The Invitation
Would you like to come over for dinner?
Simple question. Sure!
So, you make your plans, cook your food, jump in the car and head for dinner at a friend’s house.
You walk in the door and the host asks you if you would like something to drink, while pointing you to the bathroom if you want to freshen up at all.
Should be a nice evening.
Jesus’ last meal with his disciples had all the elements of a nice meal with friends. In fact, the Passover meal includes all those elements of a good meal. However, it does more than that. It magnifies each part of the meal with meaning that must have reverberated in Christ’s heart that night as he ate.
It’s no wonder he would later be overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. He must have felt control of his life slipping away…It wasn’t just a nice evening. The Kingdom of God was at hand!
Another Evening Meal
Interestingly, just the previous Sabbath, Jesus’ meal at Simon the Leper’s house in Bethany where Lazarus lived, was interrupted by what must have been a rather uncomfortable display of public affection. Mary the Magdalene, recovered prostitute, had somehow found a way to purchase a very expensive bottle of perfume; pure nard, we are told. It was said to be worth a year’s worth of wages. For many of us that would be between 40 and 70 thousand dollars a year.
But it wasn’t the owning of expensive perfume that caused the uproar. Apparently, in front of everyone, she took the perfume and poured it over Jesus’ head and feet and finished by using her hair to wipe it from Jesus’ feet.
Now, I have been in many uncomfortable social situations. I can only imagine the hushed gasps and awkward shifting going on around Jesus and Mary as the “anointing” happened. You almost would expect it to end with a short silence and someone saying, “Really dry weather we’ve been having down by the Jordan these days…” in hopes of moving on from the awkwardness.
But, then it got even more uncomfortable. Apparently, Judas Iscariot and some of the others spoke up and rebuked Mary in front of everyone. “How could you waste that money like that?!” “We could have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor!” “What are you thinking!?”
So a very awkward public display of affection followed by a harsh public rebuke.
Now, remember, Mary was a recovered prostitute. Social graces were very likely NOT her specialty. In fact, one might wonder if she didn’t have some rough edges. Needless to say, perhaps some in the room felt sorry for her, saying to themselves, “The girl doesn’t even know that you just don’t do those kinds of things.” Or perhaps, that is why Judas rebuked her so publicly. Perhaps, she had a problem with money and being responsible with her things. Perhaps, everyone knew that she struggled to know how to act in public or how to manage her money.
We simply don’t know.
All we know for sure is that in that fabulously awkward, painful moment, Jesus immediately came to her rescue. Instead of rebuking her, Jesus praised her and said, (Mark 14:6-9) "Leave her alone…Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
An extravagant display of love (A whole year’s salary worth). A magnificently unkind rebuke. A gracious and pointed rescue by Jesus.
The Kingdom of God was at hand. Nice social meals are…nice…yet, what really matters has a troublesome way of asserting it’s own agenda.
Apparently though, that was enough to send Judas, who was treasurer and prone to steal from the money bag, to the Chief Priests with a plan to betray Jesus. Yes indeed, the Kingdom of God was at hand!
The Passover Meal
This sets up the backdrop for the next nice evening meal. Five days later, Jesus sat down in the upper room with his disciples to eat the Passover meal.
They started with something to drink. It’s called the Cup of Blessing in a traditional Passover Seder. (This is a different cup than that celebrated at communion.) Luke tells us that Jesus gave thanks and passed it around to everyone. (Luke 22:17).
Naturally, however, getting washed up was next on the agenda. And this is where things got uncomfortable…again…Instead of a servant bringing around a bowl of water to serve everyone, Jesus put a towel around his waste and went around washing everyone’s feet. (John 13:2-17)
It was another genuinely awkward social moment. The host is NEVER supposed to do that. Only a servant should do such a thing. Then one can ignore the servant and talk amiably with one’s peers.
So, when Jesus, at the appropriate time in the Passover, after the first cup, began to wash everyone’s feet, Peter decided he should correct the social faux pas…or whatever he thought it was. “I should wash your feet, Lord!” Peter’s discomfort was palpable. Jesus’ act ran contrary to what was proper. Eventually Peter, trying to save face in the awkward moment said, “Well then, not just my feet but my whole body!”
Jesus, again, gently corrected Peter and finished his task, completely ignoring the social discomfort created by his actions. When He finished, Jesus said, “In the same way, you should serve one another.”
Once again, Jesus had used an awkward social moment to teach a huge and valuable lesson: Greatness is about serving in lowly, sacrificial ways.
Conclusions
In both awkward dinner moments, there was an extravagant display of two things: affection and servanthood. In one Jesus was being served by one who perhaps felt she just couldn’t find the words to say thank you. In the other Jesus served, as a lowly servant, teaching a lesson about greatness and servanthood. Both moments teach the importance of extravagant love and humble servanthood.
A lowly prostitute is not the only one who should learn it. Even the lofty twelve disciples, Jesus inner circle, also need to learn.
Social occasions are opportunities to communicate very important lessons. Let us not be so proper and decorous that we forget that extravagant love and humble servanthood will often make us feel uncomfortable. They will often run counter to “acceptable norms” in society. It will often even anger the most surprising of people in our midst.
Yet it will be the right thing to do.
The Kingdom of God is at hand. Simply maintaining surface control through enforcing social manners is unacceptable. Life in Christ is way too important.
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