“There was a place called Bethany…the house of the afflicted,” begins Rev. Rachel May. In John 12:1-8, Jesus is at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. May continues, “The good news is embedded in the setting. At the beginning of Holy Week, we find Jesus in a household where there is devotion and dissent, Sabbath rest and ministry imagining, active service and relaxed fellowship, a celebration of life and preparations for the grave. All of this, in one house.” This is where we find ourselves as the people of God at the beginning of Holy Week. The closer we come to this story the more we see: This is us.
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