Monday Holy Week
A fashion brand Chanel’s popular perfume for women called Coco Mademoiselle costs you about 120 USD for 1.67 oz. You might think this is an expensive perfume. But there is an elite fragrance brand called Clive Christian. Its one of the top line perfume called Absolute Osmanthus perfume oil sets you back 10,000 USD for only 1 oz. High-grade pure perfume oils have always been extremely expensive for a little amount. This is why ancient people bought these oils for life savings - a small amount, so easy to store and easy to carry but extremely valuable. The pure nard perfume Mary used for Jesus in today’s gospel was worth over 300 denarii - that was about a year’s income. One denarius was a wage for a day at the time of Jesus. So, her perfume would cost more than 40,000 dollars in our times!
I wonder how many husbands and wives are willing to anoint their spouses’ feet with perfume that costs $40,000. It seems almost unreasonable. Mary wasted all her life savings for Jesus!
And, I wonder how many husbands and wives want to wipe their spouses’ feet with their own hairs. For women, hair means much more than just a part of their body. It’s their dignity and pride. And when Mary wiped the feet of Jesus, her hair was not a replacement of a towel.
What Mary did was worshipping Jesus as her God and Lord.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, many people met him. They were filled with awe and wonder at his miraculous deeds. But there were not many people who truly worshipped Jesus as their God and Lord. Mary was one of those who worshipped him with all her heart.
Mary wasted her life saving to worship Jesus. But she did not waste her opportunity to worship him.
Now we don’t have public celebrations during this Holy Week.
My brothers and sisters, however, let us not waste this opportunity to worship our Lord in spirit and truth. This is a time we offer Jesus our pure heart as Mary anointed Jesus with the perfume of pure nard. Let our hearts not clouded with worries about money and the economy. Like Mary, let us serve our Lord with humility. Perhaps Jesus is already in your home.
