Matthew 26:1-13
The time for teaching, for talking is almost over.
The time approaches when actions will make that last,
definitive statement of the magnitude of God’s love.
As the chief priests and elders meet and plan
how best to kill him secretly after the festival,
Jesus tells his disciples, the time is now,
two days away, when he will be crucified.This is a time of intimacy, a closeness to his friends
in a way he’ll never know, again, until his second coming.
A “being with us,” as one of us, sharing daily life
with all its limitations and apprehensions.
There is no way to prepare those he loves
for the death of the center of their lives,
to show them how to go on without him.Jesus’ face displays the many thoughts that surface
as one faces a death freely chosen–
regret that those around him do not yet understand,
love for those for whom he has chosen to die.
His face reveals amazement and appreciation
for the woman who has spent a year’s wages for
the oil with which she anoints his head
in an extravagant gesture of love and adoration.Jesus is saddened by the thought of those
who cannot reach beyond the cost
to see the beauty of the gifts he gives,
the beauty of the giver,
as she anoints him, as he says,
for the day of his burial.The poor are always with us.
We are, all of us, the poor, and we can only give,
out of our poverty, all we have and are
in the service of our Lord and King.
