It's not all about me

The other day I came across a quote by Henri Nouwen, a Dutch-born Catholic priest, professor, psychologist and prolific writer. 

He wrote: “Lent is a demanding time, a time of listening to the voice within but also a time of paying attention to the needs of other people.”

“a time of listening to the voice within but also a time of paying attention to the needs of others”  

In other words, it is not all about me and what I want. A sentiment that today’s Gospel reading (John 12:1-8) illustrates.

Lazarus, having been raised for the dead by Jesus invites Him and His disciples to a thanksgiving meal. Indeed, as you would expect, he was so grateful that everyone was invited! Of course, he, and all the people at table would have known by this time that the High Priest had condemned Jesus to death so that this may have been the last opportunity Lazarus had to invite Him and his friends to share his hospitality.

His sisters Martha and Mary are present of course. Martha preparing and serving the meal in accordance with tradition. Mary, the Mary whom the Evangelist Luke tells us sat at Jesus’ feet listening to Him teaching His disciples, even though Martha could have done with some help in the kitchen! Mary, for whom Jesus asked when He arrived in Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. Mary whose weeping when Jesus arrived to raise Lazarus caused Our Lord to weep with her. Mary who takes the most valuable thing she has, a jar of very expensive perfume, and uses it to anoint Jesus’ feet. Not only that she washes His feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair. No respectable Palestinian woman at the time would be seen in public with unbound hair! Loose hair = loose morals!! But she gave no thought to herself or what people might think of her. She gave all she had to Jesus. The man whom she loved; the man who Martha had told her was the Messiah.

The disciples were horrified at her actions. Indeed, Judas voiced the sentiment of them all. The perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Very reasonable and very compassionate. After all, 300 denarii was about one year’s wages for the working man at the time.

Of course we know that Judas was a thief who wanted the money for himself not the poor. What a contrast to Mary’s boundless generosity!

So what can we take from this story?

I am not suggesting that anyone here is a thief, but before we condemn Judas out of hand let us ask ourselves, do we pay attention to the needs of others?  Or do our own wants come first?

Do we sometimes make what appear to be very reasonable, and indeed charitable choices, to excuse doing something we would rather not do? Or perhaps to justify why we took some action?

Let us look at the refugee situation, for example.

The DEC appeal for Ukraine raised £55m on the first day. The last time I looked the figure had risen to £200m. A large number of people have signed up to house Ukrainian refugees. The Diocese has pledged to work to provide homes for 50 refugees. And our Newsletter this week has set out ways in which we can help. In all there has been a vast outpouring of compassion for them, not only in this country but around the world. 

But do we show that same compassion towards refugees trying to cross the Channel to get to this country, even though some drown in the process. The latest figures are not officially available but in 2019 the Home Office records 35,566 asylum applications. (France received 128,940 applications, by the way.) Do we say, as I have heard recently, “They are only coming to take advantage of our NHS, but it has a backlog and can’t cope as it is. Why let them in? They’ve contributed nothing but they get everything for free.” Concern for the NHS? Like Judas’s apparent concern for the poor, very laudable. Yet I can almost hear Jesus’ response! The same response He gave to Judas. “You will always have the NHS with you, and it will always need funding, but you will not always have me.” 

I appreciate that the Ukranians are coming here legally whilst those crossing the Channel are not, but is there really, deep down, a difference?  After all, as Shakespeare had Shylock say in the Merchant of Venice: “I am a Jew. If you prick us do we not bleed?” Are we not showing an unconscious prejudice?  Is concern for the NHS really what we mean? Is it rather that we don’t want these people living next door, in our nice clean, neat community? Don’t we recognise God in the refugee? 

Or, what about seeking election to the PCC or leading the prayers?  Or perhaps preaching the Gospel? Is our response, “Yes, of course, I’ll give it a go.” or “Someone else should do that. I can’t give the time. I have to take my grandson to football some Sundays.” Very laudable but what about those who have been doing the job for a while now and could do with a rest. Are we thinking of them or ourselves? Can we not see God in our fellow members of the congregation? 

Yes, sometimes we want everything to go on as before. We can be rigid, set in our ways so that nothing and no one will change us. But we need to be open to God’s call to love our neighbour, whoever he or she is.  We need to pay attention to the needs of others. It is not all about me, as Judas’s protest was. 

Mary took the most precious thing she owned and spent it all on Jesus. What is the most precious thing we have? Our hearts, our lives. Are we prepared to give all to Jesus as Mary did? 

One last point. The Evangelist sets the scene for this meal “Six days before the Passover”. And we know what happened before that Passover! Lent is running out. Next week is Palm Sunday followed by Good Friday. Let us not delay.

“Lent is a demanding time, a time of listening to the voice within but also a time of paying attention to the needs of other people.”

Amen