Holy Tuesday, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. John 12:1-36
Holy Tuesday
March 26, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Everyone knows their story. Martha was the busy-bee who had no time for Jesus’ teaching, while Mary sat as His feet listening to His every word. Their brother is Lazarus, who had died, but whom Jesus raised from the dead, even after he was dead for a few days. He called Lazarus out of the tomb and gave him back to his sisters.
They are now all together at their house, where Jesus also is six days before the Passover. And there, they made Jesus a supper.
That wasn’t the high point of the evening. One of the high points of the evening was Mary taking a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, and then she anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. It was a beautiful fragrance, filling the house with the beautiful smell. And Jesus says, “She has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, be Me you do not have always.”
Many times throughout the Bible, we hear of various people in various offices and vocations being anointed to perform their duties. We hear of priests being anointed and consecrated, prophets being anointed and ordained, and kings being anointed and crowned to rule. To be anointed, means to be chosen by God. It means to be set apart as the one to perform certain and specific duties for God’s own chosen people.
Aaron was anointed to be the first High Priest in the Old Testament. Moses, “Took anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated the priests. And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. And Moses brought Aaron’s sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Aaron and his sons were anointed, that is, chosen by God and set apart to carry out the task of the Old Testament priesthood—to offer sacrifice on behalf of the people.
Prophets were likewise anointed by God to proclaim His Word to His people. To prophesy, in the simplest way means “to preach.” So, for example, we have Isaiah. Isaiah saw in his vision of the Holy of Holies, where he records, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’” In a similar manner, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all the other Old Testament prophets were anointed, set apart, to proclaim God’s Word—Elisha was given Elijah’s cloak.
Kings were also anointed. Oil was poured over their heads, Saul, David, Solomon, and the like. They were chosen by God to carry out specific civil duties. To lead the people.
So here comes Mary, who anoints Jesus with costly oil and her own tears, cleaning His feet with her hair. The Prophets were to be Prophets. The Priests were to be Priests. The Kings were to act and rule as kings. Very rarely and seldomly was there any interaction or crossover between the man in each of these specific offices, as to whether he could carry out other functions of other offices. Prophets were to proclaim. Priests were to sacrifice. Kings were to rule.
But now, in Jesus Christ, these three offices are combined. He is our Prophet who proclaims God’s Word, our High Priest, our King, who rules, all in one person. All three offices are combined into one man—the Godman, Jesus Christ. Thus, Mary anoints Him. She prepares Him for His burial. For having preached the Word to us, He will now offer Himself as a sacrifice, as the one, final sacrifice, for the sins of the world. All this, He does, while reigning as King over the entire world. And Yet, He shows forth His power in humility. He was anointed to die. To die and sacrifice Himself for all sinners who ever lived.
But the greater spectacle of the evening of this supper is not Mary anointing Jesus with expensive oil and her tears, while wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair, but the presence of Lazarus. The name Lazarus means “God is my helper.” God helped Lazarus by raising him from the dead. Now, he is seated at the table for this supper for all to see. Many of the Jews had heard that Lazarus was there and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see this spectacle—to see if it was true that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Jesus raised a number of people from the dead. He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead. He raised the son of the widow of Nain. And then He raised Lazarus. He raised Him from the dead. He raised these sons and daughters from the dead. The wages of sin is death. But death must still have its victim. Justice must be met. So if Jesus raised these people from the dead, He must now pay their price. They were raised. They were called out of the grave. The grave was robbed of those bodies—Jairus’s daughter, the son of the widow at Nain, and Lazarus, and us, and all of those who we love who have gone before us with the sign of faith—they were and will all be called out of their graves so that Jesus can get in.
He rights the wrong. He heals the sick. He even raises the dead by calling them, commanding them to come out of their graves, in order to make room for Him. He wants them to know that He is undoing death. All this, so that He can take their place in death in order that we might live in Him.
One way or another, justice must be met. Death must have its prize. Jesus is the willing sacrifice. He lays down His life so that He will take it up again. Death is a liar. Death has no dominion over Him. Our Lord has the authority to lay down His life and He has the authority to take it up again. This command He has received from His Father. For this is why He was anointed.
In +Jesus’ name.
