A Well Timed Act of Grateful Devotion

Daily Office Devotional, Friday, March 31, 2023

The week of the fifth Sunday in Lent

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 956)

AM Psalm 95* & 22; PM Psalm 141, 143:1-11(12)

Jer. 29:1,4-13; Rom. 11:13-24; John 11:1-27 or 12:1-10

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Donne. (See below.)

Daily Office Gospel, John 12:1-10

12:1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ 9When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well,

David's Reflections

Jesus and his followers were reclining at table on their left elbows on low couches, their bare feet extending behind them. Mary approached and anointed Jesus' exposed feet, wiping them with her hair. The perfumed oil filled the room with its fragrance. Judas, his motives less than sterling, criticized her, but Jesus silenced that criticism with his praise of her foresight and her commitment. She had performed beforehand, at least in part, an anointing of the body that normally would have happened after death to prepare for internment. In Jesus’ case, death occured so close to the beginning of the Sabbath that anointing was delayed until the next day.

This remarkable incident, in a slightly different version, can be found in Matthew 26 and Mark 14. All three stories share common traits, the anointing at a meal where Jesus reclined, the criticism of extravagance and a reference to using that money for the poor, and Jesus' response to the criticisms. (See Luke 7 for another anointing by a woman.)

Were you and I to reflect, we could discover myriad reasons to be grateful to God, grateful not merely for blessings and positive gifts but grateful for the moments of pain, darkness, and sorrow. It is in those latter moments that God's loving presence takes us into new spaces of empathy, self-understanding, and connection to our inner being, to God and those we love. Mary had reason to be grateful. Jesus had raised her brother Lazarus to life. She had her brother back.

This story reminds us that faith ushers us into the presence of Christ in relationship. Christ lives in our lives, and sits with us at every table we share with others. Every word, every thought, every action occurs in his presence. What "ointment" can we offer to Jesus as an expression of thankfulness for his loving presence? How can we pour ourselves out like Mary's oil?

The Cistercian monk and poet Thomas Merton wrote these lines as part of his poem "Freedom of Experience."

Because our natures poise and point towards You

Our loves revolve about You as the planets swing upon the sun

And all suns sing together in their gravitational worlds.

And so, some days in prayer Your Love,

Prisoning us in darkness from the values of Your universe,

Delivers us from measure and from time,

Melts all the barriers that stop our passage to eternity

And solves the hours of our chains.*

*Selected Poems of Thomas Merton. With an Introduction by Mark van Doren. (New York: New Directions, 1967), pp. 69-70.

Collect of the Day, the Fifth Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 219)

Collect of Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent

O Lord, you relieve our necessity out of the abundance of your great riches: Grant that we may accept with joy the salvation you bestow, and manifest it to all the world by the quality of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Weekday Eucharistic Propers, p. 44)

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Donne, priest, preacher, poet (died 31 Mar 1631 CE). http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/John_Donne.htm

Collect of the Feast of John Donne

O God of eternal glory, whom no one living can see and yet whom to see is to live; grant that with your servant John Donne, we may see your glory in the face of your Son, Jesus Christ, and then, with all our skill and wit, offer you our crown of prayer and praise, until by his grace we stand in that last and everlasting day, when death itself will die, and all will live in you, who with the Holy Spirit and the same Lord Jesus Christ are one God in everlasting light and glory. Amen.

Of the Holy Cross

Especially suitable for Fridays

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 253)

In the Evening

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)

A Collect for Mission

Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 280)

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer