She was a teacher in a nice, private girl’s school until one day she saw a street person lying on the pavement. He was in bad shape, really bad shape – so weak he didn’t even have the strength to brush the flies away. He was dying. She knew she couldn’t walk on by and leave him. That changed her life and the lives of thousands.
He was a rising politician, brilliant orator and witty with it, the darling of the in-set, then he got sick, very sick, married the woman who helped nurse him, chucked in a stellar career, became a simple man-of-the-cloth and one of the finest metaphysical poets who has inspired generations. Some of his poems have been set to music as hymns that we still sing.
He was a lawyer and a ‘bit of a lad’ by all accounts, had a mistress and so on, until one day someone said something that made him stop and think. His Confessionswould be tame by today’s tabloid standards, but became a classic and his ‘conversion’ changed some ideas that affected the course of history in the Western Church.
She was a thinker not a doer – a slacker on the domestic scene, (if you can believe the stories), but when she actually did do something it certainly left a lasting impression and made everyone sit up – even Jesus.
He had been a carpenter like his adoptive dad, helping to support a growing number of siblings, then took a gap year, maybe more, before pursuing his true calling, but also having a few wake-up calls like the one we just heard. How would you feel if a friend started preparing you for burial? Doesn’t bear thinking about? Or does it? If we knew we only had a little while left to live, would it change what we would do this week and what we’d do for the rest of the day – or conversely, what we wouldn’t do or worry about. I suspect our priorities would shift abruptly or come into sharp focus, helping us slough off the less important ‘stuff’? It may sound strange, but meditating on my own death and burial many years ago changed my life by helping me realize what really mattered, what made me happy, and what changes I’d need to make to spend more time on what satisfied my soul.
We have all read or heard potted biographies or reports of ordinary people who have hit rock bottom or had near death experiences, been shocked by seeing suffering up close and personal, or inspired by simple kindness or a moment of sublime beauty that turned their lives around. Valuing life, relationships and their gifts more, often it points them on a different path or back to one they abandoned, learning to develop new or old skills–sometimes while still working to support themselves and their families. Biographies offer so many variations on this theme – folk of all ages and backgrounds who have a wake-up call that decided them to ‘go do’.
The good news is we don’t have to hit rock bottom or have a near death experience to revisit our lives and re-evaluate what we’re doing. Instead, we can walk beside Jesus during Holy Week, but start to enter the story today – spending time to think about what decisions he faced, where he put his priorities, who he spent time with, how he spent that time, what those who were closest to him experienced and the changes it made to them, then how those who rejected his teaching reacted. Love him or hate him, this was and is a time to re-evaluate our lives in the light of his. We can make decisions that help us enjoy new or resurrection life here and now, making the most of the time we have.
Actually, you can take any of today’s readings because all four offer mini-biographies or snap-shots of people faced with change – some individuals, and some whole communities, like us right now even. Taken one at a time, they speak to different situations and personalities; taken together they certainly drive the message home. Firstly, we have a stunning prophecy from a prophet who reminds people about their Exodus through water that miraculously became dry land, then says but you ain’t seen nothing yet – God is about to do something even better – like making water flow where there is none. Even hope which seems to have dried up will blossom because God is about to do something new – so forget the past and get your feet wet folks! The Psalm says the same, firstly looking backwards to build confidence based on the best memory people had of their fortunes being restored, then praying for help in their present predicament, finally looking forward with certainty and joy for a better future. Trust based on past help generates the hope and confidence that are crucial in releasing the energy to work towards that future.
Next is Paul – at onetime a religious fanatic who had persecuted those who didn’t believe the same things he believed until one day he saw the light about Christ and seized the chance to live a new and different life – resurrection life. Suddenly, and with blinding clarity, his whole perspective changed. Re-evaluating his goals and achievements, he considered past gains a loss. It’s as if he had learned to put price tags on what he did or gave up, discovering he’d found something more valuable than the things he had once cherished. He talks about forgetting what lies behind as he presses forward with new energy and hopeful expectation. See the pattern?
Now to the last scene, six days before the Passover – not much time for Jesus to prepare himself or others for the final test and ultimate victory over the worst we humans can do to one another – the worst we can do to ourselves in terms of dealing out or dealing with doubts, fear, betrayal, rejection, suffering, pain and death itself. There is so much packed into this scene, so many reversals, so many angles on the road to the cross, all telling us something, that its worth visiting it quietly by yourself, taking each person one at a time. Take Lazarus, who was dead but now lives, then Martha who again plays hostess, but this time without complaining – happy to be who she is, to do her thing, and do it well. There’s Mary the deep thinker, now model disciple who doesn’t wait to be told, but does something so profound it proves she understands the need to show love for others before Jesus commands them to do this, maybe even teaching him something by anointing his feet and setting an example in the humble, yet costly act of washing someone’s feet and all it symbolizes. Was she silently saying folks let’s not wait for death to stare us in the face before we learn to live, or show and tell others how much they mean to us? Of course, there’s Judas claiming to be concerned about the waste of money that could be given to the poor, yet is prepared to sell a friend for profit and made me think about the 101 ways people sell one another short.
Finally, Jesus leaves us with this thought as we approach Holy Week: You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. Some say churches should sell off their property and give the proceeds to charity. Yes, we could do that – once! Or we could do as Mary did – be extravagant in gestures of love that could inspire others for generations to come, make costly sacrifices and live lives of service in thanks for the love of Christ – a love that cost him his life, yet in Spirit, he certainly remains with us. In a society that downplays or denies the presence of Christ, I believe that’s important, what we do is important, this is important, it is holy, sacred – something special, something unique that is more important than ever as a sanctuary, a centre of hope and peace in Dunbar that bears witness to the new life made possible by Christ by being a parish that serves young and old, males and female, rich and poor, because it’s true – sadly, the poor are still with us.