Streams of Mercy - The Rev Judith Medeiros - 4-6-25

Reading - Mathew 26:6-13 (read by Roxanne Willard)
Sermon - Streams of Mercy by The Rev Judith Medeiros

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Second reading is from Matthew chapter twenty six, verses six
through thirteen. When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of
Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as
he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle
a very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening,

(00:22):
they were furious. That's criminal. This could have been sold
for a lot, and then the money handed out to
the poor. When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened,
why are you giving this woman a hard time? She
has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will
have the poor with you every day for the rest

(00:43):
of your lives, but not me. When she poured this
perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint
me for burial.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
You can be.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Sure that wherever in the whole world the message is preached,
what she has just done is going to be real,
membered and admired.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Casey Howley was flying on a business trip. Buckled up,
settled in, Everyone went about their business, reading, writing, snacking.
Then an announcement came over the PA system from the captain.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
It seemed there was a problem.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
The hydraulic system had failed, and they were turning back.
With a calm voice, the pilot explained that they could
very well crash. Looking out the window, they saw fuel
being dumped to prevent any explosion when they landed. With
each calm explanation, anxiety climbed among the passengers. Some cried

(02:13):
out loud, many experienced noticeable nervousness. Fear and panic set in.
Their plane was going to crash and they would die.
Casey desperately needed someone or something to hold onto. She

(02:34):
needed to be reassured so that she would not lose control.
She looked around, and she found it in a very
unexpected place. Across from her was a young mother sitting
very close.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
To her four year old daughter.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
She held her daughter's face in her hands, and she
looked right into her eyes, speaking to her. The daughter
listened very intently. Casey leaned forward, straining to hear what
she said. All around him, the disciples are beginning to

(03:26):
lose it. The chief priests and the pharisees seemed to
be at every turn, chaos seems imminent. It was getting
out of control. Who do you think you are? Well?
What did you mean by that?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Well? Who told you could do that. More and more.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
People were coming for healing, reaching out to touch the
hem of his cloak, calling him to heal the sick,
to raise the dead. Hosanna had recently been chanted at
the gates of jeru Us, and palms had been laid
at his feet. Messiah, Messiah, they called out. It seemed

(04:08):
he was surrounded by friends, and yet he was alone.
The disciples didn't seem to get it. They seemed to
have their own agenda, and he was getting lost in
the mix.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
The authors of the Four.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John all disagree about what
happened next. Oh, they all agree that the story happened,
which frankly is unusual for them. But exactly when and
how and well, you know how it goes. It's like
the game of telephone. The story gets changed a little

(04:48):
bit every time it's told. You must have one of
those stories in your own house. Maybe it's the story
of great Aunt Betty who came this close to winning
a role in a Broadway show. Well, actually, no, it
was that she came this close to knowing someone in
the Broadway show. No, no, it was that she dated

(05:12):
someone in a Broadway show. Well, anyway, Aunt Betty, Wait
a minute, wasn't Aunt Betty?

Speaker 3 (05:24):
You get the picture.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Stories get changed sometimes because we just can't remember, sometimes
because some of us remember it differently, and sometimes because
well we guess or we just make assumptions about what
could have happened. So what did happen next? Well, there

(05:48):
was this woman who knows what force overtook her, what
impulse made her move across the floor, this alabaster jar
in hand. But suddenly, as sure as she knows her
own name, this inner knowing comes over her and she
runs to him, and she anoints him with oil, like

(06:12):
a mother kissing her son before he goes off to war,
like a coach giving his team a pep talk. She
is driven to imbue in him what she already knows
and sees about him. Whatever veils have been separating him
from the rest, whatever anger or denial has kept others

(06:36):
from seeing who he is. It says, if in this
moment time stops, this unnamed woman sees Jesus, She really
sees him, and she sees that he is special, that

(07:01):
he is holy, that he has chosen, and what his
love will ultimately cost him.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
She knows his call.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Better than she knows her own, and in an act
of devotion and profound mercy, she anoints him, pouring this sacred,
expensive oil over his head, over his feet, wiping tears,
weeping tears, wiping his feet with her hair.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Her love and.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Recognition of who he is and what he is about
to face pours out of every part of her being.
She cannot contain the love she feels. In this very
intimate act for all to see, for everyone to witness,

(08:04):
she is saying, I see you, I know who you are.
Thank God for you. What happens to us when we

(08:29):
go unseen, when no one really cares to know who
we are, when no one really cares? What happens to
us when we never hear anyone say good job, well done,

(08:52):
or worse, only our mistakes are recognized. What happens to
its child that has never fussed over, never has a
birthday celebrated, never has anyone attend their school recitals, has
no pictures on the refrigerator door. What happens to us

(09:17):
when we are unseen, unknown, unheard. I think our souls
become diminished. I think we become a broken, wounded people,

(09:39):
or worse, we become hardened and cruel. You see, we
all need to be seen for who we are, to
be blessed for whom we are called to be, each

(10:02):
of us special, each of us sacred, each of us chosen.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
Don't we all crave that?

Speaker 2 (10:23):
It's ironic, isn't it. The people that should have recognized
Jesus don't. The priests and the elders view him with
suspicion and distrust, and even the disciples are constantly confused
by him.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
They still have no.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Clue who he really is. Of all the people, we
would think that surely they would recognize the anointed, but each,
in his own way, is still blind to who he is.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
What are you doing? The disciples cried when she.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Covered him with oil.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
You can almost feel the sting of the slap. Who
told you you could do that? What were you thinking?
Are you crazy?

Speaker 2 (11:18):
How could you you know? Money doesn't grow on trees?
What about all those starving children?

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Stop, says Jesus. Just let her be.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
For truly, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is
preached in the whole world, what she has done will
be told in memory of her, in memory of who.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Who is this woman?

Speaker 2 (12:00):
We don't really know. We know the names of the
disciples who will later betray him. We know the names
of the chief priests who will manipulate him. We even
know the name of the criminal who will be released
instead of Jesus. But this faithful woman in three of
the gospels remains anonymous. And yet she is the one

(12:27):
we are told to remember, the one who saw into
the heart of Christ and offered him grace. Casey, desperate

(12:51):
for courage, is leaning in to hear this mother's words,
fearing the plane will crash, and she leans closer and closer,
and she hears the mother say to her four year
old daughter, I love.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
You so much. Do you know for sure that I.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Love you more than anything, Yes, mommy, says the little girl.
And remember, no matter what happens, that I will love
you always, that you are a good girl. Sometimes things

(13:39):
happen that are not your fault, but that still makes
you a good girl, and my love will always be
with you. Then the mother put her body over her
daughter's and strapped the seatbelt over them, preparing to crash. Fortunately,

(14:08):
the plane did not crash that day, but the anointing
that mother gave to her child left an impression on
Casey Howley. The voice I heard never wavered, she said,
never acknowledged doubt, maintained an evenness that seemed emotionally and

(14:33):
physically impossible. Not one of us hardened business travelers could
have spoken without a trembling voice. I heard the voice
of courage, undergirded by love, that bore that mother up

(14:57):
and lifted her above the chaos around her. When the
church is working, we are like that. We anoint each
other with love and courage. We stand on the sidelines,

(15:21):
cheering each other on, bearing each other up. We hold
on to one another. When we feel that we cannot
withstand the despair of the world, we hold up the light,
reminding each other who we really are. We keep singing,
even if our friends cannot. We become the stillness in

(15:46):
the center of the storm. She took a jar of ointment,
and she anointed him with the courage to do what
he needed to do.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
What a simple and yet profound thing. Amen