Here are the texts for next week. Thanks for your input!
Lent Week #5 – March 25, 2007
Isaiah 43:16-21
I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. 17I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.
18"But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert! 20The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and ostriches, too, for giving them water in the wilderness. Yes, I will make springs in the desert, so that my chosen people can be refreshed. 21I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world.
Psalm 126:1-6
A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.
When the Lord restored his exiles to Jerusalem,
it was like a dream!
2We were filled with laughter,
and we sang for joy.
And the other nations said,
"What amazing things the Lord has done for them."
3Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!
What joy!
4Restore our fortunes, Lord,
as streams renew the desert.
5Those who plant in tears
will harvest with shouts of joy.
6They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest.
Philip. 3:4-14
Yet I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.
7I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ 9and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
12I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.
John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2A dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with him. 3Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance.
4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples—the one who would betray him—said, 5"That perfume was worth a small fortune. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor." 6Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples' funds, and he often took some for his own use.
7Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. She did it in preparation for my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but I will not be here with you much longer."
3 comments:
I just love that first line of Psalm 126, “When the Lord restored his exiles to Jerusalem it was like a dream!” How many times have I thought like that? When I am faced with sheer goodness of God it feels like a dream. The kind of dream where it is so real, the sleep is so restful, and when you wake you are not sure if you were dreaming or not. Being freed FOR the Lord is that kind of dream. Honestly I’d say I’m living in that kind of dream lately—knowing God is so profoundly involved, not sure where the dream is going, but sure that it is going towards the one who is leading me. Isn’t that what the Israelites where doing too? God was leading them to this “wherever” yet really it had less to do with geography and more to do with divinity. No wonder the nations were saying “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
The John 12 passage struck me all day. In fact I even went to the library after classes (hours of teaching time today…oh my…tonight I thought to myself, “I do not want to talk to anyone!). Now I’m might be totally off with some of this stuff but after all that is why I’m so interested in dialogue. You’ve read some of what I’ve been thinking about lately. Yesterday I got Rob Bells new book, Sex.God. in the mail and read the first two chapters. I’m reading “On Being Human” by Ray Anderson. Also, I’ve been reading, “God and World in the Old Testament. Bells book is really encouraging me just because what he is writing is speaking my language ..or that I’m speaking his language and thinking thoughts like what he has written. All this to say, I confess that my reading of this passage is more influenced by the theology I’ve been working with lately rather than only the text itself. Ha…yet do we ever approach a text without bringing our “latest” readings and experiences to it? Here goes a rough try at some thoughts running deep.
The commentaries warn that Judas is not the point. Ok. The point is that Jesus is being anointed for burial. The point is Jesus was king, kings get anointed. It was preparation for his burial yet an anointing represented not a sad, solemn occasion, but an occasion marked by revelry. The point is even possibly that this Mary “got it”. A woman seemed to see a King who needed to die. Her sight brought her to do something radical, crazy, and “wasteful”. Women did not let down their hair in public. Her act was not only “wasteful” but also “provocative”. What was she doing by revealing herself like that to Jesus? Who did she think she was? Well, maybe she knew. Maybe she knew that “who she was” was one who desperately needed Jesus. Maybe she knew that she needed to abandon herself to this one in front of her and she did it with what she had—I’m not just talking about the perfume—she did it with her entire person. In that moment, where she poured the perfume over the feet of her beloved she offered herself. I wonder if for her it was really more about declaring Jesus to be Lord than what she gave. With her heart she must have concluded God was there in that person of Jesus. Why else would one give themselves so freely?
So I do come back to Judas. I know he isn’t the point but maybe he helps us see the point. As an on looker, a man in ministry, Judas is asking “the” question. “Why was this perfume not sold for …and the money given to the poor?” A lot could have been done with that perfume…good things. I asked myself, “Does Judas just see an expensive bottle of perfume in front of him? Did he miss the woman who is abandoning herself to Jesus? Is the woman for Judas no more than a bottle of perfume in those brief moments? Did he miss the person in front of him--the woman whose spirit of God was witnessing to The Spirit of God in Jesus?” Jesus’ response continued my line of thinking. Jesus says, “Leave her alone!” She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” For Jesus, “She” is the subject of the matter, not the perfume. Yet, agreeable, even she isn’t the point either, but she leads to the point.
Jesus goes on to say, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” This is a surprising statement, said the commentaries, because it would have brought Deut. 15:11 to the minds of its hearers. In the Deut. Passage it says, “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.” So maybe Judas is right. Maybe the woman should have given the money to the poor? When Jesus says, ‘You’ll always have the poor but you will not always have me’, is Jesus really favoring good work done to him over and above caring for the poor? Is that typical Jesus fashion? There has to be more going on underneath this.
That Deut. Passage is about redemption of people. It is about reconciliation between people, overall peace and widespread sharing of blessing. Isn’t that what Jesus wanted for Judas? Isn’t that what Jesus wants for us all? Was Judas’ problem—and our problem-- that he could not open wide his hand to his sister—the person not the perfume-- right there in front of him. Was he unable to see her and her heart—full of creative love- being poured out onto the feet of her anointed King? Was his sin keeping him from human-izing the one who was a God- bearer (to use something you’ve talked about Steve)? I personally do not see that it is odd that Jesus favored a good work done to him over caring for the poor in this moment. I have this hunch that Jesus is trying to help Judas see that there are profound relational-ontological connections between the poor and himself. Because when we truly care for the poor, don’t we simultaneously care for the Christ who lives in the poor? Jesus would not always be there in the fullness of his humanity. Yet, he would be there in the flesh of the poor—the image bearers. I get this picture of Jesus wanting to tell Judas, “She sees me. I want you to see me too! At least, however, see the one who sees me! If you see her, then you may even see me!” It wasn’t about the perfume. It was not about the money. It wasn’t about helping the poor at that moment. It was about Jesus, the anointed King, who was making himself known for all to see, in the flesh. He was making himself known right there in the one who knew him.
Ok. It is midnight here and enough is enough. Some interesting thoughts to continue to work with…at least for me.
Oh..and congrats on finishing Dr. Steve!!!! Awesome!!!!!
Julene,
Your thoughts are powerful. One idea that struck me in return was the concept of how often I am in the position of Judas, rather than Mary. I think I see the more "noble" thing to do - I look at how much "farther" we could have made that money go - I am in a better position to be the better steward with it. But in the process, I forget that sometimes the greatest act of stewardship I can offer is one of lavish love and praise to the One who deserve it all, and even more! Do you know what I mean? Sometimes I need to be crazy when it comes to my devotion to Jesus and not practical at all!
I am preaching mostly from the Philippians text this week, and I think it flows so nicely with this concept. That passage ends with the idea of "focusing on this one thing...." I think that's what Mary was doing. She was singularly focused on what was most important. And Judas wasn't. How often is that me? I get focused on the wrong thing, and it takes me away from what I really need to be doing.
Thanks for the thoughts. Powerful stuff.
BTW - Sex God is on it's way to me even as we speak!
I see myself in Judas too. How can I not? To live with wreckless abandon in the right direction...ah...sometimes it seems so simple yet when it comes down to actually doing it… it is so hard. I do know what you mean. It is so easy to go about ministry and "Christian living" doing good things yet harder to enter into those "good things" with full, open and overflowing hearts. I don’t know about you but like Judas I like to control “where the money goes”. But offering lavish love and praise, as you say, requires that I let go. It is this huge leap of faith that God really “has my back” for a modern phrase. It requires what Paul is talking about…..forgetting all that is left behind and looking forward. Where am I looking forward to? Christ, right? Man, if only when I entered into my days I put everything between me and the Cross. So that as I walked though the day I was walking towards to Cross, walking towards Christ. Yet not just walking towards him but also with him. We would walk through it together. Paul is so optimistic…. “so that I may have Christ and become one with him”. I mean, after all, what does it mean to be “one” with Christ? What does a life look like when one is “one” with Christ? Do we know any“ones”s with Christ? Again, I look forward to listening on Monday! Julene
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