Today is the Sunday before all hell breaks loose. No, I am not referring to the beginning of that golf tournament that takes place this week, a week that we all take liberties to wear our golfiest clothes with some of the loudest colors. We have an unspoken permission to wear our golf shoes everywhere we go just in case we get a ticket at the last minute we will be prepared! BTW, I have my golf shoes on today, getting ready. And we eat lots of egg salad and pimento cheese sandwiches. And we speak of the
golfers using their first names as if they are our good friends, I cannot believe that Phil, the ole lefty, made that slice on the 16th, again. Boy, I could give him a pointer or two.
No, this is the Sunday before the Sunday that begins the final days of our walk toward the cross. Our walk that begins in Bethany and turns toward Jerusalem. Our walk that begins with dinner with friends and then moves next week to cheers of
Hosanna… save us… as we enter the city and then on to boos and chants to crucify him. So, this morning, we have the preliminary story that sets the stage. That foreshadows a pattern of death and resurrection of sin and redemption. A story in which our gospel writer uses a woman to show us what Jesus has yet to teach his disciples.
The story really begins a chapter before this morning’s gospel reading when Mary and Martha of Bethany send a message to Jesus that their brother is very, very sick. From all accounts, these folks were some of Jesus’ best friends. John tells us that rather than going immediately to Lazarus, Jesus stays two days where he was. When Jesus does arrive in Bethany, he is told that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Martha rightly points out that should the tomb be opened as Jesus directed; it’s probably going to be pretty stinky. Nevertheless, the tomb is opened and on Jesus’ command, Lazarus walks out wrapped in burial linens.
This was not a private miracle done for a family friend. A lot of people were around for this miracle. They had come to Bethany to join Mary and Martha in mourning Lazarus and had followed Jesus to the tomb. News of Lazarus walking out of that tomb traveled like breaking news on the CNN. Many of those eye-witnesses, mostly Jews, believed in Jesus on the spot and thought he should be made king. But others went to the Pharisees and told them that this Jesus they kept hearing about was once again raising people from the dead and inciting the workers. It is not wise to upset those in power. So, the chief priests and Pharisees got together and decided that they had to do something about this rabble rouser. More on that next week. Knowing things were getting dicey, Jesus decided it was probably a good idea to leave town for a while.
All we are told is that Jesus goes into the wilderness, a place where he has gone before when he is making a decision that will change the course of his life and of ours. A place where there is time to be alone with his God and listen to God’s direction for his destiny. We do not know what he did during this time or exactly how long he was gone. I think he is gathering his fortitude to face the pharisees who are gathering momentum to kill him they say because he is a heretic. We know it is out of fear.
The gospel tells us that Jesus comes back to Bethany after this time in the wilderness. He comes back for a dinner party, probably to celebrate Lazarus’ newfound health. He comes back to the place that marked a death and resurrection, much like the one we know is looming on the horizon. And while Martha is fixing supper, always the busy one, exemplifying hospitality to their guests, Mary takes a pound of really expensive perfume and washes Jesus’ feet with it. She then dries his feet with her hair. Without saying a word, Mary shows her love for her friend and her Lord.
Almost immediately, Judas, the CFO of the Team, jumps all over her and wants to know why she did not sell the perfume and give the money to the poor. On the surface, a reasonable question. The perfume cost about three hundred denarii - a year’s wages. A lot of money that could have done a lot of good for the poor. But John tells us that in reality, Judas does not give a whit about the poor. He wanted to get his hands on the cash because he was stealing from his friends. Certainly, no love there.
Jesus’ response to Judas’ comment was that Mary bought the perfume so she might keep it for the day of his burial, which HE knows is not far off. And then he tells his friends, you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me, a verse that has been used, misused and abused ever since it was spoken. His comment was not about their neglecting the poor. Jesus never gives simple responses, does he? He is always teaching to those with him what life in the kingdom should look like. And so, his true point? He is telling his very close friends, his disciples, they will not have him much longer to live among them and to show them who God is.
All of this foreshadowing going on in this small story in the gospel, small and yet, makes clear the message he has been making throughout his ministry about creating a loving community.
Soon Jesus will wash his disciples’ feet as an expression of his love for them as a way of drawing them into his life with God. He will also ask them to repeat this act of service for one another. What Jesus will do for his disciples and will ask them to do for one another, Mary has already done for him. In Mary, then, we are given a picture of the fullness of the life of discipleship. (Interpreter’s Bible p.703)
Mary’s act of discipleship is brought out even more strongly in the contrast with Judas in this scene. Judas does not respond to the impingement of Jesus’ hour with an act of love for Jesus, but with self-centered disdain. Judas’ response leads to the destruction of the flock while Mary’s actions model the life of love that should characterize Jesus’ sheep. (Interpreter’s Bible p.703)
The power of the witness of Mary’s discipleship in this story is that she knows how to respond to Jesus without even being told. She fulfills Jesus’ commandment to love one another. Before he has taught his followers about its true meaning. She gives boldly of herself in love to Jesus at his hour, just as Jesus will give boldly of himself in love at his. The writer of this gospel uses a simple woman the sister of his best friend as the first to embody the love that is commanded of all disciples.
So, what do we do with this? We understand the intricate foreshadowing used by the author to reflect Christ’s upcoming passion. We understand that the central theology of the gospel of John is about loving each other, doing for one another. About the fullness of God available in Jesus and therefore the fullness of life that Jesus makes available to those who believe. In our Lenten book study, Rachel Held Evans states that Jesus did not come to die for us he came to live among us not just as Jesus but as God. And to live out that love among us so that we could not only experience that love, but learn how to love others with this same boldness as Mary of Bethany of the disciples who were martyred because of their faith.
Becky Rowell, a good friend of mine who many of you have already met whether through iconography or in the Diocese’s leadership class, Leading with Grace, shared this story with me and has given me permission to share it with you.
A few years ago, she experienced a surprising lesson on what a community shaped by love looks like. She work in downtown Brunswick at the historic courthouse across the street from the probation office and down the street from the Salvation Army and Manna House. Homeless people are regulars in and around these buildings. She said that she and those who worked in this area knew most of them, both men and women. One day, as she was leaving the courthouse, two men that she had never before seen approached her. One paused briefly and the other kept walking.
The one that paused asked if she could spare a few dollars so that he and his buddy could buy a sandwich and a cup of coffee. As she paused to decide what to do, he asked if she had heard about the fire a few blocks over that had destroyed six houses the night before. He said that the women and children were being cared for by a local nonprofit, but the men had been left to fend for themselves. Despite being late for a meeting across town, she said, she dug around in her purse and found a few dollars. “I was NOT being a cheerful giver, or participating in a community shaped by love,” she said. All the while she was listening to his story and rummaging around in her purse, she was thinking, how could there have been a fire that big that she did not hear about?
She decided that it was a story that this gentleman had made up as a way to get cash.
And then the oddest thing happened. The man asked her name. And as she told, he extended his hand as he thanked her. She said, “He took my hand and began to pray. He prayed that I would experience God’s blessings. He never mentioned his situation, whatever it was, he only prayed for me. I stood there with my mouth open, just staring, as a homeless man held my hand and prayed for me. All of a sudden, I did not really care what he did with the money. I figured that was between him and God.”
In that moment, she got a taste of the community Mary first showed the world. A community shaped by love and grounded in a relationship with Jesus. A community that Mary – and this homeless fella – already knew about.
I invite you to walk this path with Christ and his disciples always but especially Holy Week. Be with us as we walk into Jerusalem among cheers. As we break bread, as we wash feet and hands, as we take part in the trial, as we experience the loss of the light and are plunged into darkness with the hope of Easter and a love so great, that it cannot be contained but must be shared with all who will listen. Amen
Sources:
Rev. Mother Becky Rowell story from her Lent 5 2010 homily
Interpreter’s Bible: A commentary in Twelve Volumes. Volume 8.
The Harper Collins Study Bible