Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me

 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But the said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."

And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

Then Judas Icariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to the.  And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.  So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

- Mark 14:1-11

 Over the past three readings, Jesus has given His discourse on the end times, and the destruction of the temple and in Jerusalem to come (see the earlier readings of Saturday and Monday for the earlier parts of the discourse).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught the disciples, "Now learn this parable from the fig tree:  When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.  So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near -- at the doors!  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.  It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.  Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming -- in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning -- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.  And what I say to you, I say to all:  Watch!"

After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But the said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."    The Feast of Unleavened Bread starts with the Passover meal.  That takes place on the evening of 15 Nisan in the Jewish calendar, and it lasts seven days (Exodus 12:12-20).  Taken together, both commemorate Israel's liberation from Egypt and slavery.  The word Passover refers to the action of the angel of death, who "passed over" Hebrew homes when killing the firstborn of the Egyptians, as the Jews had put lamb's blood on their doorposts (Exodus 12:13).  Unleavened bread remained as the reminder of the haste with which the Hebrews had to leave Egypt (Exodus 12:39).  My study bible says that this Passover was fulfilled in Christ, whose blood was shed to free all humanity from bondage to sin and death.

And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."   My study bible comments that Jesus accepts this honor from the woman in her newly found faith; in particularly it is a sign, in His eyes, of His coming burial.  As Christ says, "She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial."   My study bible cites also the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who writes that the disciples were not wrong in principle:  mercy shown to the poor is more fitting than outward signs shown even to God (Matthew 25:40; James 1:27).  But once the gift was given, the disciples did not understand that it was a greater mercy to accept it with love.    Quoting Chrysostom:  "If anyone had asked Christ before the woman did this, He would not have approved of it.  But after she had done it, He looks only to the gift itself.  For after the fragrant oil had been poured, what good was a rebuke?  Likewise, if you should see anyone provide a sacred vesel or ornament for the walls of the church, do not spoil his zeal.  But if beforehand he asks about it, command him to give instead to the poor."

Then Judas Icariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to the.  And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.  So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.  My study bible says that Judas seeks on his own initiative to betray Jesus.  While Judas' motives have been debated throughout the history of the Church, tradition and also John's Gospel teach that greed was his underlying motive.  In John 12:4-6, we're told that it was Judas who was particularly upset about the "waste" of myrrh in the preceding story, because he was a thief (see also 1 Timothy 6:10).  In the Orthodox church, the liturgical hymns for Holy Wednesday contrast the greed of Judas with the woman's generous anointing of Christ.  In a tradition dating to the first century, my study bible notes, Christians historically fasted on most Wednesdays of the year in remembrance of the ways in which we, like Judas, betray Christ through our own sinfulness.

This woman's offering to Christ is made with genuine love; thus, it becomes accepted by Christ and praised for what it is.  It is a generous offering in sympathy and compassion, an expression of love for Christ who is on His way to His Passion.  In John's Gospel, this woman is named as Mary of Bethany.  It is also likely that there was another similar incident that occurred while Jesus was ministering elsewhere, as recorded by Luke (Luke 7:36-50).   The act of anointing of oil was an act of extreme honor.  But any way that we look at this expression of love, we see Christ's own honoring in return of such expression, and this is what seems to be the key point in this narrative.  Can we accuse Christ of being a great egotist, or self-centered that He would see it as such?  Not at all, for He tells us the truth:  He is being anointed for His burial.  Moreover, as St. Chrysostom points out, what does it mean to rebuke an act of great love?  This is where the heart of the Gospel is, at all times, in the acts of the person that are expressions of love.  This is what we understand from the story of the Good Samaritan, meant to teach us what it truly means to act as neighbor -- illustrating what it is to first love God and then to love neighbor as oneself as expression of that love (Luke 10:25-37).  Jesus goes over and over again to the heart and what it contains.  In the Beatitudes, He says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).  This goes both ways, as He says to the Pharisees, "Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things" (Matthew 12:34-35).  In this reading in Mark, Jesus tells the disciples that it's not what goes into the mouth but what comes out of it that defiles a man.  He says, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within a defile a man."  There are many more passages we could cite in which Jesus preaches to us about the state of our hearts and its great importance and link to what we do, what we say, how we act -- that all things begin with the heart, and the state of the heart determines who we are.  But here, Jesus praises the heart of this woman, who understands what is happening and does a good work for One on His way to the Cross.  Let us consider in our own lives the acts of love that may go unrecognized and unvalued -- even criticized by those whose thinking is material-minded, who do not understand the language of love.  It is this language of love that is the language of God, the thread that keeps us on the right track of how we are connected through love to God and to neighbor.  Just in this recent reading Jesus praised the poor widow who could only give a tiny sum to the treasury, as He recognized her generosity as the product of her deep devotion to God -- a true gift of one of unmixed motives and pure in heart.  Let us remember Jesus' praise and understand that it is in this place, rooted to love, where we find our connection to God and to one another most truly.  Even a thief may hide behind a comment supposedly intended for purposes of charity.  If we look closely at the Gospels, John tells us that Jesus specifically rebuked Judas for his criticism of this woman (John 12:4-8) -- and here in Mark it is immediately afterward that Judas goes to the chief priests to betray Him.  There is good reason why Jesus always stresses the guarding of the heart, and our efforts at singleness of purpose.   Let us pay attention to the Lord's understanding!