is Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and do not confuse her with Mary Magdalene or with the sinner-woman in Luke’s story.
Back to the story. Mary does something remarkably beautiful for Jesus, mostly because it seems so pointless and is so costly. A Roman pound is about eleven and a half of our ounces (New Oxford Annotated Bible); nard is imported from the Himalayas, an essential oil from a flower (from wikipedia.org). Thus Judas’ estimate that it might be worth 300 denarii is probably right. How much is 300 denarii? A denarius is the usual day’s wage for a laborer, so figure how much you would pay a farm worker or other day laborer and multiply it by 300. That Mary had that much expensive oil lying around, to some, lends credence to the story that she was, well, a “professional woman.” I suspect, rather, that the family simply had money.
At any rate, Mary acts out of ridiculous, passionate love to do something ridiculously, passionately beautiful.
You may be scratching your head, wondering what I’m going to say about Lazarus. I claimed that he does something beautiful for Jesus, too, but according to the story he does nothing but simply show up for dinner. Exactly. Jesus has recently raised the man from the dead, which is doubtless a harrowing experience, yet Lazarus does something so mundane as attend a dinner party. He gives Jesus the gift of his presence. After all, Lazarus is the evidence people are looking for that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, that he is the one who initiates God’s New Age of Resurrection. The enemies of Jesus now have a new favorite target: Lazarus. John even mentions that those plotting the death of Jesus also try to get Lazarus (12:10-11). According to tradition, incidentally, they don’t succeed, and he ends up as a leader of the Church in Cyprus.
Here is Lazarus’ act of beauty: he sits as silent testimony to the life-giving power of Jesus.
These acts of beauty touch all the senses, you may have noticed. You can smell and taste the wonderful dinner Martha served; you see Lazarus’ witness; and everyone smells the fragrances added to the nard while Jesus feels the gentle touch of Mary’s hands and hair. Oops! Not all the senses, after all, because no sound is mentioned.
Except the discordant intrusion of Judas. “Why was this much money wasted? It could do so much good for the poor!” Well, he’s right, and nothing Jesus says suggests that you should pour your money into elaborate buildings and clothes and trappings and do nothing for those who starve. But the problem isn’t in Judas’ suggestion, but in his scorn for Mary’s act of beauty. He might as well suggest Lazarus go into hiding, or Martha just fix a plate of sandwiches. Whatever they do is not going to be good enough to suit him, so Jesus simply tells him to back off and leave Mary alone.
Perhaps you have found yourself in either Mary’s or Judas’ situation: either you have tried to do something beautiful for God and found someone else responding with scorn, or you have seen others do something that you thought was wasteful, foolish or weird and taken it upon yourself to enlighten them. If you are with Mary, do what you can, for there are many acts of beauty. If you are with Judas, back off. It is not up to you to judge the gifts of another, not when the gifts are offered to God.
What interests me most about Jesus in the story is the way he receives Mary’s gift. I doubt she thought very much about any deeper theological meaning to her gift; she had some expensive perfume and she wanted to do something beautiful for Jesus. The Lord, however, gives her gift a meaning beyond what she anticipated: he saw it as the first step toward his burial.
That is the wonder of whatever acts of beauty you can offer. Not only does Jesus accept them, but he might make them mean more than you ever imagined. You thought you were simply volunteering to teach Sunday School; you had no idea that you influenced a young person to dedicate her life to serving God. You simply signed up to make a casserole for Faith, Food and Fellowship; you did not know that the new family that came that evening found new hope by the caring of a community. Oh, yes, when Jesus says, “The poor you have with you always,” he is simply reminding them of a lesson in the book of Deuteronomy (15:11), that you and I should take every opportunity to help the needy, for there will always be opportunities. Mary’s gift is a one-time thing. He is not offering an excuse for ignoring the needs of the poor.
So that is it. In summary: there are many acts of beauty, as many as there are gifts of the people of God. If you do what you can for the Lord and someone objects, which one of you, do you think, is Jesus likely to scold? Appreciate what others do for God and do what you can.
Lord, accept the gifts we offer and teach us to appreciate the gifts of others. In the name of Christ, the source and goal of every gift; Amen.
Robert A. Keefer
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Clarinda, Iowa