In Remembrance of Her

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:10 

From now on, therefore,

we regard no one from a human point of view;

even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,

we know him no longer in that way.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:

everything old has passed away;

see, everything has become new!

All this is from God,

who reconciled us to himself through Christ,

and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them,

and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

So we are ambassadors for Christ,

since God is making his appeal through us;

we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As we work together with him,

we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.

For he says,

         “At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

                  and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way,

so that no fault may be found with our ministry,

but as servants of God we have commended ourselves

in every way: through great endurance,

in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings,

imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God;

with the weapons of righteousness

for the right hand and for the left;

in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute.

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;

as unknown, and yet are well known;

as dying, and see—we are alive;

as punished, and yet not killed;

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;

as poor, yet making many rich;

as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Mark 14:3–9 

While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

as he sat at the table,

a woman came with an alabaster jar

of very costly ointment of nard,

and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.

But some were there who said to one another in anger,

“Why was the ointment wasted in this way?

For this ointment could have been sold

for more than three hundred denarii,

and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her?

She has performed a good service for me.

For you always have the poor with you,

and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish;

but you will not always have me.

She has done what she could;

she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.

Truly I tell you,

wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world,

what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

=======================================

Jesus said, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.

Will be told in remembrance of her.

What has she done that is memorable?

And do we actually remember what she has done?

What have we learned from it? How has it changed us? How might it change us, teach us, as disciples?

We don’t even know her name. A version of this story is told in all four gospels; only one, the gospel of John, says that it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and also places the dinner at their home, not the home of Simon the Leper as we hear in this story.

We know that she walked right in and went straight to do what she intended to do. She didn’t seem to worry about what the others thought. The others in the room scolded her, challenging the waste of the ointment, suggesting a better use would have been to convert it to cash and to give the money to the poor. But Jesus says, leave her alone. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.

Anointed his body beforehand for burial. As described by pastor and spiritual director Elizabeth Nordquist, the woman “anointed his head, spreading the aroma and the texture of the costly nard into the hair, scalp, neck, and shoulders of Jesus – for respite of pain, for removal of tension, for blessing in the present moment.” In doing this, she becomes a prophet, foretelling the cruelty that awaits Jesus in the days to come. With respect to this story, at least, her prophecy of his death is more accurate than the prophecy Jesus makes in return, that wherever the good news is told, she will be remembered. Because how much do we really remember her? How much do we take to heart what she has done, this silent woman performing this strange and awkward act?

What is memorable about this act?

It is an extravagantly generous gift – a pure luxury.

Alyce McKenzie, a seminary professor, describes it as “an act of kindness in a context of cruelty.”

She says, “She honors Jesus with an extravagant outpouring of herself that fills a room with sweet fragrance. Her action is an oasis of honor in a desert of plotting and brutality. While Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus, she made an opportunity to honor him. Despite all the hostile power arrayed against Jesus, she manages to find a way to anoint him with a soothing, fragrant ointment. She doesn't ask for fame, just for you and me to do the same.”

Elizabeth Nordquist picks up the story, saying, “To a practical mind, beauty is not useful. For the economist, beauty does not balance the numbers. For the activist, beauty does not advance the cause. For the strategist, beauty does not give the upper hand. But Jesus, without addressing her directly in this text, affirms her presence and her actions in terms of who she is, what she does, and what the collateral blessing will be.

She has done what she could. As a woman she had no seat of power conferred on her from which to make decisions, or even enter the important conversations about the Jesus Way, about the current state of politics or the economy. Therefore, she begins where she is: What do I have? What can I do? What risks am I willing to take?”

We don’t like risky investments. We want a highly likely return on our investment. She sought none.

We want to fund only worthy causes. She cared nothing about that.

We want efficient and effective use of our resources. She knew nothing about that.

She did what she could. She entered into the mystery that was happening around them, with no idea of the outcome.

So what if this is what Jesus hopes we will remember from this woman, what we will learn from this story.

She has done what she could.

She has brought kindness and beauty into the midst of cruelty.

She stepped out past her own vulnerability and powerlessness and acted boldly to proclaim the Word through no words but through a powerful deed of pure love and generosity.

She has acted in faith, without knowledge of the result.

I think this is what Paul is talking about when he says,

“as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way:

through great endurance,

in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings,

imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God;

with the weapons of righteousness

for the right hand and for the left;

in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute.

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;

as unknown, and yet are well known;

as dying, and see—we are alive;

as punished, and yet not killed;

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;

as poor, yet making many rich;

as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

Following Christ does not get us out of afflictions, and hardships, and calamities, and all manner of trouble and even cruelty. Following Christ gives us our response – kindness, love, truthful speech, purity, knowledge, patience, holiness of spirit. Rejoicing in sorrow, making many rich although we are poor, living out our lives in Christ in the assurance that we possess everything we need, even when we have nothing.

Paul wrote so many words, encouraging disciples and churches then and now about what life in Christ is all about. This unnamed woman, with no words spoken, has given us a message Jesus has labeled as just as important – that we should remember her and what her act teaches us, whenever we seek to learn and to share and to live out the good news – that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again, and as Christ’s disciples, individually and in community, we can respond to Christ’s call to carry kindness into a cruel world, to act boldly without concern about what the people around us will think, to give extravagantly and generously to others a measure of beauty that will bring light into so many lives of sorrow and trouble, to proclaim the Word by simply doing what we can.

As Paul says, “do not accept the grace of God in vain. See – now is the acceptable time! See, now is the day of salvation!

Thanks be to God. Amen.