Holy Wednesday

Holy Wednesday –‘Perfume Day’

Today is ‘Perfume Day’!

This is the day we see an extravagant expression of love – love in action.  Mary presses the pause button on all that is going on around her in the house and sits herself at her master’s feet, listening to him; learning from him; before then being so moved by him and his words and her love of him, that she is compelled to anoint him with her precious and costly perfume. The fragrance of this perfume fills the room with scent – a scent which would stay with Jesus throughout the last week of his life – a scent which is an anointing for death and burial. That scent also fills the room with indignation and resentfulness and Judas cannot hold his tongue - clearly here he does not speak out of concern for the poor, perhaps more because he is uncomfortable with Mary’s display of devotion and faithfulness in contrast to him.

Mary gives her all. Judas hoards and is more concerned with self-interest.

How we long to sit like Mary at the feet of Jesus, as he faces Jerusalem, to offer our all, to listen to his teaching and stories.

Let this day be one in which we hit the pause button and take time to sit at the feet of our master and friend, as we journey with him towards the cross.

Today’s reading is John 12: 1-11

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

Reflection (adapted from ‘Stages on the Way’)

It was on a Wednesday that they called him a ‘waster’.

The place smelt like the perfume department of a large store.

It was as if somebody had bumped their elbow against a bottle and sent it crashing to the floor, setting off the most expensive stink bomb on earth.

But… it happened in a house, not a shop.

And the woman who broke the bottle was no casual shopper.

She was the penniless poorest of the poor, giving away the only precious thing she had.

And he sat still while she poured the liquid all over his head… as unnecessary as aftershave on a full crop of hair and a bearded chin … and on his feet, wiping them lovingly and tenderly with her hair.

And those who smelt it, and those who saw it, and those who remembered that he was against extravagance, called him a ‘waster’.

They forgot that he was also the poorest of the poor.

And they who had much and who had given him nothing, objected to a pauper giving him everything.

Jealousy was in the air when a woman’s generosity became an embarrassment to their tight- fistedness….

That was on the Wednesday, when they called him a ‘waster’.

Prayer

Loving Lord Jesus,

Our world still struggles today to live out your expression of love and so as we take time this day to pause and reflect on your anointing, may we remember Mary’s extravagant love, her courage, her sensuality, her passion and her devotion to you, so that as we sit at your feet listening and reflecting on your words we too may be emboldened to live our lives as she did, demonstrating our extravagant love for you and your extravagant love to others. In your name we pray. Amen

Symbolic Action

Take time to pause today. Light a scented candle and let the fragrance fill the room and reflect on what you are willing to give to Jesus.

OR:

Take some perfume or scented oil and use it to make a cross in the palm of your hand and reflect on what that perfume and the symbol of the cross mean to you.

Then sing through ‘Take, oh take me as I am; summon out what I shall be; set your seal upon my heart and live in me.’