Great and Holy Wednesday Holy Week Fast
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
6th Hour: Ezekiel 2:2-3:3 2nd Vespers: Job 2:1-10 Gospel: St. Matthew 26:6-16
St. Matthew 26:6-16, especially vss. 13, 14, 15: "'What this woman has done will also be
told as a memorial to her.' Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you
willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?'" The Gospel today portrays two opposites - the overflowing of generosity, and
the corrupting of covetousness. In only one sense can these two be compared - both are conditions of the heart. Otherwise,
in all respects, they are polar opposites. The first is natural and health-producing, while the second is unnatural, yielding
only aberrant distortions of God's creation.
Of all of the Ten Commandments, only the one which directs us not to covet (Ex. 20:17) addresses a state of heart. The
rest, at face value, are commands to act or to refrain from specific acts. However, the Lord Jesus, in His Sermon on the
Mount (Mt. 5:21-6:34), transformed this surface distinction among the Ten Commandments, by revealing that they all are
matters of the heart for men. We are not animals who simply act and react, but creatures made in the image of God with
the ability to choose - to give love, to honor, and to worship. It is just this unique inner capacity which makes it possible,
as we read this account of the Lord at Bethany, to soar to the heights of generosity and then to plunge down into the murky
pit of covetousness.
Most of all, let us ascend the heights to blessed generosity. The display of Divine generosity strikes us before all else, as
we observe the Lord Jesus visiting Simon, a leper (Mt. 26:6). We may thank St. John Chrysostom for having us notice that
"not without purpose did the evangelist mention the leprosy of Simon....For inasmuch as the leprosy seemed a most unclean
disease, and to be abhorred, and yet...Jesus had both healed the man (for else He would not have chosen to have tarried
with a leper), and had gone into his house." The generosity of God excels even our best unselfishness, for He comes into
our very worst of conditions with love.
Notice that the generosity of our Lord does not end with His visiting and healing Simon, but is poured out also upon the
woman who came to honor Him by anointing His head with "very costly fragrant oil" (vs. 7). Sadly, in reaction to her act
of worship, she was made the brunt of the disciples' indignation: "Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been
sold for much and given to the poor" (vss. 8,9). Still, Christ our God rises to her defense, liberally reframing the vision of
the disciples to see the generosity underlying her actions: "she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with
you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial" (vss. 10-12). Do not miss how carefully Christ Jesus prepares us to see His boundless, overflowing generosity, both in assuming a
body and becoming one of us, and in munificently embracing death and burial for our salvation!
Surely, let us also remember the woman's generosity. As St. John says, "For in truth the deed came of a reverential mind,
and fervent faith, and a contrite soul....For if she hath wrought a good work, it is quite evident she shall receive a due
reward." And this she does, for "in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her" (vs.
13).
Against the beauty of all this generosity, let us also tremble at the ugliness of coveting. "Then one of the twelve, called
Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?'" (vss. 14,15).
Do we not know perfectly well that the commandment against coveting, "directed as it is to the heart, is primarily a
warning that greed unchecked will likely lead to actual transgression"? It set Judas on the path to betrayal! O my God,
keep me from envy, jealousy, stinginess, and longing for anything that is another's; rather grant me a gracious, generous
heart toward all, even as Thou hast toward me.
