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Holy Week With the Moderator: Wednesday

Wednesday April 17 2019

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Susan Brown, continues our journey through Holy Week


Wednesday

Pick up the stone again – and find Jesus at the home of good friends.

It’s a place he knows and enjoys and can be himself in. Read John 12:1-8:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him,objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

The fly in the ointment is one of the Twelve. Judas was outraged at the waste of perfume. It could have fed the hungry, he said – a potentially principled point – but not from the lips of Judas. From Judas it was an excuse. The deal had already been struck.

As you hold onto your stone, feel its hardness and spend some time reflecting on where the hardness in you…

What is it you put first…

Who is it you can’t forgive… what is it you can’t forget… or let go of?