Bible Study With The Bishops:

Reading Plan Text for May 6: John 12:1-8

I'm going to "cheat" today and post a sermon from Holy Week three years ago.

Peace,
Jeffri
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John 12:1-11
by Jeffri Harre
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Fairfield, Connecticut
March 21, 2005

“Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany…” Before the cheering crowds of his entry into Jerusalem, before Judas’ betrayal, before being arrested by the temple guard and taken first to the chief priests and then to the Roman governor, before, before, before… For a brief evening of quiet, Jesus stops at the house of his friend Lazarus. “There they gave a dinner for him,” John tells us.

This story or ones similar to it can be found in all four Gospels, but only Mark and John place it before the final trip to Jerusalem. And only John gives such a detailed account naming names and including specific descriptions of certain people and things. In John there is no “excess baggage,” every phrase has a reason, even if it isn’t always clear to us immediately. So, who are these people, and why are they here?

The first one mentioned is Martha, dependable, steadfast, practical Martha. When Lazarus died, it was she who ran out to meet Jesus. It was Martha who worried about the stench when they opened Lazarus’ tomb. And it was Martha who proclaimed her belief in Jesus as the Messiah. However, there are guests in the house, and Martha’s immediate response is to make sure that the meal is prepared and everyone is served. This time, unlike the last time there were guests in the house when she complained to Jesus that Mary wasn’t helping with the meal, she goes about her business quietly.

Next is Lazarus who “was one of those at the table” with Jesus. Even though he would obviously be the host of this evening, he also has nothing to say. However, this is not out of character given his complete silence after Jesus raised him from the dead. Lazarus may be a beloved friend, but anything he might actually have actually said is superfluous to the story of the Christ John is weaving for us.

John now turns to Mary, who plays the crucial role in this little drama. She brings a twelve ounce jar of very expensive imported perfume into the dining area. We know it is expensive both because John names it and Judas tells us it could be sold for 300 denarii. Nard is short for spikenard, which grows in the Himalayas and was used in perfume by wealthy Romans. Very few people in Roman Palestine would have been able to afford this luxury. Yet Mary takes this costly perfume, pours it over Jesus’ feet and then wipes it away with her hair.

This brings us to Judas, the first person to actually speak in this scene, and the only one to speak besides Jesus. He complains that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But the Gospel writer does more than give Judas a couple of lines of dialogue. We are also given two additional details to make sure that we know Judas is, to quote Dorothy talking about the Wizard, “a very bad man.”

At this point, Jesus intervenes. He tells Judas to, “Leave her alone. She has bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”

Finally, there are the growing crowd in Bethany that has come to see the local celebrities and the chief priests who are even more nervous about their waning influence in the wake of Jesus’ ministry. These groups not only provide a marked contrast to the oasis of calm in Lazarus’s house, but also a transition to the entry into Jerusalem and Jesus’ final days.

But inside the house are people who know who Jesus is. Lazarus knows from his experience of being raised from the dead. Martha knows and has proclaimed her belief. Judas knows. And Mary knows. All of them know at some level or another that Jesus is the Messiah, promised to the world. But only Mary understands fully what it means and what is to come in the days ahead. While Martha serves, Lazarus sits, and Judas complains, Mary takes the expensive perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet—something usually done only while preparing a body for burial. Through her actions Mary shows that she knows that Jesus will die, and she knows there will not be an opportunity to do this loving service for Jesus before his burial.

Mary knows that without the events of the coming days—the entry into Jerusalem, the betrayal by Judas, the arrest, the trial, and the crucifixion—there can be no Easter. As Joan Chittester writes, “We go through death so that life can become new over and over again, so that over and over again, we can see the lives of those around us with new eyes.” If we take nothing else from this short scene from John’s Gospel, let us remember to take time with Mary to face head on the events of this week so that we may fully understand and celebrate the coming resurrection of our Savior.

Amen.