Jesus Anointed with Perfume (John 12:1-8)
Lenten SermonRev. Annette Cater, from Tawa Anglicans, leads us through week five in our Lenten Sermon Series.
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Gospel ConversationsThe story of Mary annointing Jesus' feet prior to the week of his Passion is a powerful one. How much love is enough? What do we do in the face of such extravagance? Archdeacon Michael Godfrey is joined this week by Alec Clark, Anne van Gend, and a fresh and energised visitor from the Diocese of Brisbane: Nicki Colledge.
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ReflectionA reflection from Reverend Rebecca Apperley, Newlands-Paparangi Anglican Parish
What’s your instinctive response when you witness deep emotion? In our gospel reading this week (John 12:1-18) we are dropped in as viewers to a dinner scene. Mary has broken a large, expensive jar of perfume and is using it to wash Jesus’ feet with her hair. With her hair. It’s a moment of intense emotion offered from Mary and accepted by Jesus. It’s an action which is replete with the symbolism of burial and grief, and a moment of deep emotion that is so intense you feel a visceral reaction to it. Judas’ reaction to this act of radical generosity is to remonstrate Mary and Jesus for their wastefulness. I wonder if one of the conflicted emotions lying behind Judas’ reaction is jealousy? Not fiscal jealousy necessarily, but more jealousy at the intimacy of relationship of this moment. Jealous of the uninhibitedness of Mary’s response to Jesus, and of Jesus’ acceptance of who Mary is. Jealous that Mary seems to understand some of what who Jesus is, and what may happen to him. Tackling the darker side of our souls is sometimes called ‘going downstairs to look around the basement’. As we begin to journey with Jesus to the cross, there is an invitation in this reading to explore our reactions. Would we be prepared to demonstrate our response to Jesus so publicly? Do we let ourselves be loved? Do we see ourselves as lovable? Is there part of us that thinks that God’s love is for others and not for us? Do we feel like we are spectators, not participants? |
Visio LectioA beautiful image from the Visio Lectio project, created by the Anglican Diocese of Auckland. © Sarah West. All Rights reserved, shared with permission.
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Putting God First (John 12:20-33)
The theme of today's gospel passage is 'putting God first'
The PursueGod.org website has a video here, about putting God first as a kid, presented by a young boy who carries out the lollies experiment described in the transcript below:
"So, if you really want to survive – no, if you want to win at being a kid – it takes knowing and doing the basics. If you want to survive as a kid, you’ll need to set some priorities in your life. And God should be at the top of your list. Even as kids, we can make God a priority. Kids Basic #1 = Put God __________ We’re all busy with things like school and homework, maybe a few chores. We don’t have a whole lot of free time left. But, instead of just playing video games, sports, or hanging out with friends, we should also find time to spend with God. Think of it this way. Imagine that your life is a bowl. You also have a lot of sweets like a huge candy bar, Swedish fish (medium size candies), and a whole bunch of skittles (little candies). Do you think all of that candy can fit in the bowl? Well, it depends on the order. If we put the big things in first, everything will fit right! Big things first. Then the little things. What that means is we should focus on the important stuff, first, and let the other things fill in where time is left. What could be bigger than God? So how can you make God more of a priority in your life?" |
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