MARY MAGDALENE
Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to 
problems that upset you
oh don't you know
Everything's alright yes everything's fine
and we want you to sleep well tonight

Let the world turn without you tonight

If we try we'll get by so forget all about us tonight

APOSTLES' WOMEN
Everything's alright yes everything's alright yes

MARY MAGDALENE
Sleep and I shall soothe you,
calm you and anoint you
myrrh for your hot forehead
oh then you'll feel
Everything's alright yes everything's fine
and it's cool and the ointment's sweet
for the fire in your head and feet
Close your eyes close your eyes
and relax think of nothing tonight

APOSTLES' WOMEN
Everything's alright yes everything's alright yes

JUDAS
Hey - hey - hey 
Woman your fine ointment -
brand  new and expensive
could have been saved for the poor
From what has been wasted,
we could have raised maybe
three hundred silver pieces or more
People who are hungry,
people who are starving
they matter more than your feet and hair

MARY MAGDALENE
Try not to get worried,
try not to turn on to 
problems that upset you oh
don't you know...

MARY MAGDALENE, APOSTLES' WOMEN
Everything's alright yes everything's alright yes...

JESUS
Surely you're not saying
we have the resources
to save the poor from their lot.
There will be poor always, pathetically struggling -
look at the good things you've got!
Think! while you still have me 
Move! while you still see me
You'll be lost and you'll be sorry
when I'm gone

In case you don't recognize that exchange, it is one that is forever inscribed on my head and heart from my days of youth. It is perhaps the most memorable scene from the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Rock Opera – Jesus Christ Superstar. Certainly the song Everything's All Right sung by Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene was the song from the Rock Opera that had and still has the most airplay – and for me at least, it also was the portion of the libretto that was the most troubling for this young church goer and reluctant Jesus freak.

Now don't get me wrong, I was not a Jesus freak – although anyone who recognized me in the 1973 photo for the dinner theatre might want to suggest something different. But Jesus freaks – which as I recall and confirmed by Wikipedia – were a phenomenon of those same times and had a certain attraction to me as I tried to combine the rebellion of the time and the typical rebellion of teenage years in a way that would help me rest comfortably with one foot in the church and the other in a culture which valued the freedom to do what you wanted and look the way you wanted.

Of course, that exchange in musical form is loosely a depiction of the scene described in today's gospel reading from John.

I memorized the whole libretto, not intentionally, but as a result of playing the vinyl records over and over again – almost to the point of wearing a hole in them.

But it was that exchange between Judas and Jesus – and echoed in the reading today – that troubled me. Perhaps given what I said when the children were here at the front it is not surprising that I found the questions raised by Judas to be hard ones.

It troubled me enough that I sought out the youth minister at the church I attended and challenged him with the same question that Judas asked. I don't remember seeking out a minister any other time with that kind of earnest and troubling question – not that there haven't been other troubling questions, but none of them vexed me as much as that one.

It still does.

John goes out of his way to rationalize the question that Judas raises – suggesting that he asked it as a cover for his own nefarious dealings with money. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber are somewhat easier on Judas – casting him as a tragic figure in their rendering of the story. But regardless of the motive, isn't Judas' objection an important one to raise? What is the right thing to do?

That's the question of a Lenten inner journey. That's the question we ask of ourselves and of God as we seek to be faithful followers of the way. Jesus' answer seems at once to be both self-serving and cavalier. There will always be poor people, so chill out, Judas. Mary is showing her love and care in this way and you should not criticize her for it.

In John's version he goes on to defend Mary because it is an act of preparation – he, Jesus, won't be around much longer and this is an anointing not only in the present but as a death ritual. The Rice and Webber version is similar – Think! While you still have me. Move! While you still see me. You'll be lost and you'll be sorry when I'm gone.

These are questions not made any easier by the events of this week. Last week we were all waiting to see what would happen in the Sistine chapel at the Vatican. We were also, at least with a number of people I was in conversation with, in a kind of wonderment about the seeming newfound interest on the part of the media with the whole process for choosing a new pope. But now there is a new pope – and despite predictions that the system was designed to preclude sweeping change – it seems that in these first few days – the wind of change is at hand. Of course, I have concerns, it would be a defiance of my protestant roots not to have them – but more importantly I have to recognize the importance of this new spiritual leader for so many millions of people around the world, and to acknowledge that despite our differences the Roman Catholic communion is a part of the community to which we belong. And I like what I've heard so far. I have to remind myself that a good part of what I know about Pope Francis comes from the interpretation of others. What I've actually heard from him both in word and action is appealing.

And what he has said has some connection with the words of today's gospel. Here is a quote I gleaned from one news item: Pope Francis offered intimate insights yesterday into the moments after his election, telling journalists that he was immediately inspired to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi because of his work for peace and the poor - and that he himself would like to see "a poor church and a church for the poor."

Now we can hope that sentiment will spill over into other areas of church life and spiritual life.

But in this week in the church year and with the gospel reading Ifor today I wonder what he would have to say about Jesus' response to Judas.

The answer of course is context. I don't recall the content of that conversation I had with the Rev. Dave Williamson in the church of my youth – I don't think it resolved the issue for me – or I would not be saying what I've said today already, but I am also not distressed about it.

Of course, Jesus is correct – there will always be the poor with us, and it will always be important to work to relieve poverty – both in its individual instances and against systemic poverty – poverty that stigmatizes, disenfranchises and makes all of society, all of us worse off , because it exists.

I certainly don't think that Jesus was giving an answer for all time – he was speaking in the moment. He was speaking about current priorities . He was once again, as the iconoclast that he is, inviting a different perspective, offering another understanding to consider.

Perhaps that's what Dave and I talked about all those long years ago, but I honestly don't remember. And I'm glad for that because I value the opportunity to continue to have the questions raised for me.

Part of getting ready – which is one way to describe the season of Lent – is to keep the hard questions before us – to let them annoy and niggle at us – for it is in the process of discernment, it is in the process of struggling to find answers, in the process of thinking and feeling that we encounter the divine presence in our lives and in the world.

The faith journey is not one of pat answers. It is one that is guided by hard questions and instructive doubt. It is a journey of thought and feeling – and the twists and turns that the intersection of heart and mind lead us to follow. Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to problems that upset you, don't you know everything's all right, yes everything's fine. Yes. Mary I will try to find the quiet centre in this crowded life we lead, but I will also let those niggling and important hard questions lead me on a journey of discovery – inside and out. Amen.