Sermon Notes — March 23, 2025
John 12:1-8
March 23, 2025
Soul Mate: Nourished by Companionship
Rev. Terry Carty
Today our stop along the soul-searching and self-reflecting journey of Lent reminds us of the importance of friends. Our lives are strongly enhanced by close companions. My topic is “Soul Mates: Nourished by Companionship.”
We have just sung “What a friend we have in Jesus” (UMH 526).
I love that hymn. It has been a part of my growing up as a Methodist. It has affirmed me and given me hope in faith at times of trouble.
But I have never really been able to think of Jesus as friend, much less soul mate. Let me explain.
I am very Trinitarian. By that I mean that I think of God as having three identities: Creator (or Father) of the universe, Christ (or Son) who came in the person of Jesus to live a perfect life, and the Holy Spirit who lives within us, and also surrounds us, to help us live like Jesus.
This Holy Trinity is all connected in mysterious ways for me. However, it is quite similar to the connection that I have with my mom. I never knew life without her. She gave birth to me, and taught me about living. We were soul mates into adulthood, and now her spirit lives in my soul and in my thoughts as I encounter life beyond her death. I consider what she would do in some circumstances.
In the same way, I see the historic Jesus as the one who was filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is that Spirit that I feel is a real companion to me as much as any human companion I know in life. I may sing “what a friend I have in Jesus,” when in my heart I am thinking of his Spirit that lives within and surrounds me. In that sense the Spirit is my closest companion.
Today I want us to focus on the soul nourishment we get from human companions. Our scripture reading today gives us a brief and rare glimpse at the humanity of Jesus in the midst of close human friends.
You know this Jesus. Jesus – wandering, teaching, healing, but no home. He was often exhausted by crowds seeking his healing. He was hounded by critics who hammered him with partisan questions. How did he get away? Where did he stay? Did he spend every night up on a mountain praying? He was virtually homeless.
I believe that he had “families” of support along the way. The home of Lazarus was one of those places where the human needs of Jesus were met when he was in Bethany. The Gospel of John recalls this snapshot of Jesus being cared for by close companions away from the large crowds.
Lazarus, Martha and Mary were different from Jesus’ disciples who were his constant traveling companions. The disciples depended upon Jesus to the point that he often needed to get away from them for a break. They seemed to drain the energy from the human Jesus. Yes, they were his friends and close companions, but they were always his students and followers.
When Jesus was in Bethany, He found human nourishment far beyond a good meal and possibly a roof under which he could sleep.
There was Lazarus – close friend, maybe you could call them buddies? Lazarus was well established in the community, probably had a guest room, and was likely a financial supporter of Jesus and his disciples. I would say that Lazarus was a soul mate to Jesus; you know this because of the emotion Jesus displayed when Lazarus died – Jesus wept: the shortest verse in the Bible. And Jesus restored him to life – like any of us would do if we had the power to bring back our best friend. Lazarus was a soul mate who hung out and chatted with Jesus, his friend.
And there was Lazarus’ sister Martha – a caregiver to Jesus; a traditional homemaker, hostess and cook; one who provided comfort to Jesus when he came off the road to visit. Some of the other Gospels sold her short when she spent all her time cooking, serving and cleaning rather than listening to Jesus tell stories and teach about God. But I think this insight in John’s Gospel portrays her as Jesus’ soul mate who cared for him when he was tired, sore, and hungry. She may have kept his robe repaired as well. She was his ‘away from home’ mom and sister.
And the Lazarus home was complete with Mary – the sister who hung on every word Jesus said. It was hard to get Mary away from the room where generally the men gathered with Jesus to hear his wisdom. In John’s account it was this Mary, Lazarus’ sister, who broke out the container of expensive perfume that was being reserved for anointing the dead. She used it to anoint Jesus’ feet. This was an act of unusual extravagance. It was also very intimate – but not sexual. Mary was a soul mate deep in her soul who wanted to find ways to express herself. The closest I have come to trying to express this intimacy to others is in the act of baptism or in the touch of anointing someone with oil for healing and wholeness. Mary was a soul mate.
Having lived with this passage for several days and imagined the depth of Jesus’ relationships with each of the beloved friends, I have gained a much greater understanding of the place of companions in our lives as we are followers of Jesus. We need these types of soul mates in our lives.
We need buddies who do not judge, but are always there to talk through things. And we need people who look after our human needs when we often don’t look after ourselves. And we need people who hold us in such high regard that they make us feel valued far more than we value ourselves.
And the people around us need us to be soul mates to them, not judging, but caring, and loving them deeply. Being friends works both ways. Soul mates focus on the “we” in our lives beyond the “I” of self-interest.
That is why God grew us in communities – for us to be in mutual support of each other. That is why after the ascension of Christ, the church rose up for gathering in congregations of soul mates. Here at Bethlehem UMC our wide range of activities are not to try to replicate a ‘community center.’ Our activities are offered to help our members and our neighbors to find soul mates who help nurture each other in living the faith.
When I first saw that I would be the one preaching on this topic in our sermon series on Soul Food, I was caught up by the thought of being nourished by companionship. I wrote down a single line to describe what I wanted to communicate in this sermon. Perhaps I should have started with it and saved you having to listen to this long sermon. But I will instead finish with it.
The line is this: See a friend, Be a friend, let yourself be be-friended. I encourage you to take your bulletin home with you today and look at it with new eyes. Can you find a new way to see a friend, or be a friend, or let yourself be open to being befriended? You can never have too many companions in life who are also soul mates in faith.