Jesus - our Holy Week response

The passage I’ve chosen to think about as we reach Monday of Holy Week is John 12: 1 - 11.

Jesus is in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazurus.  It is six days before the Passover. We aren’t given much detail in the Gospels about Jesus’ personal life, but we know this home was one where Jesus could go and just be and that this family were important to him. He has after all wept at Lazurus’ tomb. So,” they gave a dinner for him”. He is welcomed into their home and receives gracious hospitality from them. One of the things we are missing at the moment is having dinner parties with friends or eating out. 

Jesus has brought Judas along with him and perhaps some of the other disciples. A lot of work for Martha, whom the Gospels seem to have chained to the oven and kitchen sink.

After the meal the guests relax and while Martha is busying herself with the washing up Mary sits at Jesus' feet. She takes a bottle of perfume and pours it onto Jesus' feet.

Then she wipes his feet with her hair.

And Judas is incensed! 

"Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?" he protests. "What a waste!" is the first thought that pops into his head. He’s really not interested in the poor, he thinks he could have sold the bottle and kept the money for himself. 

And Jesus says,  "Leave her alone! She has kept this perfume for the day of my burial.You will always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me.” 

This story is all about how we respond to Jesus this Holy Week. There are three reactions to him here.

First, extravagant giving. 

Mary loves Jesus. He’s a friend. But she sees here more than that. She has understood, unlike his closest disciples, that he will soon die. She recognises him as the Christ and wishes to anoint him for his burial. 

Pure nard was a spice that came from the Himalayas in the far north of India. It had to be imported to Israel at great cost. We don’t know how Mary got this huge jar but she doesn’t hesitate in tipping it all over Jesus feet. 

But more than that, she lets her heir down, unthinkable in public, and she gets down on the ground and wipes Jesus’ feet with it. Extravagant giving and service... 

Ask yourself, who has shown extravagant love to you in your life? Have there been times when someone has given you something or done something for you you felt was just too much? How does Jesus feel as Mary does this to him? 

Then there’s Judas, the keeper of the common purse and a bit of a rogue. Mean spirited and out to line his own purse if he can. He estimates that the perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii, which, one website tells me is about £77,265! We’ve just changed our car, and that would nearly buy another one as well. 

Judas complains about waste. I know treasurers need to be careful. We do spend too much. All of us are emptying our pantries and finding food we bought and put away. Here’s our way over date pile we are getting through. And why have I bought more soy sauce when there were seven already in the cupboard??! But Judas isn’t thinking about anyone but himself. It’s no wonder those who want to get Jesus choose him as their insider. His attitude in this story is in sharp contrast with Mary’s. Meanness and disapproval. 

Ask yourself, when has something exciting if a bit radical and risky been thwarted by a mean spirit? Did you keep quiet or fight to do what you believed was the right thing to do even if a bit mad? 

In this strange old Holy Week, the like of which we will never see again, maybe this little after dinner episode asks us about our giving. Do we give Jesus our best or are we a bit mean in how much we really want to give? Do we really get as Mary did, how much Jesus is about to do for us? 

It’s costly and it might call us to stand up for him. Poor old Lazurus! He dies, he comes back to life, and now he’s potentially going to be got, arrested, by the authorities for having Jesus round for tea. 

We need a new commitment to generous, extravagant service. The Queen had it right last night: “ The pride in who we are is not part of our past," she said, "it defines our present and our future."

I invite you to read this story again quietly. Where honestly do you stand in it? Are you Mary, or Martha, or Lazurus, or Judas? Who is Jesus for you? Then remember what is to come in a few days time...

Isaac Watts has it right - we are not called to give some...

1. Were the whole realm of nature mine,
   That were an offering far too small;
   Love so amazing, so divine,
   Demands my soul, my life, my all.