Matthew 9:35-10:8

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), year A.  Depending on when Easter falls, it moves; most recently it was the Gospel passage for June 18, 2023.

Summary:  A couple of preaching thoughts
- Jesus does not have compassion fatigue.  We do!
- Jesus realizes he must equip others to accomplish the ministry of God
- Jesus connects healing, preaching and teaching.  Body, mind and soul are connected.
- Jesus instructs the disciples to heal people even though they will get sick again.  The point is not always fundamentally to solve the problems of the world, but to faithfully respond to Jesus call.

πασας, πασαν (all forms of πας, meaning "all", 9:35; 10:1).  Jesus goes to ALL the towns healing ALL diseases and ALL sickness.  Likewise, Jesus disciples are given authority over ALL diseases and ALL sickness.

διδασκων...κηρυσσων...θεραπευων (9:35, see also 4:23)  It is interesting that we find these three verbs connected with each other.  For Jesus, preaching and teaching were connected with healing.  Have we separated these actions?  In the ancient world, healing was seen as divine, but often associated with sacrifice, not preaching and teaching!

θεραπευω (or its noun form, θεραπεια, "healing", 9:35)  This is where we get the word "therapy."  The word original meant service to the gods.  Those who served gods, especially those who served the ancient god of medicine, Asclepius, would make sacrifices on behalf of the sick and then interpret their dreams to develop a treatment recommendation.  So the therapists brought healing.  The ancient world saw no fine line between body, mind and spirit.

εσπλαγχνισθη (form of σπλαγχνιζομαι, meaning "have compassion", 9:36)  I've pointed it out many times; we likely all remember from Greek at Seminary, but the word for compassion comes from intestines.  Jesus gut turns over!  Again, body and mind are connected!

ερριμμοι (participle from ριπτω, meaning "thrown", 9:36)  This participle is translated as helpless, which is fine, but it is a bit more moving to hear it in the Greek -- "thrown down."  I think of how many people in our culture feel knocked down these days.

αυτου ("his", 9:38)  A reminder that the harvest belongs to God, not churches or their leaders!

νεκρους εγειρετε (meaning "raise the dead", 10:8)  Interestingly, a number of later manuscripts drop this phrase.  It seems too powerful.  Jesus can't really mean to have the disciples raise the dead.  Or can he?!  Jesus gives a great deal of authority and powers to his followers.  For what do we use this power?  How do we ignore it?

It is also worth noting that the healing sickness and leprosy as seen as similar actions to raising the dead and casting out demons.  Body, mind and spirit, all related!

A pastor friend of mine has begun offering that ministry is humans teaching humans how to be human.  Or something like this.  The point is that ministry isn’t simply about helping people escape the miserable conditions of this world.  Jesus has a strong bent in his ministry toward this life.  I think you could argue that all of the healing that Jesus offers and equips his disciples for revolves around helping people to live in intimacy with God, fellowship with each other and service to the broader society.  In short, the abundant life; we become human again as we are healed.

So what then — are we to give up on the reality of everlasting life?  I would say a strong no to that.  However, how is the ministry that heals people in this life connected to the ministry that proclaims the everlasting salvation of God?  That is a question we all must ponder; the corresponding epistle reading from Romans 5 is a powerful study in the connection between the past, present and future work of Christ. If I were reflecting on this particular passage in Matthew alone though, I might say that ministry is getting people used to dying and rising…so that one day its not that big of a deal when we rise for the final time!  

δωρεαν ελαβετε, δωρεαν δοτε:  Without cost you have received, without cost give.  The word δωρεαν comes from the word for gift.  God gives and so we give too.  (For those looking to go further: Romans 3:24 indicates that our justification is δωρεαν.)

John 17:6-19

This passage occurs in the RCL, Year B, Easter Season (most recently May 17, 2015). Also, a large portion of this passage is used within the RCL Year A Easter Season reading.

This post is from Guest blogger Rev. Jim Rowe.
 
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The assigned Gospel reading for the 7th Sunday of Easter (if you are using the Revised Common Lectionary) comes from Jesus’ prayer to the Father on behalf of his followers before the Passion narrative. When looking at this text it can be helpful to look at a few things: 1) Read the entire prayer. All of John 17. 2) Pay attention to the larger context. This prayer comes immediately after Jesus finishes his long-winded farewell discourse (14:1-16:33) where he speaks to his followers about what discipleship looks like: “I am the way, the truth, and the life”; “I am the vine, you are the branches”; “Love one another just as I have loved you”; and the great “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (which sadly does not appear in the Revised Common Lectionary). This is the transition piece from discourse to Passion, from teaching about discipleship to modeling discipleship.

Key Words:

δίδωμι (to give) appears 17 times in this chapter, more than in any other chapter in the New Testament and more than any other verb in this chapter. The Father gives Jesus authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given the Son. Jesus glorified the Father on earth by finishing the work the Father gave him to do. But the focus of the lectionary text is on those whom the Father gave to the Son from the world.

κόσμος (world) appears 19 times in this chapter and is incredibly important in the theology of John’s Gospel. The world came into being through the incarnate Word, Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, For God so loved the world…, “I have conquered the world!”

For those whose theology states the world is a place to escape from, John’s Gospel suggests otherwise (17:15). The Creator is in such love with the world that the creative Word that spoke the world into existence will lay down his life to take away the sin of the world. God loves the world. Likewise, in John 17, for those who were given to Jesus by the Father (aka Jesus’ followers) the world and all in it are objects of great love (even laying down their lives?) because even though the world has hated them (17:14), Christ sends them into the world just as the Father has sent him into the world (17:18). God sent Christ into the world because of love, and so Christ sends his disciples (us) into the world because of love.

Being that this is the Easter season, a time of year when the Church has historically expanded on the teachings of the faith for the newly baptized, the appropriate question seems to be, “So What?” What does this text say about how the resurrection, Christ’s conquering of the world, mean for me (or my congregation or the entire world)? If Christ loves me (my congregation and the Church) so much that he has sent me (us) into the world, then how does that affect the way I live in the world? How does that love and protection (17:15) shape my actions and words as I work for peace and justice in all the world?

Acts 17:22-31

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary and Narrative Lectionary during the Easter Season. 

Note:  The previous few verses describe Paul's immediate reaction to Athens and will provide insight into this section of Scripture (Acts 17:16-21).

Summary:  Paul gives a great apology for the Christian faith here, weaving in Greek philosophy and religious thinking of his day.  Yet he never shies away from the most amazing and counter-cultural:  That Christ experienced a resurrection from the dead and he will return to judge people.  While we may not preach on this text, it is certainly worth reflecting on how Paul does it (or fine, be a modern biblical scholar:  how Luke does it through Paul).  The more one reads this passage, the more amazed one becomes at how subtly Paul uses words.  However, the reader of Paul's letters should not be surprised at Paul's amazing ability to proclaim Christ across cultural boundaries!

I have a websited dedicated to Paul's cross-cultural proclamation.  For more on Paul's visit to Athens, you can go here:  http://www.zionsjonestown.com/paul/athens/areopagus.htm

Key words:
Αεριου παγου ("areopagus" or "Mars Hill", 22)  Paul gives this speech on a hill named for the Greek god of war.  More remarkably, within 100 meters of him is the acropolis, upon which stood the Parthenon.  As Paul spoke about God not living in temples made with human hands, a 100 foot high statue of Athena was being worshipped with animal sacrifices; the smoke would have been rising up to the heavens behind Paul; to his left the meat would have been sold in the market.  Also, the Areopagus was the ancient court of Athens and hub of philosophical speculation.  It was the Harvard Cigar club and Supreme Court rolled into one.

δεισιδαιμονεστερους ("religious/superstitious", 22)  You can see the word "daimon" within the word.  It can mean god-fearing, but it also tends toward superstitious.  This word reminds us that Paul is going to splice words perfectly in this passage, subtly conveying his message.  He both compliments them and insults them all at once.

αγνοστω ("unknown" from αγνοστος, 23)  Paul says they have a monument to an "agnostic god."  I wonder how many in our society worship an "agnostic god."  A friend of mine told me the real division today is between conservative and liberal, not old denominations.  I told him I disagreed -- that the fundamental division is between those who believe in a living God and those who don't.

χειροποιητος ("hand made", 24)  While hand-made may have nice connotations today, in the Bible it inevitably refers to idols made from hands.  Which is a very, very bad thing.  I find this striking that everything made by human hands is tainted with sin in the Bible; even Solomon's Temple will be destroyed by Jesus (Mark 14:58) in order to make the new temple!

θεραπευεται ("serve" or "heal" from θεραπευω, 25)  This is fascinating word I would like to study more.  English speakers will recognize the word "therapy" and immediately move to healing.  However, the original meaning of this word was much more akin to serving the gods, like a priest.  In fact, in the Old Testament the word never means heals, as in God heals, but means the people serve the god or king.  Jesus turns the Bible upside-down by actually doing the service toward people.  My sense is that those who did service to the gods were healed and this is how this word came to have its dual meaning, but I need to research this more.

ψηλαφησειαν ("grope" or "search", 27)  Paul uses this word to describe our searching for God.  Interestingly, Homer will use this word to discuss cyclops after he is blinded.  A striking word to describe our searching for God outside of proclamation!

υπαρχω ("be at one's disposal; exist", 24&27)  I never have liked this Greek word because it seems to mean all sorts of the things.  The point I want to emphasize here is that when Paul says that God is not far away from us, he more closely means, God is available to us; ie, Paul is not simply discussing physical space, but spiritual space.  I argue for this translation because Paul uses the word back in verse 24 to discuss how everything is at God's disposal; by verse 27 Paul is arguing that God is also at our disposal. 

μετανοειν ("repent" from μετανοεω, 30)  Most times when Biblical writers use this word, they are picking up off of the old Testament concept of repentance as a turning of one's heart and really actions away from sin and toward God.  However, within this philosophical milieu of the Areopagus, Paul here, I argue, leans into its more Greek meaning, which means "new mind."  Paul is calling them to a new way of thinking, namely, that, God has provided for the:

αναστησας νεκρον ("resurrection from the dead," 31)  This was a radical concept for the Greeks.  The immortal soul was acceptable, but the resurrection from the dead was just gross.  It is after this comment that Paul's speech breaks down and people said, "They've had enough!"

Grammar review:  Moods and the Optative
Greek has a number of "moods" for verbs.  Moods are not like tenses.  Moods describe the role of the verb within the sentence.  For example, a verb may be in the indicative mood, which means it describes what happens:  "Peter eats dinner."  A verb may be in the imperative mood, which means it tells someone what to do:  "Eat dinner, Peter!"  A verb may be in the infinitive mood:  "Peter needed to eat."  A verb may also be a participle mood, like "Eating his dinner, Peter..."  A verb may also be in the subjunctive mood.  "If Peter would eat."  In English, however, you need to add helping verbs to make a verb truly subjunctive.  Greek simply slaps on a different ending, much to the chagrin of Greek learners!  Greek also has another mood, called the optative.  It is very rare, occuring less than 40 times in the New Testament.  In fact, 15 of these are Paul saying "μη γενοιτο."  (Heck no!)  The optative mood describes a wish.  It is probably best to assume the translators get it right when it comes to the optative.   Books upon books are written about the death of the optative mood in Greek.  Let me again save you the time:  Trust the translators with the optative.  With the subjunctive, well, its more subjective ;-)  There you have to watch them...

Preaching in the age of AI

A friend of mine shared with me a CNN about how AI (ChatGPT) can write a sermon.  My initial comment was "my job is safe!"  But I decided to see for myself what it could do.  I asked it to develop a sermon about the Prodigal Son.  I confess, I was rather impressed.  The more I explored the capacity of the ChatGPT "playground", the more I did breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that my job was safe.  That said, I did walk away from my experiment inspired, reminded of what good preaching is all about and why I love and am constantly humbled by this craft!

AI can "copy" but not "steal"; but that is still useful.

Pablo Picasso once said that good artists copy, but great artists steal.  In essence, ChatGPT is not a good thief, it is a master copier.  It takes words and sentences from the internet about a given topic and figures out how to coherently put them together in sentences and paragraphs.  It is not seeking to be original in its synthesis per se; it weighs the effectiveness of content by frequency of usage in the existing corpus of material, in this case internet sermons, devotions, commentaries and likely lyrics to Christian songs.  It is sifting through words with neither a creative nor theological lens; it simply wants the highest probable coherent word.

ChapGPT is good at this!  In the short sermon on the Prodigal Son I asked it to produce, it gave some historical context, reviewed the salient features of the story and then moved to a rather gracious conclusion:

"This is the message of the prodigal son. No matter how far we have strayed, God is always ready to forgive us and welcome us back into His loving embrace. We should never fear to approach God, because He is always ready to forgive us and welcome us back.

My brothers and sisters, let us never forget the lesson of the prodigal son. No matter what we have done, God is always ready to forgive us and welcome us back into His loving embrace."

I can imagine a human saying and even a pastor preaching something like this.  In fact, I would guess the outline of the content it produces could work as a good skeleton for many sermons.  I have a hunch that some pastors will utilize ChatGPT as an effective tool for understanding the broad "hive" mind of the internet.

I even asked it to write a sermon on the very challenging words of Jesus: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  I don't think I could have used that sermon it produced; but it certainly wrote something that one could use as a starting point for reflection.

So should I just use ChapGPT for a rough draft of my sermon?  There are likely worse places to start, but we should be well aware of its limitations.

ChatGPT lacks fire

In the CNN article, a (Lutheran) professor Ken Jones offered that the ChatGPT would unlikely be able to offer the "For you", necessary for good preaching.  I agree with him, but let me unpack this.  To apply ancient Scripture to our lives, the preacher necessarily must make things abstract.  The prodigal son story cannot simply be about that one particular son getting is inheritance prematurely, but must be about all of us who have turned away from God to seek our own pleasure and glory.  However, if you make the meaning too abstract, the message becomes platitudes rather than proclamation.  Those listening to (or reading) a sermon must be able to hear the Word of God for them, individually and collectively, not as abstractions about life as a whole but as a Word of guidance and grace for their lives.  

Concretely, this means that ChatGPT will lack fire when preaching about moral conduct.  Here are words from a sermon it wrote about "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a stream."  (These words were spoken by a fire-brand prophet of ancient Israel against religious hypocrisy and aristocracy nearly three millennia ago).

These powerful words from the prophet Amos remind us of the importance of justice and righteousness in our lives. We live in a world where injustice and unrighteousness are rampant. We see it in the streets, in the news, and even in our own lives. It is often difficult to stand up against these oppressions, but it is something we must strive for.

Of course, who isn't against injustice?  But if one doesn't have to name the injustice, one doesn't have to do anything about it.  Good preaching ought to have some bite, some fire that challenges us, ideally stirring us to action.  Bereft of specifics, ChatGPT more or less repeatedly various wordings of the same paragraph over and over, which less impact each time.  In fact, if we pushed the argument in a Lutheran direction, the preaching ought to have enough fire that it kills the old sinner in us, forcing us to cry out "Lord have mercy."

Where AI really struggles with Sermons

Just as law that ChatGPT is offering becomes an abstraction stripped of its ability to convict us, the grace it offers also becomes an abstraction unable to heal. Here is the best of what ChatGPT offered about the words "that even the dogs have scraps." (From Matthew's Gospel, a brutally uncomfortable interaction between Jesus and a foreign woman).

Let us remember that no one is excluded from God’s grace and mercy. Let us come to him and accept his love and grace.

While certainly fine and dandy, the story's raw interaction between the woman and Jesus might make one question Jesus' commitment to inclusion. When confronted with the raw data of life (in the Bible and in our everyday), in which people often treat each other without much grace and mercy, in which exclusion is the norm, we need more than words about a gracious God. We need to have our eyes opened to the action of God's grace in the Bible and in our lives. This is done in three ways by preachers, all three of which will be impossible for AI.

Proclamation of the cross and empty tomb

Preachers move beyond talking about grace to explaining what God has done, out of grace, for you, particularly in the story of Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the grave. As I continue to play around with ChatGPT, I observe the underlying word pool that it draws from is American pop Christianity. This is really a cesspool of "TMD" - therapeutic, moralistic, deism. In this understanding of God, which surveys continue to show is what most Americans actually believe, God created the world, provided laws and numbs our pain. While all true, it is only a half truth. This is the God that loves, cares and guides, of course, but this is the God that never demands all; it also the God that never gave all on the cross. As long as AI draws theological inspiration from the general pool of English speaking Christianity, it will struggle again and again to free itself from an understanding of God shaped by TMD. The age of AI, whether Social Media algorithms or ChatGPT, will amplify messages that function like sugar. Sweet at first, perhaps toxic after a while; definitely not up-building. Preaching must strive to present God as something beyond the thin claims of TMD; presenting a Jesus who actually calls a person to lose their life and who then proceeds, before we were ready, to lose his life for us.

Good story telling

Good preachers can make the Bible stories sing and resonate in our souls. However, a good preacher also shares stories from real life that show God's grace, poured out on the cross, interrupting our lives. The more these stories amplify the biblical story and point toward the hidden and mysterious power of forgiveness and resurrection, the more powerful the preaching. The more these stories reflect the actual experience of the congregation and their context, the more resonate they become. An AI that gathers enough data to speak the language will not gather the data from one's particular community. A good preacher, especially in the age of AI, must spend less time listening to the hive mind and more time listening to actually stories of the individuals in one's community. How might the ancient stories be playing themselves out in the lives of our people? This is a question AI seems ill-equipped to answer.

Consolation of the Brethren

I put this is really old school language, but Martin Luther argued that the community of fellow believers serves as a means of grace, as we listen and proclaim good news to each other. In a world drowning in content, people are less and less hungry for sermons of historical information. I offer that they are deeply desiring a holy space and time, and moreover, an authentic community in which they can share the junk of their lives and try to make sense of it in light of a living God. As much as I love church, I wonder if the real spiritual lifting in people's lives likely happens in car rides to basketball practice, at the kitchen table, over tears before bedtime or on a barstool. Nobody wants friends that preach to them; but all of us hunger for a friend who can deliver the honest truth about our mistakes and about God's redeeming love. The AI world challenges us to equip our people to be such bearers of the word for each other. The age of AI means we can let go of proving our expertise on the Bible and embrace the role of one who fosters a community grounded in the word.

Stealing is the fun part!

There is so much I didn't cover that this brief experiment has brought to mind. So before I tempted to say much more, a toast to stealing.

When I first got out of seminary, I had a couple of packaged sermons ready to go.  Certain insights of my professors needed to be shared with the world!  While I enjoyed preaching those "pre-packaged" sermons, I believe my second and third time around on preaching those biblical stories produced much better sermons.  This was not because I had disregarded  the original insight, but because I had finally let go of it just enough to apply it to the particular context in which I served.  It was no longer copied, but stolen, that is, made anew based on the lives and stories in my community.   

For me, "stealing" is the fun in preaching.  Hearing a good idea or "take" somewhere and then playing with it and molding it to the context in which I preach.  In a world swimming with words and content, grounding the Word of God with in a particular context and the stories of a community will still be a "value add" for people.  This ultimately, I maintain, is the challenge and joy of preaching: Not figuring out the absolute singular truth about a passage or a word but prayerfully discerning what message from this ancient passage God is calling me to bring to a particular group of people.  Maybe one day the Lord will outsource this to AI, but I really don't see that happening any time soon!

Easter (RCL and NL)

Here are links for Greek commentary on the resurrection accounts in all four Gospel
Matthew 28:1-10
Mark 16:1-8
Luke 24:1-12
John 20:1-18

Note:  All four Gospels do not portray an entirely resolved emotional situation.  Our anthems on Easter project robust celebration and confidence.  The Easter Gospels show fear, confusion and the dawning of the entirely unexpected.

A teaser from the posts on Luke 24:1-12
προς εαυτον ("to himself"; 24.12)  Most translators take the phrase, "to himself" to mean "to his possessions," namely, Peter's house (including BDAG).  Hence they translate it "Peter went to his house."  Yet, Peter does not necessarily go to his home. It literally says, "He went away to himself." This could just as naturally read, "He went away by himself." As the KJV puts it "wondered in himself."  Most translators likely base their translation on John 20:10, where it is more clear that the disciples went home.  But Luke's imagery is of Peter walking away by himself, pondering these events, likely without any real direction in his wanderings.
Luke's presentation of the Resurrection story gives us permission to struggle with the Good News.  It is so good, so amazing, that even the first disciples struggled with it.

A teaser from the posts on Matthew 28:1-10 and Mark 16:1-8:
εσταυρομενον ("crucified"; 6).  This word is also in the perfect, meaning an action happened in the past that still describes the state of affairs.  The angel declares that even though he is risen, Jesus is still in the state of being crucified.  You are seeking the crucified one; he is risen.  Jesus is alive but he still has the wounds in his hands.

My pastoral thought, reflecting on the Greek, is that the women have the courage and compassion to go to the tomb.  It can be easy to make Easter into a day when we criticize those who focus on the grave; who focus on grief.  I think as Christians we have the power to grieve because we have hope.  In short, we can say good-bye and miss them because we will see them again.

A teaser from the post on John 20:1-18:
μνημειον ("tomb", 20:1)  This word comes from the Greek for memory (like English "mnemonic" is something that helps you remember).  The complaint almost reads, "They have taken Jesus out of my memory!"  There is something to play with here, about memory and loved ones.  Jesus isn't just a memory; your loved ones aren't just a memory.  Jesus is alive!

Palm Sunday (RCL and NL)

Here are links to Palm Sunday passages, with a little word-play appetizer.

Triumphal entry in Matthew's Gospel:
http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2011/04/matthew-211-11.html

• εσεισθη  ("shake" in 21:10; aorist form of σειω)  This word comes into English as "seismic."  The events of Holy Week shake the city and their aftershocks still continue to reverberate around the world two millennia later.

Philippians 2 reading:
http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2010/03/philippians-25-11.html

• μορφη ("shape" or "form"; 7, 8)  If you look up this word, you will find it appears twice in Philippians, once in verse 7 and once in verse 8.  Jesus had the form/shape of God; took the form/shape of a human.  Sounds good.  However, later on in Philippians, Paul comes back to this word, but using it with the prefix συν (the -n becomes a -m...see note below) .  First, in verse 3:10 where he says that he is being συμμορφιζομαι-ed into Christ's death and later when he is  being συμμορφος with Christ's resurrected body (3:28).  Paul moves from talking about the form of Christ to the co-formation of the believer, both into suffering, death and then resurrection.  I think the word μορφη can be used to guide one's reflections on the whole letter:

Triumphal entry (really aftermath) in John's Gospel
http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2012/03/john-1220-33.html
And from vs 19:

• ωσαννα:  From the NET Bible: "The expression hosanna, (literally in Hebrew, "O Lord, save") in the quotation from Ps 118:25-26 was probably by this time a familiar liturgical expression of praise, on the order of "Hail to the king," although both the underlying Aramaic and Hebrew expressions meant "O Lord, save us." As in Mark 11:9 the introductory hosanna, is followed by the words of Ps 118:25, "blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."  ... In words familiar to every Jew, the author is indicating that at this point every messianic expectation is now at the point of realization. It is clear from the words of the psalm shouted by the crowd that Jesus is being proclaimed as messianic king. See E. Lohse, TDNT 9:682-84."

 
If there is a particular text for Palm Sunday someone would like me to look at, I would glad review this.  It is just strange because there are so many possibilities for churches this day.

Blessings on your ministry in the next two weeks.

John 12:1-8

This passage is the Revised Common Lectionary Passage year C, Lent V, most recently April 6, 2025.

Summary:  The Greek does not give one permission to avoid the obvious implication of the text:  The world will always have sin and poverty, so focus on Jesus' death and resurrection.  If anything, the Greek simply amplifies the language to support this conclusion!  In the 20th century, the Lutheran church made an error by so focusing on Jesus' death and resurrection that we avoided all together the nasty business of calling the world to action (see 1930s in Germany for the ultimate example of this.)  I wonder if in this century we have strayed too far in the other direction and once again, need to hear this passage.  Yes, young adults and seekers want to see the church involved and leading the way in social service.  But ultimately our gift to the world and our passion must be Christ crucified and resurrected. (Okay, okay, now that you've read that, I confess I have a bit of good stuff about serving others in the Greek blog)

2023 note:  This year I am reflecting on this as it relates to the Palm Sunday narrative, which it immediately precedes.  I lament how American Christianity has gone so astray.  We've succumbed to Judas' temptation regarding money and to the crowd's temptation regarding an earthly kingdom.

Key words:

εξ ("six", 12.1)  The whole verse that includes the word "six" is foreshadowing.  Six is the penultimate number in the bible; on the sixth day Jesus died (Friday).  This is a penultimate story, one that points toward a bigger story, namely, the events that follow.  If you don't buy the "six" thing, John spells it out:  Before the Passover...after Lazarus had been raised from the dead.  Big events are ahead!

δειπνον ("feast", 12:2)  This word can mean "main meal", but also "feast." (See NIV translation:
Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor.)  Jesus only has two δειπνον / "feasts" in John's Gospel; once in this case with Lazarus and then soon afterwards during the last supper.  The juxtaposition of these feasts suggests numerous preaching directions, including parsing out various aspects of Holy Communion.  I would suggest in depicting this meal, John invites us into praise and pondering of Jesus' death during Holy Communion.  

2023 addition:  A Wall Street Journal poll recently revealed that Americans are less interested in community service, children, church and country than before.  Only money increased in importance.  Moreover, this was true across the parties, although republican voters were more likely to express the importance of country, church and family.  Given how politics and faith are intertwined in this country, we can draw some conclusions:  Conservative religious expression in America, which has focused on God, country and family...has not led into works of mercy.  And secular humanism, which has wanted to focus on acts of mercy, has run out of gas.  There are two meals during Holy Week.  One of intimate worship.  One of humble servanthood.  We cannot skip either one. 

διηκονει ("serve", 12.2)  The word here for "serve" (as in Martha "served") is where we get our word "diaconal" and "deacon." In this version of the story, Martha is not criticized for helping out.  So before we get too much into a battle of liturgy vs diakonia, we need to take a deep breath.  In fact, you could preach/argue that either a) Martha's work makes Mary's worship possible or b) that Mary's work is worship in itself. 

μυρον ("oil", 12:3).  The word can simply mean oil, but in our case, the important thing to note is that it is oil from "myhrr", which is used for people's burial.  Again, foreshadowing of death!

John's Gospel has an odd array of words here: "roman pound (λιτρα) perfume (μυρον) plant (ναρδος) genuine (πιστικος) expensive (πολυτιμος)" This is not typical, as far as I have read, of John's style to stack so many words.  It is almost exactly what Mark has. He really wants to draw attention to what is going on here; ie, he is writing like Mark!  "Polytimos" (πολυτιμος) is an unusual word -- the pearl of great value (Matt 13:46) uses the same word. 

επραθη ("sell", from πιπρασκω, 12:5)  The word for sell is very interesting here. It is "piprask-oo." It has the connotation of selling for a bribe; or even sell into slavery (Romans 7:14). It will be used in contexts that probably mean simply sell, but again, will be used in contexts of sell for a bribe, sell for slavery.  In short, Judas here is predicting exactly what he will do.

ηρεμα ("day", 12:7)  Just one more reminder that the word "day" in Scripture is often conceived of less in terms of 24 hour time spans; rather it is a time frame in which something is happening.  In this case, the time in Jerusalem that will lead to his death is all part of one "day."  To put it more simply, for Jesus, the events of Palm Sunday are intimately connected with the events of Good Friday.

πτωχους ("poor",12:8) John's Gospel never uses the word poor outside of its connection with this story.  It is worth pointing out though, that is was Jesus overturning of the money tables in the temple that began his conflict with the authorities.  The Jesus of John's Gospel is not unconcerned with "earthly" matters!  (Jesus also helped a blind beggar in chapter 9!)

Curious note: 
πασχα ("Passover", 12:1) This word "Pascha" (hence "paschal" mystery) is rather interesting. It comes from the Hebrew P-S-K (pasach) which means "passover" as in the angel "passed over" the houses. However, πασχω as a verb in Greek means "to suffer" and comes into English as "passion." An odd coincidence where a number of words in different languages seem like cousins.