On this Maundy Thursday in 2023, I found a passage in the gospel of Mark 14: 1-11 inviting me to pause and ponder.
Th passage starts with reference to the passover festival of the Jews, which were to take place two days later, and the intention of the chief priests and the Scribes, 'seeking how to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him'! They avoided to do that during the festival for fear of a 'riot of the people'.
It takes me by surprise, that the passover festival which was to be a time of recollection of God's redemptive act towards the people of Israel, became the occasion for plotting to murder Jesus of Nazareth who came to bring life in all its fullness. The festive occasions are sometimes occasions of violence. The recent violent incidents in Bihar and West Bengal during a religious festival, is a reminder of the emotions of hatred and enmity that get precipitated during religious festivals. The village where I live experiences this tension between two communities during their festival times. Thanks to the wise intervention of the responsible leaders from both communities, that the tensions get contained.
During this time, Jesus of Nazareth was in Bethany, in the house of Simon. The painting below is a portrayal of that occasion when 'a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard came and broke the vial and poured it over head' of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus responded, to all those around him, who said, 'why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold ...and the money given to the poor'!, 'Let her alone, why do you bother her. She has done a good deed Me'.
What is this good deed all about! This woman anointed the body of Jesus for burial which were to take place later during that week.
Those who valued the ointment financially and proposed to distribute the sale money among the poor was oblivious of the spirit of love, gratefulness and reverence with which the woman in the story, performed this symbolic act of anointing Jesus before his burial.
This woman gave herself as an offering of worship in this symbolic act. Hers was an act of giving which made others envious and critical. Her giving exposed the carnality in their conscience. They were plotting to kill Jesus. Here is a woman acknowledging Jesus as her God and master in the full witness of people who had murderous spirit within them. It was this cowardly spirit which made them suggest that the woman wasted her ointment on Jesus. Others interpreted her act of giving as wasteful.
I feel appalled by these two contrasting positions. One gave in order to express her act of worship and others viewed it as a wasteful exercise!
To me, this is how it would be even now for any one of us involved in giving. Our act of giving although is an act of generosity, hospitality and self giving could be seen by some as redundant, insignificant and trivial. It arouses suspicion and would be attributed to motive for gaining favour in return.
Giving instead of becoming a collective act of worship and thanksgiving would unsettle some and arouse suspicion, reaction and grieving, bordering to being hateful!
The second painting below is that of Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, conspiring with the chief priests to plan for the betrayal of Jesus, probably after him being present at the anointing of Jesus with the costly perfume.
Judas is being handed over the thirty coins of silver, as a price for betraying Jesus is well portrayed in this painting.
I wonder if the grief over the 'wasting' of the ointment was a trigger for Judas to rush to seize the deal with the Chief priests! This is a deceptive dimension of the human psyche! When we feel that our moral bankruptcy is confronted, instead of finding the recovery path of restoring our moral fortitude, many fall into a self deception of feeling, 'I am not good enough. How much ever I try I cannot redeem my moral fabric! So why bother! Live the way you like'. I wonder whether Judas fell into this trap! A self annihilating act of three and half years of having been a follower of Jesus, during which time he being the keeper of the money bag, was in the habit of pilfering money from the bag (John:12.6). It could have been a time of forsaking that deceiving habit, in the light of detachment to money that the woman who anointed Jesus demonstrated. In her life, devotion to God, and grateful living took precedence over attention to abundance of material possessions.
This is a turning point in the life of Judas. Having had a deceptive nature to his character, he was given yet another opportunity to reconcile with his inner discordance and dichotomy by witnessing the self giving act of a woman in the offering her gift and herself to Jesus of Nazareth. Often this is the way in the lives of most of us. Before we nose dive into a trap or fall into a moral slip, we are given gentle reminders for self correction. In the parable of the Good Samaritan the Levite and the Priest had an opportunity to recover from their moral numbness, when they saw the wounded man on the road side, while on their way to the temple! But they ignored and went on their way without becoming a friend to a wounded 'neighbour'!
To me, this is the Judas mindset. Live in the way that appears convenient without being honest to oneself and be integrated in behaviour. As I look at the face of Judas in the painting with his hand outstretched to receive the money, I find a downcast face lost in the compulsion to be deceptive! He finally lost the battle within himself to be upright ! I think of occasions in my life, when the struggle to be transparent and truthful is real, when a compulsive spirit to be successful, relevant or to create an image of self promotion is compelling!
The woman who anointed Jesus with a perfume and Judas Iscariot, who plotted to betray Jesus were both followers of Jesus. The woman through her offering honoured Jesus of Nazareth. Judas through his behaviour, betrayed Jesus volitionally whom he chose to follow!
The woman used the passover festival to renew her commitment to Jesus; Judas used the occasion to gain some more money that he was fond of, by betraying Jesus of Nazareth. Judas was chosen by Jesus to be a disciple, which in itself was a gift of love supreme! There are moments in my life when Jesus of Nazareth and His words get displaced by trivial transient personal fancies!
I realised that my own life is a mixture of these experiences-renewal and denial experiences!
But at the occasion washing of the feet of the disciples, during the last supper, Jesus washed the feet of Judas, who betrayed Him and Peter who denied Him.
To me, that is the hope that this Maundy Thursday brings to me! Jesus of Nazareth is still kneeling before us whether we are likeble or otherwise. Jesus can only be loving and giving! That is why Maundy Thursday is an occasion to respond to His loving gestures towards us!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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