“Ancient Etiquette”

Isaiah 43:16-21

John 12: 1-8

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Amen

The message of the Gospel of John is unmistakable: Jesus is the Son of God who came that we might have life. Throughout the gospel Jesus declares that he is God’s son. There are in all 45 “I am” verses 24 of them are emphatic and 7 form the cornerstone of the text: you know them well: “I am the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the door for the sheep (10:7) the good shepherd (10:11),the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way the truth and the life(14:6), the vine(15:5).

But at this dinner party at the home of Lazarus the subject is not the identity of Jesus but the identity of the characters gathered around the table. In the near east hospitality is serious business and the tradition surrounding table fellowship fuses privilege and obligation into traditions that telegraph meaning about friendship and honor.

To eat bread with another person was a sign of friendship and an act of loyalty. The table was actually a low solid block with couches around it and it was in a U shape. The place of honor, the center of the single table, was reserved for the host: in this case Lazarus.

The seating arrangements by our standards are peculiar as they did not sit; they reclined at table, supporting their weight on their left arm to free their right hand for eating. It was not uncommon to lean into the person to your left. The highest honor was to sit to the left of the host. That meant that the host would in effect lean into the person on the left – hence their importance.

So Jesus would have been seated to the left of Lazarus and Lazarus would be leaning into Jesus as these conversations unfold. It is unclear where Judas is seated but one might guess it was to Jesus’ left as he was, as William Barclay takes pains to point out, trusted. He kept the common purse and oversaw all benefactions. He was a leader. Barclay makes a great point when he observes that if the disciples had known of his treachery they would have said something.

Jesus knew that he would betray him but Judas for his part was according to Barclay, a perfect actor and a perfect hypocrite: the behavior of a saint and the heart of a devil. And so he takes his place at table.

Martha had no place at table. As was customary she was serving and if we link this text with the Gospel of Mark, this in totally in character of the hard working pragmatic Martha. Just days before Jesus had said to her “I am the resurrection and the life and the life” and raised her brother from the dead and she carries on doing what she does best.

For Mary things are different: Mary had accompanied the Jews to the tomb and witnessed the event and she knew that the Pharisees had gone immediately afterwards to the Sanhedrin and that the council had issued an edict: find Jesus, arrest him, put him to death and maybe even Lazarus as well.

Mary’s extravagant gesture, her humility and her love for Jesus overwhelm all convention and she prepares Jesus for the inevitable confrontation of Good Friday. Were this an ordinary dinner party it would have seemed scandalous: but this was both a celebration of new life for Lazarus and also the recognition that Jesus life was in the balance.

While a solemn occasion of both gratitude and grief for Mary. It seems to Judas a traditional party and her behavior scandalous. He objects to her largesse but note that the narrator explains his true motives as an aside to the reader: the others had no idea of his motivation.

Some commentators tell us that the lines are carefully drawn that we might contrast Mary and Judas and strive to see our way to being like Mary. I think not.

The story speaks to me about Lazarus: he is the host and yet he says not one word. He understands that Jesus is the real host the source of his life. He watches and listens as Mary and Judas reveal themselves two sides of all our hearts: we are both loving and at times duplicitous.

The hope of this season is that while tempted to seek our own gain like Judas we will somehow stay at table long enough to be persuaded of the new life Lazarus knows in Christ. Stay at table long enough to mediate on the essential importance of bowing before our Savior and giving him all that we hold dear like Mary did.

All during his ministry Jesus reached out to the poor but here he quotes Deuteronomy15:11 “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.” He offers us a new perspective on this. Yes, the poor are there and will be there but I am here now and you need to lean in unto me first.

The dinner party in Bethany prepares us for Maundy Thursday for the night that Jesus will say to us let me wash your feet that you may learn to be a servant like me and learn to see life even in death defying situations. Let me give you an example.

Now they are called “Los Topos” and they are one of the most sought after internationally acclaimed rescue teams in the world. Then they were just a group of people that happened to live in a very, very large apartment complex in Mexico City. The catalyst for their conversion was a catastrophe: the earthquake of 1985.

Frustrated with a government that was slow to search for survivors, they formed a brigade and started to search using unconventional methods learning as they went along. Traditional rescue teams stayed up above clearing off layer after layer of debris listening for signs of life but “Los Topos” -The Gophers- tunneled into rubble and propping up makeshift tunnels with debris they went in and down into the darkness.

They have brought out hundreds of people that would otherwise have died. Christian Century magazine profiled them telling the story of two miracles: their rescue team and the victim they rescued: Ena Zizi of Haiti.

She had been without food and water for 7 days, had suffered a broken leg and dislocated hip, and in the darkness conversed with a priest trapped nearby – until death stole him away. And for her part through all this she sang. As “Los Topos” brought this 70 year old woman out of the rubble she was still singing and tears of joy and awe overwhelmed The Gophers.

There was no precedent for Jesus to wash the feet of each of his disciples yet it still stands as the most gracious act of any host ever. And inspires us to seek still more ways to draw near to this God who so greatly loved us, long sought us and has mercifully redeemed and called us to himself that we may, like Lazarus, lean into him to seek new life.

We have an opportunity in Lent to search our own hearts to tunnel in through the debris of our many other priorities, thoughts and plans to listen for hymns – the sound of the spirit calling to us to come towards Jerusalem that we might walk towards the cross, not to die, but to come alive in the grace made possible by Jesus our Lord, our Savior and our Redeemer. Amen.

Rev. Elizabeth Kuehl

Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church

March 21, 2010