Digging Deeper: Thanksgiving in the House

Jesus is staying with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in Bethany six days before the Passover. During a meal, Mary comes to him and pours a pint of pure nard (perfume) on Jesus feet and then wipes his feet with her hair.

In this culture, the folks watching would have considered this to be very inappropriate. Women weren’t allowed to loosen their hair in front of any man other than their husband or in their family. They wore their hair up under a veil. But here we see an unmarried woman loosening her hair in front of Jesus, a great Rabbi, and not only that but pouring expensive perfume on his feet and wiping his feet with her hair. And his feet were likely filthy, too, since he had just walked from Ephraim to Bethany. Mary was taking on the role of a slave in this scene, in washing Jesus feet… something that Jesus will also do for his disciples later. In doing this, Mary showed that she got it. She got what Jesus was all about. God humbled himself and became a slave, and he calls us to the same attitude and action.

When Judas sees what is happening right before his eyes, he gets mad and yells, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages!”

But John writes that Judas only said this because he loved money and not because he loved the poor. He also says that Judas was like in charge of the group’s money, and he used to help himself to the moneybag whenever he wanted.

Jesus tells Judas to leave her alone because she has saved this perfume for the day of his burial. This may mean that she did not use the entire amount of perfume (a pint is a lot for just two feet after all) and that she saved the rest because she knew she would need it to cover his dead body a week later when he is murdered. You see, Mary understands the great risk Jesus has taken for her and her brother and sister. She knows that when he came out of hiding to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead, that he was sacrificing his own life for their sake.

He tells Judas, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

The next day, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowds follow him with palm branches and praise him, shouting, “Hosanna!” Palm branches were the symbols of the last great independent kings of Judah, the Maccabees. And so here, the people are, in fact, preparing to start a revolution to overthrow the Romans that they intend to have Jesus lead. And when they shout “Hosanna!” what they are essentially shouting is “God save the King!” …which is ironic, since it is Jesus who, through his death, is going to save them instead.

John writes that all this took place to fulfill what the prophets had said (see Zechariah’s passage about the humble king arriving on a donkey), but his disciples didn’t realize this until after Jesus was glorified.

The crowds followed Jesus because he had raised Lazarus from the dead, and the Pharisees shook their heads and said, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

There were some Greeks visiting the city, and they asked Philip (who had a Greek name) if he could take them to see Jesus. 

And so Philip took them to Andrew and then Andrew took them to Jesus. 

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” 

Suddenly, Jesus confesses that he is terrified over what is about to happen to him, and he’s like, “What should I do? Should I tell my Father to save me from the hour at hand?”

But then he cries out, “No! It was for this very reason I came to this hour!” 

And instead of begging his Father to save him, he cries out, “Father! Glorify your name!” 

Suddenly, a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have glorified it! And I will glorify it again!” 

The crowd that was there heard the voice and they said it had thundered, and others said an angel had spoken to him. 

Jesus tells them that the voice was for their benefit and not his, because the time has come to judge the world and to drive out its prince. 

He adds, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 

John says that he said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. 

The crowd said, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” 

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” 

When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

John says that even after all the miracles Jesus had performed, the Jews still didn’t believe in him, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophesy about them which said that God’s people “keep on hearing, but don’t understand” and “keeping on seeing, but never perceive,” and that if they learned to see and hear what was right in front of them then “they would be healed.”

John also says that there were actually many religious leaders who believed in Jesus, but they didn’t admit it because the Pharisees had threatened to throw the followers of Jesus out of the synagogue. 

Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me! The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me! I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness!” 

He adds, “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”