Mary and Judas*

5th Sunday of Lent, Year C
homily preached at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony Indiana

RCL Readings

I was having trouble with this Gospel text

But not because it isn’t clear

It is very clear

Mary gets it right

Judas gets it wrong

My problem was that I couldn’t imagine

Ever

Being quite that extravagant…

Or that sensuous

At the feet of Jesus

At a dinner party
in plain view

I am just not that free

To complicate it further

I could totally imagine

Giving proud voice

To Judas’ very practical and perfectly legitimate words

(disregarding his motivation of course)

I was struggling to name

What it is

That Mary gets so right

And Judas

Gets so wrong

-----

The ritual remembrance of the Exodus

The yearly Passover

Is foundational to Jewish understanding

But Isaiah’s prophetic voice reminds us today

…That God’s action is not only in the past tense

A NEW THING is springing forth

A NEW THING is on the horizon

-----

Years ago I visited a patient

Over the course of several months
in the infusion center

...He was really sick

He had a very...colorful...past

He was one of those honest and real 12-step people

And he gifted me with what is now one of my favorite quips

Which I can’t really do in my own voice...
and I have to act it out:

“…you know…My Daddy always used to say…

if you have one foot in the past---

and one foot in the future---

You are going to end up p-----g

all over the present”

Regret-in the past…and…Worry-about the future

They are traps

In the present

Is where we see the signs

Of something NEW

-----

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians

He counts all his perfection of the past

As rubbish

Now is the essential time

But it has a goal

And the goal is Christ

-----

The air in today’s Gospel is thick with foreshadowing

The HOUR is approaching

There is gravity and fear in the room

Our story comes right after the Raising of Lazarus

And just before the Washing of the Feet

These before and after scenes

are rich with details to awaken the senses

weeping, and wailing

the stench of death and unwrapped bandages

dusty dirty feet

the fresh feel of cleansing

On Wednesday

In the midst of my trouble with this text

I sent out an email SOS to a few friends

Asking for their quick reflections

One friend replied:

“I love this story!
Mary takes my breath away!

I recall the last sponge bath I gave my still living Dad,

I put cologne on him.  It was “Eternity” by Calvin Klein;)

And with my Mom

A hospice nurse helped me bathe her immediately after she died. 

Her body was still warm.

Instead of sending her to the funeral home nude

inside the body bag or wearing a hospital gown,

we dressed her in her favorite pink nightgown.

That’s it

That’s what Mary gets so right

And

What Judas gets so wrong

Judas is living in his head

In the theoretical

Mary is living in the Now

In communion with others

Judas operates not in communion

But in judgment

There is no love in has theoretical argument for the poor

Even if the logic is impeccable and true.

Mary is generous

Judas is greedy

Mary responds to the fear in the air

With an act of love

Judas with self-centered disdain

In Pouring fragrant oil over Jesus feet

Wiping them with her hair

Mary is performing a prophetic act

And Prophetic acts are memorable

They say that our sense of smell

Is the greatest trigger to memory

A smell can bring on a flood of memories

It can influence people’s moods

That’s why we bake batches of cookies

In the lobby shop at the hospital

…to make more happy people!

The region of the brain where this all happens

is often called our emotional brain

I have a proof story of my own:

When my mother-in-law died

I ended up with a tiny, half-full, bottle of

Jean-Patou 2000

a scent she wore for umpteen years

I just loved it

I remember finally wearing it

One night when Rob and I had an evening to ourselves

And halfway through our date-night

Rob was just overcome

He finely named it

“I feel like I am on a  date with my mother"

And so it stays on my shelf

A tiny dab of perfume

Powerful memories

That is What Jesus Needs

He needs

This small band of disciples and friends

To remember

To remember deeply enough

To get through the coming darkness

They will need enough potent memory

So that they won’t get stuck in death

Jesus is counting on the disciples to remember

To remember the healings

the parables and the teachings

And the feedings and the foot washing

And the anointings

Jesus is counting on deep memories capable of

Opening up their hearts and minds and senses

         to the New Thing

         the New fragrance of the resurrection

-----

Mary, in rapt attention

At the feet of Jesus

Pours it all out

Pouring it all out

...is an act of faith and hope

Grounded in remembering

So too for us

Pouring it all out

is a kind of invitation

For God

to come and fill it back up

And do wondrous things

A new thing

A Resurrection thing

Not yesterday

Not tomorrow

Today

Now