Imagine your brother is terminally ill. You sit at his bedside praying to God to heal him, but he dies anyway. You grieve and mourn while you bury your brother. You are heartbroken.
Four days after his burial, Jesus shows up, and your sister makes a scene yelling at him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!” Jesus responds with compassion and supernatural power. He calls your brother out of the grave. Your brother – who was dead – is now alive!
Can you imagine the joy and gratitude you would feel? Hold that thought.
In today’s reading we find ourselves back in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus as they have dinner with Jesus. This tender scene takes place after Lazarus was raised from the dead and a few days before Jesus begins His Passion.
As you can imagine, Mary’s heart is overflowing with love and gratitude. Her brother was dead, and now he is alive! Mary pours an entire jar of expensive perfumed oil on the feet of Jesus and dries them with her hair. Judas criticizes her for wasting the oil. He tries to make himself look as if he cares for the poor, but Jesus sees the truth of both their actions.
Mary literally poured out her life upon Jesus’ feet without counting the cost, as Jesus is soon to pour out his life for us on the cross. The oil also symbolizes the anointing of the dead that Jesus will not receive after he’s buried. Mary goes to the tomb Sunday morning to anoint His body, but Jesus was not there! And she had already anointed him. How beautiful is that?
The question I ask today is, are our hearts like Mary, filled with love and overflowing with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us on the cross?
Or are we more like Judas, criticizing those who pour out their lives in service to the Lord?
Mary, once again, “has chosen the better part.”
Kelly Nieto is the creator and Executive Producer of The Cross and the Light, an international critically acclaimed musical and video surround experience of Christ’s Passion through Pentecost now touring nationwide. In addition to raising five children, Kelly is also a Master Storyteller, Humorist and Catholic Speaker who mixes her crazy conversion story from atheism to Catholicism with inspiration, devotion and heartfelt humor!
