Dearest e-votees-
The appointed text for this coming Sunday is where Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, anoints Jesus’ feet and extravagantly prepares him for his burial.
May we be extravagant as well as we prepare our hearts and minds for Jesus’ triumphant entry, arrest, trial, agony, death and glorious resurrection in the upcoming most holy of weeks.
Peace,
Karl
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12 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
There are three accounts in scripture that explicitly mention Mary and Martha—this one, the death and raising of Lazarus and the dinner where Martha served and Mary sat at Jesus feet.
It is interesting to look at the references to parallel stories in different translations.
The NRSV would direct our attention to Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9. Neither of these account explicitly mention Mary or Martha but they tell of a very similar event in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper. In these accounts we are told that this anointing will be remembered and told wherever the gospel is preached.
The NIV would, in addition to the other two passages, direct our attention to Luke 7:37-39. This account has Jesus eating at a Pharisee’s house and talking to a man named Simon. Neither Mary nor Martha are mentioned explicitly. The woman who is doing the anointing is explicitly identified in the text and by Simon as one who has led a sinful life.
What to do with similar but not exactly matching texts? We could try to conflate them into one story. That would give us that Simon was a leprous Pharisee who owned a house and lived in Bethany. Perhaps Lazarus also owned a share of the house. Mary now has a sordid past that we were not so aware of before this conflation. Is the melding of such parallel accounts helpful to your faith?
Sometimes the study of scripture is like re-creating an accident. We have accounts from different witnesses. Different angles and perspectives help fill out the stories but also can be hard to collapse into one coherent whole story. Do you find these tensions engaging or disturbing?
What seems most important in this telling by John is that we have five main characters all defined pretty clearly:
Mary is again attentively engaging Jesus with reverence (as she was when parked at his feet when he was over for a meal).
Martha is again attentively serving Jesus (as she was when she was working the kitchen when he was over for a meal).
Judas is again looking out for his own interests and sacrificing Jesus' best interest in the process (as he did when he sold out Jesus for 30 silver pieces).
Lazarus is again lurking on the periphery of the party but involved in gathering the main characters for powerful interactions (as he did as he hosted the last party from the tomb).
Jesus is again taking events and conversations to a much deeper plane (as he does when we seek and listen to his words that still speak into our lives to this very day).
God, shape our days according to your will and your good pleasure. Help us live more deeply into the tensions and the accounts of scripture. Draw us more deeply into you and particularly more deeply into the passion of Jesus as the most holy of weeks bears down on us. Amen.
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