BUT YOU DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE ME

Is 42,1-7; Ps 26; Jn 12,1-11
26 MARCH
What happens under our eyes can be read with the eyes of sin and will necessarily give it false interpretations and false and deceptive conclusions, also taking false and deceptive decisions, or it can be read with the pure eyes of love and light of God that enlightens us and even decisions, consequences and interpretations will arise from the truth of God that dwells in us. Mary takes a decision: “She appears before Jesus with three hundred grams of perfume of pure, very precious nard and sprinkles the feet of the Master with it, then dries them with her hair. The whole house is filled with that perfume”. This is the bare and raw story: “A woman, some perfume, Jesus, the pouring of the perfume on the feet Jesus, the woman’s hair drying the feet sprinkled with the perfume”. Let us now turn to the understanding of the historical fact that is revealed by its interpretations.

Of the woman is told what she did and how she did it. No other news is added. We know that she acted by an internal motion. She felt in her heart to make a gesture of the highest reverence towards the Master and she did it. Revering a person, attesting him a pure and holy love, revealing him the deepest good of the pure, chaste and holy heart, without malice, is not a bad and never can be said a bad thing. Can the motions of good of the heart be followed? The spiritual rule demands that every motion be subjected to reflection, prayer and discernment. But if the motions are aroused with strength and power by the Holy Spirit, there is an immediacy pushing, but also there is its force that pushes and does not give peace until everything is completed. Not all the motions of the Holy Spirit can be postponed until tomorrow. Some are for this moment and it is at this moment that they must be put into being. For Mary today, Christ Jesus must be anointed and today he must be anointed. Tomorrow is late.

Judah is a person with a heart full of sins. He walks with the Master, but not behind the Master. He has made a way on his own. Jesus walks on the path of the highest obedience to his Father. Judas has by now become himself a devil. He is not even a child of the devil. He is the devil himself, by definition of the same Lord Jesus. He sees the woman’s gesture and his sinful heart pronounces false oracles: “Why did not you sell this perfume for three hundred denarius and did not give it to the poor?”. His is a false oracle, because his heart is false. Love for the poor is just a pretext, an excuse to get himself hold of the money: “He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and, as he kept the box, he took what they put in it”. A bad heart of sin, a false oracle of sin, a false decision of sin at the service of sin. The eye and heart of sin interpret the greatest gesture of love towards Christ as a waste and a squander. We leave the true good for a false, useless good. Without the heart of sin he pronounces these false oracles.

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a litre of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  (The) large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Jesus, a person with the eyes of God, sees in the woman’s gesture, a true prophecy. She has somehow anticipated the anointing in view of his burial. The remaining oil must also be preserved. Jesus knows that his death is imminent, it is near. Mary must keep the oil because the events will be so immediate and tumultuous that there will not even be time to prepare his body for a burial according to the customs of the Jews. By conserving this oil, she might always take it immediately and in some way make up for what might not be done according to ordinary methods. The eye of Judas sees evil. The woman’s eye sees today’s good for today. The eye of Jesus sees the good for today and for tomorrow.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints, free us from the eye and heart of sin.