Six days before the Passover,
Jesus came to Bethany, to the home of Lazarus, who had been raised from the
dead. Jesus had supper there, with Martha serving, and Lazarus among those sitting
at the table with him. Mary, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very expensive,
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was
filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
Then Judas Iscariot, the disciple
who would betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this ointment sold for a year’s wages,
and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but
because he was dishonest, and stole from the money box.
Jesus said, “Leave her
alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor
with you, and you can help them whenever you want, but you don’t always have
me. Wherever this good news is preached in the whole world, what this woman has
done will be spoken of as a memorial of her.”
A large crowd of the Jews
learned he was there, and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but to see
Lazarus as well, whom he had raised from the dead. The chief priests conspired
to put Lazarus to death, because on account of him many of the Jews went away
and believed in Jesus.
Reflection
This is the only indication
that Judas was dishonest, focused on worldly riches rather than spiritual ones.
He begins at this point to separate himself from those who are devoted to
Jesus, and align himself with those who seek the death of both Jesus and
Lazarus. What makes people align themselves with forces of death and
destruction? Have you ever been tempted to do so? Could you be?
Prayer: Don’t let me get off
track, Lord, and end up with those who oppose you.
Could I be? Yes, yet I seek to live for Jesus and don't succumb so much to Satan's sweet temptations. (OK, maybe to chocolate cream pie...) The only reason I don't is my knowledge of the Word and the Son of God and asking to be guided by the Holy Spirit. So, I am not so sure people are "made" to align... so much as they are not connected to God and their focus on life's meaning is blurred. In that state they can be drawn off track to the forces of death &. Too often it seems that people want what they want and will be sucked in by their destructive desires of what they think would be good...for them or another. Makes the need for us to present our best examples of God interacting with our lives through the HS or the Word to any in need. And make disciples of those we help get to Jesus as Lord, not just send them on hoping they will read and grow, or link with a church body that is healthy and loves Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI have known churches who love Jesus in the sense they love that he died for their sins so they could go to heaven, but they don't love Jesus in the sense of doing what he said to do in the Sermon on the Mount and the rest of his teachings. Some of these churches end up being led far astray.
DeleteI was severely depressed and suicidal at one point. It was a terrifying and confusing place to be. Certainly more to the story than I can share here.
ReplyDeleteMy saving grace was this belief, way down deep at my core, that God would somehow save me from what "should" be a fool-proof suicide method:a massive overdose of insulin. Actually, I was so certain that God could rescue me from the attempt that it scared me...and helped me realize that God was not only asking me to believe in Him, but also inviting me to see that He believed in me, and wasn't done with me yet. Thus began the journey to accept His power, to reclaim my life, and then to learn to help others walk back from that dark edge.
I think Satan appeals to ego and pride. The slippery slope toward death begins when we get caught up with trying to nurture our own egos and protect our pride, save face. If ego is allowed to become our master we begin to die, and are aware of the death, even if only at a subconscious level. If we fear our own death, we begin to fight for our own right to life in outrageous ways that end up destroying others who get in our way. Like the drowning victim that ends up drowning the person trying to rescue him.
Life only works well when our SOULS are allowed to lead and ego takes it's place as a servant of our soul. At the soul level we know that we are connected to all of life. Ego believes the lie that it can exist as a separate entity.
Hi Folks. I've been reading and considering all your posts. Thanks for sharing with such openness thoughtfulness, and blessed Lenten season to you all.
ReplyDeleteDave, your questions touch on an issue that has occupied much of my mind time for the last several years. What is the significance of the phrase "the world" in the NT? I know this isn't the place for an in depth analysis of the issue (although I would be happy to discuss it more deeply in this or another venue if anyone has the time or the inclination), but I will share a few observations/thoughts.
While the phrase "the world" can have positive connotations in the NT (God did love it so much that he gave his son for it), in general the phrase carries a negative meaning (as when Paul talks about our being in bondage to the elemental principles of the world, or when James says that those who are friends of the world are enemies of God).
So, on the positive side, the world can mean God's created reality, and on the negative side it can mean the reality that God did not create. The English word that comes closest to capturing the idea of a reality that God did not create is, I think, culture. By culture, I mean all that we humans add and have added to the created world - language, technology, ideologies, etc.
It is "the world" in the sense of culture that holds us in bondage, and I think that in general the church has failed to appreciate the depth of that bondage.
We enter the world culture free. But, day by day, moment by moment, our brains are literally built and wired by the culture in which we live. "What you see, what you hear, what you do becomes you..." so to speak. The world/culture around us shapes and molds how we understand ourselves and others, and it does so for the most part without our awareness.
This is especially true when we surround ourselves with people who look, act, and think like us. The unexamined norms of our culture become "obvious" truths about the world. In reality, they are invisible chains, and idols carved in words.
The tacit assumption within the church (at least those branches of the church I've experienced) is that "the world" exists outside of and in contradiction to the church. But, the reality is that we carry the invisible chains with us wherever we go. It is these norms which lead us to assume that the hard sayings of Jesus - forgiveness of enemies, turning the other cheek, and treating everyone (even the poor and marginalized) as we would want to be treated - can be set aside in favor of self-protection and self-interest.
So, what makes us align ourselves with forces of death and destruction? The answer, in part at least, is our failure to understand the degree to which our brains have been and remain wired by the world. And, have I ever been tempted to do so? When have I not?
Your comments are right on target, at least from my perspective. One of the biggest challenges in seminary for me was coming to understand the extent to which culture had shaped my thinking on so many things. When we think of confessing our sins, for instance, we almost always focus on personal sin. In reality, though, it is often corporate or systemic sin that has the most profound impact on us. We don't think of consumerism, materialism, sexism, racism, militarism, colonialism, etc. because generally our beliefs and behavior in these matters is like that of everyone around us. I think we need to focus on the "culture of the kingdom" to which Jesus calls us.
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