Best Friends For Eternal Life (BFFELs) | March 21, 2016

March 21, 2016

Today’s gospel might be one of my favorites of all time. It’s obvious that Jesus had a special relationship with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus and we know that he visited them in Bethany regularly. I love getting to know personal Jesus and meeting his friends and family gives me a glimpse into that part of him. I grew up with lots of extended family in my life. You didn’t have to be blood related to be called Auntie, Uncle, or Cousin. My parent’s house was a gathering place for family parties and special celebrations and all of our surrogate families were welcome no matter what. The bonds with these family friends are deep and wide and special. We support each other in times of need; we go to each other’s family funerals, weddings, and reunions. We turn to one another in crisis and of course we never pass an opportunity to tell embarrassing stories from the past. This is how I imagine Jesus with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. They knew Jesus even on a different level from his apostles because they had history, and they probably grew up together. I bet Lazarus and Jesus have some good shenanigan stories and perhaps Jesus and Mary even had crushes on each another at some point.

At any rate, today’s gospel scene is not the first time we have seen Mary at the feet of her beloved, nor is it the first time that her beloved defends her for being at his feet. This sentiment alone shows me just how affectionate Mary and Jesus were toward one another and it makes me smile because it was intimate but pure, tender without lust, platonic and yet set apart, special and sacred, and I’m sure they were misunderstood. Men and women were not even supposed to associate outside of marriage, let alone be actual friends, and then close enough to touch (especially the feet!). Each one of these things was scandalous in their culture and yet we have two separate instances of it in scripture. It gives me hope that Jesus wants us to look beyond the world’s definition of things and see the essence of our soul as something to be united and cared for by one another, which does require a certain intimacy, but the kind of intimacy that stokes the flames of our heart and not the flames of passion. Someday, in an ideal world, this might just be so…

Today all the characters are in their proper place with Martha serving the meal, Lazarus reclining at table with his buddy, and Mary tending to Jesus’ personal needs. Raise your hand if you have ever saved something to be used for a special occasion, without knowing what that occasion might be, but you would just know when; a special outfit, a bottle of wine, expensive perfume, jewelry, etc. Mary just knew somehow that the time was now to give what she had saved to Jesus and to give it intimately so that he would know the blessedness of it. She poured the special fragrance lavishly, like he pours his love and grace lavishly, and she used her hair to rub it in and wipe away the excess. I wonder how long that fragrance lingered in her hair, the fragrance of the Christ. I’m sure if you just picture the scene in your mind, you can imagine how sensual this must have seemed from the spectators’ points of view, but Jesus and Mary knew what was happening and these soul friends were uniting themselves for probably the last time, therefore the need for the deep expression of love, honor, gratitude, friendship, and goodbye. Depth in relationships is hard to grasp sometimes because these kinds of friendships are so rare and we are used to more surface level acquaintances. Every now and then you may find a connection with someone that goes way deeper than the surface and it might be confusing to those looking in. I’m sure Jesus and Mary were such a pair and that is why this scene became so scandalous. Her act of deep love and foreshadowing of his death was turned into a waste of expensive perfume and a platform for rumors about their inappropriate relationship. I love that Jesus defended her so sternly as he did when she was scolded for sitting at his feet before.

Jesus defends us when we are serving him as well. He knows our heart and he knows when we are trying to honor him with whatever gifts we have even if that means letting our hair down to be used in place of a towel. Don’t let naysayers like Judas get you down when you are showing love to Christ. There will always be someone that wants to whiz in your Wheaties, to bring you down, to make you feel less than, but persevere and keep your eyes fixed on the one you serve. Perhaps it was Mary’s action that inspired Jesus’ final teaching moment with his apostles when he too would bend down and wash their feet, including Judas. Mary and Jesus had a special connection and their intimacy gives us a sneak peak into eternity where we all will be in love; best friends for eternal life. Have a blessed day.

Reading 1 IS 42:1-7

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spreads out the earth with its crops,
Who gives breath to its people
and spirit to those who walk on it:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Responsorial Psalm PS 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14

R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust. 
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Verse Before The Gospel 

Hail to you, our King;
you alone are compassionate with our faults.

Gospel JN 12:1-11

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. 
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.