Thoughts for the Day

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 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. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (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.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

This week we shall look at Holy Week through the eyes of the writer of John's Gospel. Today Bethany is a town ('el-Aizariya' in Arabic, meaning 'Place of Lazarus') and is situated on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem (part of an area designated as East Jerusalem), and it would have been easy to walk into the Temple in biblical times, though the hills are steep. However, when I visited a few years ago, to get there by car meant driving miles as the direct access road had been blocked by a huge security wall. A local Palestinian woman who was a Christian mentioned the difficulty of getting to hospital for dialysis because of the wall and the road blocks. A number of the hospitals as well as the schools have Christian foundations. The town was been described as an "open air prison" before the current war.

So during Holy Week Jesus and his disciples continually walked into Jerusalem coming back at night to stay at Bethany in the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. As pilgrims gathered from all around the Roman Empire to celebrate the Passover, the city would almost burst at the seams with people. The Jewish and Roman authorities could not afford to have any kind of riot occur. After the raising of Lazarus the chief priests are now ready to remove Jesus, one way or another, and the situation is like a pressure cooker

There are a couple of incidents where Jesus has his feet anointed with oil in the Gospels by seemingly different women, and on one occasion his head. When Jesus has his head anointed this would seem to refer to his being anointed for his role as our King, after all kings, priests, and prophets were (and still are) often anointed with oil before taking up their new role. But by placing this incident of the anointing Jesus' feet with oil at the start of the last week of his life John, and Jesus himself, who says of Mary, "She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial," indicate that he is being anointed as preparation for his death and subsequent burial.

Lord God,
as we travel with You this week
on your journey towards Golgotha
and the cross,
may we not forget
that you took these steps
to offer us eternal life.
Amen.