Holy Monday - Mary Anoints Jesus

Listen now for this special devotional-style episode! As we sing, pray and reflect on the readings of Holy Week in the gospel of John. After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time, Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, invite Jesus to their home for a meal. While they are there, Mary anoints Jesus' feet with expensive perfume.

Scripture quotations from the COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. © Copyright 2011 COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Music:
Jesus, Remember Me
Text: Luke 23:42 Taize Community
Music: Jacques Berthier (1923-1994)
Text and music copyright 1981 Les Presses de Taize. Admin GIA Publications, Inc  (Used under One License # A-724822)

We Remember
Text and Music: Marty Haugen (b. 1950) copyright 1980 GIA Publications, Inc (Used under One License # A-724822)

Learn more about St. John Lutheran Church at stjohnchurchmars.org or follow us on Facebook.

Scripture quotations from the COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. © Copyright 2011 COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Holy Monday. The day after the palm branches have been laid down, the day when there is no denying of what comes next. A day when we think about what it means to be a disciple, someone who will follow Jesus and someone who will live in the life and love that Jesus offers.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

A reading from the Gospel of John, the twelfth chapter, beginning at the first verse. Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters hosted a dinner for Jesus. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who joined him at the table. Then Mary took an extraordinary amount, almost three quarters of a pound, a very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus' feet with it, and then wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house was filled with the aroma of the perfume. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, complained. Why was it not sold and the money given to the poor? He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would take what was in it. Jesus said, Leave her alone. This perfume was to be used in preparation for my burial, and this is how she has used it. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. Many Jews learned that he was there. They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. The chief priests decided that they would kill Lazarus too. It was because of Lazarus that many of the Jews had deserted them and come to believe in Jesus. If you were paying attention to the very beginning of our John reading on Palm Sunday, you would have noticed that it starts off with the words the next day. So the question becomes, what had happened the day before? And it we actually on Monday go backwards a little bit. We rewind to what happened, quote unquote, yesterday from Palm Sunday. And the answer is what happened yesterday from Palm Sunday was Mary anointed Jesus' feet. The story appears in different ways in the various gospel stories, but in John, it is explicitly Mary who anoints Jesus' feet. Mary, the sister of Martha. Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Now, if you will recall the story from last Sunday about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, we hear the commandment of Jesus saying to unbind him and let him go. And then there's always kind of this lingering question of, well, where does he go? And then in this reading, we hear about where he goes. He goes to have dinner with Jesus. He invites Jesus to their home where Mary and Martha and he have a meal, where Lazarus reclines at the table with Jesus and dwells in his presence. And as Lazarus is resting in this resurrected life, Mary pours lavish love all over Jesus as she anoints his feet in expensive perfume. Indeed, her use of perfume is so abundant, so extravagant, that she had to mop some of it up with her hair. And so this oil would have filled her hair, and she would have smelled like this oil for who knows how long, carrying with her the scent and the reminder of her love and her discipleship to Jesus. Now, this washing of Jesus' feet and this anointing of Jesus' feet acts as a foreshadowing of the way that Jesus' lavish love would pour out for his disciples as he washes their feet during the Last Supper. We hear about how the smell of the perfume fills the entire house. And this is just on the heels of hearing how Martha was concerned for the stench that would come out of the tomb of Lazarus when they rolled the stone away. The smell of the perfume does not erase the smell of death. Instead, it matches it. And it reminds us of how God's extravagant love and life is present even in the reality of death. And as we hear, this extravagant love makes Judas uncomfortable. That's a theme we will explore later in this week. But John gives it to us now, reminding us that even now, betrayal and death are at hand for Jesus. Let us pray. Oh God, your son chose the path that led to pain before joy and to the cross before glory. Plant his cross in our hearts so that in its power and love we may come at last to joy and glory through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

And so we celebrate.