Day 264 Presence

There they gave a dinner for him. John 12:2

Mary, Martha and Lazarus are three of Jesus' "familiars." They treat him like family. He is at home in their home. Sometimes these three people seem closer to him than the disciples, who are always busy bumping heads with one another, trying to see who is going to win “Best Disciple” of the week.

Here, the disciples are on the road with Jesus, trying to learn, missing the point half the time, not wanting to hear Jesus tell them the truth of his life. By contrast, Mary, Martha and Lazarus offer Jesus their home. In the quiet domestic space of these three siblings, perhaps Jesus could be at ease. Perhaps he could put aside the messiah-projections and savor conversation, enjoy a meal, and sleep in familiar surroundings.

According the Gospel of John, it is in this house that Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus. She dares to take the pound of costly perfume and pour it on Jesus’ feet, wiping them with her hair. She dares to say with her actions, “I know what you are facing; I know that this entry into Jerusalem will lead to your death. And I know you have to do this.”

I imagine that this  honesty-in-action would have been a great gift to Jesus. Someone, a friend, knows that darkness is up ahead, and this family of siblings is willing to receive the truth, and in so doing they give Jesus a great gift.

Each of us has times in our lives when we need a friend who will not sugar-coat the reality we have to face. Each of us has a need for a Martha or a Mary or a Lazarus—for a friend who will let us be, who will let us say, “I am scared to my bones.” Or “I am going to suffer.” Or “I am going to die.”

When we encounter  friends like that, we know something of the presence of God in our midst, God in Christ as friend who allows us to tell the truth in love, to be the truth in love, by God’s grace, for one another.

This Holy Week, O God, may I remember that Jesus calls us his friends, and may I seek to love as he loves. Amen.