March 15, 2010. Homily, March 29, 2010.

John 12:1-13

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, "Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

"three hundred days' wages" appears in other versions of this Gospel as 300 denarii; a denarius in Jesus' time was one day's wage.

French scholar Victor Saxer dates the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, and as Mary of Bethany, to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great on September 21, 591 A.D., where he seemed to combine the actions of three women mentioned in the New Testament and also identified an unnamed woman as Mary Magdalene. In another sermon, Gregory specifically identified Mary Magdalene as the sister of Martha mentioned in Luke 10.^[8]

Gregory the Great, a Pope, was also a deacon.

The aromatic nard use to anoint the feet of Jesus was valued at a full year's work. Mary Magdalen was a sinner and a prostitute, Jesus had removed seven devils from Mary Magdalen.

The seven devils could be seven customers, and their removal could be this Gospel passage when Mary Magdalen anointed Jesus with the aromatic nard.

Luke 8:1-3 Galilean Women Follow Jesus Afterward [the Pardon of the Sinful Woman] he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Maary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward, Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged,” Jesus had said (Mt 7:1). Our judgment may be factually true: that’s the bait on the trap. But it is not the whole truth. All our judgments are incomplete. We don’t know the full truth about anyone. And we hardly begin to understand the mercy of God.