Are We Completely Devoted To Jesus?
Good Morning Friends,
During Jesus’ time, women were not allowed to interrupt the fellowship of Jewish males, except for serving food. However, Mary on what might have been that first Palm Sunday was keen to demonstrate her love of Jesus. She risked social convention to make a statement that raised eyebrows for its provocative nature and lavish commitment in her home as an act of worship. The context of the story raises up images of a spiritual anointing of a King and sex and betrayal and death and resurrection and marriage. It is perhaps impossible to reconcile the various Gospel stories of this event with the story in Luke, and yet the similarities provoke us to think in different way about the church and time itself and whether our commitment is more like that of Judas or the generosity and the loyalty of Mary. So, this morning we engage an evaluation of our own pledge of faith as we ask: Are We Completely Devoted To Jesus?
Scripture: Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (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.) Jesus said, “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.”
John 12:1-8 (NRSV)
One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “Speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:36-50 (NRSV)
Message: The anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany for burial is a touching act of piety on her part as Jesus’ public ministry is ending. This account is in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and here in today’s scripture from John. There is a similar story in Luke, but it differs quite a bit on time and circumstance. Together the three gospels supplement each other, but the passage from Luke informs as well. Interestingly, Mark and Matthew said what Mary did for Jesus was to be memorialized and so it has been. The general details of the anointing agree to the point that it seems to be the same account. The Luke story seems like another event that is to inform our understanding of the marriage of the church as a bride of Jesus. But today’s scripture from John sets the stage for the cross as it provides the context to Judas’s betrayal of Jesus. The three Gospel accounts of today’s story all mention the precious ointment as having a value of 300 denarii. They all agree that it was to prepare the body of Jesus for burial. All mention the precious ointment, and John and Mark say it was spikenard. But there are some serious differences as to the timeline that cannot be reconciled easily. But whether it happened on a Wednesday before the Passover or on Palm Sunday as noted in John should not be our focus, for the accounts are to help explain each other…even the account from Luke. The thing is that the events were arranged logically if one is not thinking in a Greek fashion. There are logical spiritual timelines as well as chronological ones. We are to be transformed in the reading, so something might be revealed to us that can help us make sense of this crazy world in which we live when things get confusing.
And So, there is more to history than the recording of facts. Today’s scripture has a lot of double meaning. John records that Martha’s sister, Mary took a liter of pure perfume of nard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus with it and then wiped his feet with her hair. Mark adds that it was contained in an alabaster box. Spikenard had to be imported from India, and Romans used it to anoint the head. Mark, who was half Roman and may have written to the Romans notices this. But John mentions the feet. He also mentions that Mary wiped the feet with her hair. To reconcile the accounts perhaps we are to think in an anointing from head to toe. One could think of spikenard in an alabaster box as the perfume saved up for a well-to-do bride’s wedding day. John uses the metaphor of wedding throughout his gospel. Today’s scripture has the smell of death but also the smell of a resurrection, for John mentions Lazarus, so our minds might remember his raising from the dead and help us to realize that in the end the Church will be raised from the dead to be the eternal and spotless bride of Christ. The myrrh of death will be replaced by the spikenard of the wedding. And in the interim we have a choice. We can be like the woman who was willing to spend all her money on showing her devotion to the Lord, or like Judas and be willing to betray Jesus to gain some money. Such is the history of the Church.
Pray we more devoted each day to the truth of Jesus. Pray we realize that success and failure should not be measured in earthly churchy terms. Pray therefor we are devoted to worship and community and spiritual growth that is of heaven. Pray we worship in the spirit and truth of Jesus. Pray we have the right attitude. Pray we understand the price and the prize. Pray we are not only interested in outward appearances but inward ones as well. Pray we honor God by worshipping at the feet of Jesus. Pray we not rush to judge the generosity of others. Pray we thank God for His grace and mercy and the blessings we receive and can share. Pray we prepare ourselves to dress up our insides for the marriage to come. Pray we listen to the amazing stories of others. Pray we realize that the Church has a responsibility to minister to its members in this regard. Pray our hearts are ready to love the King of kings. Pray our hearts are pure. Pray that we learn to love the vulnerable. Pray we exhibit a sign of tenderness that is born out of weakness and shows forth new life in the Holy Spirit resonating in the hearts of those who find meaning in the people the world rejects. Pray for the Body of believers as they pray for us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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