Broken and Outpoured

This Sunday I’m looking at the story in Mark 14 of the woman who came and anointed Jesus. This actually is recorded after the events of Palm Sunday, but I wanted to visit it as the church where I’ve been providing worship materials is reopening for the first time in over two years.

On this last Sunday of Lent before Holy Week, it seemed appropriate to both celebrate and to lament. While gathering together again is exciting it brings some grief about losses suffered over the last two years and anxiety about what is coming next. Things have shifted in ways we probably can’t even grasp yet and we all need to figure out who we are in this season.

While no doubt the dinner at Simon’s house in Mark 14 was a time of fellowship, concerns probably lingered about what was going to happen to Jesus. Any of the disciples would have heard a few times by now that He was going to die. The tension of the revolution some were hoping for was in the air. It was an in between time of expectation.

And then this unnamed, anonymous woman comes and does something extravagant. She breaks open an alabaster jar and pours perfumed oil on Jesus’ head. Not exactly what you expect at a dinner party. No one could miss either seeing or smelling this act of devotion, an act that both anointed Jesus as king while also preparing Him for burial. The scent would travel with Him until His death and beyond.

When Judas complains that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor, Jesus is quick to defend this woman who made herself so vulnerable, giving so generously to prepare Him for what was to come. It is the woman who humbly cares for Him and honours Him in a room of men who were likely jockeying for position among themselves.

In this pandemic we have been asked to give and sacrifice for the sake of our neighbour. Those of us in ministry have likely felt broken and poured out as we have served the One who heals and redeems. And we are invited again as Holy Week nears to consider our gratitude and how we can lavish love on Jesus.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4 about how we are all like clay jars, similar to the one the woman brought, and that we have the treasure of Christ living in us, the light that shines hope and love. Our cracks and marks let Jesus be seen more easily through us. As Jesus’ body was broken for us, we in turn face challenges and struggles and even get broken as we serve and respond to the call placed on us. Our choices may be questioned but our Lord knows when we are trying to be faithful and honouring of Him.

May we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to unashamedly lavish our devotion and love onto Jesus. May we humbly acknowledge what His life and gifts to us have meant. May we bring our tears mixed with joy at where we have been and who He has been for us in this time. May His grace abound as we remember that He honours us in our service and selflessness.