Christ’s love, mercy, and sacrifice mean we make him our highest priority. (Thomas C. Oden)
A PRAYER OF COLUMBANUS
Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. So may your love pervade our whole being, possess us completely and fill all our senses, that we may know no other love but love for you who are everlasting. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land, and sea cannot extinguish it in us: “many waters could not extinguish love.” (Ancient Christian Devotional, Year C)
John 12:1-8 NRSV
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
At some point, it is clear that Judas stopped listening to our Lord. He heard him, but he did not listen. Mary’s anointing of Jesus in John 12:1-8 is instructive. At this dinner for Jesus, Martha’s sister anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of expensive perfume. This was no cheap dollar-store cologne. It would have been the equivalent of almost a year’s wages for a day laborer. Remember, this was right after Lazarus was raised from the dead and before the Triumphal Entry. Judas saw it all. He saw the signs, but he had stopped seeing Jesus. He failed to see his worth and primacy. To Judas’ objection that the money that was royally wasted on Jesus should have been given to the poor, Jesus answers: “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:7-8). Ironically, it will be Judas who wastes his money – it will be wasted on betrayal. Jesus’ words point to the priority of keeping the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is him. (Justin D. Clemente, “At the Cross,” pp. 16-17)
Open our Eyes, Lord
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
