John 12: 1–8
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your Name. Amen.
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This morning, Jesus and his disciples have finally come close to
Jerusalem. But they have not yet entered into the
city. Instead, they will stay this night with Jesus’ close
friends in Bethany — Lazarus and his sisters Mary and
Martha. He has stayed with them many times before – most
recently when they summoned him, saying, “Lord, the one you love
is very sick. Come. Please, come soon.” But on
that occasion, by the time Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has
been in a rock tomb for four days. Nevertheless, Jesus used that
occasion to demonstrate the power of God over death itself – as he
resurrected Lazarus from the grave. So this evening Lazarus and
his sisters are giving a celebratory dinner for Jesus – to thank
him for the gift of life he has given back to their brother.
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Yet what spelled life for Lazarus signaled something very different to
the religious authorities from the Temple in Jerusalem. Barbara
Brown Taylor calls them “the Temple posse” – and,
for sure, they have been hot on Jesus’ heels ever since his
ministry began – demanding his credentials, challenging his
authority, everywhere trying to trip him up. In a word, they have
been jealous of him, and jealous of the enthusiastic response he has
aroused in the people. And now the whole situation has grown even
more fraught. For by raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus has now
graduated in their eyes from ‘manageable nuisance’ to
‘serious threat’.¹ Now they are bound and
determined to see him gone, to make him disappear. And Pontius
Pilate, they know, can be persuaded to cooperate.
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So Jesus’ days are numbered – and he knows it. So do
Lazarus, Mary and Martha as they set about to create for their friend
one last evening of comfort and love. Inside the room, candles
softly illuminate each face as Lazarus reclines with Jesus at the
table and Martha serves the food she has prepared. Mary takes her
favorite spot at Jesus’ feet. But this evening she is not
there just to listen, just to take in his words. This evening she
has a gift she wants to present to him. And as the meal draws to
a close, she leaves the room briefly and comes back carrying an
alabaster flask of spikenard. Without a word, she kneels again
at Jesus’ feet, breaks open the thin neck of the flask and begins
to anoint Jesus’ feet with the aromatic oil.
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Instantly, the sweet, spicy fragrance fills the room —– and
though she doesn’t say a word, everyone realizes what she is
doing. No one anointed a man’s feet – unless it was
for burial, after he had died. So Mary’s act was both
eloquent and wordless. With this one tender act she is prophesying
Jesus’ death, and preparing her friend for his burial. And
she is doing it in a beautiful way. Just as he has poured out his
life for years in ministry to her and to her family, she is now pouring
out her love and thanks to him. Silently, lovingly, prophetically,
she is acknowledging what everyone senses – that his death is not
far off.
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But as Mary gently wipes the excess oil off Jesus’ feet with her
hair, Judas angrily demands, “Why wasn’t this ointment sold
and the proceeds given to the poor?” As John points out
in an aside to us, Judas says this not because he had such deep concern
for the poor, but because the spikenard in that flask had cost Mary
dearly – and Judas, who kept the common purse, was not above
skimming off some profit for himself.
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The contrast between them could hardly be greater. Mary had sat
at Jesus’ feet for years, learning from him, taking his words in
deeply every time he visited their house. Those words had
transformed her. And now, though she grieved for her friend and
for what was surely coming his way, she was profoundly grateful for all
she had learned.
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Judas, also, had listened to Jesus’ words for years and had
watched him minister to many. But the lessons had not sunk in,
not to any great depth. Judas still saw things from a worldly
perspective. He was still out for whatever he could get – for
himself. And now, he thought, if Mary had spent a small fortune
to buy a whole pound of spikenard and pour it onto Jesus’ feet,
well, why shouldn’t he get some of that profit?
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You and I might think this situation is something we would only find
in first–century Israel. For who in our day has ever seen
someone pouring fragrant oil on the feet of someone who’s about
to die? Yet we too have seen people pouring themselves out
for others, without counting the cost. Maybe you have done it
yourself. If you are the parent of a child with special needs
you have done whatever it takes to help that child reach his full
potential. Or if you are the child of an aging parent, a parent
who is failing rapidly, you have poured yourself out to help that dear
one stay in her home for as long as she possibly could. Or maybe
it’s for this church that you have poured yourself
out – mowing the lawn, keeping track of our finances, buying
food for the Backpack Ministry, watering the shrubbery, recording music
for the service, setting the altar, updating the website, laying brick
and paving stone walkways. Hour after hour and day after day you
have given away your talents and your skills – not just to help
people you have come to love – but in gratitude to Christ for
all he has given to you.
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And just like Mary’s gift, your gifts of mercy and service will
not go unnoticed. John says when Mary spilled that fragrant oil
on Jesus’ feet, though no one said a word, the lovely fragrance
filled the whole house. And everyone breathed more easily.²
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Maybe that’s what everyone senses when they enter into this
church. For we too have spent years sitting at Jesus’
feet – listening to his words, taking them in and allowing them
to transform us. Now we love him in return, not counting the
cost, but serving others in his name.
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For what price can you put on the new life he is giving to you?
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Amen.
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¹ Barbara Brown Taylor “The Prophet Mary”
sermon given at Day One on Sunday, March 21, 2010
² Annemarie Kidder “Poured Out”
sermon given at Day One on Sunday, April 3, 2022
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