Today in Holy Week we come to what is known as Spy Wednesday… or the day of the betrayal by Judas for 30 pieces of silver. It is also the day Mary brings perfume and pours it over Jesus’ feet.
Matthew 26: 6-11 - While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. …”
Matthew 26:14-16 - Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Point of Interest: The woman brings a bottle of perfume worth one year’s wages and uses it to anoint Jesus’ feet. She weeps tears on His feet and then washes them with her hair. Judas is appalled. Meanwhile Judas betrays Jesus for a tenth of what the perfume was worth, only to seal the deal with a kiss of death later in the week. Interesting how the sinful woman and the (supposedly) faithful disciple have switched roles in what it should be like.
I find it intriguing how there are so many things in the Gospels that simply turn the typical actions of everyday life up on end. There is a beauty to the role reversals in the lives surrounding Jesus. The religious people don’t get it. The commoners who have nothing to hold on to… well, they do get it.
Questions to Think About:
- Do you get it?
- Why is it that people who have nothing to hold on to seem to respond in a way that the Gospel writers mark as a beautiful event?
- Why is it that people who think they have it figured out always seem to screw up when approaching Jesus?
- What might you be holding on to that prevents you from ‘getting it’ when embracing the message of Jesus?
