So I'm reading this book and there is an illustration by this woman that goes something like -
Why is is that Bankers like to give you umbrellas when there is no rain? They are more than willing to offer their help and assistance when we don't need it. Then the weather changes radically and the rain comes ... and what happens - those same kind benevolent banks get nervous and ask for their umbrellas back.
Then it hit me - Is this how we treat the people around us? You know those others that live next to us and park out in front of our mailbox and... We are happy to be involved in their lives until it becomes uncomfortable.
There is this ancient book written by a guy named John. John wrote about his friends and how they got mixed up in a revolution. There is the story in there where their leader allowed a woman to clean his feet with a very expensive perfume. (this could have cost as much as three years of a middle class salary - like $180,000 or more!) This all happens while the relative poor group of friends are just jaw dropped in amazement. This is one of those circumstances where there are several perspectives to understand prior to a complete grasp of the situation:
1) This leader, Jesus, may have stinky feet. He had been walking in sandals for some time, and even with the cultural greeting of a ceremonial front door foot washing his feet may have still been in an interesting condition :(
This makes me think of that movie with Adam Sandler where Adam's character ask the teacher if he was "raising the stinky kid?" Panic sets in and the next scene we see Adam scrubbing the kid. We have this need to make the stinky people go away or we choose to be somewhere else other than where they are.
So thinking about this woman again, she chose to become close to a stinky smelly Jesus in order to anoint Him with her love. He was worth her most prized possession that she had saved for for years. He was worth everything he had at that moment and She had to let him know.
Have you ever visited a homeless shelter? Have you feed the poor? No matter the finances of your family there are always those less fortunate than you. Have you stopped to help them in their plight? These "stinky people" are in desperate need and we are responsible to help them. (They need an umbrella but we wont even consider giving them one of our old spares.)
2) Jesus had recently raised his friend Lazareth from the dead. So here we are in a room with his closest friends and a former dead guy. I wonder if they were still asking Lazareth what death was like? Something like "So Z, was there a bright light? I heard there was..." You know he was getting tired of this!
I would assume there may have been a little tension by Martha still about the whole think about Jesus being late to save Lazareth in the first place. And in the middle of this battle of philosophical (death) questions and fractured friendships here we find Mary maybe the only one in the room the "got it!" God bless her as she loved on the "stinky one."
3) Judas was there counting the money in his head. All he can see in this moment is Mary wasting money he could have gotten his hands on. He is greedy and selfish and driven but he own personal hedonism! This self indulgence is evident in many of our lives. Some of us must control all things around us - Others need to be the center of attention - while still others are wrapped up in self indulgences - and so many of us are trapped by our addictions to people, places and or things. Judas embodies all of humanities personal "self worth" in this brief glimpse of his values and life.
Where are you in this? Is you personal hedonistic desires causing you to not see the beauty of a moment? Are you lost in yourself? There is a way out!
4) And Jesus sitting there... the mounting stress of the events to come in the next few days. We think we know stress. Actually as Americans we think we own the rights to understanding stress. We are sorely wrong and downright arrogant on this point. I wonder what was going through His mind. What could the scent have conjured his imagination to wander about? Where did this moment fit in his mind? Was the stress so much that he was not participating in the now but worried about the future? I choose to think not, I choose to believe that he was capable of setting aside the worries and stress of the pending events and living in the moment. I choose to believe!
Back to my first point. What do we do when we encounter the stinky people of life? I think we should extend empathy first. This is the ability to see the issues and circumstances the person is going through without condemnation or judgment, without praise or emotion. Christ was empathetic with Mary, Judas, the Disciples, Lazareth and even Himself! He may have even been sympathetic to Mary and her tears.
This may seem long and disconnected but let connect the big dots. Mary chose to give this friend of hers a blessing of an umbrella when he may not have actually needed it. And she gave that umbrella knowing it was a one time use item. She gave everything to love her friend while the rest of her close friends sat by and watched. They didn't offer to help - They did choose to judge and condemn her. She was in the business of handing out umbrellas with no return policy.
So my goal from here forward to is to hand out Umbrellas to anyone who will allow me to offer one. Umbrellas of Hope and Love. And then pray that they may never have the need to use them. And if they do and the Umbrella becomes torn or tattered, well I know where we can get some more.
Anyone up for handing out umbrellas on the street corner? That's where you'll find me - right next to the guy with the "Free Hugs" sign.
