Monday of Holy Week 2022

 Isaiah 42:1-9

42:1 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.

42:2 He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;

42:3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

42:4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

42:5 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:

42:6 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,

42:7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

42:8 I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.

42:9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Psalm 36:5-11

36:5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

36:6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.

36:7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

36:8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

36:9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

36:10 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart!

36:11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me, or the hand of the wicked drive me away.

Hebrews 9:11-15

9:11 But 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),

9:12 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.

9:13 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,

9:14 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!

9:15 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

12:1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

12:2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.

12:3 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.

12:4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,

12:5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?"

12:6 (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.)

12:7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.

12:8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

12:9 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.

12:10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well,

12:11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

"Lazarus" is a name that appears in two gospels: once in Luke's parable:

There was this rich man, who wore clothing fit for a king and who dined lavishly every day.  This poor man, named Lazarus, languished at his gate, all covered with sores.  He longed to eat what fell from the rich man's table.  Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.  It so happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the heavenly messengers to be with Abraham.  The rich man died too, and was buried.

From Hades, where he was being tortured, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off and Lazarus with him.  He called out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me!  Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, for I am in torment in these flames.'

But Abraham said, 'My child, remember that you had good fortune in your lifetime, and Lazarus had it bad.  Now he is being comforted here, and you are in torment.  And besides all this, a great chasm has been set between us and you, so that even those who want to cross over from there to you cannot, and no one can cross over them that side to yours.'

But he said, 'Father, I beg you then, send him to my father's house--after all, I have five brothers--so he can warn them not to wind up in this place of torture.'

But Abraham says, 'They have Moses and the prophets; why don't they listen to them?'

'But they won't do that, father Abraham,' he said.  'However, if someone appears to them from the dead, they'll have a change of heart.'

(Abraham) said to him, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't be convinced even if someone were to rise from the dead.'

--Luke 16:19-31, SV

The second time is in John, where it appears twice. There's one other connection:

(Abraham) said to him, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't be convinced even if someone were to rise 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.

It's not an idle connection, in other words.  The resurrection of Lazarus is a semeia, a sign, in John's terminology.  All of the "miracles" in the synoptics are dunamis, acts of power; John calls the "miracles" (that's our word) "signs." And while most of us remember the story of Lazarus because "Jesus wept," few of us notice the "sign" of Lazarus is another entry on the bill of indictment against Jesus.  To John, it's just one more reason Jesus was crucified.  He includes Lazarus among the doomed because signs must be erased.  Acts of power can be explained away, or simply forgotten; after all, many in Jesus' day claimed the power of resurrection, and many of their followers claimed their leader had been resurrected.  We tend to treat the most miraculous claims of the gospels as unique in human history, or certainly in 1st century Palestine, but they weren't.  Perhaps that's one more reason John says they are "signs".  Signs have to be destroyed.  Acts are fleeting; signs, if not perpetual, are at least more permanent.

This is the second part of Lazarus' story, in John.  Jesus returns to the house of Lazarus for what we now call Holy Week.  And here is he anointed, the other story common to all four gospels (the only other one is the crucifixion), and again, he draws from Luke's story (the last, chronologically, of the synoptics).

One of the Pharisees invited him to dinner; he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. A local woman, one who was a sinner, found out that he was having dinner at the Pharisee's house. She suddenly showed up with an alabaster jar of myrrh, and stood there behind him weeping at his feet. Her tears wet his feet, and she wiped them dry with her hair; she kissed his feet, and anointed them with the myrrh.

The Pharisee who had invited him saw this and said to himself, "if this man were a prophet, he would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching him, since she is a sinner."

And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Teacher," he said, "Speak up."

"This moneylender had two debtors; one owed five hundred silver coins, the other fifty. Since neither one of them could pay, he wrote off both debts. Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon answered, "I would imagine the one for whom he wrote off the larger debt."

And he said to him, "You're right." Then turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I walked into your house and you didn't offer me water for my feet; yet she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't offer me a kiss, but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I arrived. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with myrrh. For this reason, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven, as this outpouring of her love shows. But the one who is forgiven little shows little love."

And he said to her "Your sins have been forgiven."

Then those having dinner with him began to mutter to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

And he said to the woman, "Your trust has saved you; go in peace."

Luke 7:36-50, SV

I just want you to notice the similarities in action here.  The woman is unnamed in the synoptics (though Matthew says "what she has done will be told in memory of her”). John supplies a name, and tries to remove the scandal of a woman coming to the table with men by making it Mary's house, and making her a friend of Jesus (who was known to have women in his entourage, a scandal in itself.  That information, too, is found in Luke, not in Mark or Matthew; but it was true for Paul, too, so....).  And the anointing of the head (for a king) in Matthew and Mark moves to the feet for Luke and John (and probably opens the door in John to the foot washing on Maundy Thursday; but we'll get there). John returns to the synoptic version of this act with the complaint of Judas.  That complaint is found in Matthew and Mark; but Luke elides it.

I mention this not to draw conclusions, but so you can create your own meditations.  These are deep waters, and we tend to stir them with small sticks and stay on the shore. The "suffering servant" of Isaiah 42 is relevant here, too.  Not because the servant has suffered, but because he has endured.  You should notice Isaiah's "servant" is not about power or even punishment. 

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.

Justice will come through perseverence, not through crushing authority.  Justice will prevail and flourish, not conquer and put all opposition to rout, because creation itself is good. And justice will prevail to what end?

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.

Which sounds very much like where we start the Christian year, every year:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom.  He stood up to do the reading and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to announce pardon for prisoners

and recovery of sight to the blind;

to set free the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's amnesty.

Luke 3:16-19, SV

That story ends, notably, with Jesus preaching on those verses, which doesn't exactly please the assembled multitude:

Everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage when they heard this.  They rose up, ran him out of town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, intending to hurl him over it.  But he slipped away through the throng and went on his way.

--Luke 3:28-30, SV

It seems to be a pattern leading inexorably to Holy Week, which ends with the crowd not letting Jesus walk away.