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GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH People and Places of the Passion

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GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH People and Places of the Passion GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH Gaithersburg, Maryland People and Places of the Passion A Lenten Sunday and Easter Sunday Series — The Year of Our Lord 2021 Days before the Crucifixion – The Anointing of Jesus at Bethany “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. in pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Today, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Spoken by Our Lord Two Days Before the Beginning of the Passover – St. Matthew 12:10-13 The Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare)1 – March 14, 2021 I. “Wherever the Gospel is Preached” This incident of the anointing of Jesus prior to the Week of the Passion is recorded in all four of our New Testament Gospels. This is not rare, but it is not frequent either. As we have studied the Gospels , the writing of which covers at least a half century, with Mark believed to be the first, Matthew second, Luke third, and John last. Each of the Evangelists was been writing to a differing Christian community living under differing circumstances. These are the things that cause a writer to include some details and not others. For example, three of the Gospels tell us that the moment in question took place in Bethany, that suburb Mary Anoints the Feet of Jesus of Jerusalem we studied in our last session, the home of Jesus’ friends, Mary. Martha, and Lazarus. Matthew and Mark tell us it took place in the home of Simon the Leper. Luke reports the account as taking place at the home of Simon, a Pharisee.2 Luke uses the story to introduce a parable about God’s grace. (He also mentions that the woman is a “sinner.” John’s Gospel tells us that the story takes place in Bethany and that Mary, 1. Laetare – The tradidtional Latin name forf the Fourth Sunday in Lent. It is quoted from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 66:10. “Rejoice ye, with Jerusalem, andbe glad with her all ye who love her.” So begins the entrance hymn, the Introit, for this mid-Lenten Sunday. 2. The location of Luke’s report is likely in the upper region of the Galilee, perhaps near Capernaum. This is judged by the context of the narrative before and after this particular story. Lenten Series – 2021 Session 4 of 7 Rev. 6 PDF Page 1 Martha, and Lazarus are present. Martha is serving the dinner and Mary anoints Jesus’ feet. In four stories, the woman who anoints Jesus brings a jar of very expensive oil or perfume. In Matthew and Mark, it is Jesus’ head that is anointed with oil. Luke alone reports that the woman was a sinner, and wept bitterly, wetting his feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. She anointed Jesus’ feet with the costly oils. Luke also recounts this story relatively early in his Gospel account. The other Evangelists report the story as occurring just days before the beginning of the Passover, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. Thus the reference to Jesus ‘ burial in three of the four stories. II. So, How Many Anointing Occasions Do We Have? Let us “lead off assuming that of the four reports, we most likely have two distinct occasions. Three refer to the anointing of Jesus as preparing him for his burial. For the purpose of this class, let’s consider the account given by Saint Luke to be the an unique account. Here’s why: • Luke’s account appears rather early in Luke’s story of the ministry of our Lord. • Judging from the context of chapters before and after this account, this incident of the “woman of the city who is a sinner” who anoints his feet with her sobs, tears, and kisses, dries them with her hair, and then anoints Jesus’ feet with the expensive ointment, is a different occasion than the one reported by the other three Gospels.3 Mary Magdalen Anointing • Luke will continue this story with a parable about Jesus’ Feet grace and forgiveness. Illustrated manuscript c. 1500 CE • The complaint regarding her act is from fellow Pharisees who wonder aloud that Jesus does not know “what kind of woman this is” and even allows her to come near him. • Jesus uses the moment to tell a parable to Simon about repentance and one’s hunger for forgiveness. • There is no mention in Luke’s narrative about Jesus’ understanding of the woman’s actions as anointing him for burial. The stories of Saint Matthew and Saint Mark are strikingly similar. One says that the anointing of Jesus took place between two and six days before Passover. What is important 3. This “woman of the town who lived a sinful life” has long been associated with Mary Magdalen. The woman recorded in Luke’s Gospel is not named. Yet, the tradition persists. We shall meet her again, at the cemetery, on Easter Morning. Lenten Series – 2021 Session 4 of 7 Rev. 6 PDF Page 2 is that this event of the anointing of Jesus with the very expensive oil or ointment was in the very context of Our Lord’s Passion itself. In other significant ways they are virtually the same account. • Matthew and Mark agree upon the timing of this story. • It is the disciples who complain about the waste of the expensive ointment, in two accounts valuing it as worth as much as 300 Denarii, which could be sold and the money given to the poor. In these accounts, it is Jesus’ head that is anointed. • Always there is a very expensive alabaster jar that contains the ointment. • Jesus accepts the gesture as a “Very beautiful thing that she has for me.” • Jesus predicts that what she has done will be told wherever the Gospel is preached. • Clearly, this is the same event and story. • In both stories, the context concludes with Judas going to the Temple Authorities to arrange for the betrayal of Jesus. Saint John, as might be expected, has some differences, but much that is the same, or perhaps amplified. • It, too, is set into the days just before the passion of our Lord that begins with his arrest. It is already reported by Saint John that Jesus is under warrant for arrest by the Temple Authorities in John 11:57 and Lazarus as well in John 12:9-11. • Jesus is at dinner with Mary, Martha and Lazarus, apparently in the home of his same friends. Martha is serving. • Mary is named as the one who anoints Jesus with the expensive ointment. The expensive jar is not mentioned in John’s account. John reports that it was a ” pound of costly ointment of pure nard . Saint John, Evangelist and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.” • There is the same rejection of the Mary’s act, suggesting instead the sale of the ointment for 300 Denarii and making a gift to the poor. But in John’s Gospel, the matter is raised only by Judas and does not include the other disciples. Moreover, John tells us why. Judas said this not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and he would steal money from the money box. ( John 12:6) • Judas’ exit to arrange the betrayal of Jesus in not included in this context in John, as it is in Matthew and Mark. In John’s narrative, Jesus was already under a warrant for his arrest. (By the end of this particular account, Lazarus would be under a warrant for arrest as well! The plan of the authorities now was to kill them both! • It is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anoints Jesus’ feet with the ointment and dries them with her hair. Absent, however, are the weeping and tears, Lenten Series – 2021 Session 4 of 7 Rev. 6 PDF Page 3 and of the bad reputation given by Luke’s account. • Absent too is the comment about the “beautiful things” Mary has done for Jesus. He says, simply, “Let her alone. Let her keep it for the day of my burial.” In John’s memory, this story is focused firmly upon Jesus’ upcoming burial.” • This is clearly the same story as that is related by Matthew and Mark, but different from that of Luke. Therefore, these four stories shall be treated here as two stories: one involving a woman known as a sinner, and three stories pointing to the upcoming burial of Our Lord..4 III. How Does This Happen? How does this happen? Rather than leave this section of our study with this huge “hanging question,” let us pause for a moment to address it, by way of review. We read our Bible today as if it is a continuing stream of information. However, the Bible is a continuing record of the “God Mankind” relationship, and between its covers it contains several millennia of human history. Our understanding of God’s grace is always evolving. In terms of our New Testament, it is worth noting that Saint Paul is never found actually quoting passages from other New Testament writers, and is specifically so with the Gospels. It appears that all of the books of Saint Paul in our New Testament were written before any of the works of the Four Net Testament Evangelists. Saint Paul’s death, variously claimed between 61 and 67 CE, provided a critical decision point for the Early Church.
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