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Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Momentum is a very special word with many different applications. I wonder how you define it and what images come into your mind when you think of ‘momentum’?
I left you yesterday walking along the road from Jericho to Bethany. Oh, we’re not simply walking, we’re walking with Jesus, and He was leading His disciples toward Jerusalem, and with every step they were getting more and more excited, they were gaining momentum! Why? Because they knew the great Jewish festival Passover was awaiting them in Jerusalem!
Words are insufficient to describe what I understand that festival was like for the great city of Jerusalem in those days! For weeks Jewish pilgrims came, from all across the Roman empire, to spend Passover at least in sight of the great Temple in Jerusalem. Every road leading to Jerusalem, from every direction, was filled with pilgrims. Hillsides for miles in each direction were filled with make-shift shelters to accommodate thousands who had no relatives in Jerusalem. Not only Jerusalem, but every town within several miles in all directions, including Bethlehem, Bethany, Bethpage and others, were overflowing with pilgrims. Thousands of sheep were herded toward Jerusalem for Passover, for every family would need a Passover lamb!
For Jesus and His disciples, they were very fortunate. Mary, Martha and resurrected Lazarus would be waiting to joyfully receive them and both feed and lodge them during Passover week. Can you imagine preparations Martha must have made to receive 13 hungry men, for several days?
The disciple John gives us a glimpse into one of those evenings during Passover week for Jesus and His friends. “Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in honor of Jesus. Martha served while Lazarus was among those at the table with Jesus.” (John 12:1,2) Come on friends, let’s join the party. Leave your shoes at the door and find a place at the table. Let’s not disrupt what’s happening here.
Did you notice the crowd outside, leaning in every window, crowding the doorway, just to get a glimpse of Jesus? But also, of course, Lazarus. Lazarus is famous here in Bethany for it was only a few weeks before Jesus had powerfully, miraculously raised Lazarus from the dead. So everyday people came, just to get a glimpse of a dead man now alive! (John 12:9)
The food was delicious I’m sure, Martha spared no effort and perhaps no expense. The conversation was enthusiastic, for my goodness all the remarkable things the disciples had experienced with Jesus over the past few weeks!!
They had so much to tell Lazarus, Mary and Martha, remember? Caesarea Philippi and Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, but then also Jesus’ rebuke of Peter when Jesus had declared He MUST go to Jerusalem where he would suffer and be killed but then raised from the dead!
And of course they needed to talk about miracles along the way, like the young man freed from a demon that often seized him, or Bartimaeus given sight in Jericho, or the transformation of Zacchaeus! Oh my, so much had happened, so much to tell.
No one noticed Mary had slipped away from the crowded table area and was gone for a little while, but now she’s back and she’s carefully holding something very special in her hand.
John tells us what happened next: “Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of perfume.” (John 12:3) Oh my, what could this possibly mean? As Jesus reclined at the table His feet were likely stretched out away from the table and food, so the easiest part of Jesus’ body for Mary to anoint with this perfume.
But Jesus’ feet, of course, were significant, as everyone’s feet are. Feet symbolize the life journey you’ve walked, the places you’ve been and where your life is going. Your feet, like the foundation of a building or pillar, support your entire body when you walk or stand. Jesus’ life mission was unlike any other person who has ever lived.
But Jesus also knew those feet would very soon walk up the hill called Golgotha and would be brutally spiked to a cross! But Jesus also knew those feet would be resurrected and would stand on the Mount of Olives bidding farewell to His friends and then elevate right up into the sky!
Have you looked at your feet lately my friends? Are they leaving behind footprints that make you proud of the journey you are walking? Footprints your kids and grandkids will be delighted to follow.
Jesus had already three times, in the past few days, made that bold prediction to His disciples (Matt. 16:21 / Matt. 17:22,23 / Luke 18:31-34) but they simply could not envision it, or imagine it. They refused to allow their minds to seriously consider it, or their hearts anticipate the grief it would cause them if it all really did happen.
The smell of the perfume was pungent, filling the room and every nostril! All eyes turned to Jesus and Mary as she wiped His perfume anointed feet with her hair. No one spoke for several minutes. It was a sacred silence. Then Judas Iscariot broke the silence with a harsh tone: “Why wasn’t this perfume sold, and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” (John 12:4,5)
All eyes turned to Judas and several scowls accompanied the piercing eyes. John tells us what many of them thought, even though no disciple spoke: “Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12:6) Judas had an ugly reputation, they all evidently knew it, and perhaps some wondered why Jesus allowed Judas to stay with them? Why didn’t Jesus throw him off the team?
Jesus broke the awkward silence: “Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.” (John 12:7) There, Jesus said it again… ‘burial’! The disciples grimace in pain. Why was Jesus so frequently talking about His suffering, death and burial? To a man, I’m sure they were trying to imagine what they could or should do as disciples to prevent anything that might happen to Jesus?
The good dinner and wonderful conversation continued long into the night, I’m sure.
Jesus knew. Jesus could foresee what the next few days would hold and how each disciple would respond. John tells us the very next day Jesus sent him and Peter to find a donkey colt and bring it to Him. They did, and Jesus rode that donkey over the hills called the Mount of Olives. Crowds quickly gathered, shouting and celebrating for many of them knew He had raised Lazarus from the dead and given sight to blind people and lifted up crippled people to walk.
With palm branches waving, they shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessed is the king of Israel!” (John 12:12,13)
Their declaration could not be clearer! Their cry for help and hope was undeniable. The people desperately wanted Jesus to be their long-awaited Messiah, and they were ready, if He would rise up and lead them, to take up arms and seek to overthrow Roman domination!
But Luke tells us Jesus wept as He rode that donkey: “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, ‘If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes…” (Luke 19:41-44)
Then as now, people refused to recognize Jesus for who He really is, God the Son, and what His mission from God the Father was: to provide Redemption to all humanity through His atonement death and resurrection!
As we are now only a few days from Easter weekend, and as Jesus looks over your city and mine, is Jesus smiling or weeping? Let’s walk carefully to Easter my friends, making sure we’re ready to experience Jesus in a special way this Easter. Here’s a song to help us prepare…
Today’s Scripture: John 12:1-19.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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