What A Difference A Week Makes

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April 07, 2019

Fifth Sunday in Lent

What a difference a week makes. Roughly a week before today’s Gospel reading in John, Mary and Martha of Bethany were weeping at the death of their brother Lazarus. Lazarus was ill and likely died at home. It was there that Mary and Martha prepared him for burial. It was custom that as soon as death was certain, funeral preparations began. At that time Mary and Martha would have delicately and gently stripped Lazarus of what he was wearing and begun to wash him. They would have taken out highly valuable ointments and perfumes that were reserved for exactly this purpose, to wash Lazarus one more time. They would have started with Lazarus’ extremities, his feet and his hands, working their way towards his torso and ending with the head. You see, this the only time most individuals were ever anointed, let alone had ones feet caressed with a precious perfume. Unless one was wealthy and could afford to use small bits of perfume on the neck to smell decent when consistent baths were hard to come by. The other times that one would use salves such as these is when one had a coronation an ones head was anointed. For the rest of the 99% of ancient Palestine, these precious ointments were reserved for death and death alone.

Following this intimate process, Lazarus’ body was bound in stripes of fabric and carried to the cave where he was laid. A stone was rolled in front of the opening and from there, nature took over. Four days from that moment, Jesus demanded that very stone be rolled away. Martha, knowing how nature works, said, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”[1] The stench of death – I find myself tensing at that word – stench. Few of us truly know the stench of death, but I’m sure we can imagine. This is one of the few passages that evoke such a provocative olfactory response from us – the other is today’s Gospel, but I’m getting a head of myself.

We all know how this story goes, yes – Jesus prays to that Father and then commands “Lazarus, come out!” He comes out, is unbound and found very much alive. 

What a difference a week makes.

Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead is a turning point in John’s Gospel. It was a result of this miraculous sign that the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the council – during which they are quoted in saying, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe him…”[2] This meeting lead to the orders “that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.”[3] As a result, Jesus no longer walked around out in the open. It is quite clear surly not only to Jesus, but to those who loved him and followed him, that restoring Lazarus’ life is a threat to Jesus’.

Shortly after Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead – Jesus returns to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus – instead of joining them for their seven days of mourning following Lazarus’ death – they are having a bit of a party, a party to celebrate life, the life that has returned to Lazarus and to their family. In the midst of this celebration of life, though, the stench of death begins to linger once again and it seems as if the only two people who recognize the smell are Mary and Jesus.

Perhaps Mary didn’t have to search very far to find that jar of pure nard, imported from the Himalayas, likely smelling of something similar to a sweet pine or other varieties that smelled more like lavender. Perhaps Mary and Martha hadn’t put the jar back in its rightful place, waiting until the next death in the family, and it was still sitting out – it was only used a week ago and there had been much excitement since them.

What was she thinking as she opened the jar, her fragrant offering beginning to waft? What was in her mind as she cradled the feet of Jesus the Christ, which means the anointed one, as she began empty the bottle, unabashedly? Did she know that when she took down her hair, such an intimate act of an unmarried woman, and began to wipe the oil from Jesus’ feet, ἐκμάσσω in the Greek, that he would be doing that very same action, ἐκμάσσω, in a week or so as he washes the feet of his disciples during their last supper together. She clearly sensed that this life, his life, was different. This life was being lived in a way that didn’t need to wait until physical death to be honored. Did she think about the intensity of the fragrant aroma that filled the house, overwhelmingly so – permeating the being of every individual present so much so that they carried the aroma with them as they left the home?  Did she wonder how long the smell of that much nard would linger upon her hands – days or perhaps weeks? What a difference a week can make and while Mary many not know exactly the events the next week will bring, she senses that it is important and that this life before her is important. She anoints Jesus on this day, six days, before the feast of the Passover festival, the very same festival that the chief priests said of Jesus – “Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?”[4] Would a marked man, such as Jesus, dare to step foot in Jerusalem during such a high time?

What a difference a week can make.

We will never know what Mary was thinking when she made such a bold move, to use such precious oil – over a years worth of income – to anoint Jesus, starting in the same way one would with a corpse, beginning with the feet – like so most women in the bible we do not have many words recorded from her, but her actions speak mightily.

Judas, who is quite clearly the antagonist in John’s Gospel challenges Mary’s boldness asking why the perfume was used in such a negligent manner, when it could have been sold for 300 denarii, which could be used for the poor – the writer gives us his insight into the motives behind Judas’ question, although I think we can all agree is a valid question and a question we continue to struggle with, in the church all the time.

Jesus’ response to is powerful – he defends and protects Mary and even justifies her actions. “Leave her alone” he says “You always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”[5] This has been a challenging verse for the church throughout the years, but what most don’t know is that Jesus is actually quoting scripture here. He’s quoting from Deuteronomy 15. Let me share a bit of that chapter with you:

“If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.  You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be… Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.  Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”[6]

It’s almost as if Jesus is rolling his eyes at Judas and saying, you have been with me for how long and you still do not get it! If you are truly my disciple, if you have learned anything from me - of course the poor will be your priority! In fact, this very last line from Jesus can be just as easily translated from the Greek to be – Keep the poor with you always – as a command or an imperative. Just as I have kept the poor with me so will you.

Immediately following this story in John we have Jesus’ triumphal entry in to Jerusalem. As I said earlier in this passage is a turning point in John’s Gospel and here is the moment, following his anointing, in which Jesus turns his face towards Jerusalem. There is a week remaining of Jesus’ earthly ministry and what a difference a week can make.

Today marks the beginning of Passiontide. We are nearing the end of Lent – our faces are turned toward Palm Sunday and Holy Week. What a difference a week can mean for us too! We will go from shouting Hosanna! to Crucify him! in a fleeting breath. If we engage in these weeks ahead of us we will most definitely smell both the stench of death and the sweet aroma of life. Just like Mary we will stand between death and life and cycle through them at a dizzying pace. Unlike Mary we know the outcome of this powerful last week of Jesus’ life. We know that Jesus has already triumphed out of the stench of death and that that stench no longer has a hold on us – but are we bold enough to live into that sweet aroma that is all around us. Just like everyone who was at Lazarus at the celebration of life party – are be bold enough to take the fragrant offering that is available to transform us at this celebration of life dinner party at this Eucharistic feast – in this bread and this wine – can we take this sweet aroma and transform the world too? Let us try this week. You never know what a difference a week can make.

Amen.


[1] John 11:39

[2] John 11:47-48

[3] John 11:57

[4] John 11:56

[5] John 12:7

[6] Deuteronomy 15: 7-8; 10-11

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