Growing Good – Mary Magdalene

May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today I’m going to focus on the story of Mary Magdalene. I’m going to focus on this story, because it tells us something important about how we as Christians should give, and how we give and act towards our neighbour is different to how other [non-Christian] people give. And first we are going to look at the strange bits of this story we heard, the story which is depicted in the window above the altar (in the bottom right). In this story, Mary wipes Jesus’ feet after applying the ointment—which is the wrong way round; why rub the ointment off—and with her hair, not a towel which you would have thought would be readily accessible and more seemly, and more convenient to use? It seems that Mary is repeating an act which was so full of meaning for her earlier in Jesus’ ministry; in Luke chapter 7, when a woman “stood behind Jesus at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with, on that occasion, ordinary not costly ointment. Now when it is put to Jesus that the money could have been better spent on the poor, Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Is Jesus saying we shouldn’t give to the poor, or that we should focus on God instead? No, instead Jesus is showing us how the way we give to and love our neighbour is, and should be different to how non-Christians do. For Jesus shows us in his interactions with Mary, that as Christians personal connexion and interaction is the key to how we give to and love our neighbour. Jesus defends Mary because her action was one of love.

So we should love God and love our neighbour by giving to the poor. The two are in that sense the same thing. That is why we are different as Christians—our social action is done through love of God and our neighbour, treating them as individuals.

As a church we are partnering with St Luke’s Clay Hill to explore ways we can do this further by doing the Growing Good course, and there are leaflets at the back for dates. Each session has a Bible reflection, a short film, a group activity, and a space for prayer.

For many churches, the pandemic brought social action and discipleship much closer together, and this raised the question, shouldn’t it always be this way?  Loving God is inseparable from loving our neighbours—and it’s through experiencing love that people are drawn to becoming new disciples of Jesus Christ, and we too grow in prayer, faith, generosity and commitment to justice.

There are many ways that churches might take part in social action depending on their context. Befriending neighbours or co-hosting a lunch club, or hosting a budgeting course in the village hall, bring in a food bank or a toddler group.

But, church social action should be distinct. We aren’t just NGOs with a pointy roof. For churches social action is relational because the focus is building genuine relationships following the example of Jesus; building genuine relationships, not just providing services, and it’s being part of a community. We always have the poor with us, but we treat them as individuals. And in doing so we grow in faithfulness as disciples.

John tells us in the passage we heard that Judas as keeper of the common purse administered poverty relief while not actually caring for the poor, and kept a good healthy portion for himself as recompense for his own pains. As Christians we are called to act oppositely to Judas.

And there’s another reason why as Christians we are called to be different. If we look again at how the passage continues (The words that Jesus says ‘she bought it’ aren’t there in Greek but are added by the translators in this version who felt they could improve on Jesus’ words). So what Jesus says to the disciples is: “Leave Mary alone. Leave her alone so that she might keep it [the ointment] for the day of my burial.” “Leave Mary alone so that she might keep [the remainder of the ointment] for the day of my burial.” And the next time we see a Mary carrying ointment for Jesus’ burial, it’s Mary Magdalene on Easter morning, as portrayed in the window above the altar in the bottom left. As Christians we are called to be different from others in the way we interact with people because we know and are about to experience again the Easter story. We know the joyful ending to the story, and we are called to live that joyful story. Good Friday may be coming up, but so is Easter. So maybe you can come to some of the Growing Good sessions, but whether you can or not, as a church journeying together may we learn how best we may love our neighbours, and remember to give with joy.

Amen.

The Rev’d Michael Aylmer,
St Mary Magdalene, Enfield, 06/04/2025