“And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?”
Bible Passage: Matthew 26:36-27:26
My Big Story Bible: Pages 208-212
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. …
He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ …
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Hubert van Eyck (Belgium 1385 – 1426) and Jan van Eyck (Belgium 1390 - 1441), Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, 1426–32, oil on panel. Detail of the Lamb on the lower central interior panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium.
A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
David LaChapelle (America, b. 1963), Jesus is My Homeboy: Last Supper, 2003, photograph.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’
Luke Allsbrook (America, b. 1972), Jesus Washes the Disciples, 2017, oil on canvas.
Bible Passage: Luke 22:7-34 & John 13-14
My Big Story Bible: Pages 204 - 206
“As he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. …
‘She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’”
Rose Datoc Dall (Filipina-American b.1968), Anointing for Burial, 1926, Oil on panel.
Bible Passage: Mark 14:1-11
My Big Story Bible: Pages 194
For every week of this year round project I have found a video from the team at the Bible Project that helps illuminate the passage or themes that emerge in the text. For every passage, except this week’s. This is sadly unsurprising: in the words of feminist theologian, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,
“In the passion account of Mark’s Gospel three disciples figure prominently: on the one hand, two of the twelve- Judas who betrays Jesus and Peter who denies him- and on the other, the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus. But while the stories of Judas and Peter are engraved in the memory of Christians, the story of the woman is virtually forgotten. Although Jesus pronounces in Mark: “And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (14:9) the woman’s prophetic sign-action did not become a part of the gospel knowledge of Christians. Even her name is lost to us. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed and the eucharist celebrated another story is told: the story of the apostle who betrayed Jesus. The name of the betrayer is remember, but the name of the faithful disciple is forgotten because she was a woman.” 1
And so, in place of a video, I will include another paragraph Schüssler Fiorenza’s work, where she highlights the prophetic nature of this anointing, as one that declared Jesus’ status as messiah and suffering servant.
“Since the prophet in the Old Testament anointed the head of the Jewish king, the anointing of Jesus’ head must have been understood immediately as the prophetic recognition of Jesus, the Anointed, the Messiah, the Christ. … according to Mark the leading male disciples do not understand this suffering messiahship of Jesus, reject it and finally abandon him, the women disciples who have followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem suddenly emerge as the true disciples in the passion narrative. They are Jesus’ true followers who have understood that his ministry was not rule and kingly glory but diakonia, “service” (Mark 15:41). … While Peter had confessed, without truly understanding it, “you are the anointed one,” the woman anointing Jesus recognizes clearly that Jesus’ messiahship means suffering and death.” 2
1 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, (Crossroad, 1983), xiii.
2 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, (Crossroad, 1983), xiv.
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Claude Buck (American 1890 - 1974), The Things That Are Caesar's, 1943, oil on fiberboard and oil on wood of integral frame.
“Here, Buck painted objects that evoke war, including a gun, artillery shell, helmet, and knife. He was disgusted by the events of World War II and painted this image to show that conflict and human cruelty are the responsibility of the "Caesars" of the modern world.” Smithsonian American Art Museum
Bible Passage: Matthew 22:15-22
My Big Story Bible: Pages 202
‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?
But you have made it a den of robbers.’
Alexander Maksimovich Smirnov (Russian, b. 1947), The Cleansing of the Temple, 2012, oil on canvas.
Bible Passage: Mark 11:15-19
My Big Story Bible: Pages 198
“Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey…
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”
Phyllis Stephens (African-American, b. 1955), High and Lifted Up, 2020, quilted using cotton fabrics.
Bible Passage: Matthew 21:1-11
My Big Story Bible: Pages 196
