Monday in Holy Week
The Gospel reading and a reflection:
John 12:1-11 (NRSV)
“Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.”
As in my Palm Sunday sermon yesterday, the location and the identity of its inhabitants in the Gospel text are necessary for a fuller, deeper understanding of the importance and impact they carry for us.
Yesterday was Bethphage, a village for the special use of Temple priests when they were on duty. Today, it’s Bethany. Bethany is mentioned multiple times in the Gospels, notably as the home of siblings Martha, Mary, and Lazarus – and the with of the resurrection of Lazarus – as well as of Simon the Leper, who once hosted Jesus and which was the occasion of Mary Magdalene anoints the head of Jesus with costly aromatic oil.
So what’s special and important about Bethany? There is some disagreement about the meaning of the town’s name, but there is wide agreement that it means “House of Affliction”. Bethany was the site of an almshouse for the poor and a place of care for the sick. The Gospels bear this out: Mark tells of Simon the Leper’s house there (Mark 14:3–10); Jesus receives urgent word of Lazarus’ illness from Bethany (John 11:1–12:11). Perhaps that’s why Lazarus lives there.
It has also been suggested, based on the names found carved on thousands of ossuaries at the site, that Bethany in the time of Jesus had a large community of people from Galilee who had come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This would explain why Jesus and the disciples, as Galileans, would find it convenient to stay here when visiting Jerusalem.
It is often mentioned how both Jesus and John the Baptist ministered on the eastern side of the Jordan. It makes sense when you come to understand that Galilean pilgrims avoided potential conflict with Samaritans by travelling south on the eastern side of the Jordan. Bethany was the last village before Jerusalem after crossing the Jordan river and taking the road through Jericho up into the highlands.
As a frequent pilgrim, I know how easy walking such long distances to become injured or ill. Bethany was the one place where wounded or ill travelers and pilgrims could convalesce before they were allowed into the Temple. Located at a respectful distance from the city and Temple, and on the pilgrim route, Bethany was a most suitable location for a charitable institution. It is not surprising that an Essene hospice had been established at Bethany to intercept and care for pilgrims at the end of the long and potentially arduous journey from Galilee. The house combined this work with care for the sick and destitute of the Jerusalem area. Thus Bethany received its name because it was the Essene poorhouse par excellence, the poorhouse which alleviated poverty closest to the holy city.
According to the Temple Scroll from Qumran, three places for the care of the sick, including one for lepers, were situate just east of Jerusalem. The passage also defines a (minimum) radius of three thousand cubits (circa 1,800 yards) around the city within which nothing unclean was allowed to be visible from the Temple. Since Bethany was, according to John, fifteen stadia (about 1.72 miles) from the holy city, care for the sick there corresponded with the requirements of the Temple Scroll (the stadion being ideally 600 feet (180 m) or 400 cubits). Whereas Bethphage was on the peak of the Mount of Olives with a magnificent view of Jerusalem and the Temple, Bethany lay below to the southeast, out of view of the Temple Mount, which may have made its location suitable as a place for care of the sick, “out of view” of the Temple.
It is only in the context of an almshouse at Bethany, where the poor, wounded, and sick were received and assisted, that Jesus’ remark that “The poor you will always have with you” (Mark 14:7; Matthew 26:11) doesn’t sound deterministic and callous, but rather is a way of encouraging and praising the people of the town for their vocation of caring for the sick.
It is interesting to note that only in Bethany do we find mention of the poor on the lips of the disciples, who object that the expensive perfumed oil poured over Jesus there might have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor (Mark 14:5; Matthew 26:8–9; John 12:4–6, where the objection is made only by Judas, and which was explained as his avarice speaking rather than concern for the poor). Perhaps this objection may have been made in embarrassment that so many sick people could have been cared for with the money. Being still so blind to Jesus telling them of his approaching death, they cannot see the utter necessity of Jesus being anointed, and that it was done in the midst of the sick, the outcast, and the poor of the world.
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
