Fifth Sunday in Lent
A member of our congregation has told me that they always keep a bottle of champagne in their refrigerator just waiting for something good to celebrate.
Another has told me that they always have something in their closet with tags still on it in reserve for a time when they need a lift.
Someone else tells me of that special stash of money separate from the household budget meant for an unplanned extravagance.
Funny how hard it is once you've put that special thing away to convince yourself to actually tap into it. It's an extravagance, in the words of last Sunday's sermon a prodigality. Mary, in our text today, exemplifies just such extravagance. We each have enough of the Judas in us that we may wonder if the years wages spent for this costly ointment might have been better spent.
These are the thoughts that struck me as I began my sermon study on Monday of last week. But as I worked with this lesson throughout the week my thinking began to change. Today I have only one over riding overwhelming feeling about this scene and frankly it is total and unbridled anger at Judas. There's more going on here than just the simple extravagance of a well to do woman.
Let me remind you of some of the background to this story. We have met Mary and Martha before in the gospel of John. They are the sisters of Jesus good friend Lazarus who lives in Bethany. Now Bethany is just a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem. You will remember that Lazarus died--yes died in the last chapter of John's gospel even though you see him here at a dinner party. You see he had been sick and Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus to come and make him better. But Jesus didn't come right away and so Lazarus died and his body was put into a tomb.
When Jesus does arrive Mary and Martha are grieving and Jesus too weeps. But then he orders the stone from the tomb to be rolled away even though the ever practical Martha warns that "By now he has been in the tomb so long he stinketh." Jesus shouts "Lazarus come out!!" and Lazarus does dragging his grave clothes behind him.
Imagine Mary and Martha's and Lazarus gratitude and attachment to Jesus. As it turns out, many people came to believe in Jesus because of the miracle of Lazarus but others, feeling a threat to their own power as Jesus grew in notoriety and attention, began to plot Jesus' death. So Jesus goes underground for a while to a town called Ephraim, out near the wilderness off the beaten track. But the Passover is near and Jesus will return to Jerusalem for that occasion to confront those who would seek him to do him harm. Just six days before the Passover he came to Bethany, to the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We might imagine that it was a moment of refuge, a calm before the storm, a respite in a home where he was treated comfortably and cared for. Martha prepares a lovely meal, a dinner party but over it all is an air of foreboding. You can almost smell the fear and the sadness. This is not a festive dinner party even though the talk may be about the good times. It's awkward nobody wants to say anything but they all know. The elephant in the room is that the powerful forces of politics and religion Are aligning against Jesus and that the future is grim.
Having been a pastor for a long time and especially having been a nursing home chaplain I have been privy to many scenes like this one. I have been with dozens of families as they try to remain hopeful and yet they know they need to say good bye to one they love and cherish. These are intense times and awkward times. Tears and laughter often mingle. Simple acts of love and devotion, carefully providing ice chips, plumping a pillow, gently massaging stiff muscles take on an almost sacramental significance. People often describe to me the last days of a loved one "Pastor, I know this sounds crazy but it was, well it was beautiful". They feel crazy saying that but I know that they don't mean the deterioration or disease or pain--what they are describing is the palpable existence and expression of love. Maybe there are words, maybe not but hand reaches out to hand, heart reaches out to heart and both parties connect in a way that is almost spiritual. Where love is God is and where God is love is."
"So Mary took a pound of costly perfume, anointed Jesus feet and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."
What a tender, sweet, gentle, caring, sacramental moment. Indeed Mary's action echoes Jesus' washing the feet of the disciples as it will happen a few days hence. Does not Jesus deserve this devotion, this extravagant expression of gratitude, grief , yes and love?
How obnoxious, how incredibly inappropriate, how rude do Judas' harsh words echo in the context of this moment. Clearly the gospel writer John has his own opinions in his parenthetical comments making sure we know Judas is not only a betrayor but a thief. In his comments Judas wounds both Mary and Jesus. Judas implies that if Mary knew Jesus better and really followed his teachings she would not have done what she did.
And Judas does not allow that Jesus has enough humanity to appreciate the gentle touch and generous act of kindness. This is not a moment for ethical sparring and philosophical debate. Rather this is a time for kindness, compassion and comfort.
Do we not believe that Jesus has a preferential option for the poor? Indeed we do--we read it again and again in his teachings. But on occasion doesn't simple kindness and humanity one to another trump broadly stated principals.
To me, this lesson challenges us to see Jesus as more than a rules maker and ethical guru. This lesson invites us to be in relationship with Jesus. Relationships are hardly ever characterized by clear cut black and white principals. Relationships can be messy and challenging. Other people do not always behave as we expect or want them to. Just so in our relationship with Jesus the Christ we can not melt him down to a fixed set of principles and propositions. We can not confine Jesus to the easy answers and rigid requirements that we hold.
Amen