The Calm Before the Storm
This dinner party in Bethany in John chapter 12 stands
between the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead and Jesus’s own Death and Resurrection
in Jerusalem. Just before this, when in Jerusalem for a previous festival, some
Judean collaborators with Pilate and Herod attempt to arrest and/or stone him.[i]
He has to leave the city for someplace “across the Jordan” to let things cool
off.
Then word comes to Jesus that his friend Lazarus, “whom he
loves,” is ill. Lazarus’s sisters Martha and Mary send word for Jesus to come
to Bethany, a nearby suburb of Jerusalem. The disciples try to talk him out of going
because of the danger that lurks in Judea. He hesitates, but eventually goes to
Bethany only to find Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. He weeps. He
prays. He calls Lazarus to come out! Lazarus emerges from the tomb, alive and bound
with swaddling-cloths to preserve the ointments and herbs with which he was
buried.
Judeans of every neighborhood, gender and station in society
flock to see Lazarus, who is suddenly the man of the hour, not Jesus. The
authorities collaborating with the Roman occupation now declare that Lazarus
and Jesus both need to be arrested and killed to calm things down lest Pilate
slaughter all who will come to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover – the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Exodus from Captivity – an annual
gathering from all over the ancient world to recall the power of the God of
Israel to overthrow any and all powers of authoritarian-totalitarian Regimes
like Egypt and Rome!
It's been a long day for Jesus and his friends. An even
longer four days for Lazarus, who sits at the table with Jesus but seemingly
remains speechless. Kurt Vonnegut, preaching on Palm Sunday at St. Clement’s
Church, suggests that it is a mixed blessing to be brought back from the dead
given that those in the crowd gathering outside his Bethany household who
already want to return him to the tomb![ii]
In the midst of it all, the very heart of the story, the two
sisters, Martha and Mary demonstrate what it means to follow Jesus in serving
others: Martha, as we have come to expect, is preparing and serving the supper.
Mary, gets down on her hands and knees with a jar of expensive oil from the
spikenard plant – a rare flowering plant in the honeysuckle family that grows
in the Himalayas, used as perfume, incense and herbal medicine. She uses the
nard to anoint Jesus’s feet, then wipes them with her hair. This is an
extravagant gesture of gratitude and love in thanks for what Jesus has done for
her brother and her family. We are told the “house is filled” with the
fragrance of this remarkably valuable perfume. It is a moment of calm before
the storm that will soon take place in Jerusalem. Try to imagine Jesus sitting,
eyes closed, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation.
The late Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple,
reflecting on Mary’s gesture of gratitude reminds us, “It is more important
to thank God for blessings received than to pray for them beforehand. For that
forward-looking prayer, though right as an expression of dependence on God, is
still self-centered in part, at least of its interest; there is something we
hope to gain by our prayer. But the backward-looking act of thanksgiving is
quite free from this. In itself it is quite selfless. Thus, it is akin to love.
All our love to God is in response to God’s love for us. It never starts on our
side. ‘We love because God first loved us! (1 John 4:19)’” [iii]
Poor Judas only sees the value of the oil, not the value of gratitude,
love and the servanthood of the two sisters. John tells us that Judas is
blinded by the love of money, not love of God, not love of neighbor. Judas deigns
to chide our Lord Jesus for not urging Mary to sell the oil and give the money
to the poor. Storyteller John tells us, however, “Judas said this not because
he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. He had the money
case. He used to steal what was thrown in!”[iv]
Jesus famously replies, “Leave her alone. She bought it
so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor
with you, but you do not always have me." Focusing only on the last
part has caused much mischief as Vonnegut suggests that many people hear verse
8 more like, “The poor are hopeless. We’ll always be stuck with them.” This
leads to characterizations of the poor being hopeless because they are so lazy,
or so dumb, or that they drink too much and take drugs, have too many children
and even worse. [v]
Which misses the point that Jesus chides Judas for his hypocrisy.
Vonnegut translates it as, “Judas, do not worry! There will be plenty of
poor people left long after I am gone.” This suggests that this is “a
divine black joke, well suited to the occasion. It says everything about
hypocrisy and nothing about the poor. It is a Christian joke, which allows
Jesus to remain civil to Judas, but to chide him about his hypocrisy all the
same.”[vi]
John recounts this story to remind us: Hypocrites you always
have with you; faithful servants like Martha and Mary are rare! Indeed, the
next chapter begins with The Last Supper where Jesus, perhaps taking a cue from
Mary, gets on his hands and knees to wash his disciple’s feet – an occasion so
startling and yet important to John’s account, that in the five chapters the
storyteller devotes to The Last Supper, there is not one mention of bread and
wine – only this account of washing feet as an example of what it means to
“love one another as I have loved you, and as Mary and Martha have loved me.”
Thus, the tale of Spikenard Saturday, the night before Palm
Sunday and Jesus’s entrance to Jerusalem. It is a story of Servanthood, Gratitude
and Love. Hypocrites you will always have with you. Servants of God’s love who
give thanks to God like Martha and Mary are those who truly follow Jesus! This
is the calm before the storm. Jerusalem is tomorrow. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment