Letting Go and Letting in Extravagance
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Reflection By Amy Cook
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
- John 12:5
If I am truly honest with myself, I relate most to Judas in this passage. Not that I’m stealing money or don’t care for the poor, but in his question above—“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”—I see myself. I see raising a point that the crowd could agree with me on, and critiquing someone else’s actions without any personal responsibility. I don’t blame Judas because I relate to this.
It is so easy to state the problem with a solution that doesn’t involve me! I have often found myself in conversations with like-minded friends where we solve the world’s problems. We laugh and say “if only we were in charge!” But we aren’t in charge, and instead fix problems with other people’s resources, time, and power, and without any personal cost. Perhaps Judas did have an ulterior motive and was hoping to skim funds off the top, or perhaps the gospel writer wanted to paint him in an especially harsh light to separate Judas far from the other disciples. Whatever the writer’s motivations, I see myself in Judas.
Judas’ response also critiques that which is unexpected and upsets societal norms. He probably was not the only one in the room confused and uncomfortable; and his objection would bring others in agreement with him, an unspoken choosing of sides. In this Gospel story Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume and wipes them with her hair. This is intimate, personal, and is unsettling to witness an act of obvious love and devotion. Mary shares in a beautiful, uninhibited way, and that is why I understand Judas, standing to the side, trying to sound righteous. I get Judas and his actions, but I really want to be Mary—I want to be uninhibited in love, and I want to be able to let go.
I can feel constrained by what others might think, by unspoken norms and disapproving looks. But there is a wonderful freedom in Mary’s letting go of others’ opinions. Remember that Mary already disregarded convention to sit and learn at Jesus’ feet like a male disciple rather than take a woman’s place in the kitchen with Martha. And here Mary once again shows that her love and devotion for Jesus compels her to let go, and to let the Spirit enter in to respond with extravagant love. I invite you this week to notice the places you might be listening to the crowd rather than to the Spirit. Where can we “let go” to “let in” extravagant Love?
TO JOIN OUR PRIVATE FACEBOOK DISCUSSION GROUP FOR LENT, CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW:
Follow along with us this Lent season with our daily devotional and engage in discussion in our closed facebook group moderated by Robbin Brent, Carolyn Karl, Jan Kwiatowski, and Scott Stoner.
In this group, participants will have a chance to share their responses to the prompts in the daily readings, and also the chance to receive additional material for reflection.