Monday of Holy Week

 Lectionary: 257

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....

. 

The Book of Isaiah is saturated with the vision of Isaiah 6 and the appearance of the LORD seated on his throne as angels sang around him, "Holy, Holy, Holy." The temple shook, the earth trembled and the visionary quaked in terror. No doubt, he had learned with the nationalistic religion of his time that the god of Jerusalem is the God of gods and Lord of lords; but this personal epiphany, this experience, changed everything he'd ever thought or believed. 

In that shattering moment he saw, "the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops..." Centuries later Jesus, his disciples and his Church would understand that the Jewish doctrine of one God must be announced to the whole world. All nations should know the LORD; it is right and just!   

Out of that experience Isaiah also knew the LORD must send a Messiah who would enflesh the "covenant of the people." He must be the one who carries the covenant as the most beloved Son of God. And he must be the covenant by which the nations know the One God. There would be no other name in heaven or on earth, "given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”

As we learn throughout this week's first readings, Isaiah would also foretell the cost the Messiah must pay for his singular privilege. Jesus never declared in so many words, "I am God," or "I am the Messiah." But he was recognized by friends and enemies as the Messiah. He could not deny the truth, and he was willing to pay the price. 

Anyone who makes a prophetic gesture, with or without an act of civil disobedience, will be despised by many and ignored by most. Even if they have the support of popular opinion. they should be prepared to pay the price. Otherwise, their prophecy counts for nothing.  

In today's gospel, Saint Mary of Bethany silently performs a prophetic gesture. Given the powerful smell of "costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard" everyone in the room knew what it meant. It was more powerful than "Beware the ides of March!" She was anointing a living man with oil used to prepare a corpse for burial. If the odor was more pleasant than the stench of corruption, it was no less repulsive during a feast for the celebrated guest of honor. 

Most of the crowd, seeing Jesus's patient response to her, remained silent; only Judas would protest. Perhaps he spoke for the majority; he certainly spoke for the conventions of his time. Her lavish use of nard was expensive! It's one thing to make a religious ceremony; it's quite another to do it with such extravagance! Her personal devotion was unseemly. 

Jesus, in the spirit of Isaiah, and fully aware of the ordeal that must follow as he left Bethany for Jerusalem, defended Mary. (We can only imagine what the practical Martha must have thought about her pious, impulsive sister.) 

Mary speaks for the silent, devout millions who passionately love the Lord despite the scorn of elitists of every society. Their styles of prayer, art, music, and sculpture are often cloying to the sophisticated. They revere the cheap kitsch articles, manufactured in China for mass distribution, which badly represent Jesus and the saints. If only they would save their money for nice objets d'art with intrinsic value! 

But Mary's heart is fixed on Jesus, and not on the excessive cost of her oil. She cannot love him without lavishness. She has a presentiment of doom; something perhaps in his manner has frightened her. She really doesn't know what she is doing or why. She is impelled by the Holy Spirit and the Lord alone knows what it means. 

As does Judas, who has his own agenda. 

And you and I. We will go with her, following the Lord wherever the Spirit leads, despite the rage of foes.