Collect for Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent
O God, you have called us to be your children, and have promised that those who suffer with Christ will be heirs with him of your glory: Arm us with such trust in him that we may ask no rest from his demands and have no fear in his service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Simple Acts (Matthew 26:1-68)
As the events of the last week of Jesus’ life begin to pick up in speed and intensity, our attention tends to focus more closely on what is happening to Jesus. We want to interpret everything that happens, from the preparation for the Last Supper to his arrest in Gethsemane, in light of the cross. Undoubtedly, our focus should be on Jesus but we should not lose sight of the other characters in the drama, especially those who followed Jesus from Galilee. Their fate is bound up with his. Matthew, like the Gospel of Mark which he follows closely, wants to teach his readers what it means to follow Jesus.
Several of the disciples jump out at us. Peter, who vowed to follow Jesus to the very end, to the cross itself, is told by Jesus that he will deny him three times. Judas betrays his master. In Gethsemane, Jesus takes the sons of Zebedee and Peter aside. He asks them to stay awake with him while he prays. Instead, they fall asleep and are rebuked by Jesus. None of them could complete the journey to the cross with Jesus.
There is one disciple in this story whose behavior Jesus praises. We don’t know her name, where she came from, or even the motivations for her actions. While Jesus was dining with Simon the Leper in Bethany, she crashed the party and anointed Jesus’ head with costly ointment. After her actions were criticized, Jesus announced that what she had done would be told “in remembrance of her.”
That’s all we know about her. We don’t know where she came from or what happened to her after this encounter with Jesus. We don’t even know her name. Yet of all the disciples in this story, only she seems worthy of our notice and imitation. She seems to know what is going to happen to Jesus when his closest (male) followers are clueless. It may be that she was among the women who Matthew says looked on from afar as Jesus was crucified and buried. It may be that she was among the women who went to the tomb. Whatever happened, we are left with her actions and Jesus’ praise of her. It’s a reminder that the simplest acts by anonymous people can have lasting significance and power.
The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Greiser
Rector
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