SPEAKER_00: Monday of Holy Week always feels like the church slows everything down, and at the same time intensifies everything.
SPEAKER_00: You're standing right at the edge of the passion, and the readings don't shout, they draw you in.
SPEAKER_00: The first reading from the prophet Isaiah gives us that haunting image of the servant, a bruised reed he shall not break, and a smothering wick he shall not quench.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how we usually think power works.
SPEAKER_00: Power in our world dominates, it crushes, it proves itself.
SPEAKER_00: But here's God's power, gentle, patient, almost hidden.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't break the weak, he doesn't extinguish what is barely alive, he restores it.
SPEAKER_00: Then if we go to the gospel, it gives us a scene that feels almost out of place in Holy Week, intimate, quiet, deeply personal.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is at the table in Bethany, Lazarus is there, living proof that death does not get the final word.
SPEAKER_00: Martha's serving as she always does, and Mary well, Mary does something extravagant.
SPEAKER_00: She takes a year's wage that it'll be gone in a moment, and pours it out at the feet of Jesus, pours it right on his feet.
SPEAKER_00: No calculation, no restraint, just love.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately Judas objects.
SPEAKER_00: And let's be honest, his argument sounds reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: Why not give it to the poor?
SPEAKER_00: Sounds responsible, it sounds like good stewardship, it sounds even righteous.
SPEAKER_00: But the gospel unmasks him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the poor, it's about control.
SPEAKER_00: It's about the heart that has already begun to close in on itself.
SPEAKER_00: That's the tension of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Two ways of relating to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Mary gives everything, Judas calculates everything.
SPEAKER_00: Mary wastes herself in love.
SPEAKER_00: Judas reduces everything to utility.
SPEAKER_00: Mary sees Jesus for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Judas sees only what he can get out of it.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where it hits us because this is isn't just about them, it's about us.
SPEAKER_00: You can be physically close to Jesus and still be far from him.
SPEAKER_00: Judas was at the table right there.
SPEAKER_00: Judas heard the teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Judas saw the miracles, and yet his heart was already drifting.
SPEAKER_00: Mary, on the other hand, says nothing.
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't preach, she doesn't argue, she just loves.
SPEAKER_00: And that love fills the whole house.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel says the house was filled with the fragrance.
SPEAKER_00: Real love always does that.
SPEAKER_00: It changes the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00: It lingers.
SPEAKER_00: Something real, something tangible.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Week is asking something very simple but very uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Which one are you?
SPEAKER_00: Or which one have you been lately?
SPEAKER_00: Are you still measuring your generosity with God?
SPEAKER_00: Still calculating how much is too much?
SPEAKER_00: Still holding back, still trying to control every narrative?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you ready to pour it all out?
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is about to pour himself out completely on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: No calculations, no holding back, total give, total love.
SPEAKER_00: The only response is, or the only real response to that kind of love, is to stop negotiating, stop trying to control everything, and give him everything.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.