A Gift of the Heart!

The Fifth Sunday of Lent
April 1, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on John 12:1-8

Reflect for a moment about the best gift you have ever received. Who gave you it to you? What made it special? It was probably a truly extravagant gift, not necessarily in terms of monetary value, but in what it cost in terms of love. For the best gifts are given from the heart. The giver has considered who you are and what you need.

Mary wanted to thank Jesus. She had a great deal to be thankful for. Jesus had raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. And so she took a pound of perfume, anointed Jesus feet, and wiped them with her hair.

But three hundred denarii worth of ointment! That was going too far! Don’t you think? After all, it would take a whole year’s salary to pay for it. Judas was right when he objected to how the money was spent. After all, didn’t Jesus come to serve the poor? Wouldn’t you expect that Jesus would agree with Judas and call a halt to Mary’s extravagance? Or at least he should have said something about it. "Oh, you don’t have to do this!" But no! He simply accepted the gift. In fact, he chastised Judas. "Leave her alone," he said to him. "You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." He is not saying that there is no need to look after the poor. He is not saying that there are not many in need. But he is saying that if we were all as generous as Mary then the poor would be taken care of. Her extravagance is not the problem.

Jesus needed her act of generous love. It was a welcome gift in an increasingly hostile world. It was exactly what he needed. Mary, in her generosity, offered an intuitive gift, a gift from the heart, a gift that met Jesus’ need. In anointing him, she understood his purpose, his destiny if you like, in a way that could not possibly be expressed in words. It could only be expressed by action, by an outpouring of extravagant love. Even more than that, it prepared him for what was to come. It prepared his body for burial.

"But Judas sounded so reasonable, so concerned," you tell me. Well, it wasn’t his own generosity that made him concerned. Haven’t you ever noticed that many people have noble ideas about how to spend other peoples’ money? Notice that Judas did not reach into his own pocket. He simply complained about Mary’s generous action.

Many people are like Judas. It brings to mind a true story I read about a woman who had spent almost a year in a hospice for patients with terminal cancer. The doctors reckoned that she had only a few months to live. Her closest relative was a cousin who rarely visited. As her seventy-fifth birthday approached, her friends decided to throw her a wonderful surprise party.

It was a great event. The nurses helped her get dressed in her best clothes. They sat her in a special chair. Her friends and even her cousin came to celebrate. They showered her with gifts and cards. She was completely overwhelmed.

They brought out a cake and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her. They opened a bottle of the finest champagne. They drank to her health and happiness.

There was one person at the party who wasn’t happy about it. "It’s a waste of money," her cousin complained. "Everyone knows she’s dying. It is not time for laughing and joking. Besides," he added, "she hasn’t even made out her will."

Meanwhile, there were tears of joy running down her face. "This is the best birthday I have ever had," she told her friends. "I never dreamed you would give me such a wonderful party!"

For you know, the story is not simply about giving extravagantly. It is also about receiving. Jesus did not turn down Mary’s wonderful gift. He didn’t tell her that it was really too fine a gift. He didn’t say that he was undeserving of it. He accepted it for what it was. He thanked her. And he enjoyed the gift.

Some people are very good at giving but extremely poor at receiving. It is very hard to give such people anything. It is even harder to do them a favour. They may even appear to be generous. But they are in reality extremely self-centred.

Such people hate to receive gifts because it makes them feel indebted. On the other hand, they love to give because it makes them feel superior. But no one is self-sufficient. We need the gifts of other people. We are incomplete. To be able to give to others we need to be able to receive. To live we need to receive. To grow, we need to give.

How unappreciated others feel when we do not accept what they have to offer! Can you imagine the hurt of a child who draws you a picture if you do not accept it and find a place of honour for it? Isn’t that why kitchen magnets were invented? Imagine how Mary would have felt if Jesus had not accepted her wonderful gift! It would have stifled her. It would have wounded her deeply. It might have made it impossible for her to reach out to anyone again. Instead, Jesus made her feel appreciated and loved. And no doubt it was followed by even more generous acts.

When we think of generous gifts we think of Jesus feeding the hungry and healing the sick. We think of his ultimate gift on the cross. Jesus received a generous gift from Mary. It was given freely from the heart with a great deal of love. Jesus received it from the heart with a great deal of love. We are called to give freely from the heart with all the love we can muster. Few of us can afford to give away a year’s salary. However, it is not the value of the gift as much as it is the generosity behind it that Jesus calls us to emulate. What extravagant gifts can we offer to those who are poor and vulnerable? For God pours out extravagant gifts on all each of us.