MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St. Mark

St. Mark 14:1-11

=====

THIS STORY of the woman who anointed Jesus with very expensive ointment is a very touching one, and one all of us are reasonably familiar with. The action of the woman in anointing Jesus is an action which Jesus commends and applauds. There are some very valuable lessons in it.

The first lesson is this that we cannot love and honour Jesus too much. Nothing is too good or expensive to give to him, and there is no action too hard or too much to do for him. The very essence of true religion is to love Jesus with all our whole being. This is the fulfilling of the first great commandment because Jesus is God. However it is important to note the way this woman gave and honoured Jesus. It was from a heart filled with love and gratitude. She was not doing a good work for its own sake, so that she may have been recognized as having done it, and so gain some kudos for herself before the church and before God. No! rather she did it because love and gratitude compelled her, and she could think of no greater way to express her love than this.

Notice how different the wisdom of heaven is to the wisdom of the world. It is wrong to suppose that the world does not applaud good works such as giving to the poor. Because it is a good work to give to the poor this does not mean that only Christians give to the poor. The world does this and commends it, though the reasons why giving to the poor is done and commended by the world are different to the reasons a Christian would give to the poor. The world was represented here by some of those present at the meal who criticised the woman's action. The criticism has all the hall-marks of wisdom and rightness, but Jesus told them that their criticism was wrong. In the wisdom of heaven it is more important to honour God than man, and to love God first before others. The reason is that the source of all real goodness comes from God and is found in those who love God and glorify him. If we love God we will be charitable, but our charity will be done with divine love, grace and compassion, which will beautify the action and make it a healing and a peace as well as a help or a blessing.

Next our chief end in life is to glorify God. This is what this woman was doing. She gave honour and glory to Jesus. By her action she proclaimed him as her God and Saviour, and thus the God and Saviour of the world. She proclaimed Jesus as one worthy of her deepest love, and so paying testimony to the fact she had received loved from Jesus. She glorified Jesus as the lover of her soul. She glorified Jesus as the one she needed to give her life and blessing. She did this because by her action she proclaimed Jesus as the one she trusted for life. It is our first priority as Christians to glorify Jesus in action and by word. We must by our living show forth that we are lovers of Jesus and that he is the one to trust and to own as Lord. By our conversation we must show a flavour of Christ, and where opportunity presents itself, we should tell people the wonder of the work Jesus has done for them, and urge them to give him glory.

Then we have in the action of the woman and the criticism of the supper guests of her action the different ideas of religion that there are. The way of the woman was faith. The way of the guests was works. Here is the universal divide. The way of works concentrates on acts of charity and moral excellence as the means of obtaining righteousness before God. This way does not know much about love, mercy and forgiveness. Such a way engenders pride and the criticism of others. The way of faith is motivated by love for God and for Jesus. The way of faith is found in those who have realised that, by their own efforts at moral excellence and works of charity, they can't obtain righteousness that meets the glory of God. The woman may not have been able to articulate this in a conscious way, but she had been made to know it by experience because of the rejection of the advocates of works and being morally excellent by ones own effort, and had known a despair of ever meeting the holy demands of God. People of faith are those who have thrown themselves on the mercy of Jesus and have then found in him one who has provided his righteousness for them as gift, and they have experienced free and full forgiveness. From this comes a deep love for Jesus and new life with power to be good not known any other way.

The people of faith are not enemies of good works, but they have a totally different attitude towards them. They want to do good works not to obtain righteousness, but to please God and to glorify him. They have nothing to do with gaining glory for themselves, and they are surprised when others commend them for their good works. Their motivation is love for the Lord for his saving righteousness and infinite love and grace towards them.

No wonder Jesus prophesied a perpetual memorial of this woman in the Bible. She epitomises the way of true religion - the religion that attracts and draws people to Jesus. The woman by anointing Jesus for his burial gives a perpetual witness to his saving and loving work to save sinners like herself.