Lent 5 | 2025
Invitation to Wonder: Make a Lavish Gesture
Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home…Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. John 12:1-4 (read more Lenten Scripture)
I imagine Jesus sitting back, breathing in the scent of exotic spices, relaxing into the healing foot massage after another grueling day of walking, healing, serving. Looking on at the scene, Judas Iscariot criticizes Mary’s sumptuous act as irresponsible, a waste - yet Jesus reprimands him, cherishing her generous act of tender bodily care. How poignant it is to hear Jesus speak of his own suffering and death, for you and I know that it is soon to come.
Centuries later, Therese of Lisieux would say, “When one loves, one does not calculate.” Truly, it is by spending oneself that one becomes wealthy, for “a generous person will be enriched and one who gives water will get water.” (Proverbs 11:35)
During Lent we journey on toward a remembrance of Christ’s passion – when Jesus spent his very life for us. Let us walk in his way with Mary, who spent all that she had to show her love.
Meditate upon these words from the Christian community of Taize:
“The poor of the gospel learn to live without certainty about the morrow, in generous confidence that all will be given. The spirit of poverty is to live in the gladness of each day. If for God there is generosity in providing the good things of the earth, for human beings there is grace in giving what they have received.” (The Rule of Taize)
Now sit in prayer with the question:
What lavish, generous, even “irresponsible” gesture is mine to make during this season?