The Prodigal Daughter, and Why We Need an Art Ministry Team

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Today’s gospel lesson tells us about a ‘prodigal daughter.’ The prodigal son is better known—but we’ll be talking about him next week. Some assume that ‘prodigal’ means ‘runaway.’ ‘Prodigal’ means ‘wasteful,’ ‘extravagant’ or ‘excessive.’ The prodigal son was prodigal because he was extravagant in his spending.

The word is not always negative. The first stanza of the Baptismal hymn that we’re going to sing calls God our ‘prodigal creator.’ The point isn’t that God has been wasteful in creation or salvation, but that God is extravagant in creation, and excessive—by our standards—in forgiveness and grace.

So, with her extravagant, over-the-top expression of love and devotion, Mary in our gospel lesson is our prodigal daughter. Jesus lifts Mary and this reckless, but good thing that she did for him.

The Men’s Breakfast Bible Group has used William Barclay’s commentaries for a couple of their Bible studies. In his commentary on John’s gospel, Barclay calls Mary’s action, "love’s extravagance." He says, "Mary took the most precious thing she possessed and spent it all on Jesus. Love is not love if it nicely calculates the cost. It gives its all and its only regret is that it has not still more to give."

One of the early church fathers wrote over a thousand years ago that—beyond just filling the house with fragrance—Mary’s action became "the possession of the whole world and added to the beauty of life in general, something which time cannot ever take away" [Barclay’s paraphrase].

That pound of perfume, or nard, that she poured would have been about 11 oz. The Greek adjective for this nard was ‘pistikeis.’ We don’t know exactly where that word came from—it might mean ‘trustworthy’ or ‘pure’ as in ‘pure nard.’ Or, ‘pistikeis’ may be from the Aramaic word for the ‘pistachio’ because the oil of pistachio was used as a base for some perfumes. It may even be a proper name, or a place name to suggest a very specific kind, or brand of nard perfume. But, I don’t want to dilute the point here: this stuff was expensive, the best! It was extravagant.

It was strange enough for Mary to anoint Jesus’ feet, instead of his head, but then to rub the ointment with her unbound hair (in a day when hair was supposed to be covered) with other people around—was scandalous! It was very uncomfortable for everyone; this odd, very personal moment was being expressed in the open.

Can you imagine being Jesus? how you and I might have felt? Far from being uncomfortable about it, though, Jesus graciously accepted the extravagant gift that would have embarrassed us. So, Mary wasn’t just prodigal in the gift alone, but this excessive expression of her love, was way over the top.

John’s gospel singled out Judas, and his already corrupt nature, but Matthew and Mark tell us that the other disciples were asking the same question, "Why this waste, when there is so much need around us?"

That is a question and criticism that has constantly confronted us, both from inside and outside the church. And perhaps it should.

I found myself struggling with that very question last summer when Pauline and I visited the Vatican with all its riches, gold and endless marble. How can we ‘waste’ so much time and money on ‘ourselves’: on art, music, buildings, beautiful ornamented vessels, vestments, altars, banners and furnishings?

Doesn’t the suffering of people and nations call us to more significant work? Aren’t all these other things just distracting us from the ‘real’ work of ministry? Judas’s question is worth testing ourselves against, to question how we should be using our treasures and resources.

When Jesus answered, "You will always have the poor," I don’t know if Deuteronomy 15:11 was on his mind. Let me summarize it: it says, "You will always have the poor and hungry…so feed them!"

When we are pointed to the ever-present needs of the poor, it is appropriate and obedient to minister to them. And, like Mary, when presented with Jesus and the salvation he gives you, it is appropriate and obedient to ‘pour our perfume,’ to show our affection, gratitude…LOVE for him—using worship, liturgy, music, art, and more.

I know that we often say that love is more than emotion, that love needs action. That is so true, but let’s not forget that it does still include emotions! In Christian love, that means emotion for Christ!

In the church, we have gone through utilitarian phases. The Reformation is a good example. In an angry pious movement, people started smashing their beautiful stain glass windows, defacing their ornamented altars and pulpits. At times Christians in America have lifted up plain-ness as a virtue. Function over art and beauty.

But the real test that is needed is this question: "What spirit?" A spirit of gratitude led Mary. Because of that spirit, she expressed herself far beyond the surface value of the perfume, "to fill the whole room."

In fact, all the actions and gifts in ministry, whenever they are poured out from our spirits of gratitude, all are one body (symbiotic) with Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet! Whether these are social, artistic, worshipful, or charitable things, they carry an extravagant and expansive fragrance that fill the whole House. The same things without that spirit of gratitude are, at best, helpful and useful, but they are pale and cheap beside Mary’s gift when presented to the Altar of God.

We need to be free to bust out and express our devotion to God, our thanksgiving. With beautiful actions of charity and social action, sure, but, right along side of that is the call to express our devotion to God through beautiful actions of art, architecture, music, crayons and banners, metalworking and song, poetry and pottery, video and oil canvas.

There is another test and question that came out during my visit to the Vatican, and whenever I see old carefully created beauty in churches and places and I wonder why we aren’t driven to express our devotion to God like that. What holds us back? Sometimes we forget to experience the emotional joy of loving our God who loves us.

Our first lesson says it so well. It reminds us of all the things God has done for us in the past. But we are reminded only to watch as these fade when compared to the salvation God is bringing. And when the extravagance of this Prodigal Creator is revealed, it inspires such gratitude that even the ostriches and jackals are compelled to sing out with their horrible voices!

Since God has done this for the people he formed for himself, how can they keep from joining that wild choir? Ostriches and jackals! —What keeps us from singing out?

That was the excitement in Mary and her extravagant, prodigal gift. In response to the ‘surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus’ her Lord, Mary poured out her greatest treasure on Jesus’ feet: she poured all her heart.

We need to pour our perfumes like Mary …and sing like jackals! I don’t only mean that literally, but to pour our perfumes and sing through our gifts, our care, our prayers and even our daily work. Even in our daily life, all Christians are artists. We are artists because everything we do means something more than the surface and connects us to a larger meaning.

We need to express the joy of loving God. When presented with a God who has loved me to death…and back, how can I keep from singing? How can I keep from singing?

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