MONDAY, HOLY WEEK
Is 42: 1-7 Ps 27: 1-3, 13-14 Jn 12: 1- 11
THE VALUE OF LOVE
The symbolic gesture of anointing the feet of Jesus, intended as a final homage and an act of love by a caring and loving woman is fully misinterpreted by Judas Iscariot, the bursar. His preferential love of the poor, however, sounds hollow. For, despite his long association with Jesus, he still appears to have learnt little about love, nothing to say of the love of enemies. Being a man of mere economic calculation rather than love, soon we find him having no reservations in exchanging a human person for a few coins. Mary was attracted by Jesus and became his disciple when she realized that she had found the real Messiah. Judas didn’t love Jesus at all. His heart and soul was engrossed in making money. Jesus admonishes Judas for his pettiness.
Little children sometimes bring to us items of their discovery, which are silly and petty but we marvel at them, so that they don’t feel disappointed. They are sharing their joy with us. Our enthusiastic and grateful reaction is not for the thing itself, but for their generosity. So too with Jesus – He is not moved by the cost of the oil in judging Mary’s gift, the value that others might put on the item itself, but instead reacts to her generosity in using this item to do something kind for him. Mary’s action of anointing Jesus’ feet was an act of love, of generosity that she felt she could only express by sharing this costly thing. Jesus knew that his generous acceptance of her gift would bring her much spiritual solace.
Jesus teaches us to see the humanity in the giver, and the generosity that it takes to give even when one is a member of the “poor.” Recall the tenderness Jesus felt for the poor widow who gave her last two coins. True love is not about self but always about the Other, whose love we understand in the love of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.
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