Last week, folks were invited to send a thank you card to someone as part of our Lenten challenge to metaphorically wash feet. Expressions of gratitude and appreciation are the culturally appropriate way of acknowledging the good things people have done for us. The English language has multiple ways to say ‘thank you’ to reinforce the importance of this polite response to receiving something of benefit.
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.
Now there’s a reason to express gratitude! To have a loved one raised from the dead, brought back to life after being in the tomb for days! Family and friends were convinced they would never see him again and then Jesus showed up and called him out, called him back to life! Of course, they would want to celebrate. Of course, they would want to say thanks! But how could anyone repay such a miraculous thing? The most extravagant dinner in the world couldn’t echo the value of regaining the life of a loved one.
So, what about the ointment, the pound of costly perfume made of pure nard? According to Judas, the perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii. Since one denarii was the typical wage for a day labourer at that time, we could assume this would suggest the perfume was worth nearly a full year’s wages for many. It may well have been the most expensive thing that the sisters owned. Mary liberally poured it out over Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. The entire house could smell the generous gift, likely for days, a reminder of their immense gratitude. Could the use of this extravagant gift be enough to repay Jesus for the life of their sibling?
Repay is the wrong word. Yet, it is a sentiment too commonly used in society. We can get so focused on transactions. Giving and getting in parallel ad infinitum. Too often there is an underlying expectation that a response needs to be somehow equivalent to the gift. This attitude leaves little space for true gratitude, that expression of genuine appreciation for the sake of appreciation.
Jesus understands that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are deeply grateful. He doesn’t see this as their being indebted to him in any way. He sees their loving response in the meal and the ointment as an expression of appreciation for all that they mean to one another. That love flows out in the food, the fellowship, and the warmth spread all over his feet and reminds him that love is rooted in his relationships with them and with all of humanity.
After all, Jesus knows what is coming. He knows that this anointing is like the one that will happen after his death as those who love him seek to care for him in the only way they know how. He knows how much he loves these people and how that love will carry him through what is to come. He knows and he loves.
When gratitude is offered as a loving response it reminds us of the foundation of our relationships. We can never repay God for all God has given us, in Creation, in the Redemption offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and in the Renewal offered through the Holy Spirit. We could imagine ourselves as deeply indebted to God for everything. But that is not how God sees it. God’s love overflows in ways far greater than an extravagant meal or expensive ointment ever could. For God, whatever ways we choose to express our appreciation, however we choose to embody our love, is enough.
Our relationship with God begins, is nurtured through, and journeys in love. However we choose to respond is only a shadow of God’s love for us but God doesn’t keep score. God wants to have a relationship with us and finds ways to work in and through whatever opportunities we provide. What more can we do to express our thanks to the God who has given us so much? How can we embody a reflection of the love we have been shown as our sign of gratitude? In what ways can we generously show our appreciation to God for continually seeking a relationship with us?
May we perpetually find ways to say thanks in how we love God, love our neighbours, and love God’s Creation. This we pray as we sing: 259 For the Fruit of All Creation