May the words of my mouth and this meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“We all start on the outside. We're outside looking in. This is where grace begins. We were hungry, we were thirsty, With nothing left to give, Oh, the shape that we were in. And just when all hope seemed lost, Love opened the door for us.
He said, "Come to the table Come join the sinners who have been redeemed" Take your place beside the Savior, Sit down and be set free. Come to the table.” (Lyrics from Come to the Table —Sidewalk Prophets)
You’ve been invited to a dinner party at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in the village of Bethany. Please come as we celebrate the return of Lazarus to the living. Admittance is by invitation only due to safety and security concerns For Jesus.Well, here we are at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. They have invited their friends to come to the joyful celebration that Jesus had made possible. Lazarus was alive again but this great miracle caused the religious authorities great dismay and trepidation. They began to plot to get rid of Jesus, by finding a way to put him to death.
Jesus was well aware of this danger and so he was no longer able to walk about openly in Jerusalem. So he found safety, security and solace in Bethany in the home of his friends.
One can almost hear the joy in the voices that were speaking with Lazarus. Martha was preparing the dinner feast while Mary was tending to Jesus’ comfort. She offered more than the customary foot washing hospitality which was normally provided by slaves or servants. Mary’s actions took this common duty to a whole new level.
She began by performing the foot care herself instead of letting a slave do it. She also touched Jesus’ feet and anointed them. In that culture normally a woman would never touch a man except her husband or her male children, and then only in private. To add to the scandalous behavior, she removed her head covering exposing her hair to all in the room and then dried Jesus’ feet with her hair.
Mary’s extravagance knew no bounds as she cleaned his feet with extremely expensive perfume, costing a year’s wages for a peasant worker. She took it upon herself to recognize and affirm Jesus’ impending passion and death.
How was she aware of the danger he was facing? Mary was a member of a family that most likely had connections with the elites in Jerusalem She might have suspected or heard of the plans underway to have Jesus arrested and executed.
She would also know that the form of execution would be crucifixion by the Romans since that was the punishment Rome dished out non-Roman citizens. Crucifixion was a cruel and humiliating form of death. It was a method used not just to kill a person but to kill what they stood for, to kill off any belief in them and to kill any possible followers continuing the movement onward.
Crucifixion also did not allow for a proper Jewish burial which included anointing of the body. Often the bodies of those crucified were left on the cross for birds of prey or scavenging animals to devour. Any remains were later thrown into a pit. Cruelty was the name of the crucifixion game.
Mary loved and was loved by Jesus and she believed in him. She saw Jesus bring her brother Lazurus back from the dead. Her lavish use of the expensive perfume most likely was a thanksgiving gift for his return to life, however we can not be sure of her intentions.
Mary’s anointing was a prophetic gesture that signifies both Jesus’ regal kingship and a formal announcement of such. In Biblical times, the pouring of oil or perfume had several purposes. It was used for the consecration or anointing of kings, priests or prophets. The ill or infirmed were often anointed as a ritual healing and the dead were anointed for burial.
So, really Mary’s use of the expensive perfume could have fulfilled any of these reasons. However, St. John repeatedly mentions Jesus’ kingly role in the trial narrative. He reinforces this role of Jesus as king by retelling of Mary’s lavish anointing of Jesus and in preparation for his burial.
Mary’s actions also shed light on Jesus' future teaching of servanthood. Mary “washes” Jesus’ feet with the perfume and dries them with her hair, similar to the way Jesus will wash the feet of his disciples and dry them with a towel wrapped around his waist. Jesus’ command to be the servant of all is something that Mary has already done.
We need to remember that Mary was not the only family member at the dinner party. Her sister Martha was there too. She was serving dinner. Might there be more to Martha than just being busy? Like Mary, Martha’s actions will have new meaning when looked at in the light of Jesus’ servanthood message.
In John 12:26 we hear, “Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” So, Martha is not to be dismissed as being absent or busy but she is shown to be doing what Jesus expects his disciples to do, to be of service to others.
As the dinner party began to wrap up, Jesus seemed to focus on his own suffering and death. Mary is the one who comforted him and offered him extravagant love, lavished him with kindness and extraordinary grace.
Soon Jesus will celebrate his last supper with his friends and he will show his extravagant love for them in the washing of the feet, with the words, “Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.”
She has loved him, she has anointed his feet and has wiped them with her hair. This was an action above and beyond the norm, it was excessive and extravagant and it is precisely the kind of love Jesus commands his disciple to copy.
While the dinner at Bethany happened long ago and can’t be repeated again exactly like St. John described, we still can bring about the essence of her extravagant and lavish love. We are called to be servants of love.
We can do this by knowing how much our hurting world needs our joy and gladness. For the deeds of compassion and courage that will never be done unless we do them, and words of hope and healing that will never be spoken unless we speak them. So, be the servants that Jesus calls us to be, to love others extravagantly and lavishly.
Blessings on your day.
Notes: Preached (Delivered) April 6, 2025 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Falun Wisconsin and Bethany Lutheran Church, Grantsburg Wisconsin
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year C Readings: Isaiah 43:16-21, Psalm 126, Philippians 3:4b-14, John 12:1-8