What Will You Be Remembered For?

The Anointing at Bethany: What Will You Be Remembered For?
Matthew 26: 6-13 (NRSV)

6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,^{* 7}a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. ⁸But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, ‘Why this waste? ⁹For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.’ ¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. ¹¹For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. ¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this good news^* is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

What will you be remembered for?

It is 2016 and we are knee deep in the presidential election year. The once long list of candidates has been narrowed down to a short-list of possible contenders for who will claim the coveted seat in the Oval Office of The White House.

While this is happening, on the peripheral, as is true at the end of a presidential term, political pundits and historians are beginning to speculate on what the outgoing president will be remembered for. That is - what significantly marked his tenure - good or bad, that 10 years from now, 50 years now, this generation and those to come, will all celebrate the one acclaim to fame. In other words, what will this person, the leader of the free world, be remembered for, as he makes his final trek toward the end of his time in the most powerful position in the free world? It could be something extraordinary like being the first president since Calvin Coolidge to visit Cuba or it could be something so plain and ordinary that the impact of it feels super extraordinary, like taking the time to pray for the nation in the midst of a tragedy? 

As we reflect on this journey that Jesus is making this week in his final trek to the Cross, to that place on Calvary where he died for you and me, it's important to stop and look at what the Savior was doing in his last days of his earthly ministry. The Gospel narratives record a diary if you will, of what Jesus was doing, where he went, who he saw, what he ate, and what his mood was like.

On the third day of what we call Holy Week, Matthew records that Jesus was in the town of Bethany, visiting Simon the leper, when a woman came to him with an alabaster box of some very expensive oil. She took that oil and poured it on the Savior's head as he was sitting at the table.  At the table in the house of a leper. An unclean person. Someone who was contaminated and contagious. Ceremoniously unclean. Yet the highlight of Jesus's time spent in Bethany at Simon's house, rests on the actions of this unnamed woman with the beautiful alabaster box. Her cup of oil runneth over on Jesus. She poured out all she had. Her Chanel perfume. Her Juicy Couture cologne. All of it.  And while we don't know if she understood the symbolism of what she was doing, Jesus sure did. She was anointing Jesus. She was part of this history-making narrative of preparing our Jesus for his brief stay on the Cross. God was using her to accomplish something so extraordinary with something that seemed very ordinary.

 Surprisingly, not even the disciples understood that this was an act of bestowing honor upon a king...and not just any king, but the king of kings. Their whole disposition and demeanor changed because for them, it was not an acknowledgment of a Divine honor, it was instead deemed wasteful. They weren't as mature in their faith as you would think. They knew Jesus. Followed him everywhere he went. But their eyes and heart were not always on Jesus. And so they missed it. Missed the anointing of their teacher, rabbi, our Jesus.

And all they could do was express their disagreement and their disapproval with what this woman had done. They saw it as a waste and declared that the oil could have been sold and that the money could have been used for the poor. While their intentions seemed genuine, their indictment against her was quickly corrected by Christ.

Jesus tells his disciples, his trusted comrades, the 12 who hung out with him day in and day out, that "truly I tell you. wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." 

This woman did something remarkable, for Jesus, as he was journeying to the Cross. And it was noteworthy enough to the Savior that he declared that anywhere in the whole world that the Good News is proclaimed, that the Gospel narrative is told, that the accounts of Jesus' life on earth is shared. that this unnamed woman with a very named acclaim to fame will be remembered. She had done a good deed for Jesus. She had prepared him for his burial.


My question to you is what will you be remembered for this year as Jesus is making this tumultuous trek along that old dusty road to die for your sins and mine? What will you do, in a daring act to show and share the love of Christ, to proclaim that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, even if it's radical like the unnamed woman in the text, that Jesus himself will remember you for it?

It's so easy to rush ahead to begin thinking about our own personal agendas and to think about the ways in which we can celebrate ourselves, but our real challenge as followers of Christ, our real challenge is to consider how can we give up our own selfish desires in order to do something that will bring others to Christ, that will offer hope and wholeness, and that will cause Jesus to say "truly I tell you, what she has done, what he has done will be told in remembrance of him, of her?" Who can you serve today? Who can you pray for today? Will you choose faith over tradition today, that is, are you willing to do something different for Christ instead of holding on to "we've always done ...(fill in the blank) it this way.” At what cost are you willing to do something so amazing for Jesus that your act of kindness will be remembered for years to come?