Monday of Holy
Week
(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)
In our day dead bodies are increasingly cremated. There seems to be an urgency to get on with
life after the death of a loved one. The
dead are memorialized with a service showing photos of them at significant
junctures and telling stories of their peculiarities. Whatever value these modern rituals have,
they cannot appreciate what is happening in today’s gospel.
Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anoints Jesus
“’for the day of (his) burial.’” Her
action will preserve the body of Jesus at least for a while after his impending
death. It will enable all the living at
the time to remember his goodness perhaps until they too pass on. It is not the waste of resources that Judas
claims. Quite the contrary, the
anointing will allow Jesus’ gracious life to influence his friends in
constructive ways.
Virtuous human actions are often transcended by
God’s. In this case Mary’s anointing of
Jesus as a way to remember him cedes to God’s raising him from the dead. The resurrection enables even us today to
experience the presence of Jesus as an impetus to faithful and loving living.
