<html><body>Here the first draft for this Sunday. We'll think a lot in the next few days! 8 - )<div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY 5 LENT C<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ISAIAH 43:16-21 13<sup>th</sup> MARCH, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">PHILIPPIANS 3:4b-14 PSALM 126<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">JOHN 12:1-8<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> First, a spiritual health advisory. You’ve heard it before, but just like taking allergy medication and operating farm equipment at the same time, it never hurts to remind ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> John, or John’s Gospel school, had an axe to grind. Whoever wrote the fourth Gospel doesn’t mind in the least if the truth were shaved a bit and a few lies flung in. As long as the candidate could be made to look good, that was all that mattered.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Things haven’t changed much, have they?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Anyway, John took every chance he had to blast the Jews of his day. By the time the fourth Gospel hit the religious newsstands, Jews and Christians no longer shared the same worship space, as they had for the previous forty or fifty years. They’d had several too many heated exchanges, used way to many epithets, been way too territorial in terms of the use of the same liturgies and pushy about people’s opinions to be comfortable with each other, and civil to each other. In other words, they were brothers and sisters behaving badly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> As I said, things haven’t changed much!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> How else to begin the run-up to the sacred feast of Passover, with all the elements Jesus and His friends were overlaying on it, than to give the Jews another stick in the eye. So we have this description of the confrontation with Judas.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The very name was like a body slam. It means actually, very simply, the Jewish person. That’s all. Nothing personal whatsoever. No Nathan, no Joshua, no Samuel, no Zeke. That might lead people to show a little sympathy. And that was the <b><u>LAST</u></b> thing the Gospel writer wanted. And this is extraordinarily important t remember, especially for the next fourteen-plus days. Blame whatever you can, even what you can’t, on the Jews. The New Testament wasn’t the first piece of anti-semitic writing, of course, but it certainly wasn’t the last!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So here we have Jesus and His friends. Sitting at dinner – a veritable feast – as the tension mounted. Everyone was jumpy because of the atmosphere: Romans, Judeans, Galileans, folk from the East and West, from Egypt, and Lydia, and Phrygia – all starting to pile into Jerusalem for the Festival. And some of them were eager to pick a fight.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It must have been such a bitter-sweet evening. Mary and Martha must have been glowing still in the wonder of the resurrection of their brother. They must have been so attentive, so full of joy, to have their closest friends under their roof once again, and to have the living, breathing Lazarus as testimony to the way God’s Presence was alive in Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They must have talked about everything they’d heard and seen. They must have been fired-up about the possibility of seeing Jerusalem made great again. No doubt everyone there had his or her own view about what the great Jerusalem would be like. But most, if not all, had the same problem we have. They and we were looking for, were longing for, greatness to be brought in on some great-white-horse-type incident.. They and we couldn’t admit, couldn’t imagine that the greatness was already present. It was simply a matter of having faith, having clear insight that God was, God is, God always will be present – to guide, to encourage, to draw out the best in us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But did the Gospel writer point that out? No! The Gospel writer, like so many before and after, looked around for someone, anyone, to blame, to ridicule, to belittle, to disenfranchise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So look at what we’re told.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As Jean Vanier points out, “Martha serves the meal. In the middle of the meal, Mary, in an audacious act of love and gratitude, takes a large measure of costly perfume made of pure nard, anoints the feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair. The house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume, reminding us of the contrast with the stench of Lazarus’ dead body. It is an excessive, extravagant gesture, an act of love, similar to the excessive amount of water turned into wine at Cana. There is obviously a close relationship between Jesus and Mary of Bethany.” <sup>1</sup> And this is how she showed her love. She was on-board completely with Jesus. She believed Him to be the Messiah, the Promised One of God. She saw and accepted the way that He was trying to transform Jerusalem and the entire country. And she was experiencing, first hand, how this transformation from God came about when everyone who had little or nothing were brought up to the level of everyone else. Jerusalem wouldn’t ever be made great when those in charge had more horses, more summer cottages out on the Heights, fancier silver vessels for the celebration of Pesach. Jerusalem would be great when everyone recognized that there was to be no inequality allowed to continue, when everyone admitted that <b><u>ALL</u></b> were God’s children.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Vanier made a point I hadn’t considered before. Oh, yes, like most of you and others, I’d been willing to pile on Judas, as to pick up on the slam that he was a thief of an accountant. But Vanier said, “I wonder if there isn’t something else in this opposition to the disciples to Mary. Why are they so upset? Where does this anger come from? Why do those men want to control Jesus and those who have a relationship with him? Could they be jealous of Mary’s relationship with Jesus?”<sup> 2</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Maybe Judas was a convenient scapegoat, a double scapegoat – blaming the Jews for every little thing that went wrong, or troubled them, or upset their apple cart of whatever standing they had. But maybe, just maybe, Judas also was blamed for what every other one of the twelve was doing. Maybe they were all saying the same thing. Maybe they were furious that they couldn’t share in that priceless perfume when Jesus wouldn’t even give them a MasterCard! Maybe they were looking daggers and spitting nails at Mary <b><u>AND</u></b> at Jesus for allowing this to happen. But, for heaven’s sake, you can’t write <b><u>THAT</u></b> in the Gospel. Blame Judas; blame the Jews, from whom, at the time of the writing of the Gospel, they were racing to distance themselves as much as they possibly could.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Blame, blame, blame. It’s an enormous industry. Far better to blame someone for something, even if that thing is actually helpful, and life-giving, and praiseworthy, and desirable; far better to blame someone that to say, “Wow! Do you see how much Jesus actually <b><u>HELPED</u></b> Mary and turned her life and the life of the whole household around?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“Maybe,” wrote Vanier, “maybe they cannot believe that women are important for Jesus and could be true disciples? After all, hadn’t Jesus chosen <i>them</i> as his disciples? Weren’t <i>they</i> the chosen ones? What is this woman doing here anyway?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So Mary becomes like Judas – a scapegoat, an outsider, someone to be despised and ridiculed for her immoral act of daring to interrupt the big boys while they were smoking cigars and drinking throughout dinner, someone who didn’t know the meaning and value of money and property.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">How many people, how many groups, did the <b><u>DISCIPLES THEMSELVES</u></b> sideline? The very ones who’d been charged with the responsibility of taking the openness of God’s love and the welcome of God’s reign to everyone, they themselves were engaging in practices of exclusion. Instead of breaking down fences and walls, they were flinging them up as fast as they could. Instead of saying, Jesus died for all, they said, well, maybe Jesus died for many.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As an aside, has it struck you that the Prayer Book follows the older, traditional usage and says of the chalice on the altar, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”? <sup>3</sup> For many? Are you kidding me? “Enriching our Worship”, which we use throughout Advent and Lent, says “which is poured out for you and for all” – not a mistranslation, just a proper understanding of the Greek work which can mean many, but in this context means all – everyone – no one is kept away from the salvific love of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What might they have been saying, under their breaths, at that dinner table in Bethany? “This is for us guys, not for women, not for Jews, not for …” – well, you can extend this as far as your mind can go, and then take it further than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“Jesus silences Judas <b><u>AND</u></b> the disciples with strong words: he proclaims his love for her! … Can you imagine any greater defence of Mary? He is confirming her in her passion and in her dignity as a woman. He is liberating her love. (Listen to this!) By defending Mary, he is also revealing his need for <b><u>HER </u></b>love and trust at a time when people have rejected him and are preparing to kill him.” <sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What troubles me about myself is how quickly I can be, on being asked for an opinion, or even for thinking through something in my mind, how quickly I’m willing to begin with the negative. I say or think, “Those idiots….” But this is how society works, apparently, and it gets worse every day. Even from morning to evening, turn on the TV, pick up a paper, and the language will be that of destruction, of embarrassment, of belittlement. People who seek your approval, who look for your help, who even appear to be willing to do something beneficial, are doing it at the expense of others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b><u><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">IS</span></u></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> it being Christ-like to be caught up in the life of the negative and destructive? Or is it being Christ-like to act in such a way that we produce a Mary-like response of incredible generosity, and unlimited trust, an unending devotion, no matter what it takes?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If for no other reason, we all need to listen to such things as the studies which tell us that thinking and acting negatively never does us any good, and only ends up by making our own lives acidic and miserable, to the point of shortening them. And, if we don’t care about ourselves, then we need to think of our families, our friends, everyone else in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Jesus gave and gives everything for Mary, for Martha, for Lazarus – for Judas and the disciples; Jesus gives all that He has for you and for me. Mary responded by giving her all, “giving herself in a beautiful, foolish and scandalous way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We still have time to do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NOTES:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">[1]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <i>“Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John”</i> by Jean Vanier. Paulist Press, New York/Mahweh, N.J. © 2004, page 205.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Jean Vanier, Op. cit.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">3</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> B.C.P. page 363, et al.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">4</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Jean Vanier, Op. cit. page 206<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p><br></o:p></span></div></body></html>