Isaiah 42.1-9; John 12.1-11

In tonight’s story from the Gospel of John, we see many different reactions to Jesus. Holy Week is a good time to look at how we respond when we meet Jesus.

Let’s look at some of those characters in the story.

First of all there’s Martha. Famous for getting annoyed with her sister Mary when Jesus visits their home - that story is in Luke 10. Martha races round trying to provide hospitality for Jesus, and seems to be in a bit of a flap, while Mary sits around with Jesus.

Then later, when Lazarus has died, it is Martha that races out to meet Jesus, while Mary stays at home. Martha is obviously a do-er.

In the Jewish culture of the time, during the first week of mourning, family would stay at home except for visits to the grave, so Martha’s reaction is unusual.

Then in the story we heard today, again we see Martha, in the background, sorting out the practicalities of the dinner.

Martha is concerned for Jesus’s physical well-being. I suspect it matters to her what the meal is like - she would be one of those people today with the immaculate house, with the dinner parties that are always just-so, who get so uptight about the externals, that they are unable to relax in the company of their guests. Martha worries about how things look. She saw Jesus in terms of making everything look right.

Jesus’s concerns were more about the heart than about how things seem outwardly.

Then, we have Judas, shown to be a thief. Judas is caught up not with the beauty of Mary’s action but with how much it costs. It’s a common feature of life today, that we all recognise the cost of something but sometime miss its value. And, sadly, we can react to people in the same way.

We don’t always see the value of people as they have been created by God, if the things they do or say don’t meet with what we believe is right.

Judas could not see Mary beyond the waste of money. He was like those people who count every penny and become so concerned about how they are used that generosity and the joy it brings is far from their lives. Judas saw Jesus in terms of money.

Jesus’s concerns were more about the worth of all God’s children than about how much things cost.

We have two sets of peripheral characters as well. There are the Jews who have come to gawp at Lazarus, once dead now alive. (The notes in my Bible tell me that at Passover time as many as 100,000 extra people came to Jerusalem, so there could have been a good number of them making their way to Lazarus’s house in Bethany, about two miles away from Jerusalem).

They want Jesus for his miracles, and seem more interested in a magician than anything else. We all know how many of them turned against him in the days to come. They saw Jesus in terms of what he could do for them

Jesus’s concerns were more about revealing the nature of God’s love.

And the chief priests, more and more jealous of Jesus. They see someone challenging their authority, someone who is gaining more followers than they are, someone who engages not only minds but hearts. They are worried about losing their grip. They are people who rule and lord it over others. They see Jesus as a threat.

Jesus’s concerns were more about serving people than about having power over them.

And lastly, there is Mary: Mary who manages to see beyond the externals and the cost; Mary who doesn’t think about what Jesus can do for her; Mary who doesn’t hold power to be challenged.

It is Mary who is closest to recognising who Jesus really is. When we see Mary, she is at Jesus’s feet, not trying to be anything but herself. It is Mary that seems to have some inkling of what is to happen, since it is Mary who anoints Jesus for burial. It’s worth noting that anointing was also a sign of kingship. Mary seems to recognise this in Christ too.

Christ, the servant king, the one who is to suffer and to die.

May we, with Mary, be granted the grace to see who Christ really is, to follow his path of suffering, and to be raised to new life in him. Amen.