Monday in Holy Week: Extravagant love - the Anointing at Bethany

Artist: Daniel F. Gerhartz www.danielgerhartz.com

FIRST READING (Isaiah 42:1-7)

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.

“He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. “

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

GOSPEL (John 12:1-11)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him.

Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.

Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have 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 on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

REFLECTION 

Extravagant love for Jesushttp://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2018/mar26.htm 

(Word of Life Community) 

FURTHERMORE . . .

“Before the triumphal procession moved towards Jerusalem, Jesus stopped at the home of His friend Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. There were two persons at the supper that distinguished themselves by their behaviour: Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and Judas, the disciple of Jesus, whose surname was Iscariot.

“Mary, sensing somehow that the earthly ministry of Jesus was drawing to a close, takes a pound of pure and expensive alabaster and anoints the feet of Christ, wiping them with her hair. The house was soon permeated by the sweet fragrance of the alabaster.

“Judas, however, always acutely conscious of the monetary value of everything, censured the pious act of Mary, charging her with the wanton waste of that which ‘might have been sold for much, and given to the poor’ (Matthew 26:9). We then see Jesus in His role as Defender of the poor and the oppressed. Chrysostom remarks that the piety of Judas here is certainly hypocritical, as is his condemnation of Mary.

“St. Paul tells us that Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (II Corinthians 11:14). Judas is unsuccessful at hiding his real motive; he would have liked to have stolen the ointment, and sold it for his own personal profit. Many of us today are guilty of this sin of Judas, particularly those that would rob the church of its liturgical appointments, condemning them as luxuries. Not that they would steal from the church; but whenever a new chalice is needed for Holy Communion they will object that the money is being squandered foolishly, and the same with vestments, icons, and even with Bibles for the Sunday School. Any money spent for religious purposes, and especially for bringing others to the saving faith of Christ, is, according to these people, not necessary. It would be superfluous to comment upon the spiritual condition of these avaricious souls.”

Rev. George Dimopoulos 

“. . . anointing with such expensive oil was the traditional practice reserved for the deceased, the dead. But Jesus was not dead yet, he was very much alive. Then why did all this happen now, you may ask? Mary was foretelling the crucifixion of our Lord on the cross, and His burial in the tomb by her simple actions motivated purely by love. Our Lord specifically states that ‘she (Mary) has kept this for the day of My burial.’ (Jn 12:7). Here the actions of Mary teach us that Jesus was already dead to this world and to His human temptations. We too who attempt to live a life in Christ must also be dead to this world if we ever want to receive Christ.”

Kosmas Damianides

PRAYER

Alone to sacrifice thou goest, Lord,

giving thyself to Death

whom thou hast slain.

For us thy wretched folk is any word?

Who know that for our sins this is thy pain?

For they are ours, O Lord, our deeds, our deeds.

Why must thou suffer torture for our sin?

Let our hearts suffer in thy Passion, Lord,

that very suffering may thy mercy win.

This is the night of tears, the three days’ space,

sorrow abiding of the eventide,

Until the day break with the risen Christ,

and hearts that sorrowed shall be satisfied.

So may our hearts share in thine anguish, Lord,

that they may sharers of thy glory be;

Heavy with weeping may the three days pass,

to win the laughter of thine Easter Day.

- Peter Abelard (1079-1142)

Jesus at Bethany - Anointed for his burial

Artist: Daniel F. Gerhartz www.danielgerhartz.com

FIRST READING (Isaiah 42:1-7)

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.

“He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. “

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

GOSPEL (John 12:1-11)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him.

Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.

Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have 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 on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

REFLECTIONS 

Extravagant love for Jesus 

(Word of Life Community) 

The "foolishness" of faith 

(Presentation Ministries)

FURTHERMORE . . .

“Before the triumphal procession moved towards Jerusalem, Jesus stopped at the home of His friend Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. There were two persons at the supper that distinguished themselves by their behaviour: Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and Judas, the disciple of Jesus, whose surname was Iscariot.

“Mary, sensing somehow that the earthly ministry of Jesus was drawing to a close, takes a pound of pure and expensive alabaster and anoints the feet of Christ, wiping them with her hair. The house was soon permeated by the sweet fragrance of the alabaster.

“Judas, however, always acutely conscious of the monetary value of everything, censured the pious act of Mary, charging her with the wanton waste of that which ‘might have been sold for much, and given to the poor’ (Matthew 26:9). We then see Jesus in His role as Defender of the poor and the oppressed. Chrysostom remarks that the piety of Judas here is certainly hypocritical, as is his condemnation of Mary.

“St. Paul tells us that Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (II Corinthians 11:14). Judas is unsuccessful at hiding his real motive; he would have liked to have stolen the ointment, and sold it for his own personal profit. Many of us today are guilty of this sin of Judas, particularly those that would rob the church of its liturgical appointments, condemning them as luxuries. Not that they would steal from the church; but whenever a new chalice is needed for Holy Communion they will object that the money is being squandered foolishly, and the same with vestments, icons, and even with Bibles for the Sunday School. Any money spent for religious purposes, and especially for bringing others to the saving faith of Christ, is, according to these people, not necessary. It would be superfluous to comment upon the spiritual condition of these avaricious souls.”

Rev. George Dimopoulos 

“. . . anointing with such expensive oil was the traditional practice reserved for the deceased, the dead. But Jesus was not dead yet, he was very much alive. Then why did all this happen now, you may ask? Mary was foretelling the crucifixion of our Lord on the cross, and His burial in the tomb by her simple actions motivated purely by love. Our Lord specifically states that ‘she (Mary) has kept this for the day of My burial.’ (Jn 12:7). Here the actions of Mary teach us that Jesus was already dead to this world and to His human temptations. We too who attempt to live a life in Christ must also be dead to this world if we ever want to receive Christ.”

Kosmas Damianides

PRAYER

Alone to sacrifice thou goest, Lord,

giving thyself to Death

whom thou hast slain.

For us thy wretched folk is any word?

Who know that for our sins this is thy pain?

For they are ours, O Lord, our deeds, our deeds.

Why must thou suffer torture for our sin?

Let our hearts suffer in thy Passion, Lord,

that very suffering may thy mercy win.

This is the night of tears, the three days’ space,

sorrow abiding of the eventide,

Until the day break with the risen Christ,

and hearts that sorrowed shall be satisfied.

So may our hearts share in thine anguish, Lord,

that they may sharers of thy glory be;

Heavy with weeping may the three days pass,

to win the laughter of thine Easter Day.

- Peter Abelard (1079-1142)

When prayer is a struggle

We are all grateful when prayer lifts our hearts and souls, when we have times of spiritual refreshing, when we experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a real and powerful anointing, when the sense of the Lord’s presence brings joy, comfort, healing and strength. 

That can happen when we are deeply moved in worship with our church family; it can happen when we are alone in prayer. The Scriptures clearly teach that God gives us times of spiritual refreshing. In those times we should linger gratefully, just as we would if we had been trekking through a desert and came upon a beautiful oasis. We should drink. We should rest. We should allow ourselves to celebrate exuberantly. We should make the most of it. We should thank the Lord and intentionally use the blessings of the oasis to strengthen ourselves in case a drought-stricken wasteland lies ahead. That’s the rhythm of life; and it’s very often the rhythm of the spiritual life, too. 

We must be honest enough to admit that we have times when God seems a million miles away, and we cannot explain why. Our prayers, to use T.S. Eliot's expression, feel like “dead letters.” Then there are times when we have to deal with tragedy and undeserved suffering in our lives or in the lives of those we love. Even as Christians - especially as Christians - we try in vain to work out why life is so unfair, so unjust. Where is God in all the pain? Why didn’t he help? We search for answers and can't find any. Like the Psalmist we go through stages of being very angry with God. On top of all that, many struggle with cycles of ordinary depression and fear. It’s no wonder that sometimes we don’t even want to pray! 

We have to remind ourselves that the heroes in the Bible, as well as the great Saints and spiritual guides down through the centuries went through these same times of struggle and frustration in prayer, not to mention pain and suffering far more intense than what most of us will ever have to experience. Actually, the remarkable thing about Christian history is that the hard bits haven’t been edited out of the story! But from the writings of these men and women we know that whatever the problems are - physical, emotional, intellectual or spiritual - God’s love can and will win through, eventually. Our part is to persevere and hang on in naked faith, surrendering to God and allowing the mystery of his love to do its healing work in us. That’s how we grow. We shouldn’t give up just because we find it difficult. 

We WILL have problems and struggles. Our relationship with God is a bumpy road some of the time. So it’s a good idea for us to ask those who have been on the journey a little longer for support. Seeing our priest is a good start. We should speak to him about our joys as well as our sorrows. He might suggest that we meet with him from time to time, or with another priest, pastor, religious brother or sister, or a lay person who has special gifts in the ministry of “spiritual direction” (even if that's not the term they use). Confiding in a such a person on a regular basis can help us begin to understand what God is doing in our life.

Even when praying is NOT difficult for us - when we feel as if we are living in bliss at the oasis - it's a good idea to have someone like that from whom we can learn.

I now share with you one of the best no-nonsense passages about our varied experience of prayer. It is from the little book Rule For a New Brother, written by by Dutch Blessed Sacrament Father, H. Van Der Looy. Rule For a New Brother was given to me in 1974, and it has been a mainstay of my life ever since. Subsequent editions have a foreword by Henri Nouwen. It’s well worth purchasing HERE.

“The Lord Jesus himself will teach you

how you should pray.

“He is the creative word

which you may receive 

in the silence of your heart

and the fruitful soil of your life.  

Listen attentively to what he will say;

“Be swift to carry out

what he will ask of you.

“You have been promised his Spirit

who will bear your poor little efforts

before the throne of grace;  

and into the intimacy of the Living God . . .

“Your prayer will take countless forms

because it is the echo of your life,

and a reflection of the inexhaustible light

in which God dwells . . .

“You want to seek God with all your life.

And love him with all your heart.

But you would be wrong

If you thought you could reach him.

Your arms are too short; your eyes are too dim;

Your heart and understanding too small.

“To seek God means first of all

to let yourself be found by him.

He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He is the God of Jesus Christ.

He is your God,

not because he is yours

but because you are his.

“Your prayer is therefore not so much a duty

as a privilege;

a gift rather than a problem

or the result of your own efforts.

“So don’t tire yourself out 

looking for beautiful thoughts or words, 

but stay attentive before God 

in humility and expectation, 

in desire and purity of heart 

full of joy and hope. 

“Your prayer will take countless forms. 

because it is the echo of your life, 

and a reflection of the inexhaustible light 

in which God dwells. 

“Sometimes you will taste and see 

how good the Lord is.

Be glad then, and give him all honour,

because his goodness to you has no measure.

“Sometimes you will be dry and joyless

like parched land or an empty well.

“But your thirst and helplessness 

will be your best prayer

if you accept them with patience

and embrace them lovingly.

“Sometimes your prayer will be an experience

of the infinite distance

that separates you from God;

sometimes your being and his fullness

will flow into each other.

“Sometimes you will be able to pray

only with your body and hands and eyes;

sometimes your prayer will move

beyond words and images;

sometimes you will be able

to leave everything behind you

to concentrate on God and his Word.

“Sometimes you will be able to do nothing else

but take your whole life and everything in you

and bring them to God

“Every hour has its own possibilities

of genuine prayer.”

Pentecost explained in TWO MINUTES

Well . . . perhaps not EVERYTHING we would like to say, but it’s not bad!

Words that every priest needs to hear - Pope Francis preaching at his first Chrism Mass in Rome

All around the world more and more ministry is carried out in churches of ALL traditions in a managerial bureaucratic manner with little sense of the Holy Spirit empowering - anointing - what is done in Jesus' name. For a while welfare programmes and other outreaches to people in need mask the spiritual impoverishment taking place; then a generation later the original motivation of such programmes - to reach out and support people with the love of Jesus - disappears completely, and government funded church welfare organizations become part of the Church's cute strategy to survive as an institution, keeping up appearances and concealing its decline. I have blogged before on these matters. 

Real love for the Lord and real love for people are part of the same reality. Lose that, replace leadership known for that with any other kind, and you end up with brooding, remote, dictatorial, self-serving ecclesiastical bureaucracies that are just as skilled at crushing the spirits of parish clergy and lay ministers in the name of managerial effectiveness as any secular corporation.

That's why I was so blessed to read what Pope Francis preached this morning as Bishop of Rome. It is grounded in Scripture, focused on Jesus, filled with grace, and fired with a passionate concern for real ministry among real people, especially those who are struggling. Pope Francis reminds us why there is a Church. 

I hope you will read Francis' words - especially fellow priests and others in "official" ministry roles from across the Christian traditions. There is so much in what he says to recall us to our first love.

This morning I have the joy of celebrating my first Chrism Mass as the Bishop of Rome. I greet all of you with affection, especially you, dear priests, who, like myself, today recall the day of your ordination. 

The readings of our Mass speak of God’s “anointed ones”: the suffering Servant of Isaiah, King David and Jesus our Lord. All three have this in common: the anointing that they receive is meant in turn to anoint God’s faithful people, whose servants they are; they are anointed for the poor, for prisoners, for the oppressed… A fine image of this “being for” others can be found in the Psalm: “It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down upon the collar of his robe” (Ps 133:2). The image of spreading oil, flowing down from the beard of Aaron upon the collar of his sacred robe, is an image of the priestly anointing which, through Christ, the Anointed One, reaches the ends of the earth, represented by the robe. 

The sacred robes of the High Priest are rich in symbolism. One such symbol is that the names of the children of Israel were engraved on the onyx stones mounted on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, the ancestor of our present-day chasuble: six on the stone of the right shoulder-piece and six on that of the left (cf. Ex 28:6-14). The names of the twelve tribes of Israel were also engraved on the breastplate (cf. Es 28:21). This means that the priest celebrates by carrying on his shoulders the people entrusted to his care and bearing their names written in his heart. When we put on our simple chasuble, it might well make us feel, upon our shoulders and in our hearts, the burdens and the faces of our faithful people, our saints and martyrs. 

From the beauty of all these liturgical things, which is not so much about trappings and fine fabrics than about the glory of our God resplendent in his people, alive and strengthened, we turn to a consideration of activity, action. The precious oil which anoints the head of Aaron does more than simply lend fragrance to his person; it overflows down to “the edges”. The Lord will say this clearly: his anointing is meant for the poor, prisoners and the sick, for those who are sorrowing and alone. The ointment is not intended just to make us fragrant, much less to be kept in a jar, for then it would become rancid … and the heart bitter. 

A good priest can be recognized by the way his people are anointed. When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is obvious: for example, when they leave Mass looking as if they have heard good news. Our people like to hear the Gospel preached with “unction”, they like it when the Gospel we preach touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the oil of Aaron to the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of extreme darkness, to the “outskirts” where people of faith are most exposed to the onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith. People thank us because they feel that we have prayed over the realities of their everyday lives, their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their hopes. And when they feel that the fragrance of the Anointed One, of Christ, has come to them through us, they feel encouraged to entrust to us everything they want to bring before the Lord: “Pray for me, Father, because I have this problem”, “Bless me”, “Pray for me” – these words are the sign that the anointing has flowed down to the edges of the robe, for it has turned into prayer. When we have this relationship with God and with his people, and grace passes through us, then we are priests, mediators between God and men. What I want to emphasize is that we need constantly to stir up God’s grace and perceive in every request, even those requests that are inconvenient and at times purely material or downright banal – but only apparently so – the desire of our people to be anointed with fragrant oil, since they know that we have it. To perceive and to sense, even as the Lord sensed the hope-filled anguish of the woman suffering from hemorrhages when she touched the hem of his garment. At that moment, Jesus, surrounded by people on every side, embodies all the beauty of Aaron vested in priestly raiment, with the oil running down upon his robes. It is a hidden beauty, one which shines forth only for those faith-filled eyes of the woman troubled with an issue of blood. But not even the disciples – future priests – see or understand: on the “existential outskirts”, they see only what is on the surface: the crowd pressing in on Jesus from all sides (cf. Lk 8:42). The Lord, on the other hand, feels the power of the divine anointing which runs down to the edge of his cloak. 

We need to “go out”, then, in order to experience our own anointing, its power and its redemptive efficacy: to the “outskirts” where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters. It is not in soul-searching or constant introspection that we encounter the Lord: self-help courses can be useful in life, but to live by going from one course to another, from one method to another, leads us to become pelagians and to minimize the power of grace, which comes alive and flourishes to the extent that we, in faith, go out and give ourselves and the Gospel to others, giving what little ointment we have to those who have nothing, nothing at all. 

A priest who seldom goes out of himself, who anoints little – I won’t say “not at all” because, thank God, our people take our oil from us anyway – misses out on the best of our people, on what can stir the depths of his priestly heart. Those who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually become intermediaries, managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the manager, “has already received his reward”, and since he doesn’t put his own skin and his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of thanks. This is precisely the reason why some priests grow dissatisfied, lose heart and become in some sense collectors of antiques or novelties – instead of being shepherds living with “the smell of the sheep”, shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men. True enough, the so-called crisis of priestly identity threatens us all and adds to the broader cultural crisis; but if we can resist its onslaught, we will be able to put out in the name of the Lord and cast our nets. It is not a bad thing that reality itself forces us to “put out into the deep”, where what we are by grace is clearly seen as pure grace, out into the deep of the contemporary world, where the only thing that counts is “unction” – not function – and the nets which overflow with fish are those cast solely in the name of the One in whom we have put our trust: Jesus. 

Dear lay faithful, be close to your priests with affection and with your prayers, that they may always be shepherds according to God’s heart. 

Dear priests, may God the Father renew in us the Spirit of holiness with whom we have been anointed. May he renew his Spirit in our hearts, that this anointing may spread to everyone, even to those “outskirts” where our faithful people most look for it and most appreciate it. May our people sense that we are the Lord’s disciples; may they feel that their names are written upon our priestly vestments and that we seek no other identity; and may they receive through our words and deeds the oil of gladness which Jesus, the Anointed One, came to bring us. Amen.

Margaret Barker's Fr Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture

Metropolitan Jonah, President of St Vladimir's Seminary, New York, 

presents Dr Margaret Barker with an icon 

of Christ the High Priest in gratitude for her lecture.

In May last year I drew attention on this blog to Margaret Barker, a Cambridge theologian and Methodist, whose writings are acknowledged across the Christian traditions. Visit her home page HERE. In July 2008 Margaret Barker was awarded a D.D. by the Archbishop of Canterbury "in recognition of her work on the Jerusalem Temple and the origins of Christian Liturgy, which has made a significantly new contribution to our understanding of the New Testament and opened up important fields for research." On January 29, 2012 Dr Barker gave the 29th Annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Yonkers, New York. Her topic was OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST: THE CHURCH AS THE NEW TEMPLE. I share it with you as a wonderful introduction to her work which helps us to grasp the meaning both of the New Testament and Christian worship. 

. . . I am greatly honoured that you have invited me to give this lecture in memory of Fr. Alexander Schmemann. 

I was raised in the Protestant tradition and have for many years been studying the temple in Jerusalem, trying to recover the world view and the beliefs that it expressed. It was not until 1999 that I was first present at an Orthodox liturgy, and I had expected it to be very strange. In fact it was rather familiar. What I saw was the liturgy of the temple, much as I had imagined it from my scholarly reconstructions. Not exactly, of course, but the movements, the general ‘feel’ of the service. But I was watching from outside, so to speak. 

When I began to read the work of Fr. Alexander, I was able to glimpse, in small way, what the liturgy meant from the inside, and reading his Journals, I caught something of the Orthodox world view. I managed to find again a couple of sentences in his 1965 book Sacraments and Orthodoxy which link closely to what I have prepared for today. ‘The liturgy of the Eucharist is... the journey of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom... ‘Dimension’... seems the best way to indicate the manner of our sacramental entrance into the risen life of Christ’, p.29. 

It has been a pleasure to compile this lecture to honour the memory of Fr. Alexander, reconstructing something of the temple-world that has shaped so much of our Christian worship and world view, the journey into the dimension of the Kingdom. 

The writer of Hebrews described Jesus as a great high priest, and assumed, in his exposition, that the temple — its worship and its furnishings — had foreshadowed the work of Jesus, and was therefore the best framework within which to describe the person and work of our LORD. 

First, let us look at the temple itself. It is important to distinguish . . . Continue Reading . . .