April 3, 2022
If there is one thing I miss about the shutdown era of two years ago It is that some of my favorite singer-songwriters were streaming shows from their living rooms for free. It was very much like being a disciple sitting at their feet. Those shows anchored my week and connected me to the world. You could listen and watch, and have a text chat with strangers who love what you love, without the bar experience of having to yell at each other and miss half of what was said anyways. The artists didn’t have to offer all that time and talent, but they did, freely. Devotees of idealistic artists tend to also be idealistic, people who are working and striving and praying for a better life together.
Which to be honest, is different than let us say, sports fans. Some of you know I follow college baseball closely, I rise and fall with one of the best teams in the hardest conference. Even if you know nothing about the sport, it is easy to blend in and cheer for a good team with a packed crowd. Easy to look like a fan because they post the daily uniform color so fans can dress to match. Many of the players and coaches seem to be generous, smart humans who are terrific role models – but none to my knowledge offer soul rescue. Furthermore, my school’s baseball outfield fans have a practice of throwing their beverage in the air when our team hits a home run. They usually have a popping offense, and so they often get soaked, and I have to imagine on a hot day, after the game, you can smell the fandom. But in the end, the repair of the world is not the point of the game.
The word discipleship is a very churchy word. But it didn’t start as one. In the ancient Greek context, it was a word for student. Yet not just the person who is assigned to a class. The student who wants to be like the teacher, who reads every word she publishes, desires to be mentored, who may even hang around outside her door. The hyperbolic description today might lead to stalking charges. A disciple could be translated as super-fan – yet the attentiveness wasn’t just fan gear. A disciple could be translated as protege or devotee – which are better – except – the disciple wants to be playing on the field or the stage not just sitting in the front row waiting to be waved at. Protege, superfan, and devotee, also all still lack a real relationship of mutuality that Jesus asks.
The Bethany family of Mary and Martha and Lazarus these close friends, they are the family Jesus made. We meet them as exemplar disciples, however, we never learn how they first encountered Jesus. I wonder what moved them, changed them, connected them to this way of life? They are not just fans of Jesus, not just devotees, but disciples. Their deep relationship with Jesus clearly shows us the awareness and expectancy and service of what this promise means. And today we are reminded that even in the context of fear and betrayal, bravery, gratitude, and giving define discipleship to Jesus.
You may come to this episode with a bit of confusion because in the four gospels there are four similar but not the same depictions of something like this lesson today. Sometimes there is oil poured on Jesus’ head, sometimes feet are bathed with an unnamed woman’s hair as they sit beside one another at a low table. Here in our offering today is a thank you banquet. Thanking their teacher and friend for his power and presence, for having raised Lazarus from the dead. An act that has sealed the path to the passion – the power made clear In that wonder will lead to Jesus’ death at the hands of scheming authorities. Here the telling is intense with royal symbols. It is as if she is trying to put Queen Elizabeth’s sash and crown on Jesus. The volume of oils is the volume that is used for the anointing of royalty.
Perhaps Judas’ acting out is from that place of discovering that what you thought was a fandom is actually a dangerous movement with a mission from God. Fear can lead us to betray those we love and ourselves. Anxiety chains the mind to clutch grab and don’t share. The praised response in this scene is lavish giving and spending because the only moment that matters is now. What would the same behavior be in our context? What if the ask isn’t about coins but about time and talent? We are called to care for the last the least and the lost And it takes the heartfelt devoted giving and trying and daring of more than just these three. What would the same overflowing love of Jesus look like right now? This Bethany episode is pushing everyone at the party out beyond an easy vision of who and what Jesus is and how we are to think and act in his love.
The oils are unavoidable. Everyone in the room would have been drenched in their smell. Discipleship with Jesus is being gathered in with all others, being One with him and the last, least, lost, lonely, being changed morally and substantially, a whole life being soaked through with his very self. Where are you in this room, this thanksgiving party? Are you lending a hand, hanging back, wondering why you are here? Do you sit in the room as a time traveler, someone who knows that wrongful death is next, and beyond that resurrection that is hard to believe? Are you a fan, devotee, a plus one, or a disciple? Which do you want to be? Our place in the room, our immersion in the living truth may seem initiated by human activity but its source is the Spirit of God.
If I could have reasonably filled this room with the scents of the royal oils and not have set off any allergenic worries – I would have. Instead, I ask you to imagine the rich scents, imagine yourselves people used to a much less neutral smelling world, imagine this powerful effect as the air that circulates – oils for royal blessing such as frankincense and myrrh – and oils for burial such as thyme, lavender, cedar, rose, almond. Imagine it soaking you as much as getting caught in the rain or a beverage shower.
Jesus has been loved and cared for and prepared for the journey ahead: death, royal exultation, tomb bursting liberation. He invites us to be in the room where it happens. The good news is he doesn’t want us to bow down to his power, but come alive in it. The way is not knowing all the lyrics or a great collection of fan gear. What discipleship is is being so wholly attentive with the whole of yourself that the actions, morals, and duties of Jesus come alive in our lives. In this moment and in the ones that lie before us in an unfocused haze, the faithfulness we can thrive by is not a fairweather fandom or nice song about niceness. It is more people trying more new things, it is not letting the one singer, or the three all-stars do all the discipling. We, knowing hard things will come, we will be praised for risking loving lavishly. Come sit on the floor, give like you have lost your common sense. Connect across time and space, Breathe in the fragrance, let it soak you through. In this moment of threat and possibility intermingled like wine and food in the belly, he who is humble king and risen savior is with us, and will not let us go.