Chris, UNOH Klong Toey, Bangkok, Thailand
Some time ago two UNOH workers and a Thai UNOH Companion found themselves in a shack, one of the thousands that make up Klong Toey community.
The air was thick and hot but more noticeable was the stench of human waste. In this squalor was a man, wearing nothing but an adult nappy. He was covered in wounds, bed sores severely infected. In addition to this harrowing reality, smeared over his body, was his own waste. Here was a person, surrounded by thousands, yet completely alone, utterly neglected and stripped of all dignity. At moments like these it’s as though death is consuming everything. ‘Eden’ is but a distant, fading memory, and the New Jerusalem a vague, distant hope.
As the workers gently sponged the man, groans of deep anguish broke the silence. His skin, without resistance, peeled away. And then our Thai companion did something scandalous, and wonderful. She took the man’s feet, and touching them ever so gently, bathed them. Rarely, in Thai culture, does someone touch the feet of a family member. Never does a person touch the feet of a stranger, especially someone so impoverished. Yet at such a moment of selflessness, humility and sacrifice, Love was present. Jesus was near. The Kingdom of God was plain for all to see. Little did we know that in bathing our new friend, we were in fact participating in a ceremony, preparing him for burial. An hour later he passed away.
In John 12 we discover Mary acting in a scandalous manner. Overcome with love and gratitude, in a stunning and prophetic act Mary anoints Jesus for burial by lavishly bathing his feet with expensive perfume. Adding to the drama and scandal, while the room is filled with a sweet aroma, Mary then lets out her hair to dry the feet of Jesus. In a display of extreme devotion and love, Mary is considered by some as wasteful and socially inappropriate. Yet Jesus receives Mary’s actions as an act of worship and loving devotion. Jesus affirms and even delights in her selfless, humble, sacrificial service.
This is a picture of what going deeper looks like. It’s a selfless and humble service. It’s a costly and sacrificial love. Mary offers back to Jesus what she herself has received from him: love, humility, service and sacrifice. Our hope and our prayer is that we too will have the courage to do likewise to Jesus, our neighbours and each other.
This invitation to go deeper in a ‘scandalous manner’ draws us back to our covenants with God and each other. Our commitments are precious gifts that hold us together and simultaneously release us to dive deep down into the life of our neglected and forgotten neighbourhoods, where we join the risen Jesus to seek transformation from the bottom up. May our act of worship fill our lives, our homes, our neighbourhoods throughout the world with the sweet aroma of Jesus.