by CCW | 18 April 2011 20:30
The beginning of the Passion according to St. Mark, read on Monday in Holy Week, offers a sequence of rituals which revolve around the opening statement that “after two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread.”
Mark’s account of the Passion includes the breaking open of “the alabaster box of ointment of spikenard” and the anointing of the head of Christ with the precious oil. It includes Judas’ plan to betray Christ to the chief priests for money; the preparation for the celebration of the Passover by the disciples; the amazing statements at the ritual meal of the Passover by Jesus himself; the prophecy of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus; the singing of an hymn and proceeding to Gethsemane to pray; the betrayal of Jesus by the kiss of Judas; the trial and mockery of Jesus. The beginning of the passion concludes with Peter’s denial and his conviction of conscience when the cock crew twice. For then “Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him … and when he thought thereon he wept.”
It is quite a sequence. It reveals our hearts of treachery and betrayal, our hearts of love and devotion, as well as our divided and sleepy hearts. It is not exactly a pretty picture of ourselves and our humanity.
“What mean ye by this service?” This is the question of the Passover. The opening scene of this beginning of Mark’s account of the Passion is most intriguing and important. The unnamed woman does an extravagant thing. She breaks open an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard and she anoints Jesus’ head. What does it mean?
Her action elicits an initial and critical response from some of the guests in the house of Simon the Leper. They think this is a terrible waste of a resource which could be better used by being sold and the proceeds beingused to feed the poor. An understandable and, perhaps, even laudable point of view. And yet, Jesus’ response is direct and unequivocable. “Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me: for ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.”
It is a remarkable response. And a rebuke, really, to the all too common desire to have the Gospel and religion serve the immediate interests of the world. The work of relieving the poor must, ultimately, be grounded in the worship of God. The response reveals Jesus’ understanding of the human condition and his understanding of her action. Her act is an act of loving service, an act of worship. She is anointing his body aforehand for his burying. Her action identifies with Christ in his willing and loving sacrifice for us. What her service means is love. It is the one good word which can be said about us in this beginning of the passion, the one good word which stands out against the background of betrayal and the miscarriage of justice, the background of our fickle and contradictory hearts.
The crucifixion will be about the breaking open of the veined alabaster, if you will, of the body of Christ. Body broken and blood outpoured. Her act of love anticipates his passion and death. She has poured out the precious ointment of spikenard – a burial spice. But something even more precious flows out from the wounded and broken side of the Crucified Christ. Out of the wounded side of the dead Christ will flow the sacraments of the Church.
Here in the upper room furnished and prepared, Jesus prepares us for the form of his being with us sacramentally: “Take eat, this is my body … This is my blood of the covenant, which is shed for many.” It all points to the Cross and to the crucified Christ. It all points to what is meant by this service. It is about nothing less than Jesus in the totality of his love for us. We can only weep with Peter at the discovery of our incomplete and fickle loves, of our betrayals of Jesus with a kiss, like Judas. For that is to begin to learn, “what mean ye by this service”.
Fr. David Curry
Holy Monday 2011
Source URL: https://christchurchwindsor.ca/2011/04/18/sermon-for-monday-in-holy-week/
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