Before Maundy Thursday and The Last Supper, there was the Banquet in Bethany to Honor Jesus. While 3 different versions of this story appear in the Gospels, I like to merge them together in my mind and come up with an anointing banquet for Jesus that teaches us all how to worship him. Extravagantly!

The next “banquet” that Jesus attends will be in The Upper Room with his disciples, to teach us another lesson about His eternal presence being with all of us even when He is physically not with us. That’s a lesson in spirituality.

But the lesson of the Banquet at Bethany is about worship. In John’s version (12:1-8), it is Jesus’s friend Mary who demonstrates the proper way to worship Jesus. Mary lets down all personal inhibitions and social norms so that her worship of Him in this place, at this moment, is completely free of hesitation and restriction. Mary worships Jesus in a totally unique and extravagant manner in front of all who have gathered for this special occasion.

  For this worship service, Mary chooses to anoint the feet of Jesus with extravagant oils from an alabaster jar. The oils are powerfully pungent and fill the room with an aroma that bombards the senses of all who are there. There is no ignoring what Mary is doing!  

 The first thing that most in the room are thinking is the poor decision to waste such expensive oil on the feet of Jesus. This simply reminds us that monetary cost will always be a human concern when it comes to celebratinig extravagant worship. Judas, and others, make play that they are more concerned with the poor, and the value of those oils could have been much more useful if sold and the profits used to help them. And that would have been a thoughtful ministry. But, as Jesus tells those who put cost first, there are times when extravagant worship is called for … and this is one of those times.

Now that the room is filled with the strong aromas of the oils, and everyone’s attention is centered on Mary and Jesus, she continues her worship of Him. Mary lets down her long dark hair and begins to rub in the oils on Jesus’s feet as she massages them with her hair. You see, no worship is too extravagant for Jesus … in Mary’s mind. It would be impossible to go overboard in her show of praise and love for Him. 

What Jesus knows that Mary doesn’t is that after this week, Jesus will no longer be making visits to see his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. After the extravagance of this anointing banquet, Jesus will have another meal, in Jerusalem, on the eve of Passover, to teach another lesson about who He is. Let’s leave that aside for now … but, as for this night, on this Holy Wednesday, these questions are now put before us: 

As for me, today I’m going to check my worship mentality. Is my worship of Jesus more determined by practical concerns and social norms – or am I completely free and natural in my own unique and uninhibited style of extravagant worship?

Why is this important?

Well, Easter’s a comin’ – and I want to get it right this time! 

Meet me at the banquet in Bethany,

Pastor <>< Bob

Jesus – My Lord and my God 

I know and believe that in days of old, as recorded in our sacred books, You would become present to people through the use of their physical senses – being visible to their eyes or audible to their ears —

But in these days, after You Lord, as the Son, have walked on the earth and ascended to heaven, and left with us the gift of Your Holy Spirit, I have come to believe that the reality of your presence is now manifested internally, rather than externally, to those such as me who seek and long to experience that very presence — 

I believe that You, God, today will, according to Your will, become known to souls that are intent on seeking You, and that You will lavish love on those who show deep desire and affection for this —

I believe and trust that the sign of Your presence coming into one’s heart is: “A fire will go before You and burn up Your enemies round-about”–

This arson being necessary in every soul into which you come so that every impurity of evil thoughts and works be consumed from the soul, thus securing a sacred place of holiness and purity for you to reside —

When one’s soul becomes consumed with Your fire, Lord, then that is the sign of one prepared for Your coming; as the Prophet says: “He sent fire into my bones” and “My heart was hot within me … while the fire burned forth”– 

And Lord, I have come to believe that a soul such prepared, due to frequent aspirations and continual prayers for your presence, even to the point of being afflicted by those longings, will stir Your will to respond and bring to pass the fulfillment of those aspirations and prayers, allowing one to proclaim “The Lord is good to them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him”–

What I am not praying for, God, nor do I desire, is any form of physical sensory perceptions of You, including images or voices;  but rather I cast my hope in a spiritual unity between You and Your Word with my eternal soul – as the Apostle says, “he that is joined to God is one spirit”–

My Teacher and Master, the union I desire and pray for is the loving descent of Your Essence into my humble but sanctified spirit – joining that which is spirit with that which is spirit — 

Yes, the union I desire and pray for must be made with me in the spirit, because You are Spirit, and it is in Your nature to be joined to only that which can embrace the divine love that originates from You alone, which is Beauty and Truth pure —

Nor would I Lord., nor could You, be attracted to or become united with any urge that originates in the lusts of the flesh —

Now Lord God, I pray, fill my heart with that divine love of Yours so that my preparation may become complete —

For a soul in such a condition, with irresistible and overwhelming feelings of devotion for You and You alone, will know not to expect a common occurrence such as those routinely and ritualistically witnessed to by Your church faithful, nor even fathom that You will come in dreams, or sensory visons or voices —

Rather, O God, this pure soul drenched in Your divinity longs to achieve that special privilege of Your direct ascension from on high into that welcoming soul that has been lovingly prepared by You , and which anxiously awaits You, as You soothe all those deep affections and center Your Spirit in the very depth of this heart — 

Know that there is, on my part O God, a lack of longing to experience any semblance of You in an outward fashion, but indeed just the opposite, to have You poured directly into me, so that this is not merely a physical experience that excites my fleshly senses, but rather, what I ask for today is that You take complete possession of all my inner faculties and transform me from the inside out — leaving my happiness so much the greater for each brief shining moment that this heart transplant lasts. 

O God, ready Your Lenten Pilgrim for this coming day of Beauty and Truth, 

Your humble servant and vacant mystic – Pastor <>< Bob