Summary
The Dinner at Bethany: Four Reactions to Jesus
Six days before the Passover, two miles from Jerusalem and only days from the cross, Jesus reclined at table in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, who had evidently been cleansed of his disease but still bore the name. Lazarus, recently raised from the dead, sat among the guests. Around this single dinner John 12:1–11, four very different reactions to Jesus emerge—and each holds up a mirror to us.
Love, service, and sacrifice. Martha served. Unlike the earlier scene in Luke 10:38–42, where her serving was contrasted with Mary's listening at Jesus' feet, here her service draws no rebuke. Scripture everywhere calls Christians to serve one another, knowing that in serving the neighbor we serve God himself. Mary's act is even more striking: a pound—about twelve ounces—of pure nard, poured out on Jesus' feet and wiped with her hair. The ointment, drawn from a plant in the Himalayas and transported by camel, was worth a year's wages for a common laborer; the alabaster jar she broke open Mark 14:3 was costly in itself. It is a beautiful picture of love, service, and sacrifice, and Jesus receives it as preparation for his burial.
Selfishness. Judas Iscariot—nearly always named in the New Testament with the tag "the betrayer"—objects piously: the perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii (precisely a year's wages) and given to the poor. But John 12:6 strips off the mask. He did not care about the poor; he was a thief who helped himself to the common purse. His complaint was not concern for the needy but resentment that a fatter bag had not passed through his hands. Jesus answers, "Leave her alone… you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Curiosity without commitment. A great crowd came to Bethany—not only because of Jesus, but to see Lazarus, the man who had been dead. He was a kind of celebrity. Their interest was real, but shallow: drawn by spectacle rather than by faith.
Outright opposition. The chief priests, threatened that "many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus" because of Lazarus, plotted to put Lazarus to death as well. Where curiosity hesitates, hostility hardens.
Two thousand years later, the same four reactions live in us. By God's grace the Spirit produces in his people that highest, self-giving agape love Galatians 5:22, counting others more important than ourselves and offering time, talent, and treasure as stewards of what belongs to God. Yet honest hearts also recognize Judas's selfishness when we want our own way and shrink from praying "thy will be done"; the curious crowd when we treat Jesus like a genie expected to grant our wishes but balk at taking up the cross; and the opposition of the priests in our thoughts, words, and deeds, in what we have done and left undone.
What is Jesus' reaction to our sinful reactions? He goes to the cross. There he takes our selfishness, our half-hearted curiosity, and our opposition upon himself; the wrath our sin deserves falls on the spotless Lamb of God; and from the cross he announces, "It is finished"—paid in full. Then he is raised. That is God's reaction to ours: grace and mercy. The palm branches, the hosannas, the washing of feet, the cross, and the empty tomb are all near at hand—and no wonder we worship him “Reactions” 3-26-23.
Video citations
- “Reactions” 3-26-23 — Do you open your Bibles, please, with me to the 12th chapter of the gospel of John. If you're using a few edition of Holy Scripture, you'll find that on page 92 in the New Testament. The 12th…