Family Communion for the fifth Sunday of Lent: celebrant the Revd Tola Badejo.

First reading: Isaiah 43. 16 – 21
Gospel: John 12. 1 – 8

Today, a fortnight before Easter, is Passion Sunday, the day which is considered to mark the beginning of Passiontide. Over this time, as far as we can in imagination, we follow Jesus's journey through triumphant entry into Jerusalem, accusation, rejection, betrayal and crucifixion, before the joy of the resurrection marked on Easter morning. The Old Testament reading and the Gospel today relate to the broader Passion narrative in interesting and indirect ways, although neither mentions it directly.

The emphasis in Isaiah's prophecy is on the complete reversal of everything that his listeners thought they knew; the world is to be turned upside down by the 'new thing' God is to create. The Gospel passage is full of literary foreshadowing (the Gospel writers were excellent storytellers): the Mary in this story is a disciple, the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and unlike the repentant sinner in Luke's account of a similar anointing, she belongs to Jesus's close circle. Mary anoints Christ's feet with spikenard, foreshadowing his anointing before burial, and Christ himself refers to his impending death. There is a real tension here between the setting - a meal (probably a very good one) shared by friends - and Mary's extreme emotion; possibly she intuitively understands something that the rest of her family and friends have not yet fully realised.

The image above is a detail of 'The Anointing at Bethany', created jointly by Rubens and van Dyke. They capture the varied emotions the others present must have felt: shock; embarrassment, perhaps; concern; disapproval from some; from others, perhaps a dawning awareness that they are gradually experiencing a 'new thing' beyond their understanding.