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Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Today we are invited, dear congregation.
We are invited to join the company of Mary, Martha and Lazarus
and be their dinner guests, together with the guests of honor,
Jesus, his disciples, and among them Judas.
Who are the hosts and what is the setting?
The dinner is at the house of Martha in Bethany, about two
miles away from Jerusalem, where she lives with her sister
Mary and her brother Lazarus. Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Jesus
are dear friends. It is six days before the Passover and it
had not been long at all since Jesus was last at their house.
Last time when Jesus came, they had just buried Lazarus. Jesus
got there late, by four days. The funeral was over. Little
did the sisters know that Jesus was late on purpose. That
he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, that he was going
to reveal himself to the mourners as the Son of God, the incarnation
of life, the anointed of God, the Messiah. “I am the
resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though
they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in
me will never die.” (John 11: 25, 26)
Martha received this revelation first and then quickly alerted
Mary who in turn went out to meet Jesus. When she saw him,
she knelt at his feet, repeating to him what her sister had
already said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died.” Jesus, himself overwhelmed and
deeply moved to tears, commanded to open the tomb that already
had the stench of death, and he raised Lazarus. “The
dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of
cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth.”
Now Lazarus is at the dinner table, eating with Jesus, with
Mary and all the others, Martha as the head of the household
serving them. Resurrection life is filling this house. “Those
who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”
One can feel it brimming in John’s description.
John is not concerned with a historical time line. His message
is clear. He puts the resurrection first, at the center, even
before Jesus’ own dying. Lazarus’ resurrection
is prefiguring the outcome of Jesus’ hour, of Jesus’
passion, even before the decision to kill him has been made.
Now, at the time of the dinner the decision to kill Jesus
is made. And before he enters Jerusalem, his way has led him
one more time to Martha, Mary and Lazarus for another act
of prefiguration.
Mary who knelt at is feet before, kneels again. She anoints
Jesus. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah. One whole pound
of costly perfume, worth a year’s wages, is just right
for him. And the fragrance is filling the whole house, replacing
any trace of the stench of death that might still linger over
this household. Mary is boldly and publicly recognizing Jesus’
true identity.
But there is more.
Mary does not anoint Jesus’ head like a king’s.
She anoints his feet at which she has knelt before, and she
wipes his feet with her hair. As Jesus’ points out to
Judas, Mary is anticipating Jesus’ burial and his final
anointing after his death. He says about the perfume, “...so
that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” Thereby
Jesus confirms that the arrival of his hour, his leaving,
his death is impending. Also, Judas is put in his place because
his motif of using the money for the poor rather than for
Jesus’ feet is hypocritical and simply does not recognize
what is going on.
Mary recognizes who Jesus is, the resurrection and the life.
Therefore she anoints him. Secondly, she anoints him because
she is anticipating his dying, and in an act of love and devotion
prefigures what Jesus’ other good old friend, Nicodemus,
will finish in the final anointing of Jesus’ body.
But there is yet more to Mary’s act.
She wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair. One chapter later
Jesus gives himself as a slave to his disciples by sitting
down and washing their feet as only slaves would do for their
masters. He wipes their feet with a towel just as Mary wipes
his feet with her hair.
It is the same act of Jesus’ love and devotion and
giving of self that Mary prefigures in the act of wiping Jesus’
feet with her hair. With the washing of the feet, Jesus institutes
true discipleship at the time of the last supper with his
disciples. Mary models it without ever being told: love, devotion
and giving of self. The promise of such discipleship is to
share in that life that has filled that house in Bethany since
Lazarus’ resurrection, life in the fullness of God,
life whose fragrance dispels all of life’s deadly stenches.
Mary’s witness is so powerful because she knows how
to respond to Jesus without being told. She fulfills Jesus’
commandment to love one another before he teaches it, she
embraces Jesus’ departure at his hour before he has
taught his disciples about its true meaning. Mary’s
act of anointing is the companion act to the raising of Lazarus.
Lazarus’ raising up announced the fullness of God revealed
and available in Jesus. Mary’s anointing announces and
reveals the promise of faithful discipleship.
Quite a dinner, isn’t it, dear congregation? Quite
an invitation.
Let me extend to you another invitation, sisters
and brothers. I invite you to come to this house, this
house of worship, next week for Palm Sunday and then
for the celebration of the Triduum or the Three Holy
Days during Holy Week. Allow me to try to prepare you
briefly for this celebration here at our church although
I am not nearly as good at prefiguring events as Mary
is.
I invite you, your family and friends to a worship
service which really lasts three days, beginning on
Maundy Thursday, continuing on Good Friday, and culminating
in the Easter Vigil when we sing the first Alleluia
again and celebrate Holy Communion in the wee hours
of Easter morning.
On Maundy Thursday we gather to conclude the forty
days of Lent, the time of penitential preparation for
the mystery of the resurrection. We are prepared to
receive the absolution which is spoken to each worshiper
individually. The theme of the day is Jesus’ new
commandment to love another. Jesus’ love is of
course sharply focused by the contrast of the betrayal
which follows. It is demonstrated both in his example
of servanthood and in his gift of himself in Holy Communion.
The stripping of the altar marks the transition from
the eucharistic celebration to that of Jesus’
crucifixion and death. The stripping is symbolic of
his humiliation at the soldiers’ hands. There
is no benediction at the end of Maundy Thursday because
the service isn’t over. It continues the next
day.
On Good Friday, the liturgy concentrates on the passion
and death of Jesus Christ. The story of the One whom
we follow is read. Jesus faces rejection, abandonment,
violence, and death. Following the reading of the passion
narrative, we meditate on a series from the Seven Penitential
Psalms. Gradually all candles in the nave are extinguished.
The service ends with the removal of the paschal candle
leaving us in darkness.
The third day of the Triduum begins at midnight with
the Canonical Hours. These prayers are said patiently
every three hours throughout Saturday. They lead to
the Easter Vigil with its powerful liturgy of promise
and fulfillment. We meet in the courtyard where the
Vigil fire is burning. From this fire a new paschal
candle is lit. All process to the dark nave where by
candlelight the congregation hears readings of promise
and fulfillment, primarily from the Old Testament. After
the affirmation of the baptismal covenant, we wait in
silence until midnight when the Easter proclamation
is announced.
And then we celebrate the first Holy Communion of Easter
Day. There will be no confession and absolution because
we did that already at the beginning of the service,
three days ago. But this time there will be a benediction
at the end.
My invitation to you is again a dinner invitation,
dear congregation, a special one. And the wine menu
for that night is champagne only. A dinner for disciples,
- beloved, forgiven and in the end blessed. Fed with
the bread from heaven and the gift of life. I look forward
to seeing you there.
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Amen.
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