Sacred Sunday

Dinner and Death

Summary of John Chapter 12:

• Six days before Passover is going to start, Jesus heads back down to Bethany to stay with Lazarus and his sisters. They host a dinner party in his honor. Fancy.
• After dinner, Mary takes a huge jar of very expensive perfume and pours it all over Jesus's feet. Then she wipes his feet with her hair. Guess she couldn't find a towel.
• Judas suddenly pipes in: Why is this perfume being wasted like this? They could have sold it and raised tons of money to give to the poor.
• Of course, the gospel tells us, Judas doesn't really care about the poor. In fact, he is in charge of the money the disciples give to the poor and steals from this stash all the time. Major jerk alert.
• Jesus defends Mary, explaining that she has anointed him with perfumes because he will be buried soon. Poor Jesus. He died for the sins of the world and all he got was some lousy perfume.
• Later, other people figure out that Jesus is in Bethany, and they start coming to see him. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the guy who raised Lazarus from the dead.
• Speaking of Lazarus, the religious authorities have decided that while they're at it, they're going to kill him, too. After all, it's kind of his fault that people are so worked up over Jesus, right?
• The next day, the people hear that Jesus has come to Jerusalem for Passover. He just couldn't stay away.
• They pull branches from palm trees and yell "Hosanna!" as he enters city.
• In Jerusalem, Jesus explains to the people that he's going to die.
• And anyway, it's okay. He tells them that a grain of wheat is just a single grain until it is placed in the earth and dies