Anointing and Sending Forth

5 Lent, Year C, rcl

March 25, 2007

I was working out in my yard yesterday, cleaning out the beds, ripping out a bush and doing some basic spring cleaning in my yard. It was a great day – spent outside with my husband and son – enjoying the weather, enjoying finally being outdoors for a while. I always love this time of year when the greens are starting to break through the dirt, the buds are coming out on the trees, and the promise of summer is near. You see, I just moved here from Southern California where you don’t really have seasons – well, maybe a rainy season and sunny season and - - - and maybe a smog season. Having come from that, I really missed having a spring – that time of year when you are preparing your yard for growth and color and life.

In our Gospel today, we see Jesus and those around him (whether they know it or not) preparing themselves for something new, for a new stage, for what is ahead of them. Jesus has come to Lazarus’ house for what I can assume is a celebration and a thank you. As we are reminded at the beginning of the Gospel, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Mary and Martha are his dedicated followers – and these three friends have thrown this celebration or party to thank him and to show him their gratitude.

Each person here is playing their part as usual. The disciples are tagging along and asking questions. Judas was testing Jesus. Lazarus, a man who is greatly indebted to Jesus, is sharing a meal and conversation with him and they are spending what we would call “quality time together.” Martha, as usual, is busy in the kitchen, rushing about the house, doing her job to make sure that she is hospitable to anyone who enters, but especially to Jesus. And finally Mary, is doing what she normally does when Jesus is around – she is at his feet, soaking up his every word and trying to show her love and gratitude for him. In this moment, she breaks an extremely expensive jar of perfume over his feet, anointing them and rubbing the perfume with her hair. Now, washing feet was a normal thing to do in this culture and even anointing someone’s feet after a long journey was fairly common – but what makes this so shocking is that she does not use the regular oil, but oil that is so expensive that it costs as much as one year’s worth of wages. She is showing not just an act of hospitality, but an act of love. She also loosens her hair to wipe his feet – a shocking thing in that culture as the hair was always tied back to show a person’s dignity. Women took great pride in their hair and to loosen it, to use it for anything would have been considered extremely degrading. Mary is showing her willingness to serve him and her deep love for him.

Actually, each person here is showing Jesus their love in their own way. They are preparing him for his journey by feeding him, by sharing time with him and by anointing him for his difficult journey ahead. Each person surrounding Jesus is doing something to honor him.

When I was in Jr. High, my grammy was dying of cancer. No one really wanted to talk about it, and at the same time, we all knew that it was inevitable. She was really sick, and the writing was on the wall. So each time that we were with her, we made sure that we showed her how much we loved her. Close to the end of her life, she moved into our house rather than spending her last few months in the hospital. Each day, my sisters and I would go in and tell her about our day and what we were doing. She couldn’t say much, but she would squeeze our hand, or pat our cheek or say a simple, “That’s my girl.” Each time we were with her, we were saying goodbye before the final goodbye. We knew our time was special, we knew it was coming to a close.

Those that were around Jesus, and paying any attention at all to what he had been saying and doing, must have known that the end was near. As he sat in Lazarus, Martha and Mary’s house with the disciples, they were beginning to prepare for the end. They did not know when it would come, but they knew it was near. They knew that they should honor him while they had the chance.

A few days before my Grammy died, our priest came and anointed her with oil and said some prayers for her as she ended one journey and began another one. I remember the smell of the oil he used – I remember because it was still hanging in the room the next morning when I went to say goodbye before school.

The smell of this oil always brought me great comfort. Oils are a healing agent. When you apply oil to your skin it slowly sinks in, nourishing you and healing you. You can use essential oils to heal tight muscles, to calm down at the end of a hectic day, to relax, to become energized, to treat stress and depression, to help treat a cold and other illnesses and the list goes on and on. For thousands of years, oils have been used in this way and have been used in anointing as we hear about in the Bible. When you apply oil to your body and it begins to sink in, it can change a person’s whole outlook and can change the way a person functions.

Anytime that I use holy oil as a priest for baptisms or for healing or when I am at a confirmation or ordination and smell the oil that the bishop uses hanging in the air, I think of the time I spent with my Grammy and realize that each time in our lives when we are anointed, we are being sent forth again to serve God. Each time that we are anointed, we are being sent forth to serve in a new way. Anointing Jesus was Mary’s way to honor him, to send him off on the next part of his journey with a sensory reminder that he is loved and that he is not alone. Mary is responding out of her love and acceptance of him – she does not care what it costs.

So, during this last week of Lent, before we head into Holy Week, I wonder what each of us can do to show our love, our acceptance, our dedication to Jesus. How can we honor what Jesus did for us by the way we live our lives? How can we be like any of the people surrounding Jesus in the story.

Mary – anointing and loving him through her actions. Martha – being hospitable and taking care of him. Lazarus – dining with him, being his friend and sharing time together.

I encourage each of us to take time out of our busy weeks to do the things as they three have done. Love Jesus through our actions as Mary did, be hospitable and care for the people around us as Martha did, share time with people and intentionally be together as Lazarus did. All of these people were serving Jesus in their own way. We too, have to serve Jesus in our own way.

I want to share with you the words that my mentor, Bishop Thornton, said to me and to many others that he anointed over his years as a bishop. When we was doing a baptism, a confirmation, an ordination or any anointing he would say these words in order to send people forward on their new journey with God.

I bless your eyes that you may see God’s image in everyone

I bless your ears that you may hear the cry of those who call out.

I bless your lips that you may speak the Word of God.

I bless your hands that everything you give and everything you receive may be a sacrament.

I bless your feet that you may run to those who need you.

How are you being called to serve, honor, care for and love Jesus today, tomorrow and the next day?