In today’s gospel (John 12:1-11) we read the story of Jesus’ visit to the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Bethany as he makes his final journey to Jerusalem. We hear of Mary anointing Jesus with the expensive perfume.
As I reflected on this gospel reading, I couldn’t help but think how comforted and grateful Jesus must have been for these friends and their hospitality knowing the fate that awaited Him in Jerusalem. I’m sure that Jesus especially appreciated Mary’s loving act of devotion and adoration as she anointed Him.
And it is like that for us also, maybe especially during this Holy week.
Jesus reaches out to us just as he did to Martha, Mary and Lazarus. He hopes that we will invite Him in to our lives, open our hearts to Him, be attentive to him, feel His loving presence, and respond to His love. He desires that we devote ourselves to him, that we live lives of love, out of love for Him.
He wants us to walk with Him on his journey to Jerusalem this week. He wants us to be at His side as He endures the horrific events of His passion, as He suffers for us. And maybe especially this week, we are called to respond. Maybe especially this week we are compelled to offer Him all our love and thanks for his selfless, redemptive work, for all of what He suffered on our behalf. And we know that if we remain close to Him through His sufferings, as well as our own sufferings, if we walk with Him this week and die with him on Friday, we will also rise with Him on Sunday.
So this week, with God’s help, we put our anxieties and distractions aside. Like His friends in Bethany did, we focus on Jesus, our Savior. We remain very close to Him and allow Him to break open our hearts with his redemptive love. We pray that we can return that love as we give of ourselves to our fellow brothers and sisters out of love for Him.
Together, let us walk with Jesus this week. Together, let us look forward to rising with Him on Easter Morning.