Our Bodies are Worth Beautiful Things

Bodies matter to God. Listen to this story from Jesus’s last week.

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3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world,what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” 

• Mark 14:3-9

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Do you hear it? Jesus says this act of kindness to his body, his flesh - it was a beautiful thing. Jesus didn’t avoid or minimize his embodiment: “oh, you’re right - what does this physical shell matter anyway.” No, we’re not divided selves, souls that matter, flesh that doesn’t. Historically, thinking that way has helped people to justify horrible behavior toward their own bodies and the bodies of others - enslaved people in the American south, for instance. But Jesus embraces this truth: bodies are part of the goodness of creation, part of the tangible, relational world he came to restore.

What acts of kindness, what beautiful things can we do for embodied souls today, starting but not stopping with our own? Our preacher on Sunday, Barak Bomani, talked about using oils each day to nourish his skin and delight in lovely smells. Is there a small self care practice you’ve been meaning to start or re-start? What acts of kindness might be possible for you today as you move through the world? Will you give a hug or a compliment, write a note or share a cookie, invite someone on a walk or out for coffee, deliver groceries or a meal for someone who is struggling…

Bodies matter to God. They are worth kind treatment - beautiful things. AMEN.