07-04-2019 Thoughts

Thoughts Gospel

Just a few verses earlier, we hear that Lazarus had been raised from the dead by Jesus… These people he is having dinner with aren’t just casual fans… We are told that Lazarus, Mary, Martha are siblings and we are earlier told that Lazarus was a friend...

This is a very raw display of emotion, something quite odd in many ways… Something that would have made others uncomfortable...

This is an extremely wasteful display…

This was an extremely generous display, but one that was carried out with absolute humility, absolute devotion.

She offers the very best that she has, with absurd generosity, but not in a way that would elevate her… Everything about this was her taking the lowliest place possible, from anointing his feet, not his head, through to letting her hair down to clean it up. (Something that Jewish women didn’t do in public)

The most important, powerful and transformative acts of generosity don’t happen in ways that grand, public and impressive. Awkward, ambiguous and raw. We may not even grasp their significance

This isn’t just a little bit expensive… It is approximately a year’s wages… (Median income for Qld, after tax, lets say it was worth $50,000) Wasn’t even used “properly”...

This isn’t just a little bit expensive… It is approximately a year’s wages… (Median income for Qld, after tax, lets say it was worth $50,000) Wasn’t even used “properly”...

Noting that “The poor will always be with you” isn’t a justification for wealth and waste...

This account reminds us that what unfolded over Easter was surprising to Jesus’ followers, but not really surprising for Jesus...

All of this forshadows the way that you prepare someone for burial...

Application: There are always reasons not to offer what we have in service of God when the opportunity presents us, they might even be good ones, you might even be able to spin it to yourself as a spiritual one...

From Logos...

The Gospel according to John 1. The Anointing at Bethany (12:1–8)

To attend to the feet was the task of the most lowly slave, so that Mary’s action involved great humility as well as great devotion.

The Gospel according to John 1. The Anointing at Bethany (12:1–8)

But Mary did not stop to calculate public reaction. Her heart went out to her Lord, and she gave expression to her feelings in this beautiful and touching act.

The Gospel according to John 1. The Anointing at Bethany (12:1–8)

Anointing was thus associated with revelry rather than with funerals. A remark about a burial is not at all what we would have expected. We must take this as a measure of the extent to which the Passion was in Jesus’ mind at this time. It loomed large in his thoughts and therefore an action that at another time might arouse very different associations he immediately linked with his death.

The Lectionary Commentary, Volume 3: The Gospels (The Third Readings) Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year C (Richard A. Burridge)

Of course, Passover is a good time to remember that “the poor are always with you” and to obey Scripture’s instructions to be generous, to “open your hand to the poor and needy” (Deut. 15:11).

Lectionary Reflections: Year C The Fifth Sunday of Lent

But just before the anointing, we see the Jews planning how they will arrest Jesus, and immediately after the anointing, we see Judas preparing himself to betray.