Small Chances

“She has done what she could.” -- Mark 14:8

The story is that Jesus was at a feast in Bethany and a woman entered. She broke open an alabaster jar of very expensive fragrant oil (pure oil of nard) and poured it upon the Lord’s head. The story is related twice in the Synoptic Gospels – here in Mark 14 and Matthew 26 and, being synoptic, they are identical. John, of course, saw it differently, though it was still at Bethany, the resurrected Lazarus was there along with his two sisters. Martha as usual is serving. Mary is the extravagant one who breaks open the jar, pours it on the Lord’s feet and wipes it with her hair.

I suppose some people are bothered by the differences in the stories – one group asserting that this means the Bible is contradictory and false while the other group scrambles to reconcile the disparities. Me, I know they are both true. If someone doesn’t understand that is his problem.

The oil used is called spikenard or nard. It could have been lavender which the Greeks sometimes called nard, but, given the price, it was more likely true nard, a plant of the valerian family that grows in the Himalayas.

When the woman does this, those around Jesus begin to get upset. A denarius was the common man’s daily wage. The old King James often calls it a penny. My father would have thought of it as a dollar back in the Depression. If you take $7 an hour as very basic wage, today it’s about $56 for an eight hour day. The jar of oil was worth 300 denarii. Using our conservative calculation, that would be $16,800. The others at the feast, especially Judas, were indignant at the “waste”. If the woman did not want to keep it, she could have sold it and given the money to the poor.

Jesus told them to leave her alone. If a person wants to do something for the poor, he will have plenty of opportunities because the poor – at least in a relative sense – will always be around.

“She has done what she could,” He told those at the feast. “She has anointed My body for burial.” The extravagance was not wasted. The Lord was worthy of such devotion. He was facing the most difficult day of His earthly life. The fragrance, both of the oil and the depth of love it represented, was a comfort to Him in a dark hour.

Mary could not keep Jesus from going to the Cross. She could not go in His place. She could not prevent His suffering. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan leaves the camp in the middle of the night to journey alone to the stone tables. Lucy and Susan follow and then join the Lion on his way, comforting him as he travels to suffering and death.

I cannot do everything. I cannot solve every problem in the world. I can’t even do most things or solve most problems. My sphere of influence is fairly small. My skills, my strength, my power is limited.

Fortunately God does not ask me to be Superman. He does not require that I achieve great things or make my name known worldwide. I don’t have to be President (“High Lord Mushroom, Hegemon” has a nice ring, though). I suppose our discussion of caste the last couple of days on One Cosmos probably got me started thinking about this. I am just the Average Joe but I can do small things as I go along. I can give a little, work a little, pray a little. I can stand with my friends in a trial. I can sit in silence with the suffering – weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

I can be devoted to the Lord. That I can do.

Someday I will stand at judgment and face the Lord. If He says, “You did what you could”, I think I’ll be happy with that.