By Joelle Friesen, a senior molecular biology/biochemistry major from Normal, Illinois
Scripture: John 12:1-8 (NRSV)
As I sit down to reflect on today’s passage, I realize I am feeling drained. Spiritually drained, distracted, preoccupied, empty. I stare at this story and will it to speak to me, to connect with me and renew a sense of faith.
And then something clicks for me. Perhaps Mary, all those many years ago, felt as I do. Maybe she also felt weighed down by the cares of the world, distracted by concerns and questions and a to-do list. But instead of letting this sense of spiritual emptiness hinder her, she humbly knelt and offered what she had. She gave fully in the best way she had, and it turned out to be exactly what was needed in that moment. What better can any of us do?
There is much in our world today that brings a sense of emptiness. But we can acknowledge and reclaim this emptiness, turning it upside down. As an old proverb says, the difference between a flute and a stick in the mud is that the stick is full of itself, while the flute has been emptied of itself, so that it can make music. When we feel at our emptiest, we can still continue to offer the best of what we have to the world, creating a beautiful melody or fragrance that permeates our life and the lives of those around us. Wherever you are this Lenten season, I invite you to offer what you have with hope for the future.
Paraphrase of “If Thou Could’st Empty All Thyself of Self” by Sir Thomas Browne:
If thou could’st empty all thyself of self,
like to a shell dishabited,
Then might God find thee on the ocean shelf,
and say, “this is not dead,”
and fill thee with God’s self instead.
But thou art all replete with very thou
and hast such shrewd activity,
That when God comes God says, “This is enow
unto itself – ‘twere better let it be,
it is so small and full, there is no room for me.”
Scripture: 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. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6(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.) 7Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”