Sunday, April 6, 2025
The Fifth Sunday in Lent

The Model Disciple
The Rev. Mark Wilkinson, Rector
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Katy Texas

(due to technical difficulties, there is no video this week)

The story in today’s gospel appears in some way in all four gospels. In Matthew and Mark it is in the house of Simon the Leper. In Luke it is at a different time and the place is not specified as well as being earlier in the story and perfume is not involved, but tears. In John though it is in the house of Lazarus after Jesus has raised him from the dead and immediately precedes the entry into Jerusalem on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday which is next Sunday in our liturgical year. (BTW remember that Jesus has already done the cleansing of the temple in the beginning chapters of John.)  This setting is critical in several ways.  In John’s gospel Jesus is now just outside of Jerusalem in Bethany at the house of Lazarus. This is very close to Jerusalem about 1.5 miles away on the other side of the Mount of Olives. Being so close it is a logical place for Jesus to stay before entering Jerusalem.  Please do not confuse this Lazarus with the one who was the poor man who died in the parable in another gospel.  Only in John do we have the raising of Lazarus from the dead and that is the event in John that is bringing things to a head with the authorities.

The authorities according to the previous chapter in John are very concerned about Jesus and his raising of Lazarus. Regular run of the mill healings like making cripples walk and blind see are one thing. Raising someone from the dead, someone who has been buried and in the grave for four days in another matter. The Jews believed that the spirit of the person left the body after three days, which meant on day four the person was truly dead.  Jesus’ fame is spreading, and more people are beginning to believe in him. Now the authorities are truly worried that Jesus is posing a threat to the peace of Jerusalem. I will speak about this threat a little more next week, but it is critical to remember that the chief job of the Jewish authorities was to keep the peace in Jerusalem. Any hint of rebellion or unrest is incredibly dangerous for that brought the threat of Roman intervention. That was to be avoided at all costs.

In John it clearly states at the end of the previous chapter that not only are the authorities plotting to kill Jesus, but they also are seeking to kill Lazarus because of the miracle of his being raised from the dead. It is safe to assume that the entire family may have been at risk. All witnesses and supporters needed to be eliminated, that is how the Roman system worked.

Now this sermon is quite different from what I have often preached before regarding this passage. I often take time to talk about the different Marys that will show up between now and Easter, but that picture is now not as clear as it was three years ago. Dr. Elizabeth Schraeder’s recent dissertation is on how Mary Magdeline has had her reputation and importance damaged by the church starting around 200 and culminating in her being labeled a prostitute and sinner by Gregory the Great. Alterations to the original copies of John have diminished her role.

So excuse me for just a moment while I clear up a couple of issues. Recent examinations of Papyrus 66 which is the oldest complete copy of the Gospel of John shows alterations that have added Martha into this story. The thinking now is that it was just Lazarus and his sister Mary, full stop. I’ve seen videos of the altered manuscripts and Dr. Schrader reasoning is sound and has been supported by many other scholars. While not ready to revise the Gospel of John, many of the bibles will be adding a footnote on these passages.

So what about Martha and Mary? They are two sisters in the gospel of Luke and lived nowhere near Jerusalem and do not appear in the Gospel of John. Lazarus does not appear in Luke’s gospel at any point. This is Martha who is working in the kitchen while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet. Different story, different people, different moral to the story, but a familiar character added into the last gospel well after it was originally written.

Dr. Schrader maintains that it is just Mary and her brother Lazarus and that Mary is in reality Mary Magdeline. There is evidence in the early church that Magdeline does not mean she is from Magdala, which is a town that probably didn’t exist in Jesus’ time. Magdeline can mean the tower. So we have Mary the Tower and Peter the Rock as the two pillars of the early church. The author of John is a champion of Mary Magdeline who probably went with John’s community to Ephesus.

What this means and the reason I am spending time on this is the John in his gospel is holding Mary Magdeline up as the model disciple. Now in a patriarchal church in 300 AD that was a problem hence the effort to reduce her and elevate Peter as the head of the church. BTW there are remains of a Gospel of Mary that illustrates the friction between Peter and her.

Mary’s anointing of his feet is a foreshadowing of Jesus death as well as foreshadowing the foot washing at the last supper in John. Mary anoints him in preparation for his death where in the other stories the unnamed woman anoints his head. Anointing of his head is a sign of his kingship. Think in terms David’s being anointed by Samuel while Saul is still alive. Anointing his feet changes the focus to the act to burial. That she wipes his feet with her hair tells us just how close the relationship with Lazarus, Mary and Jesus was. Only in the presence of family would a woman have her hair down. That tells us that Jesus was probably a close friend.

Let me say again that in this passage we have two examples of being disciples of Jesus. Mary, the one who acts with extravagant love and Judas who is seduced by money and the powers of the leadership. John purposely mentions that Judas, who will soon betray Jesus to the Pharisees and priests. Judas does this because he is a thief and steals from the common purse that was used to support the poor and needy. John is clearly setting up for the definition of a faithful disciple. And that model is Mary Magdeline who was well known to John’s community.

He will next address this on Thursday of Holy Week with the story of the foot washing (notice again it is feet) and his last commandment. What I have done for you, you should do for each other. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So in this passage which foreshadows the last supper in John the focus is on disciples who show they are followers by the love they show.

Discipleship is the key message in John’s last supper. It is not the institution of the Eucharist which is not mentioned anywhere in John. His entire focus is on discipleship and showing love for one another.

This means that for John to be a disciple of Christ one must show extravagant love to others. Mary defied Jewish custom by her actions of anointing and wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair. Mary in her action of anointing Jesus was allowing God’s grace, God’s love to flow through her. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we too are asked to give extravagant love to the world, a world that more than ever needs the healing presence of Christ’s love. We have been anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of Christ to our world. Jesus has told us how everyone will know us, by having and showing love for one another.