Shine, Baby!

Matthew 26:12 – “By pouring this ointment on my body, she has prepared me for burial.”

We talked about the ointment being significant in several ways: burial, kingship, loving care. This morning, though, this passage has me thinking about funerals. Every funeral I have ever been to has had me thinking, “I wish I had known them better.” Even my father’s funeral. There’s an honesty and grace about funerals that isn’t always part of our every day lives. I think it’s because there’s a vulnerability about revealing ourselves to others and receiving the revelations others share. At least, for me. I’m surprised by funereal revelations, because I have a tendency, and I’m certain I’m not alone, to put people in boxes. But, like Jesus being prepared for a kingly burial, people can’t be put into boxes.

We do this with God, too. J.B. Phillips wrote a book in 1952 entitled, Your God is too Small. He offers 13 ways we human beings limit God. Among them is God in a Box. We like to think we have God figured out. That we have the inside scoop on what God wants, but God is not limited by our ideas nor the words in the Bible. Just as the woman recognizes there is more to Jesus than just a powerful and spiritual man, so we must recognize that there is more to God than being a law-giver, a managing director, a meek and mild comforter, or an absolutely perfect being. God and the people in our lives are so much more than what we can see or hear. As Augustine famously wrote, “If you understand, what you have understood is not God.”

The Roman Catholics get around this dilemma by apophatic description. Saying god is ‘a,’ but also ‘ not a,’ and also ‘not not-a.’ So, God is Love, but also ‘not-love,’ but also ‘not not-love.’ God’s love goes beyond our word for love. We really have no language to describe God perfectly. And we really have no language to describe others perfectly.

If we could really see others, we would see them shining – like the halos in Renaissance paintings, except from our whole bodies. You, and me, and the trees, the birds, your neighbor, your children, that person who you can’t stand, that person you’re afraid of, all of us are shining like the ointment running over Jesus’s body. Like diamonds sparkling in the sunlight. Like new pennies. Always.

But we are too conscious of our faults and failures to really embrace our light. Again, speaking for me, but maybe you too. Giving ourselves permission to shine is tough for some of us. It’s dangerous. It opens us up to criticism and ridicule. Maybe even accusations of “virtue signaling.” In some places, it opens us up to violence. But when we are being our true selves, we are shining. When you shine, you give me permission to shine. When I shine, I give you permission to shine too. That’s what the world needs right now. It needs all of us to shine.

Let’s not hide our light under a bushel today. Let’s add to the love in the world by remembering today that you, me, and everyone (yes, even that person!) are shining like diamonds.

May you have eyes to see your beautiful light and the beautiful light of your fellow humans, today and every day.

B