Breaking Bread While Being Embalmed

Spikenard

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. 
Mary 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. 
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him said,
"Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages
and given to the poor?"
He 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.
So Jesus said, "Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

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

Aromatic Nard, which was imported from Nepal and India even today, would be classified as a luxury type of product.  It is an essential oil pressed from the Spikenard plant and in the ancient world was used as a perfume, a medicine, and sparingly in Roman cooking. In today's reading, we hear that Mary came with a liter bottle of the preparation and poured it on the feet of Jesus and dried his feet with her hair. This was an extravagant gesture of love and Judas Iscariot was quite right in saying that the nard should have been sold for three hundred days wages and the money given to the poor.  Of course, he just wanted to steal the money as he was the treasurer of the group so you have to wonder how much of that money the poor would have received. 

This must have been one of the strangest dinners that ever was given from one friend to another.  Look at the cast of characters that were in attendance.  You had Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.  You had Jesus, a Messiah, you had twelve ordinary men who followed Jesus, mostly fishermen but also a tax collector and Judas the banker. Then you had Martha, who was doing what Martha did best, she was the hostess at the gathering and you had Mary who was passionate and very caring.  I can imagine what the conversation must have been like.  We are less than a week from Christ's death on the cross. He was telling His friend's good-bye and most likely telling them not to worry that He was doing His Father's will.  For once, Jesus thought about Himself as he defended Mary and told them that what she did, she did for His burial.   The humanity of Jesus was coming out. He was coming to the end of His three-year public life and I wonder if he could see into the future and see what horrors were awaiting Him.  His human side would have been clamoring for self-preservation while His divine side knew what had to be done and was ready and willing to do it. 

The apostles had not a clue of what was about to happen.  They knew what Jesus had said was going to happen but, hey, that was in the future, they had more preaching to do, more souls to awaken to the truth.  Besides, the Messiah would never allow Himself to be punished in such a way.  Hadn't he walked away when the temple gang was going to stone Him, why he walked right past them.  He would do it again!  

The apostles, of course, were wrong.  Jesus came to show how much God loved us and what He was willing to do to secure that friendship between God and creature forever. When Jesus opened his arms on the cross, He did not curse his circumstance and the people that brought Him to the Place of the Skull, no, from the cross He asked that we be forgiven because we knew not what we had done.  He claimed the Good Thief and promised him that on this very day they would be in Paradise together.  He also took care of His Mother, Mary, by placing her into the care of the disciple that he loved the most, John.  Even while He was dying Himself. He spent none of that precious time on feeling sorry for Himself, he ministered to others right up until the time he breathed His last. 

As we move towards the Tridium, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and  Easter let us meditate on the sufferings of Jesus and how much He loved us and to what great lengths He went to bring us the bliss of everlasting life with God and the angels and saints in heaven.  He did this for you and I in a personal way.  He did it because He loved us. 

As part of your Holy Week observance. can you please pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory?  They need our prayers and are often forgotten about.  Thank you.