Let us give thanks to Jesus.

We call the week we are living Holy Week or Holy Week. We began it yesterday by remembering the entry of the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem when the jubilant crowd with palms in their hands cried out: Hosanna! Hosanna!” and greeted Jesus with enthusiasm. However, this crowd soon changed their minds and later cried out in Pilate’s courtyard: Death, crucify him!

The man quickly changes his mind. However, in this week’s lesson, we will see that Jesus said: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn. 15:13), and Jesus sacrificed His life for His enemies even more. Our sin, our weaknesses, and imperfections brought Jesus to the act of redeeming humanity. For this, we should thank Jesus. If it is so evident that we can say thank you for service rendered, how much more should it be true for our eternal salvation.

The actions of Mary, the sister of Lazarus, inspire us to do the same. Mary was grateful to Jesus for raising her brother Lazarus, and on one occasion, she took a pound of precious genuine nard ointment, smeared it on Jesus’ feet, and rubbed them with her hair. This was thanksgiving for Jesus’ love. We know that the cost of this ointment she used on Jesus’ feet was worth about a year’s wages for a laborer. Jesus quietly accepts her ministry, thus showing that he is pleased with Mary’s actions. But there is one of his disciples, Judas, the steward of the common treasury, who doesn’t like Mary’s actions, nor does he agree with Jesus about having this woman do it for him. Therefore he says: “Why did they not sell this oil for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor?” (Jn. 12:5). True, he did not say this because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, he was taking what everyone was putting into it from the common treasury.

Mary’s actions should lead us to thank Jesus within ourselves. We have much to give thanks for. We know our weaknesses, faults, mistakes, and falls. We should kneel at the feet of Jesus and, instead of the precious ointment that Mary used, place at the feet of Jesus our goodwill that we want to change our lives. At the same time, we should thank Jesus that he chose to do such a painful and essential act for us – freely and willingly giving himself to the torturers to wipe away our sins. Forgiveness and thanksgiving during this Lenten season are honorable and necessary for us.

Those who have rendered us friendly service in our daily lives, those who have helped us in our time of need, to them we are grateful, and so we thank them as best we can. We realize that we are weak and often fickle people. Therefore, all the more should we give thanks and supplicate. We may also be reminded of this thought by a simile of the preacher Johann Tauler, who points out vividly what human mistakes can be used for: a horse makes manure in the stable, and though it is clogging dirt, it has to be led with great effort out into the field, where the grain grows from the fertilized earth. It would not have happened if it had not been for the manure. Your manure is the defects you can neither remove nor put away – so carry them with toil into the field of God’s will in humility and meekness. No doubt a noble harvest will come from it.

This week, our place before the cross is on our knees… No one needs to be ashamed of this gesture; on the contrary, the more we love, the more this gesture means salvation and reward for us. We must not become a crowd that cries out: “Hosanna!” “Death, crucify him!” Our effort must be to walk consciously and willingly towards our goal: Christ, and in this Lenten season, to give thanks to Him like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, did.