John 12:1-8
PRAYER:
Our lectionary takes
an unexpected break from Luke’s gospel, and we hear from John a story that
really has more questions about it than answers.
John’s story still
follows the same trajectory of Jesus heading towards Jerusalem as does Luke,
but here the deviation has Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life and his sister
Mary washing Jesus’ feet with some expensive fragrance.
Then the questions
arise.
The First Question: “Is Mary’s act an Act of
Devotion or an Act of poor stewardship?
In many ways this
act of Mary is a precursor to what Jesus will do in the next chapter… Jesus
washes his friend’s feet. Interestingly, when Jesus does this, Judas does not
object, Peter does. Ultimately… is Mary’s act an act of discipleship? In Luke
10:38… Jesus is at Mary & Martha’s home for dinner and Martha gets miffed
at Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet… and once again Mary is admonished for doing the
right thing. In John… Mary is again doing a sacrificial act of devotion. Is
Mary demonstrating an unmerited act of love and service? We might do well to
pay attention to Mary.
Th e 2ndQuestion: “What was Mary
Thinking?”
This perfume was
very expensive and equivalent to about 1 year’s wages for person who did manual
labor. It seems ridiculous maybe almost scandalous to waste this very expensive
fragrance on some ones feet. These fragrances would have never been used
outside of burial rites. So… you can emphasize with Judas who suggests selling
it in order to help others. And, if we weren’t told of his motives, we wouldn’t
object to this reasonable request. In fact… we often rationalize like this all
the time… sit in on a council meeting. We’re not told of Mary’s motives either…
is she doing this because she is thankful for Jesus saving her brother from
death or an authentic act of devotion to Jesus being Lord and Savior?
The 3rd Question: “What does Jesus
Mean...? “You will always have the Poor?
John ends this story
with Jesus saying, “You will always have the poor with you, but you won’t
always have me.” Is Jesus dismissing the poor? Is Jesus telling us the poor
don’t mean much? But one thing for sure… we’re uncomfortable when Jesus says
things like this. Jesus tells us in Matt
5… the beatitudes… “Blessed are the poor, for they will inherit the kingdom of
heaven.”
What are we to
believe?
We know Jesus exaggerates…
mostly with the Pharisee’s.
Judas seems to make
an attempt to emphasize with the poor.
I’m wondering if the
point Jesus is making isn’t about the poor, but of him-self. Jesus has proofed
he loves the poor and as he prepares to enter the last week of his life he is
pointing towards his death, and this death testifies to God’s abundant love for
all, and Mary picks up on it offering her
love and devotion. Jesus’ saying of the poor is not about ones station or
circumstance in life, but about his love for us no matter those situations.
I’m wondering if
this story isn’t so much about the poor because as Jesus says, “They are always
among us in a variety of ways.”
And… it’s not about
Mary over against Judas as a moralistic endeavor of how we should be.
But about Jesus
Himself in that Jesus needs to be the focus of our devotion, rather than the
distractions around us.
In the end it’s about Jesus + Nothing
-
We don’t
need to do anything.
-
We don’t
have to do anything.
-
We just
need to be devoted to Jesus.
We shouldn’t fear
the questions here and fret why Jesus says what he says because Jesus has
demonstrated his love for people both the poor and those with means.
John tends to use
symbolic images and language to illustrate his point to his readers. John’s
readers understood what Jesus meant.
And it’s OK that we
are challenged by his words.
I believe it’s OK to
live with the questions… perhaps the questions will elicit conversation
throughout the week.
See You Out on the Road
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