Meditation for 8 April 2009

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Matthew 26:1-16

 

1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

 

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.  5 But they said, "Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people."

 

6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.  8 But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, "Why this waste?  9 For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor."  10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble this woman?  She has performed a good service for me.  11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.  12 By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial.  13 Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."

 

14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, "What will you give me if I betray him to you?"  They paid him thirty pieces of silver.  16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

 

In the Holy Week Story

 

The amazing thing about Holy Week is that we keep finding ourselves in the story of Jesus' journey to the cross.  Listen to the words of Martin L. Smith:

 

"Politicians and ecclesiastics making judgments based on expediency, crowds lusting for scapegoats for their frustrations, disciples saving their own skins, the traitor handing over the hero who has let him down, all these have counterparts within us... Yet there are others in the story of the Passion who do not betray or abandon Jesus.  What of them?  Most of them are women.  The woman who anointed Jesus, the "many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem" (Mark 15:41), the women of Jerusalem who wept for him, the women who stood by him with his mother as he died in torture, the women who tended his dead body and witnessed his burial.  Only the disciple whom Jesus loved shares their faithfulness... We are not only those who spurn the love of God; we are also those who accept it and return it." (A Season for the Spirit:  Readings for the Days of Lent, Martin L. Smith, SSJE, pp. 184-185, emphasis added)

 

You and I are somewhere in this story, and - truth be told - we may identify with a number of different characters in the story.

 

For sometimes we want to lash out at God or at other people who challenge our assumptions about God.

 

In certain situations we might betray our Lord, and act as if we never knew him.

 

We might think we are standing on the high moral ground, when in fact we are missing the point entirely.  (see verses 8-9, above)

 

At other times we might think the Messiah is not the kind of Messiah we need, and we try to tell Him how to be Messiah for us!

 

Still at other times we have nothing but deep gratitude for our Lord, and like the woman at Simon's house, we clearly anoint him and welcome him as Messiah.

 

Like John and the women who grieved and had their hearts torn in two as Jesus died on the cross, we can have our hearts torn in two as we see all the ways that God's reign is mocked, and all the evil that is done in the world.

 

Sometimes we are the ones who lash out in violence - if not with weapons or fists, then with our words and our thoughts.  And Jesus' words to us to "love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) go right out the window.

 

In what places do you find yourself, in this Holy Week journey?  And - no matter where you find yourself - do you still know yourself to be God's beloved child, for whom God would do anything, for whom the Son of God willingly gave his life, so that you might live?

 

"Amazing Love, O what sacrifice

The Son of God giv'n for me

My debt He pays and my death He dies,

That I might live...

That I might live!"

    - from the song, "Amazing Love"

 

My prayers go out to all of you, as you walk the rest of your Holy Week journey.