20 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” John 12:3
On the eve of Hosanna Sunday the Church sets two farewells side by side. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem and calls the elders of Ephesus to Miletus. He knows what is coming: “And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.” He is not afraid: “But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace.” He charges the elders to shepherd “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son”, and gives them a saying of Jesus found nowhere else in Scripture: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Then “he knelt down with them all and prayed. There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him.” Paul walks toward Jerusalem as his Master did, with his face set and his heart full of love for those he leaves behind. Every priest who has left a parish, every parent who has watched a child leave for a distant country, knows something of that shore at Miletus.
The Gospel takes us to Bethany “six days before the Passover”. Lazarus, raised from the dead, sits at the table; Martha serves, as she always does; and Mary does something no one expected. She “took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” A pound of pure nard was worth a year's wages. Judas objects that it should have been sold for the poor, but John tells us his heart was not with the poor. Jesus defends her: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” Mary has understood what the disciples have not: that he is going to die, and that love does not calculate at such a moment. Her gift is extravagant, and the whole house is filled with it. Tomorrow we will wave palms and cry Hosanna; this evening the Gospel asks what we will pour out at his feet in the coming week. In many homes the days before Pesaha are spent cleaning the house and preparing for the Pesaha appam. Let the house be filled too with the fragrance of prayer, forgiveness and generous love.
Theme: “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
Paul's farewell on the way to Jerusalem, and Mary's extravagant love on the eve of the Passion.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” Psalm 116:15
“But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24
Apply: Name the course God has given you to finish, and take one step on it this week.
“Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”” Deuteronomy 15:11
“In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
Apply: Give one gift this week that costs you something.
“your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is perfume poured out; therefore the maidens love you.” Song of Songs 1:3
“Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” John 12:3
Apply: Prepare your home with your family for the Week of the Passion, and fill it with prayer.
Paul and Mary both know that Jesus is going to his death, and both answer with love that does not calculate.
Tomorrow we cry Hosanna; this week let us pour out our best at his feet.
Take-home resolution: Prepare the house for the Week of the Passion, and give one costly gift without counting.
Dear friends, Paul tells the elders of Ephesus that he is going to Jerusalem as a captive to the Spirit. Prison and persecution wait for him. Yet he says: I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course (Acts 20:24).
He reminds them of a word of the Lord Jesus: it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Then they kneel together, weep and embrace him on the shore.
Six days before the Passover, Mary of Bethany pours a pound of costly nard on Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume (John 12:3). Jesus says she has kept it for the day of his burial.
Tomorrow we wave palms and cry Hosanna. Tonight let us ask what we will pour out at his feet this week. Let our homes be filled with the fragrance of prayer and love. Amen.
Children, Mary gave Jesus her most precious perfume, and the whole house smelled lovely. What is something special you can give to Jesus this week? Maybe your time in prayer, or a kind act for someone at home.
Lord Jesus Christ, six days before the Passover you sat at table in Bethany, and Mary poured out her costly perfume at your feet. Give us her love that does not calculate, and Paul's courage to finish the course. As we enter the Week of your Passion, fill our homes with the fragrance of prayer and generous love. Amen.
On the eve of Hosanna Sunday, two farewells. Paul, on his way to Jerusalem and expecting chains, says goodbye to the elders of Ephesus with tears and tells them to care for the flock. At Bethany Mary pours out costly perfume on the feet of Jesus, who says it is for his burial. Both Paul and Mary know that a road is ending in Jerusalem, and both spend without counting.
Setting.
Paul is ending his third missionary journey, probably around AD 57, and hurrying to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost (20:16). He does not go back to Ephesus, where he had spent about three years, but sends for its elders to come to Miletus, a port some 50 km to the south (20:17). This is the only speech in Acts that Paul addresses to Christian leaders, and it reads like a last testament.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course” (20:24)
The image of a runner, as in 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 and 2 Timothy 4:7. His life is worth something only as the means of finishing what he has been given to do.
“Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” (20:28)
First “yourselves”: a shepherd who does not watch himself cannot watch others. A note on the text: the Greek at the end can mean “with the blood of his own” (that is, his own Son) or “with his own blood”, and some manuscripts read “the church of the Lord”. The NRSV and the POC take it differently. All agree on the price.
“remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (20:35)
This saying of Jesus is not in any of the four Gospels. Acts has preserved it for us. Paul has just shown what it means: he worked with his hands so as to give.
“When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed.” (20:36)
Grown men weep and embrace (v. 37). The Church’s leaders are also friends. This warmth is part of what ministry should be.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council quotes this verse when it speaks of the apostles entrusting the flock to those who would follow them (Lumen Gentium 20; see also CCC 861). The same teaching stands behind every bishop and priest in the Church today. For the rest of us, the passage is a mirror: a good shepherd tells the whole truth (v. 27), does not love money (v. 33), and cares for the weak (v. 35).
Setting.
“Six days before the Passover” begins the countdown in John to the Lord’s death. Bethany is close to Jerusalem (11:18). In the house, the people of the last chapter are together: Martha serving, Lazarus at table, and Mary. John’s readers know the leaders have already resolved to kill Jesus (11:53).
This Mary is the sister of Martha and Lazarus. The Gospels do not identify her with Mary Magdalene or with the sinful woman of Luke 7; that merger became common in the West after St Gregory the Great, and the Churches of the East have generally kept them distinct.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (12:3)
Washing feet was a servant’s task. Mary anoints them with perfume and wipes them with her hair. In a few days Jesus will wash the feet of his disciples (13:5). St Augustine says that the whole world has since been filled with the good odour of Christ (in substance; compare 2 Corinthians 2:15).
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (12:5)
A good argument used for a bad reason, as John notes (v. 6). The disciple who looks most concerned for the poor is the one stealing from them. John does not let us use the poor as a pretext.
“She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” (12:7)
A note on the text: this verse is hard. The older Greek manuscripts read “let her keep it for the day of my burial”, and the NRSV expands this. Some later manuscripts read “she has kept it”. The POC puts it differently again, “let her consider that she has done this for the day of my burial”. In every reading Jesus receives the act as an anointing for his burial.
“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (12:8)
Jesus echoes Deuteronomy 15:11, which goes on to command an open hand to the poor. So this is no excuse for neglecting them. It is a statement about this moment. The Catechism uses the verse to teach that Jesus’ presence is to be recognized in the poor themselves (CCC 2449).
How the Church reads it.
In the same way, the Church has always held together costly beauty in the worship of Christ and generous care for the poor. The Catechism’s teaching on the poor (CCC 2443–2449) sits beside its teaching on sacred art and worship, and neither cancels the other. St John Chrysostom could praise gifts for the altar and in the same breath tell his people not to neglect Christ in the poor (in substance). The perfume and the alms come from one love.
Is Mary of Bethany the same person as Mary Magdalene?
The Gospels treat them as different women: Mary of Bethany lives near Jerusalem with Martha and Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene comes from Galilee (Luke 8:2). The Western tradition for some centuries joined them. Today the Roman calendar itself keeps separate days for them (22 and 29 July), and the Eastern traditions did not join them.