Simon the Leper                                                                                                                         E - 6

 

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.  Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor at the home of Simon the Leper.  Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at table with him.  Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume and poured it on the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

Excerpts from John 12, (NIV)

 

So, if you knew you had only a matter of days to live, what would you do?  Wouldn’t you concentrate on “important” issues to tie up in your life?  Wouldn’t you try to be as practical as possible?  Or maybe a jaunt to the seaside?  Make every second count?

But here is what Jesus did … he went to the home of Simon the Leper for dinner!  Doesn’t sound too appetizing to me!  I mean, Simon the Leper, never mentioned before or after in the Scriptures, a nobody.  Probably the “in” crowd skipped that particular meal.  I’d want to make sure the food inspectors were regular visitors to that particular house!

And look at the cast of characters present: Lazarus, the most famous celebrity in neighborhood, a dead man walking; Martha, who was simply unable to sit still for more than 3 seconds, whose idea of being daring and having fun was to vacuum each room in her house but in different order each day; Mary, the town embarrassment because of her line of work; Judas, an apostle who was to shortly betray Jesus leading to his crucifixion; the other apostles, all of whom would soon flee from Jesus, claiming to never have even known Jesus, and probably a smattering of other ex-lepers, outcasts and neer-do-wells, and, oh, perhaps a synagogue spy or two.  This kind of event today wouldn’t make to ten o’clock news but rather would indeed be prominently given plenty of room on some tell-all tabloid Newspaper.

But …. take heart!!!  This very same Jesus, who dined with Simon the Leper and all the other characters, wants to come into our homes and into our hearts as well!  Right now, there’s nowhere else he would like to be!  If you are feeling out-of-it, done-in, dry as a bone, hopeless, helpless, and valueless, this same Jesus can’t wait to dine with you as he takes you on a journey to abundant life.  He’s at your door now, knocking; welcome him in for dinner!  By the way, he prefers the kitchen table, not the formal front room.  

 

1) Was this a gathering of that society’s movers and shakers? 

2) Why would Jesus show up there? 

3) What would Jesus have thinking beforehand? 

4) Why did Martha serve, and why did Mary show personal attention to Jesus? 

5) Why did this former outcast, Simon, want Jesus to visit? 

6) The ointment was costly.  Who paid for it? 

7) Did anyone realize this was an anointing of Jesus because of His impending sacrifice on the cross, only a few days after this visit? 

8) No words are reported or written down about this lunch; given that, what might the conversation have been? 

9) Sometimes we can feel like an emotional leper, or an outcast leper, or a leper trying to escape our place in life.  Would Jesus still find value in us?