King or Corpse?
Palm Sunday – Narrative Lectionary 2
March 20, 2016
Grace, Mankato, MN
Mark 11.1-11; 14.3-9
Last summer, I had the opportunity to hear and to meet Pr. Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene, a home and program for women survivors of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution. Pr. Stevens also founded Thistle Farms, an enterprise that employs residents and graduates of the program, helping them to learn business skills. Under the assertion “love heals,” Pr. Stevens uses essential oils for healing, believing that all ministry is healing ministry. She shared some oils with us that we passed around, rubbing on our wrists. In the climactic event of the day, she lavishly poured oil over the feet of an attendee and tenderly rubbed it in. This was one of the most powerful and intimate gestures I’ve ever seen.
Until I saw Stevens do this, I never fully appreciated what the woman at Bethany did for Jesus. We don’t know what prompted this incredible outpouring of love on Jesus, but we do get some clues about the meaning, both from the context and from Jesus himself. In the verses prior to this, the chief priests and the scribes plot to arrest and kill Jesus. Then, in the verses following one of Jesus’ closest friends, Judas, accepts the mob hit contract from these same plotters. Furthermore, in another prediction of his death and in between these two betrayals, Jesus says that this woman is doing for him what won’t be done later: anointing his body in preparation for his burial.
But, there’s another “sandwich” that illuminates the woman’s act. In chapter 13, which we heard last week, was Jesus’ “Farewell Address,” his last words to his disciples about what is to come after he dies. Just prior to this address, Jesus points out the actions of a widow who gives her all to the temple treasury with two copper coins. Now, we have another story of another nameless woman who gives her all for Jesus. So, what does this mean for us who indeed remember this act as Jesus promised 2,000 years later?
One way to engage the text and think about what it means is to go “back to the future” by revisiting Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, heard at the beginning of today’s service. As we put the anointing of Jesus into conversation with his triumphant ride, another aspect of Jesus’ mission appears. This kind of entry was usually reserved for the victory ride of a conquering hero, a latter day tickertape parade, if you will. Yet, there are subtle clues this parade was more ambiguous and ironic than appears at first blush. Jesus arrives on a donkey, not a warhorse; the townsfolk don’t come out to meet him as they might do ordinarily; and his visit to the temple is brief, without the usual sacrifice by the conquering hero. Thus the story signals that Jesus is the expected Messiah, but not the kind that people hoped for.
The anointing oil pouring over Jesus’ head is no latter day Gatorade dump on the coach of a championship team. Rather, it’s a further signal that Jesus has been set apart for a particular purpose: Jesus is both king and corpse. We may feel silly waving palms and may be embarrassed at his anointing, but the story invites us into this journey with Jesus to the cross and beyond, to a life lovingly given away.
Last Friday, as Cindy and I sat with her dying mother, an aid from her mother’s assisted living place stopped to say her last goodbyes. It was evident that Laura had a deep fondness for Amy and told how her schedule had been rearranged so she could give Amy baths. As she talked, she opened a jar of ointment and began rubbing it on Amy’s hands and then her feet. It was an act every bit of loving as the nameless woman at Bethany, except we will remember her name.
As you continue through Holy Week, to the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, the cross on Good Friday and the empty tomb on Easter Sunday, may you respond to God’s reckless act of love with acts of your own. Amen.
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