Holy Week 2021: Wednesday

 Mark 14:1-11 /////////// At the House of the Leper

Today’s text is the final story in the Gospel of Mark before the series of events begin starting with the Last Supper (tomorrow) leading to the crucifixion (Friday), then with Jesus in the tomb (Saturday) and risen on Easter morning (Sunday). It is interesting to me that Mark tells this story at this point because of what is about to happen. At the tail end of today’s text, we read about the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, which will swing a series of events into motion for the Son of Man to be lifted up.

I still remember the first time that I put in my first pair of contacts. I was in the 8^th grade before my parents realized that I couldn’t see very well. I had no idea that I needed glasses! When everything is blurry, you begin to think that it is just normal to see that way. It wasn’t so blurry though that I couldn’t make out the writing on the chalkboard or anything, so I got by. That day that my dad took me to get my first eye exam is a day that I will never forget. I never knew that people could see so clearly and crisply. After I put the contacts in for the first time, the first thing I did was look out the window, and all of the sudden, the once blurry green tree outside became clear. It wasn’t just a green blob anymore! I could see the leaves! It was amazing.

Alright, hang with me here, I’m going to go Bible nerd on you for a few minutes. In the Gospel of Mark, there seems to be an emphasis on the healing of the blind. We have talked a lot about Mark 8, focusing on the passage where Jesus calls his disciples to “take up the cross” and follow after him. We have this interesting teaching in which Jesus calls us to lose our lives to save them, and whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. If you remember, this conversation began with Peter and the disciples confessing that Jesus is the Messiah, but then immediately showing that they have no idea what “Messiah” means. What is interesting is that before this conversation, we have a story of the healing of a blind man. Jesus tells his disciples that he must suffer, die, and be raised on the third day three times in the next couple chapters, and after each of those times, we have instances where it is clear that the disciples have no idea, still, what “Messiah” means. At the end of this section, we have another story of a blind man being healed in Mark 10.

Let me summarize because I want you to see this, and I think it is important for us to understand the text for today. Jesus heals a blind man (Mark 8:22-26), the disciples confess that Jesus is the Messiah (8:27-30), Jesus teaches three times that he will suffer and die, then on the third day rise again (8:31-10:45), then Jesus heals another blind man (Mark 10:46-52). I think that what Mark is trying to show us is that the followers of Jesus including the ones closest to him were also blind to the ways that God was trying to work in the world. They could not see or accept the idea that Jesus would be crucified. So, we have this picture of the ones who were really suffering from blindness were the ones watching Jesus heal the blind men.

In this story, they arrive at the house of Simon the Leper and they are eating dinner. Then, this strange woman (unnamed) comes in and anoints Jesus’s head with an expensive perfume, and the disciples rebuke her. I think that what is interesting here is that again, we have the disciples that cannot see what is really going on here. They still don’t understand that this woman is preparing Jesus for his suffering, death, and burial, but what is most interesting to me is that this random woman seems to understand it all. Moreover, this story takes place in the house of a leper! Simon the leper and this random unnamed woman seem to have the eyes to see what must take place. They believed the words of Jesus when the disciples had trouble with the concept of a suffering Messiah. The hardest ones to convert to the way of the cross were not the leper, the tax collector, the prostitute, or the lame. The hardest ones to convert were the followers of Jesus and the ones caught up in the religious system of the day.

What about us? Do we have eyes to see? Are we also blind? In what ways are we stuck in our own ways that we have trouble seeing the ways that God wants to work in and through us in this world? May our prayer be that God would help us and give us eyes to see because we are just as vulnerable to blindness as anyone.

Lord, give us eyes to see!