Sometimes When We Touch
I'm the Reverend Breanne Swan, and this is Sermons from the East End for Tuesday, March 18th 2024. Hello, and welcome to this week's episode after a week off because we celebrated a music Sunday full of ballads during our Sunday service. This week, we hear the story of Mary anointing Jesus and wiping away the costly perfume with her hair. Judas is scandalized. Scandal seems to follow Jesus everywhere. We explore the very human, dare I say, sensual aspect of the incarnate God who came to live among us.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:John chapter 12 verses 1 through 8. 6 days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus's feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He kept the common purse and used to steal from it. Jesus said, leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:I have been an ordered minister with the United Church since May of 2021, coming up on a few years. However, I generally consider my start date into, quote, paid accountable ministry to be January 2017. Because that is when I started working for The United Church of Canada in a community ministry setting, and it's also when I started contributing to the pension and benefits program. At the time, my husband was a new media consultant with his own business, and I had been studying, mothering, and doing peace contracts here and there. So having access to health benefits was a really big deal for my family. In October of 2018, thousands of people across the country, not only United Church of Canada employees, but anybody whose plan was administered by Green Shield, opened up an email. And in this email was a blog post called the elephant in the waiting room.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:This blog post described the many amazing strides pharmaceutical companies had made towards hepatitis C treatments and life saving cancer drugs. About how many lives had been saved. However, those drugs are very expensive. Very, very, very expensive. And so Greenshield suggested that perhaps there could or should be a time in the near future when massage therapy, often the largest health insurance output for employers, be taken off private insurance plans in order to redistribute funds to cover the pharmaceuticals.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:They attempted to shame us into what they felt was a necessary change in priorities. Now perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of folks were pretty outraged about the threat of losing their massage therapy benefits. There were letters. There were Twitter wars. Professional organizations representing massage therapists started rallying their people.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:And the United Church of Canada General Counsel Office fielded so many calls and was forced to release a communication assuring ministers and staff that although Green Shield managed the benefits program on the United Church of Canada's behalf, they did not have final say in what was included in the plan and that there was no movement to take massage therapy away as a covered expense. Upon reading the original blog post, I was most outraged by this phrase, and I'm quoting Greenshield here. Now, if you were asked to give up your coverage for massages so that Becky could get the drugs she needs for her daughter so she can stay alive, Would you? Yes or no? And underneath this text is an illustration of a cute little girl, and if you clicked yes, she smiled.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:If you clicked no, her face went grey and she looked, well, dead. She died, and it was your 2 pm massage appointment that killed her. A massage that, according to Greenshield, had no more therapeutic benefit than simply a really good nap. I recently told this story to my husband, who is now also a United Church of Canada minister. And his response was, wait, Is this a real story?
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Somebody approved that piece of communication? Yes. Yes. They did. I just went online to see if I could find screenshots of the post.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:The original article has long been removed, but I do have screenshots now posted in the show notes. In our gospel reading today, we have Jesus visiting and eating with his friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Mary takes out some very expensive perfume and spreads it over Jesus' feet. Judas takes exception. What extravagant waste!
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:What a prodigal use of resources! This ointment should have been sold. We could have given the money to the poor. You hypocritical woman. But Jesus is having none of that, and comes to Mary's defense.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Judas, you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. Now I have heard these words used, like I think so many of us have, to justify many lamentable positions and actions taken against the poor and society. Why try to create a stronger social safety net if there are always going to be poor anyway? There will always be poor people. Jesus said so himself.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:But that is not really what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is quoting, as Jesus often does, a piece of scripture from the book of Deuteronomy, a passage that would have been recognizable by all those present at the table. I won't read you the whole passage, but the gist of it kind of goes like this: Yes, there will always be the poor. There will always be poor people around those who have closed off their hearts to the poor. There will always be poor people around wealthy people who will not share their resources.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:So what Jesus might be saying here is, yes, you, Judas, will always have the poor around you, because your heart is closed and your soul is cold to their plight. In the Johannine account, Judas does not really care about the poor. John quite clearly states that he is a thief. Judas is trying to deflect, to make the issue about something that it is not. And so why do I bring Judas up alongside misguided health insurance providers?
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Well, because it seems as if they were both using the same tactics. In the same way that Judas tried to make Mary feel guilty about wasting resources when there were so many people in need, Green Shield's newsletter seemed to be placing the blame and ownership for lack of access to astronomically expensive life saving medication on people who are accessing massage services, completely dismissing the treatment and preventative benefits of massage while also shifting the responsibility for access to resources away from the pharmaceutical companies. If Becky's little girl cannot access her life saving medication, it's because you, or I, want a nap. Not because those providing the medication are being exploitive. It is dishonest, and it is a deflection from a greater ailment which is being swept under the rug.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:When Greenfield came after massage therapy, there was outrage about it being considered as simply an indulgent relaxation technique. Users pointed out that they use massage therapy treatment for intense chronic pain, to increase range of motion, to function without needing to take highly addictive opioids. I use massage therapy for a chronic spine and to prevent debilitating migraine headaches. However, even if massage therapy was simply a way to relax, to rest, to take a break, to feel some relief from the day to day, I would be okay with that, while also acknowledging the incredible privilege it is to have these complementary health benefits. There are so many academic studies and generations of inherited wisdom that demonstrate the benefits, the necessity really of human touch.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:The flesh on flesh interaction that our society has completely sexualized and by extension made taboo. Massage is a sensual experience, And that sensory input, that human contact, it is healing. I do not think it was by any coincidence that Greenshield chose massage to target. Their people are smart people, and those smart people know how far we have gone in dismissing and downplaying the necessity of human touch for health and well-being. For years now, plan members have been offered a health and wellness program that incorporates podcasts and videos about sleep hygiene, telephone access to counselors of experiencing crisis, cognitive behavioral therapy that is not facilitated by a human being, but rather a series of videos and AI bots.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:But the idea that being therapeutically touched by another person is itself healing and healthful, that's not something our society often lifts up. On the road map of our Lenten journey, it is one day before Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem. Lazarus has just been raised from the dead. It is 6 days before the crucifixion. Both Martha and Mary are serving Jesus.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Martha is serving food. Mary's service is in anointing. The smell of the nard would have been completely overpowering. You can imagine smashing an entire bottle of perfume to the floor. Mary is anointing Jesus for his burial.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:The scent of the nard would have clung to Jesus, perhaps he may have even still been able to smell it on the cross. Mary understands where this is all heading in a way that the 12 disciples do not. Mary anoints him for burial as a king may be anointed. And so we have Mary, who truly sees Jesus for who He is and what is going to happen. She pours the oil on his feet, she lets her hair down, and she wipes away the extravagant gift in an extravagantly sensual way.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Her hair, perhaps intermingled with her tears, Her body as a comfort and a blessing. Her own choice and agency are on display here. Because, make no mistake, this would have been a completely scandalous act. Jewish women did not let their hair down in public, nor did they touch men who were not their husband. But she does it of her own agency, of her own volition.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Her presence and touch, an act of sensuous care and compassion. I'm sure that many of you have read Harry Potter, but if you haven't, there's a few spoilers coming up. There is a moment in the last book of the series, when Harry understands that he needs to be killed by Voldemort. Neither can live while the other survives, and the moment of death is coming soon. He becomes hyper aware of his body's function and sensation.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:He wonders about how many more beats his heart has left. He feels the breeze upon his skin, marvels at the scents of his feet on the ground, the movement of his hands. But he knows it will all be over soon, and laments that he never truly understood what a marvel his body was. Jesus knows what lies ahead. Mary does too.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:He knows his days are numbered. So I wonder if, like a literary hero created 2000 years after his time, Jesus' senses would have been even more heightened. The taste of the food Martha prepared, the overwhelming smell of the rare perfume, the sounds of the grumbling, the sight of so many friends gathered, an unexpected living wake. And then, the touch, the caress of Mary's hands, the softness of her hair, perhaps her cheek passed over his heel. The flesh upon flesh reminder of Jesus's very human and very fragile body.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:A body that will soon be shattered, shred, and broken. Perhaps Jesus took his cue from Mary, This is my body given for you. And it has already been anointed. Jesus said, leave her alone, She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:Over the past 5 weeks we have made our way towards Jerusalem. We have been exploring journeys of change. We have been preparing for a burial. And in this preparation, I believe this week I would like to think about changing priorities. And often, the ways in which priorities can shift is in naming the hypocrisy around us.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:The hypocrisy seen in using the poor for personal gain as Judas did in Lazarus' home. The hypocrisy of placing the burden and responsibility for whether children live or die, an ordinary worker simply doing the best they can to take care of themselves and their families. The hypocrisy when I deflect blame and responsibility in areas of my own life which need tending to. Making excuses to hold back from giving more of my self, not in a self deprecating or self depleting kind of way, but ways in which the world perhaps may not understand. Shifting away from that hypocrisy and leaning into cultivating a lavish love, completely unexplainable, unjustifiable, lavish love for those around me.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:A love where perhaps even my body is on the line as well. It's terrifying. What does that kind of intimate personal sensuous healing love look like? Mary knew. She knew.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:In a moment, you will hear a song called These Bodies performed by my buddies, The Many. As you listen, I invite you to think about Jesus' invitation to change our priorities, change from priorities that benefit the few to prioritising love. A love that is for all, and where our bodies and senses might also be vessels of this lavish love. Amen. East End United Regional Ministry is committed to supporting our neighbors throughout the east end of Toronto. We run a weekly food bank market out of our Glen Roads campus on Gerrard Street, as well as out of the cold from our Eastminster campus on Danforth Avenue. We actively support refugees and asylum seekers, and are public, intentional, and explicit of our affirmation and advocacy for 2 spirited and LGBTQIA plus peoples. We gather for worship on-site and online Sunday mornings at our Eastminster campus, and Thursday evenings at our Glen Robes campus. We are a community working to figure out how to embody the words of Cornel West who said, justice is what love looks like in public.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:We don't always get it right, but we are committed to working for progress even as we acknowledge that we are a work in progress. If any of this sounds interesting, we would love to meet you. Feel free to send me, Reverend Breanne, an email, bswanbswan@eastendunited.ca. I would love to connect over coffee, either in person or online. Thank you for listening to this week's sermon.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:We'll be back next week, Palm Sunday, with the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem to cheering clouds. Cloud? No, cheering crowds. Perhaps his last good day before everything goes wrong. But until then, take care of yourselves and each other.
Rev. Bri-anne Swan:We'll be back soon. East End United Regional Ministry is an affirming community of faith within The United Church of Canada. You can learn more about our community, including our many outreach programs, by going to www.eastandunited dot ca.
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