Next to Last Supper
Imagine the setting here. Jesus and his apostles are having dinner with the friend Jesus has raised from the dead, and Mary, the sister, anoints Jesus for burial.
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus. - John 12:1-11
This is no ordinary dinner.
Lazarus is brought back to life by the man who is preparing for his own death and resurrection. And who does John focus on? Judas.
John claims Judas has an ulterior motive for asking about the cost of the perfume. According to John, Judas wants to steal the money from the common purse.
I am not buying that. Maybe Judas was tempted by money. After all, he did arrange to have Jesus arrested, putting a price on his head. But John's commentary takes away from the story.
Read it again without the comment between the parentheses and you get a different view of what is really happening here.
Jesus is telling his friends that he knows he is going to be killed for his ministry. The more word spread of Jesus and now Lazarus, the more the crowds came, and that made Jesus more of a threat to the chief priests.
This is all about power.
If you threaten to sway the people away from the powers in charge, you become a target.
And what is the message from Jesus? Should we give in to the power? No. We should go on and do God's work, anyway.
It won't be easy. We will make ourselves targets. But it will be worth it.
That, I think, is what is at the heart of this story. Even though there is an effort to stop the message from getting out there, those who remain committed to it will keep the light shining brightly.
After this, Jesus will have his last supper with his friends, and the power will start to shift.
More to come...