This is one of those days that I think everybody really likes. It’s Palm Sunday.

This is the celebration. This is a high point of the church year. Jesus is coming in. He is in charge of this scene. He tells them exactly what to do. He’s not the large and in charge Jesus that we hear in John’s gospel, but he still is orchestrating the events.

He knows, tells them exactly what to do. It appears from the scholar’s point of view, looking back at this, that he’s completing the prophesy from Zechariah 9:9-10.

Jesus is coming in riding a donkey from the east side of Jerusalem from Bethany and Bethesh. At the same time, Pilate and a whole. legion of Roman soldiers are coming into Jerusalem from the west. Because they also know it’s Passover. And there is a history that during Passover there have been riots. So Pilate is bringing extra soldiers in to keep the Roman peace. They don’t want any trouble. They don’t want any uprisings.

So here, you’ve got this humble man coming from the east and you’ve got Pilate and the war horses coming from the west.

If you’ve read Zechariah 9, you’ll understand how that is all part of that scripture. We are called to sit up and take notice. We are called to pay attention to what’s happening in this scene.

Look at the difference, and notice it. Look at where the love and the compassion is.

So, Jesus comes in during the day, and at night, he goes back to Bethany. He goes back to the house of Simon the leper. This story of his anointing, Takes place in all four Gospels. It is worth noting when they happen and how they happen. And who. Because, in some situations it becomes a character. The woman is named as Mary. Most times the woman is not named.

So what I find interesting when I have a passage like this that occurs in four different gospels, number one, sit up and take notice. It must be an important story or it wouldn’t be in all four gospels.

Then I look at what’s different about Mark. What’s different in this story? Matthew and Mark’s versions are the closest. Now, remember, and I actually put them in that order, because Luke’s is so different, and even John’s is different. But Mark’s would have come first. Mark’s gospel was written first. Matthew definitely used Mark when he was writing his gospel. So those are the closest.

Both of those accounts, the woman, it’s an unnamed woman, and she anoints his head. Now, you have to stop and think about what does that mean? What does it mean to be anointed on the head? Well, anointing is an ancient Jewish practice. It was done to the kings. This is also important. It was done to David and to Solomon. They were anointed as the kings of Israel.

So, it’s meant to make us think, is Jesus a king?

It is also done when something is marked for holy purpose or that the holy is there. Think about Jacob anointing a pillar of stones because he encountered God.

So, there’s something holy and divine about Jesus. This is recognizing that also. She breaks open this jar, Mark is the only one in which she breaks the jar.

It is Nard, and Mark has Jesus tell us it’s because she’s anointing me for burial, which also is foreshadowing that he knows he’s going to die, according to Mark. He knows he’s going to die, and I even think you could go as far as to say she’s anointing him because she knows they’re not going to be able to anoint his body after his death.

But I kept sitting with this, but why did she break the bottle?

It only happens in Mark. I went looking for other scholars to say something about that, and I didn’t find them. Not that they’re not out there, but I didn’t find them. So I had to sit with it myself. Why was it important?

Because that’s the thing about Mark. Mark uses the least number of words he has to. It’s the shortest gospel. Things are explained briefly. So for him to use that word, and it’s the same word that they use in the story about the Gerasean, sometimes they call him the demoniac in different versions. The crazy man who’s out and he breaks his chains. There is this breaking. It’s definitely breaking. She specifically breaks the bottle.

But what I came up with were two things. If you break the bottle, that means you’re using all of it. You’re going to use the whole bottle at once. Which means Jesus is going to be overwhelmed by that oil and that smell. Both for himself, he’s going to smell that for the next few days. Because remember, they didn’t take showers every day like we do. So that smell is going to be with him, reminding him, reminding others as they encounter him. I think it is also part of this foreshadowing that not only was the bottle broken, but he will be broken. His body and his heart will be broken by the events of this week.

We need to sit up and take notice. We need to notice this.

We need to notice where we are in the story. We know this isn’t the end of the story, that we’re coming back next week for an ending that we could not see at this point. But this is the point in the service where we shift from palm to passion. I do hope that some of you come on Thursday and come on Friday to experience the rest of the story before we get to Easter. That I’m giving you a little bit of this passion because we do need to sit up and take notice.

In that scripture, the one that I read, Mark lines out three groups of people. The first group identified are the scribes and the Pharisees who want to get rid of Jesus and Judas Iscariot joins them. There’s the group of people that includes the woman with the ointment who loved Jesus and whose love is extravagant. Right? This was a very expensive ointment. This is an extravagant love of someone. Then there’s a third group that just doesn’t understand. Which is probably where the rest of the disciples are. That’s a running theme in Mark’s gospel. That the disciples don’t get it. And maybe that’s where we are too.

But without saying it, Mark is asking us to think about which group are we in? Do we want to get rid of Jesus too? Will we be the ones part of the crowd yelling for Barabbas on Friday night? Are we part of the group that loves Jesus enough that we will be able to stand and watch and allow our hearts to be broken? Or are we just part of the group that doesn’t understand?

Now, I’m going to say it’s time folks to sit up and take notice what is happening in our community.

This has been a hard week and there are other churches that are celebrating that God’s will was done yesterday. But this week was not about love and was not about compassion. I heard more hate, violent speech, and threats this week than I have in a very long time.

We are called to be about love. I have to find within myself a way to be merciful, because we are to be about compassion, not violence.

Sit up and take notice.

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