Advent Lutheran Church

"Dinner with Friends"

Cynthia Schnaath

Friday, March 19, 2010
John 12:1-8

12Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii* and the money given to the poor?’ 6(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.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it* so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

 

John 12:1-8

12Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii* and the money given to the poor?’ 6(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.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it* so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

 

Dinner with friends

Three people in the gospels who are not Jesus disciples, but his friends are Lazarus, Martha and Mary.  In a sermon by Rev. Barbara Taylor Brown she comments about these three, "They called him Lord, so they knew who he was, and yet they were not his disciples, at least not in any formal sense.  They were his friends, the three people in whose presence he could be a man as well as a Messiah."  He visits them as he knows his days are numbered.  Threats are coming from all places, but here with friends he can breath. Mary does four remarkable things - first she lets down her hair in public, second pours the perfume on Jesus feet, third she touches him, and fourth she wipes his feet with her hair.  Those gathered are perhaps speechless, but not his betrayer, Judas.  He misses the point, the act of love from a friend and the deeper meaning of the act. To have such friends who love and shower us in that love is an incredible gift.  One to be cherish.  So on this day remember those special friends in your life. Friends who you can be yourself. The blessings they bring to you and the blessings you can give to them.