Listen With Your Heart
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Mark 14:3-9
3. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4. But there were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment thus wasted? 5. For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor." And they reproached her. 6. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you will, you can do good to them; but you will not always have me. 8. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burying. 9. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
This story makes me think of my new job. I work for a group of therapists who are also ordained in various denominations. It’s an unusual concept, but I think just amazing that such a group exists--how can one find health and healing after all, if one’s spiritual health is not vital? I am often the first contact individuals have with the group, as I generally answer the phone. When someone calls for the first time, I can often “hear their pain” through the phone. They sound so wounded and so frightened to take that first step toward healing. It’s a huge decision--and not an easy one.
I often find myself wishing I had my Stephen Ministry training manual with me and could “freeze frame” the caller so I could look up just the right words to make them feel better. But I have learned that if I simply speak from my heart, it is usually sufficient to put them at ease. And by the time we hang up the phone, often I hear a sense of tentative hope that maybe things will get a little better. I understand their pain, because I have experienced it at various points in my life, and I know how vital it is to feel empowered and affirmed at taking that huge step toward “feeling better.”
The woman in this story understood that sometimes words were not enough in ministering to others. Sometimes you need to let your heart lead you. And she responded at a very deep level to the inner anguish that Christ must have been experiencing by this point. She was sensitive to his needs. Though he had been the healer for their community, she was intuitive enough, and loved him enough - with agape love - to know that sometimes even the healer needs to be comforted, soothed, and to receive a respite. Jesus must have been almost overwhelmed at the extravagantly generous offering Mary made to him. And deeply grateful. After he rebukes those who have criticized her, Judas leaves to set in motion the events leading up to the crucifixion.
As we listen to the news and hear and see stories of almost overwhelming devastation, death, war and famine, it is easy to forget that those around us have very real needs for healing as well. And we can be so easily distracted and our attention diverted from those God has placed in our lives, perhaps for just the purpose this woman served in the story. Are there individuals in your life who could be greatly comforted by an anointing of expensive nard? Are there those who could use a kind word and loving touch on the arm to let them know you care? We’re not required to be therapists or ordained ministers to offer comfort and healing to this world. We only need to look around and see with our hearts--and respond from our hearts.
Jesus gave everything he had and all he was to this hurting world. And the least we can do in response to that gift is to offer all we have to others in need. When we give love away it comes back to us a hundredfold--and that’s not even why we do it!
My prayer today is that you will reach out to someone in your life in need of an anointing with oil. And that you will speak with your heart as you offer them words of comfort and encouragement.
Mary
