[RCL] Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8 Despite the run-of-the-mill way that John narrates this dinner party with Jesus, there is a kind of shocking absurdity to it all. Taken together with the preceding chapter, the scene unfolds like this: Word reaches Jesus that his beloved friend Lazarus is gravely ill. He sets…

One way or another we are always remembering. We look back over the day, the week, the year, trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going. We remember with the hope that we will find a clue as to whom we are and what we are becoming. We began…