Gospel of Matthew 26:6-16
“On Wednesday”
Reverend Dr. Dawn C. Berry
It
was on Wednesday in
The woman anoints Jesus as an act of love. The ointment, as described in Matthew, is very costly. Mark puts a value on it of more than 300 denari, about a year’s wage. It was an extravagant act, wasteful in the eyes of the disciples who voice their anger and reprimand her for not giving the money to the poor.
How many times have we, too, judged a gift given by somebody else as too extravagant, wasteful or better used in some other way? Need is all around us – why put money toward a performance, an organ, a building, a garden, or a family vacation for a loved one? I have to admit, sometimes, my own inner dialogue is judging a gift, thinking of all the other ways that money could be spent. I wonder if deep down judging how others spend and give their money is not a way of excusing my own lack of giving.
She anoints Jesus, this nameless woman, not part of his inner circle. When the disciples complained, Jesus reframed the discussion. Why trouble her – why do we think everyone needs to hear our opinion about everything? She has performed a good service for him. For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me…she has prepared me for burial. It is not that Jesus is giving us an excuse for all time in not giving alms to the poor but he has given a higher priority to personal service, not an impersonal gift of money.
The contrast is intensified between the woman who cannot qualify as a member of the 12 because of her gender and Judas, whose treachery is underscored by Matthew’s description, “one of the twelve.” She lavishes her money on a gift for Jesus; Judas bargains away his teacher for a paltry “thirty pieces of silver”, worth perhaps four days minimum wage.
Was Judas angered by her wasteful extravagance and Jesus’ acceptance of her act? Was he reacting to some imagined slight among the twelve that made him feel less accepted- less affirmed by them and Jesus? Maybe he was trying to force Jesus’ hand – after all, the handwriting was on the wall – Jesus had told them often enough that he was the kind of Messiah who would suffer and die. Perhaps Judas was trying to protect him, forcing him to finally show his power – the power to set things right, rid Jerusalem of its Roman occupiers – truly bring the reign of God to earth. How could Judas let Jesus waste his life like this woman wasted her money? Such Holy Waste, as Paul Tillack called it, is beyond reason, such uncalculated self surrender and extravagance are beyond the limits of rationality.
On Wednesday Jesus was anointed in an act of devotion for who he was and betrayed for who he would not be. We, too, have known that kind of love for who we are and been betrayed for who we cannot be.
On Friday, when Jesus is nailed to the cross he will remember her good service, her kindness and his life will pour out in redemption for Judas because of what Judas could not be. Do you judge Jesus’ gift of redemption as an act of waste?