4th July, 2009

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read John 11 - 12: 19

Luke gives us the story of Martha and Mary. On one occasion, Martha was busy making sure that all the tasks of polite hospitality were being attended to for the visit and the comfort of the Rabbi (Luke 10: 38-41). Then Martha had complained about Mary's neglect of her female house duties. You will know, no doubt, the common way of distinguishing two kinds of female activity - one active the other passive - and we refer to this story of the two sisters as part of the way we talk about these domestic and public differences.

That's from Luke's account. But the interesting thing is that though Luke does tell us that they were sisters, he does not tell us about their brother Lazarus, and his raising (John 11: 19). Why? Well, maybe he didn't know about it. The apostle, on the other hand, seems at various points to have "an insider's story" to link people and events named in other accounts but which are not emphasised by the other Gospel writers. And Luke, early on in his Gospel, does tell us of a party where Jesus was anointed, with a striking resemblance to the one John tells us about. Compare John 12: 1-8 with Luke 7: 37-50. And consider Matthew 26: 6-13 and Mark 14: 3-9 which are clearly descriptions of the same event to which the apostle is referring in 12: 1-8.

Luke's account of Jesus' forgiveness of a woman of the streets seems to be telling us of an occasion when Simon the Pharisee was converted. Before Jesus "outed" him for his lack of hospitality, Simon had made up his mind that Jesus could not be the one so many were claiming Him to be. He came to this conclusion when he saw how Jesus welcomed the contaminating touch of a woman he knew to be sinful. Apart from the question of how Simon knew this we have to ask why Simon didn't seem to know that this was Lazarus's sister.

And so we are let to ponder who was, and who was not, "in the know". Had her life not been turned around by Jesus, such that she too could insist to the Rabbi that, with His presence, her brother would not have died (11: 32)? That was identical to Martha's profession in her conversation with Jesus when she too professed belief in Him as the resurrection and the life (11: 21-22, 27). Interestingly, when Mary anointed Jesus feet (12: 1), preparing Him for the day of His burial (12: 7), Martha is serving at tables (12: 2) and we are reminded of Luke's account, and begin to glimpse how Jesus had also salved a sore point in the relationship between the two sisters. Indeed, as we noted, they both believed in Jesus the Messiah (11: 27).

We are repeatedly told in the Gospels that when Jesus spoke about His death and resurrection the 12 disciples didn't seem to understand what He was talking about. It seems, however, even before Lazarus was raised, that these two woman of Bethany, did believe and understand what Jesus had come to do. And now, unlike earlier when she had complained about Mary's passivity, Martha is not mentioned as a co-complainant about the anointing. Besides, it took place at a neighbour's house and Luke has explicitly told us that Martha had petitioned Jesus about her sister in her own house. But nevertheless, the apostle here wants us to understand that the attachment between them was strong and that they were enabled to share with each other deeply and emotionally, whatever the difference in their service of their Rabbi.

Luke does mention Judas and, as with these passages, it is in relation to the plot to kill Jesus and the Passover preparation (22: 7-13). So, we hear John telling us that Mary's anointing became the occasion for Judas to implicitly challenge Jesus' friendship with this woman who had sat at His feet listening to her Rabbi. So, Luke's Martha and Mary story (Luke 10: 38-41) can help us as we try to understand the same occasion as it is retold here (12:1-18). [In many ways our examination of the text, in relation to the other gospels, reminds us of what we do when trying to follow the clues in a good detective novel.] The pattern by which the two sisters interacted socially is, however, the same, and so we are left to wonder whether these oils had been left unused after Lazarus' death. Are we meant to infer that the body of Lazarus had lain in the tomb without the usual anointing, if by usual we mean the custom recounted for us by the apostle, that was followed by Joseph or Arimathea and Nicodemus (John 19: 38-42) in concert with the women (Mark 15: 42-16:8)? After Jesus' death, the women were up and ready to do what was needed early on the first day of the working week and Mary, it seems, was involved too. When Jesus' body was taken down from the cross, it was immediately wrapped in linen sheets in which spices were interleaved.

But here, in the earlier case of Lazarus, we confront what seems to be a four day delay in any such burial preparation.

The apostle reports to us that it was Mary who received Jesus' complimentary thankyou in the face of murmuring by Judas and the disciples for having anointed His body for the day of His burial - refer here to what Matthew 26: 13 and Mark 14: 9 tell us about Jesus' prophecy about this act of female devotion. Does it raise questions here about what motivated Judas' deep-down betrayal? It might, but then all the Gospel writers seem to say as little as possible about Jesus betrayal.

It is clear to us, reading this now, that a lot was going on. That is also why I am commenting on 11-12: 19 as one continuous narrative. You will notice that John links the death and rising of Lazarus to Jesus the King, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt (12: 15). The ecstatic crowds had been won over to Jesus. The raising of Lazarus, the apostle tells us, had seemingly turned the tide of public opinion in Jesus' favour. But then we also have to ask - had it turned their hearts?

I'm commenting on this section in this way because the different events are clearly linked together thematically in the apostle's account of Jesus' ministry, His trial, death, resurrection and ascension. If we want to come to terms with the story and "tell it as it is" - that is, as the apostle has told it to us - we shall have to come to terms with the way he conveys the significance of these different events as preparation for what is to come next in the account. As I suggest, the Apostle John writes as a "Jewish insider", deeply committed to Jesus and intensely aware of how and where belief had openly confronted entrenched and angry disbelief.

This article was first published on 4th July, 2009. This edited version was published on 12th July, 2009.

PREVIOUS IN THIS SERIES AND FOR MORE OPEN BOOK, click here...

Got a verse or a short passage you'd like us to look at? Just send an email to editor@sightmagazine.com.au.