Fifth Sunday of Lent

 

Gratitude and Love

 

1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6(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.) 7Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

John 12:1-8



image001.jpeg

Anointing of Christ’s Feet

TISSOT, James

1886-1894

Brooklyn Museum

New York, NY

United States

 

http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20190406413690172&code=act&RC=56847&Row=12

 

 

 

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority.

The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

~ Ralph W. Sockman

 

 

 

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.

~ Rene Descartes

 

 

 

IMG_7720.jpeg

Pastor Richard with new members Ann Alexander and Dan Hock.

 

Surprise Linda with an EChO shower of food!

IMG_7743.jpeg

 

IMG_7744.jpeg

Linda LaGrange, the queen of collecting food for EChO!

(Evergreen Christian Outreach)

 

IMG_7751.jpeg

New member Dan Hock with his mother, Carolyn Hock.

 

Dinner at the Moore’s

(on another snowy evening)

IMG_7828.jpeg

Bill Manning, Kimra Perkins, Marsha Manning

 

IMG_7829.jpeg

Yummy food!

IMG_7830.jpeg

 

IMG_7832.jpeg

Mande Mischler, Bill Manning, Ann Moore

 

IMG_7833.jpeg

Ted Ning, Connie Ning, Marsha Manning, Carolyn Alexander

 

IMG_7835.jpeg

Kimra Perkins, Mike Moore, Ted and Connie Ning

 

IMG_7838.jpeg

Kevin Malone and Mande Mischler

 

84404a7b-b493-4e5d-b13a-71819428889b-1_all_31940.jpeg

Mike Moore, Ted and Connie Ning, Marsha Manning, Carolyn Alexander

Back row: Mande Mischler, Bill Manning, Kevin Malone, Ann Moore

PHOTO BY KIMRA

 

Kimra’s Thought Map

1000013121.jpeg

Mande’s question for our Table Talk was, 

"What Has Life Taught You About Love?"

 

 

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more
than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes
rich.  It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our
own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

 

 

April 6, 2025  Fifth Sunday in Lent - Year C 

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

 

 

4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:4b-14

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

image.png

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

Image result for fifth sunday of lent 2019 quotations.jpeg

 

image013.jpg

LECTIONARY

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

 

THE WORD:

The Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Lent in Year C in the common lectionary is the Fourth Gospel’s account of Mary anointing Jesus feet with perfume.  This incident takes place six days after Jesus’ raising of Mary’s brother Lazarus from the dead, just before Jesus’ Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem.  As the evangelist notes in the verses immediately preceding today’s Gospel, Lazarus’ coming back from the dead has all of Jerusalem buzzing – and not all of it is good.  

Jesus comes to Bethany, to the home of his good friends, Lazarus, Mary and the ever-busy-with-hospitality Martha.  Mary welcomes Jesus by anointing his feet – not washing them with water, the usual courtesy – but with nard, a very expensive fragrance imported from Northern India.  This precious spice must have cost Mary everything she had.  Her extravagant act rocked her sister’s dinner party – but how can you adequately thank someone who gave you back your brother?

Judas, the keeper of the company’s purse, objects at this wasteful extravagance (the Fourth Gospel’s description of Judas here is the most devastating picture we have of Judas in the Gospels: he is described as a thief, a manipulator, a betrayer).  While Judas’ protests sound reasonable, he’s not fooling anyone.   Jesus deflects Judas’ objections.  Mary’s act of kindness is exalted by Jesus as a prelude to the wonders that are to come.

Mary’s act in today’s Gospel is not a matter of extravagance and waste but one of gratitude and love.  Her gift comes not from the extra she could spare but from her own need, her own poverty.  She expresses with a liter of ointment a love she feels in the depths of her soul, a love that is beyond any words she knows to adequately express it.

In today’s Gospel, while Judas and the other guests deride Mary for her ostentatious display, Jesus graciously accepts her act of loving hospitality.  In doing so, Jesus transforms her humiliation into joy, her ridiculous display into a prayerful offering. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus lifts up and calls forth the good from everyone he meets — from the most despised tax collector to a little boy’s offering of his lunch.  As Jesus transforms the lives of these “real” people, so we are called to do the same: to accept one another, to love one another as God has accepted us and lifted us up and loved us.   

Broken as an act of welcome to her beloved friend, later to be broken as an act of courageous compassion to anoint the body of the crucified Jesus, Mary’s small jar of spices is an example to all of us of the “fragrance” of joy and peace, of comfort and care with which we can fill our own “houses” when we dare to “waste” our own time and energy to “break” our own “vessels” of humility and selflessness in the spirit of God’s Risen One.   

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#april6b

 

 First Reading Isaiah 43:16-21

16Thus says the LORD,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

17who brings out chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

18Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

19I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

20The wild animals will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

21the people whom I formed for myself

so that they might declare my praise.

Psalm 126

1When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

2Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then it was said among the nations,

"The LORD has done great things for them."

3The LORD has done great things for us,

and we rejoiced.




4Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

like the watercourses in the Negeb.

5May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

6Those who go out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

carrying their sheaves.

Second Reading Philippians 3:4b-14

4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel John 12:1-8

1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6(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.) 7Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”