EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on April 3, 2022.
This week's gospel: John 12:1-8
Mary Anoints Jesus
12 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them[a] with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it[b] so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The message:
This morning, I’m going to begin our sermon with a question … and I’m going to end it with a follow-up question.
Kind of a set of bookends that I hope that each of us really, truly spends some time thinking about.
Are you ready?
So, when was the last time you were so moved out of love that you gave a gift of extravagance?
I’m talking about a gift so extravagant that it was going to hurt your pocket book? … A gift that would make others look at that act and think, “What a ridiculously wasteful expense!”
Because that is exactly what kind of gift we are talking about in today’s gospel.
At the point that Mary takes a pound of costly perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet with it, and then wipes them clean with her own hair … That is a gift of ridiculously unimaginable proportions!
In fact, Judas Iscariot -- whom thanks to the narrator of John, we have the benefit of knowing will later betray Jesus, and whom we know is a thief -- even calls out the big, white elephant in the room.
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
In other words, “This was a ridiculous waste!”
To get some perspective on this, we first have to do a little homework. … With a quick internet search, you can learn that one denarii was the equivalent of a day’s wages in the first century.
And, now with a little math we can determine that 100 denarii was about 4 months wages in Jesus’ time. … So-o-o-o, 300 denarii would have been about the equivalent of a year’s worth of work!
And Mary takes all of that perfume and lathers up just one person’s feet, just to take off the dirt and soot because people’s feet in the first century were filthy. After all, they mostly walked everywhere they went in sandals.
A year’s worth of work in perfume just to clean up Jesus’ feet. … And the act has Judas beside himself!
But if you really, truly think about it … I’ll bet that most of us would fall in the camp of Judas … far more often in the camp of Mary.
Seriously … think about it! … When was the last time you gave up the value of a year’s worth of wages for anything? … The thought is mind boggling, and it is simply an outrageous act if defined by earthly values.
So, no wonder why in this instance, Judas -- whom we know is gripped by his earthly values -- thinks, “For crying out, what a waste of perfume! … That’s 300 denarii right down the drain!”
Mary, though … Mary is motivated by something entirely more radical. … She’s motivated by not by the value of the perfume; she is motivated by Christ’s own unselfish, perfect love.
In fact, she is so moved to give something extravagant to Jesus that she takes that expensive perfume, drops to the floor, scrubs up his feet with it … and then cleans it all off with her very own hair.
What a ridiculous gift!
The context here is important, of course. … We have to remember why Mary loves Jesus so much. … Why is she moved to such an extravagant act? … And the clue is in the very first line of today’s gospel.
“Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.”
Do you remember that story? … Just a little ways back in John in chapter 11, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. … Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary had died, had been dead four days in fact, and then Jesus came to bring him back from the dead. … “Lazarus, come out!”
In that context, it’s little wonder why Mary was so grateful, isn’t it? … It’s little wonder why she would practice such extravagant love for Jesus?
After all, wouldn’t you too be willing to sacrifice the worth of a year’s wages to see Jesus bring back to life someone you dearly loved?
Would such an act as using a pound of perfume to clean Jesus’ feet look so ridiculous in this context? … I don’t think any of us would think so.
But here is the tension in this text. … It’s the tension of how we act when we are so fully enwrapped in Christ’s love that giving ridiculously seems normal … that giving up a year’s wages in a selfless act of compassion just seems right.
That is how Mary is moved by Christ’s salvation of her brother.
And compare that in juxtaposition with the tension of being influenced by earthly values that say, “You know, if we took that perfume and sold it, not only could we give some of it to the poor, but there’d be some left over in our own pockets too.”
Which is where Judas’ mind immediately goes.
The tension of the values of God’s kingdom symbolized in Mary’s actions. … And the values of our earthly kingdom symbolized in Judas’ thoughts and words.
And I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we all fall into Judas’ camp far more often than we do Mary’s.
Jesus reminds us in his own words, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Jesus is telling Judas -- and probably each of us if we are honest -- that Mary was moved out of her extravagant love that was inspired by Jesus’ loving act. She was so moved by her brother being resurrected, that she just couldn’t help herself.
Judas, on the other hand, Jesus points out, was motivated out of greed. … “Judas, what are you talking about? The poor are always around you, and you rarely bother to lift a finger to help them, or to improve the overarching political systems that keep them poor. So we will always have the poor. … But now that you see Mary’s extravagant act, you’re morally outraged? … Come on, Judas!”
Faith Family, Jesus is trying to give us a lesson here in the tension of this text. He is trying to hold up what it is like to give out of the ridiculous abundance that is provided by God’s kingdom. … And the selfish, calculated giving we do out of mere adherence to the scripture, which is inspired by this earthly kingdom.
There’s no calculation here in Mary’s mind. … She is so utterly moved by Jesus’ love that she splurges it all. … She takes that entire pound of perfume, cleans up Jesus’ feet and then intimately takes her own hair to wipe it all up.
An act of utter devotion and love so deep that it can only foreshadow Jesus’ own gift to all of humanity that will take place shortly later in Jerusalem.
And also an act of utter devotion and love so deep … that Judas, who is wrapped up in this world’s values, cannot fathom it.
On this Fifth Sunday in Lent, Faith Family … as we prepare for the final leg of this Lenten journey to the cross, I will now ask, where do you most find yourself most often:
So influenced by the earthly kingdom’s values that Mary’s extravagant gift looks ridiculous … like Judas?
Or so moved by the ridiculous overabundance the Kingdom of Heaven offers us … that you act like Mary?
And that is the Good News for this Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 3, 2022. … Amen.
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