TO BE HUMAN IS TO BE TOSSED ABOUT
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; John 12:1-8
5th Sunday in Lent, April 6, 2025
Pastor Ritva H Williams
Welcome to Episode 4 of our Lenten series “God is Still with Us.” Wednesday evening we were introduced to the idea that to be human is to be tossed about like the disciples were during the storm on the sea of Galilee.
To be human is to be tossed about — calm and collected one moment, frantic and frenzied the next. To be human is being subject to forces bigger than us and beyond our control, to be at the mercy of a world that lifts us up and then knocks us down. To be human is to gain some semblance of order for our lives, only to have all the rules change at a moment’s notice and to have to start all over again.
Our Gospel lesson this morning features a family of siblings — Martha, Mary, and Lazarus — who experience being tossed about. We meet them living together in Bethany, a village south of the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. They have no parents or elder relatives, although they do have a home where they regularly play host to Jesus and his disciples.
In our reading, we hear that Martha served. The original Greek, however, says that Martha diekonei. This action results in diakonia. These words express the idea of serving as a mediator of, intercessor for, or agent of a higher authority; of having a mandate, a mission, or a ministry from someone of higher status or even from God. Martha serves as the head of this household, standing in place of their deceased parents. She organizes and manages the household. Here she hosts a meal to honor Jesus who has brought Lazarus back to life.
Talk about being tossed about! In the previous chapter, Lazarus was so sick his sisters fearfor his life. They send for Jesus, who arrives in Bethany four days after Lazarus has been buried. Martha greets Jesus boldly, declaring, “Lord if you have been here my brother would not have died.” In his peculiar way, Jesus engages her in a theological conversation that leads to Martha professing her faith and allegiance to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God (John 11:20-27).
Martha sends Mary to greet Jesus. She goes out, weeping and sobbing that he has come too late to save her brother. Mary’s grief and sorrow touch Jesus so deeply he begins to cry too. Then he tells the mourners to remove the stone from the tomb, prays, and calls out: “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus does, his hands, feet and face feet still bound with strips of cloth. Jesus says to the crowd, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:43-44).
What an emotional roller coaster for Martha and Mary — the worry and anxiety of Lazarus’ illness, the pain and sorrow of his death, the fear of ‘what next’ in a world where women needed a male to handle all the legal details of life. And now, the mind-blowing sight of their brother walking out of his tomb alive!
Their rejoicing is cut short as word of this amazing event reaches the ears of the chief priests in Jerusalem. They call a meeting of the council, agonizing and worrying aboutJesus’ growing popularity — “everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” Caiaphas the high priest insists that Jesus must die to save the nation. Jesus, quietly withdraws to the village of Ephraim in the wilderness (John 11:485-54).
But now at last, six days before Passover, Jesus returns to participate in the great freedom festival of the Jewish people. And for this family, best of all, Lazarus is alive. Now the celebration can finally begin. Mary, boldly and extravagantly, takes a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anoints Jesus’ feet, and wipes them with her hair. The whole house is filled with the aroma.
Judas protests. Not only has Mary wasted an entire year’s wages to buy a hideously expensive perfumed lotion good imported from India, but she has poured it over Jesus’ feet. As if that isn’t foolish enough, Mary has shamelessly uncovered her hair in full view of the male guests and wiped Jesus’ feet with her long flowing locks. It would have been so much more better for her to have given him the money to care for the poor. Nice work Judas! As if Mary haven’t been tossed about enough, you have to go and put down this sister in Christ in her own home as they are celebrating her brother’s new life.
Judas, do you really think discipleship is an either/or proposition — either take care of Jesus or take care of the poor.
Mary never speaks, so don’t really know what motivated her. Perhaps she feels deeply grateful to Jesus. Yes it is extravagant to use almost a year’s wages to anoint Jesus’ feet, but what value could possibly be attached to her brother’s life? We know Mary liked to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to him teach (Luke 10:38-42). Maybe the anointing is her way of thanking Jesus for all he has taught her. We know Mary is emotional. Could it be that she is also empathetically aware of Jesus’ anxiety and dread of what awaits him in Jerusalem?
But Mary doesn’t have to defend herself. Jesus steps us and tells Judas to leave Mary alone. He defends her actions, saying she bought the perfume for the day of his burial. Jesus then reminds Judas “you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Is Jesus suggesting that it is more important to love him than to love the poor? Is Jesus actually supporting Judas’ either/or version of discipleship? NO! Professor Lindsay S. Jodrey points out,
There’s a funny thing in ancient Greek — sometimes the present indicative … matches the present imperative form of the word … In this passage exete — which is translated “you will have” can be … a command: Have the poor with you always. Or Keep the poor among you always.
Jesus promotes a both/and discipleship. He has just indicated that the anointing is for his burial — he is leaving soon, in the days ahead the disciples have a ministry to keep the poor among themselves always. As Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, “just as you did it to one of the least of these … you did it to me.” Once Jesus’ earthly life is over the disciples will meet the Christ over and over among the poor, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, the marginalized — the least, the last and the lost.
Hmmm … turns out that quiet, contemplative Mary knew much more than Judas gave her credit for. Emotionally and spiritually attuned to Christ, Mary realizes that the day of Jesus’ burial is looming. Holy Spirit nudges her to be pastor, priest and prophet, anointing Jesus for his coming ordeal, doing for Jesus what he will do for them at the last supper by washing their feet, living out the new commandment to “love one another just as I have loved you” even before Jesus speaks the words. The wonder of it is that one who has been tossed about so much by life still rises so beautifully to the occasion.
