St. George's Episcopal Church Roseburg, Oregon Fifth Sunday of Lent, 13 March 2005 Go To St. George's Home Page

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130:1-8
Romans 4:13-18
John 11:1-45; 12:1-8
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74^th General Convention of the ECUSA

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Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 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." (John 11:1-45; 12:1-8)

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Learning How To Live
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector

The story of Martha and Mary is a compelling and rich one that is both nuanced and provocative.[1] Martha and Mary appear only in the gospels of Luke and John, and the stories about these sisters portray women close to Jesus, but with quite different personalities and gifts.

The community that gave rise to the gospel of John viewed women in a very positive light, and many of the most powerful stories in the New Testament about women can be found in John. The Samaritan woman we read about last week, became a disciple of Christ and became a prominent evangelist who spoke about him and convinced her fellow Samaritans that he was the messiah (Jn 4:1-30). As Jesus was dying on the cross with many female disciples at his feet, he acknowledged his mother in equal standing with his male disciples. Jesus' actions symbolically embody the new community where women are co-equal with men.

In today's gospel reading from John, Lazarus, Jesus' friend and the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick. The sisters made that known to Jesus with the hope that Jesus would come and make him better. But five days later, when Jesus arrived, Lazarus was dead.

Martha's grief over the death of her brother took an angry tone. She didn't even wait for Jesus to come into the house. As soon as she was aware he was near, she confronted him saying, "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died."

Martha was not one to keep silent, and she had a passionate conversation about faith with Jesus. She did not leave theology up to the theologians. She was a thinker, and she argued her point. She charged Jesus with failure. She knew, theologically that resurrection happens on the Last Day, but she also hoped that Jesus would help now. Although Martha did not embody any of the traditional Biblical feminine attributes like obedience, tranquility, subservience, Jesus loved her. Jesus loved and respected her stubbornness, forwardness, and passion.

Mary is the introverted sister, who seems to have taken her grief and folded it up inside her. She seems shy and unwilling to let the pain of Lazarus' death express itself. It is her very quietness that makes her the protagonist of the story.

Mary stayed in the house with the other mourners, and only came out when summoned.[2] In an almost embarrassed voice, she tearfully stated the same things as her sister, "If you had been here, my brother need not have died." She fell at Jesus' feet and burst into tears. Her quiet attitude conveyed feelings that ran very deep – just as deep as Martha's. And Jesus loved her too; his heart was touched, and he was greatly moved (Jn 12:7-8). Mary, the contemplative, was drawn to Jesus, and her next actions forever changed the relationship between Jesus and the women around him.

Mary was not a person of words. She spoke by what she did. In the twelfth chapter of John's gospel, she took a flask of very expensive perfume and poured it on his feet. Silently, but with great self-confidence, she anointed Jesus. And the whole house became filled with the fragrance of the sweetness of her actions. "All of the elemental ways in which she was accustomed to express her spontaneous love for Jesus, her respect, her affection, her tenderness – the tears, the concern to be near him and have his support, the spontaneous silence – [were] released with the fragrant oil [she lovingly spread on the feet of her friend, Jesus.]"[3] And yet, that was not enough. She used her hair to clean his feet of the dust and oil. That was the task of the lowliest slave of the household; the master at the table used to wipe his dirty hands on the hair of the slave.

Many people today would look at Mary's actions as servile. Certainly, no man would do such things then or now; such actions would be inconceivable to the strong-willed and verbal Martha. Were Mary's actions self-defilement or debasing? The feminine theologian and scholar Elisabeth Moltman-Wendel says that what Mary did was revolutionary, because what she did, "she did of her own accord and in the light of her personality. It was her idea, her way of showing love."[4] She was not led by her sister this time. Mary "broke out of the ghetto in which she placed herself, or where others had held her. She came out of her own shadows to become herself: a somewhat clumsy, but incredibly loving, independent, tender, and restrained woman. She willingly and lovingly treated Jesus with love and respect. She did not act out of obedience or servility.

There was another character in the room. Judas Iscariot, the financier of the group, was provoked by Mary's action. He saw Mary as a spendthrift and eccentric; perhaps as a woman who had forgotten her place in Jewish society. His social wrath was kindled, and he rebuked her for wasting money. He tried to establish a situation of either/or love: either you love Jesus or you love the poor.[5] But, Jesus said, "Leave her alone!" Jesus saw Mary's eccentric and extravagant behavior as expressions of pure love. He affirmed the kind of both/and love that Mary showed. It was an expression of love that he took with him to his death. John's story is a story of empowerment. It is a story of a woman who became herself. Mary, who had been restrained by the society in which she lived, began a voiceless yet impressively powerful revolution.

Mary discovered how she could offer herself, her faith, and her love to Jesus, a man she clearly adored. Martha, who challenged Jesus to perform a miracle and resurrect Lazarus, clearly felt the reality of the resurrection. In that sense, Martha is like you and me, trying desperately to get past Jesus' passion, to get passed the scourging, to get passed the sound of a hammer pounding nails through human limbs, and get on to the white lilies and joy of Easter morning. Mary on the other hand, experienced the nearness of Jesus death, and began to grieve.

Mary, to me, embodies the kind of rebirth that comes about by a deep understanding of the power of the resurrection. Although shackled by society and always careful to fit in, she became someone else through her love of Jesus. She moved beyond her own shadow, and came out from under Martha's shadow to live an independent and self-expressive life. She was freed from the bindings that held her in her place. Jesus came so that we might live life more abundantly. Mary learned to be herself, and found an abundant life as a result. Jesus moved her to action; she was born again, and she learned how to live.

And that is the power of the gospel.

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Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD." So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act," says the LORD.

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Psalm 130:1-8

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD

2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!

3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;

6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.

8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.

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Romans 4:13-18

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")-- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be."

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John 11:1-45; 12:1-8

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 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."

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The Collect of the Day

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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