A talk by Reverend Kath McBride, Rector Rural East York
An alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. Perfume is, and it seems from this reading has always been, a luxury item, a very special gift that engages the senses. I wonder if you have a favourite perfume or aftershave, and whether you’ve bought any recently - it’s certainly not cheap, especially if you like one of the well-known brands like Chanel or Dior. And there are perfumes in another league altogether, which you and I will probably never get anywhere near - the world’s most expensive perfume, made by Clive Christian, the royal perfume company since the time of Queen Victoria, sells for £143k for one ounce of perfume in a gold and diamond encrusted bottle. That’s probably worth much more than the perfume in our gospel story, though scholars tell us that worth of the perfume in the alabaster jar was about the same as a year’s wages. A jar of perfume might seem a strange thing to have, but it was probably intended as a dowry or a pension - and item worth a large sum of money to provide financial security for this woman.
But rather than sell it for profit or keep it for the future, this woman brings it to Jesus and pours it all over him in devotion. It is an extravagant, somewhat scandalous act of sacrificial giving. The disciples are not just uncomfortable because the value could have been used for the poor, but because this is a sensual act that physically represents the woman’s deep love for Jesus. She’s not doing anything illegal or improper, but she makes herself emotionally vulnerable to Jesus, and socially vulnerable to the criticism of those who prefer to keep Jesus at arms’ length. In a relatively public setting, she treats Jesus with great intimacy; she comes close to touch him and pour the perfume on his head. Her act is highly impractical, there’s no material value to what she does, it is literally a waste, a throwing away of precious resources.
And yet, Jesus is pleased with her, so much that he makes her an example to others, and we fulfil his words today by hearing and thinking about the woman with the perfume. ‘She has done a beautiful thing for me’ Jesus says; there is great value in the depth of emotion she expresses and in her very costly giving of her most valuable thing to him. Her action is devotion, worship, for the pleasure of Jesus and nothing else, and he responds with gratitude to defend her, and to explain that she’s really the only one who’s got it right. Discipleship isn’t always about practicalities and serving our neighbours - it’s also about expressing our love for God though acts of beauty and sacrifice, giving something of ourselves to Him in gratitude.
This story appears in all four gospels with some variations, and in this version from Matthew, the woman remains nameless - we don’t know anything about her or why she responds to Jesus in this way at this time. But it’s often assumed that the extravagance of her gift to Jesus is in proportion to what she has received from him: perhaps love, forgiveness, healing, restoration. Jesus is worth the gift of her financial security, he deserves the luxury of the powerful fragrance, and she can’t help but express the love she has for him. This act is even prophetic, and perhaps inspired by the Holy Spirit - Jesus says she is anointing him for his coming death, giving him a unique and significant service on his difficult path. What a profound episode.
Our other reading from Exodus reflects on some similar themes, though with a more communal aspect. God has rescued his people from slavery in Egypt and entered into a covenant with them to bring them to flourishing in a home land. He will be with them on their journey in a new way, dwelling among them in His tabernacle. For their part of the covenant, God’s people are to follow his laws and to be an example to the nations around them, demonstrating the goodness of God. And so in gratitude for His rescue and His forgiveness of their idolatry with the golden calf, the people bring their precious items and artisan skills to create the furnishings of His tabernacle.
Repeated throughout the passage is the word ‘willing’, and these gifts are described as the ‘freewill offering to the Lord.’ There is a sense of joy and delight as the individuals make their offering, and they pool their resources and share their skills to create a beautiful home for God in their midst. This is the people’s response to God’s goodness towards them, an outpouring of their gratitude. Together, they build not just the physical symbols of worship, but they also build community and identity, and become the forerunner of what we now call church.
And ever since then, God’s people have given their time skills and resources to create dwellings for God. Now you may have the local’s casual indifference to York Minster, but every time I go, I’m amazed by the building; every time I step through the door I join a hushed atmosphere of awe as I and hundreds of others gaze in wonder at what people have made to worship their God. I’m not naive enough to believe that there is nothing of human arrogance, greed and power-hunger about the Minster’s construction, but it does represent the attempt to create a beautiful and fitting place for God to dwell and for His people to worship, and it really does bring people to a fresh awareness of God. The scale of the Minster is really something else, but all over this country, and across Europe and the world, there are beautiful churches, big and small, built to the glory of God, including right here in our deanery. In the Church of England we are both enormously blessed and hugely burdened by our buildings, and unlike other countries, there is no financial or material assistance from the state for their upkeep.
In our deanery season of stewardship we are reflecting on different elements of the responsibilities that God has given us as those made in His image and following in His way. And we do have a responsibility to care for our places and patterns of worship through giving our time, effort, talents and money; but I want to encourage you today to think of that in the light of our two readings and the thoughts on them that I’ve just shared. Often we feel the weight of our chores and duties, the expectations placed upon us, and our giving can become a burden and we begrudge it.
But what if we were able to see the bigger picture, to see afresh that ancient covenant of God with His people, renewed in Jesus, that He loves and saves us, draws near to us and gives us life? What if we were to see ourselves as the rescued and redeemed, the recipients of great blessing, wanting to show our love and gratitude? The Exodus community of Israel joined together in bringing their most precious stones and metals, giving their skilled craftsmanship and time in thanks to God by creating a tabernacle for His presence. The woman was able to draw near to Jesus himself, God with us, to lavishly demonstrate her gratitude through touch, words and aroma, giving well beyond her means and putting her future security at risk. How might we choose to express our gratitude to God with willingness, with the scale of abundance with which He blesses us, and in ways that are costly to us? As Jesus reminds us, ‘Give, and it will be given to you...For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’
Amen
