Fifth Sunday in Lent

WesleyMen Lenten & Easter Devotionals 2025

Gospel Lectionary

John 12:1-8 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (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.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

Reflection

We can always count on Mary to be aware. From the words we read it appears as if she can understand that a change is coming for Jesus, and acted in a way that customarily fit. I like to think of myself as someone who is aware of what is happening around me. In my network of friends, family, and faith community, we try to have perspective on how we fit into the world around us. Sometimes, we act accordingly. Sometimes not. We are aware often, but we still fail to act accordingly. Daily, we fail to deliver the empathy, compassion, and grace that we are called to deliver to those we know and love. In addition, we fail in the same way toward strangers and people we might only classify as acquaintances. Judas could have observed what Mary did. Martha could have better heard Jesus’s words and observed his changing countenance. Yet, they were caught up in the immediate needs and the swirling events of the moment.

Recently, a family from Columbia came into our midst at my local congregation in Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. They were living just across the road from our church. Without going into too much detail, the relationship has grown over time. We discovered that this family was not only new to our country but were fleeing their home because preaching the Gospel and helping the poor in their home country put their lives in danger. Now, their family is in a different country, living in poverty, and fighting the daily challenges of a shift in language, culture, and societal expectations. My congregation had several people who emulated Mary and asked about their needs and sought to meet those needs. Others simply showered them with love and tried to have empathy and compassion for what they were experiencing. It felt good seeing so many people amongst us doing what Jesus expected of us as is laid out in the parable of the Good Samaritan, or as found in the book of Hebrews chapter 13, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers…”

I tell you about this not because I want to brag or seek recognition but because a great number of people in my nation today share the same experience as this Columbian family. There are hundreds of thousands of people here today seeking asylum. They are the house painters, the restaurant workers, and the people doing agricultural or factory work. They seek peace, healthcare, and rest, and they do not want to take it from us but to earn it and share it with others. Most fear being uprooted once again and sent to their nation of origin or a strange third country because of harmful and judgmental rhetoric. Why? Because the immigration system is broken. The fear of Judas’s scarcity transplanted to today might sound like, “We don’t have enough resources for everyone in Nashville, why are we letting these poor immigrants come and compete for what little we have.”

Friends, we should be concerned about their well-being regardless of how people arrived at our door, why they left their homes to come here, or how they came to be in this situation. We should be concerned about their souls. We should be concerned about their today and their tomorrow. If the Judas Iscariots of Nashville were worried about our shared existence in this (falsely) perceived scarcity, they would also genuinely be concerned on behalf of the migrant, who is our neighbor. We can’t alone, through our works of piety and mercy, fix a broken immigration system, change people’s misperception about the scarcity of resources, or stop outright hate. Today, we must begin Mary’s work.

Call to Action

As you journey through Lent, blink a few extra times and open your eyes wide. See the people around you who are new, poor, and anxious. Be the person who gives comfort. Smile and say hello, and if you are engaged further, take the opportunity to ask if their immediate needs are met. If help is needed and you are so empowered, do so. If you cannot assist, pray with them. Pray for them. If you have the means and determination, then become an advocate of the migrant. As you know, being a stranger in a foreign land was part of Jesus’s life (Mattthew 2:13-15). So I think Jesus speaks from this experience when, in Matthew 25:40 he tells us that when we help those in need, it is just like helping Jesus.

Prayer

God, we come to You in prayer, having read about the conflict over resources in Bethany. We want to draw You closer in the same way that Mary does. Help us to find a spirit of generosity that can only exist because You willed it into being. Guide us into a space of peace that is available to those who live with hate. Grant us, Lord, the power to rise above petty arguments and see the needs of those around us. Let us see our brothers and sisters as Mary saw You, Jesus.

Once we rise above the conflict through Your grace, we ask for a generous spirit that urges us to give not from our excess but from our everything. Allow us the wisdom of Mary to not save up that which is precious to us if it is needed by others here and now. Open our ears to hear Your voice calling through a stranger’s voice in a foreign land. Free us from our bonds of selfishness and pride. Tune our voices to the choir of angels who declare Your kingdom can be this world that surrounds us if we give all our power to You. Lastly, give us, O Lord, our daily bread. Amen.

Mr. Andy Morris – Treasurer, WesleyMen Board of Directors, Layperson at Calvary UMC Nashville, TN, USA