The passage we will read today (a couple verses overlap from yesterday) serves as a transition to the final week of Jesus' life before His death and resurrection. Two scenes are presented today - Mary anointing Jesus and the Triumphal Entry. The bigger story that we see unfolding here is the response of the people and individuals to Jesus (religious leaders or chief priests, the public, the disciples, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus). These responses fit into the overall story of John's Gospel - belief/disbelief. Something we begin to see more and more are clues about what Jesus is about to do and go through in His death and resurrection.
My favorite verse in this passage is 16. I love how John was remembering and looking back. You can almost sense him smiling as he wrote these words, "they remembered." You may want to make a list of the "responders" for the older children and have them write down who believed and who did not believe.
I had toyed with the idea of skipping around the book to save the passion week for later this month, but thought it better to read the book as written. So, I am aware that we are now getting close to passion week in the book, but that is intentional.
I wanted to give an update on yesterday's story - Lazarus. When I got to the verse, "and Jesus cried out with a loud voice....." two of my three children cried out as loudly as possible, "LAZARUS, COME OUT!" Just an encouragement, that they can and do remember. I often say, we are brainwashing our children with something, so let's make it the Truth of the Gospel!
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