Day 13

Mark 14:6-9 (Part II)

I have often mourned the fact that this woman – who will be remembered because of what she has done – isn’t given a name. I’ve regularly assumed this was just one more example of a culture that didn’t value women and regretted how omitting her name reinforced some of our own unhelpful attitudes about women. And that may very well be the case. But lately I’ve also wondered if Mark’s omission was intentional, inviting us to identify with her, to actually see ourselves as her. In Mark, you see, it is regularly the women who understand what real discipleship is, and so I wonder if this is another example of a woman who understood that to be a disciple doesn’t necessarily involve scaling mountains – or having everyone know your name – but instead reflects a day-to-day commitment to live as Jesus did. Discipleship, that is, is doing what you can.

So with that in mind, what can you do? What can we do together? What small gestures can we offer? Care for a friend, shovel a neighbor’s walk, read to a child, contribute your time and talent to an organization that needs you, work together so that fewer people will go to bed tonight hungry and cold. What? It doesn’t have to be big. And, in light
of Jesus’ words, we may well discover that, when done in faith, there is no small gesture.

VC John