In Remembrance of Her

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, ‘Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.’ While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’ Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. Mark 14:1-11

Some Gospels name the woman as Mary, and others give her no name. We know that Jesus was at the home of Simon the Leper, but the greatest act of kindness goes without a real name. This is so for the many generations of women, who loving God and their neighbor, have given their all, in service to the Gospel. Jesus tells us that wherever the good news is proclaimed, it is done in remembrance of her. All of us who serve God by loving our neighbors, caring for the needy, ill and imprisoned, do in her memory. She is the godmother of us all. May we remember the unnamed women today who have witnessed God's love in our lives by their kind deeds and their love.

Wondrous Creator, you set examples before us

mothers and sisters, daughters and grandmothers

who live to serve the needs of family and stranger

and in doing so, show us your very loving heart.

We often forget that they taught us love to begin with

we often overlook their stories and their sacrifice

but you remind us that all good loving works done

are done in remembrance of those self-less women.

Help us today to follow their example of great love

by giving up our pride and our arrogance

so that we might be willing to anoint the lowly

and love the troublemakers all for your love's sake. Amen.