John 12: 1-8 (Common English Bible)
If Lent is a season of curiosity and confession, this story about a dinner for Jesus in the home of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha was a surprise to Jesus. And this event happened after Jesus raised Lazarus from death.
In this story, we are close to the celebration of Passover in Jerusalem. The writer John in the previous chapter in his book said the religious leaders were angry after Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. They were angry because more people will follow Jesus instead of worshipping in the Temple. So they thought it was time to kill Jesus.
At the dinner with Jesus and his disciples plus Lazarus’ family, Judas Iscariot criticizes Mary about the amount of money used for spices and perfume to anoint Jesus. But Jesus explains to him and says, “You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me.”
God and Christ view time in a different way, than most people. In the New Testament written in Greek, there are two words for “time.” The first is “chronos” which is when someone looks at the time on a clock. That is our regular experience. But there is another time we rarely experience. And that is “Kairus” , the special time about a moment that will not be repeated. Kairus was the type of time when Jesus was talking to Judas.
Instead of living under the regular chronos time, people of faith are invited to live in kairus time, which is God’s time. Instead of asking, “how can I save time?” ask instead, “what is the saving God doing at this moment and what can I do to be a part of it?” Mary realized that Jesus’ time on earth was going to end soon, and with Mary anointing him she became part of that kairos moment.
When Jesus made the statement, “the poor will be with you always, many people use that statement to justify ignoring the poor. But they are wrong. There is always the time to follow Jesus’ command to love and assist those who are poor and need help.
Life together in a Christian community calls for an embrace of kairus’ time, a reorientation of our lives to God’s time. It’s the proper thing to do during Lent. God exists through all time, past, present and future continuously.
We serve God, we worship God and we do good things through God. The love God has looks like, is encouraging someone to give dignity and kindness to other people. Mary had that same encouragement when she made the bold public display when she anointed Jesus. Mary realized Jesus is the Messiah, no matter what happens to him.
While Mary’s actions were honest, Judas was not. He had ulterior motives. He has been stealing from the disciples’ collection account. Judas has been selfish and was uncomfortable by Mary’s gracious gift of expensive perfume she used on Jesus.
Filling that room with a wonderful scent from the perfume was a symbol of God’s presence in the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They also filled their house with the knowledge of death and life, and Jesus as their Messiah. Mary knows this is love and truth in the flesh, despite what is to come.
As we ready ourselves for the Eucharist today, it is similar to what Lazarus, Mary and Martha experienced in their home. The family had food to eat and Jesus was with them in person. Today we have these elements of food and something to drink. We don’t see Jesus the Christ in the flesh but Christ is with us in spirit.
AMEN.
