HI, folk! I know this is an off week for our group, but Passion Week is so filled with impact that I wanted to at least offer you something to be thinking about. Eight chapters of Matthew, six chapters of Mark, five chapters of Luke, and nine chapters of John take place during this one week in history. These are my thoughts for this time and perhaps they will have meaning for you, too, as we go through these days.
YESTERDAY – the day before Palm Sunday
Jesus has already told His group of followers twice that He will soon be killed in Jerusalem. Their reactions made it clear that most of them didn’t get it. Jesus had long had a base of ministry in Bethany, with His dearest friends among those not always traveling with Him—the siblings living together Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It makes sense that He would want to pause for refreshment with them before the week He knew was coming. They prepared a special meal for Him and His followers, described like this:
John 12:1 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
9 When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.
Try to soak in the feeling as He walked into the home of these three. Imagine the depth of love, gratitude, admiration, and worship for the man who had brought Lazarus out of the grave and returned him to his precious sisters. If you’re wondering, this is not the meal where Martha complained that Mary wasn’t helping her prepare the banquet for the group. That had happened earlier, and there was nothing on any of their minds now but Jesus and celebrating Him.
This would have been the dinner meal, served after sundown which marked the end of the Sabbath. Other gospel writers inserted this later in the chronology as a flashback, describing it after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as a way of highlighting the contrast between the way the religious leaders confronted Jesus and Mary and the others praised Him.
The original Greek says the perfume cost 300 denarii. You may remember from Jesus’ parable of the vineyard owner and other places that one denarius was a normal day’s pay. So this perfume cost essentially a year’s pay (given 52 Sabbaths in the 365 days of a year). Think about what the average person earns in a year, and think of something precious enough to cost that much and still be held in a carryable jar. Others point out the detail that Mary broke the jar to open it. Surely it’s no surprise that something that valuable was in a thoroughly sealed container to avoid any loss or evaporation, so the spout would have come to a narrow tip that could be broken off and the contents doled out in tiny amounts.
Such extravagance! Such love! How much would you have to be devoted to someone to do such a thing? And not just to anoint Jesus… no, this wasn’t a couple of drops on His head. She poured it out—onto His feet! And no ordinary cloth would do, she wiped His feet with her hair!
Think, too, that this meant something that would have been unthinkable for a Jewish woman; Mary let down her hair around someone other than her husband. This man that brought such worship and admiration, also brought a sense of relaxed love and intimacy. Those who knew Jesus best didn’t know Him as some aloof religious figure. He promoted an atmosphere of relaxed comfort. It’s hard to imagine the warmth of this scene… at least for a while.
Remember that this isn’t a diary, it was written after the fact. None of them other than Jesus knew at the time that Judas was a thief. In fact, he was one of the most highly educated and respected among them, or they wouldn’t have put him in charge of their ministry finances! Further, I don’t think it would have been a surprise that the treasurer would be concerned about what appeared to be a waste of resources. Might we not question our church spending tens of thousands of dollars on something that might appear frivolous?
Jesus’ response tells us something powerful. While all the rest of them hadn’t been paying attention to Him telling them He was about to die, Mary got it! She knew this was her last chance to express her love for Jesus in the flesh. Of course funding our ministries is critically important, but how much more important is the One for whom we minister?
May we never place so much value on our ministries that they become more important than Jesus.
And of course, you can’t have this big a party without the neighbors knowing something is going on. Remember there was a large crows of mourners who had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave. When they found out Jesus was in town, a huge crowd gathered wanting to get a glimpse of Him and hear what He had to say. Word got back to the religious leaders, naturally, and the Bible tells us they had already begun their plans to kill Jesus—and Lazarus, too.
Thoughts Along the Way 