Monday in Holy Week: The Self-Giving Love of the Cross

Today's Scripture

Isaiah 42:1-9 (NRSV)

Here is 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 grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out 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.

I am the LORD, that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to idols.

See, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth,

I tell you of them.

Psalm 32:5-11 (BCP., p.632)


Hebrews 9:11-15 (NRSV)

When Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

John 12:1-11(NRSV)

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary 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. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (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.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor 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 because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Blog Reflection

In my blog post for the Fifth Sunday in Lent Year C I wrote the following about this Gospel reading.

All of us need to learn to see Christ in our neighbor. Each person is a sacred vessel containing the presence of Christ. We can and should serve one another with gladness and joy. To serve another, is to serve Christ. 

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is costly.  It will demand our best and our all.   We will be challenged to let go. Turn over ourselves over and over again for the use of God's will.  At times, it will cost us that which is most precious to us. It might be that special date or time we had planned to entertain ourselves or become an entertainer.  It may cost us our popularity. It may cost us those possessions that we are hoarding all for ourselves, when others could use our excess.  It may be our intellectual pride by which we think we are smarter than others.  It may be our desire to fit in with the most powerful, wealthy and the best looking.

Mary is preparing Jesus for His final journey into Jerusalem and ultimately to the Cross.  This anointing of Jesus' feet also has another meaning.   As Thomas Keating writes in his book The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience:

In this remarkable incident, Mary manifests her intuition into what Jesus is about to do.  Moreover, she identifies with Him to such an intimate degree that she manifests the same disposition of total self-giving that He is about to manifest on the cross.  She had learned from Jesus how to throw herself away and become like God.  That is why this story must be proclaimed wherever the Gospel is preached. "To perpetuate Mary's memory" is to fill the whole world with the perfume of God's love, the love that is totally self-giving.  In the concrete, it is to anoint the poor and the afflicted, the favored members of Christ's Body, with this love (Page55).

We begin Holy Week with this Gospel, because this is it.  Here we are asked to make the decision to follow Jesus in real discipleship in His self-giving love, or let Him go to the Cross without following Him in our daily life.   The costly part is that we will have to live into our Baptismal Covenant in upholding the dignity of every human being even if society and the Church continue to make distinctions that are contrary to the Gospel.

That is what the Cross is all about.

Amen.


Prayer

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.220).