For without Vision, the People Perish
Posted March 14th, 2010
At least on the surface today, Judas is following Jesus word for word. According to Judas, what Mary did was wasteful, plain and simple. She poured out one pound of perfume, made from pure nard – an amount, most scholars surmise, which would have cost close to the average working person’s yearly income. Mary seems an impulsive fool in this story, pouring oil onto Jesus’ feet and wiping it with her hair. In time, the whole house was filled with the scent of aloe and spice.
That seems the very definition of wastefulness, and it may be that Judas is being nothing more than a pragmatist: "Didn’t you tell us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and tend the poor, Jesus?" Honestly, just think what, say, $40,000 today could do for the poor. And to see it just poured out, and one someone’s feet, at that.
Given everything Jesus has taught and stood for, it would seem only likely that he would confirm Judas’ claim, and berate Mary for being so wasteful and silly. Pragmatism should rule the day, it should seem, and anyone who’s spent enough time with Jesus would expect him to say that that money should have been given to the poor and the needy, not poured on the floor.
But it’s Mary whom Jesus praises. Mary’s lavishness, not Judas’ pragmatism, wins in the end. Mary’s extravagance receives Jesus’ blessing.
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