The day before he entered Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus stopped in to see his old friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in the suburb of Bethany. They were a family dear to his heart, two sisters and a brother who seemed to think of him as a brother, too. He loved them, John tells us, although he does not tell us why.
Maybe there is never a “why” to love. They called him Lord, so they knew who he was, and yet they were not his disciples, or at least not in the formal sense. They were his friends, the three people in whose presence he could be a man as well as a messiah.
Just a short time ago Jesus had worked a miracle at their house. “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” The sisters had sent him word, and he had crossed the Jordan to come to them, knowing full well it was too late. Then, after Jesus the man had wept in front of his friend’s tomb, Jesus the messiah shouted him out of it and restored Lazarus to life.
Now he has returned to them with the chief priests hot on his trail. Chatting with Samaritan women is one thing and healing the blind on the Sabbath is another, but reviving corpses is something else altogether. By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus has made it to the top of the “most wanted” list.
His days are numbered and he knows it. When he arrives at this friends’ house in Bethany with his disciples, they can see it on his face. So they take Jesus in and they care for him, shutting the world out for this one night at least. They make him supper.
They make him a supper to comfort and give him a chance to relax but it turns sour. It turns sour like much that has happened in Jesus’ life. It will not be long before someone criticizes something about this gathering too, this gathering around a meal, this gathering where someone will complain about excessive giving.
Last Sunday when the herdsmen in our story lived their lives to the fullest they too were criticized. Excessive giving seemed the order of the day. It was the story of the return of the prodigal son. The younger son was given his excessive inheritance, which he lost, and was criticized. The father was excessive ordering the killing of the fatted calf and ordering a meal for which he is criticized by the older son. The older son was excessive in his response and is criticized for his selfishness.
The message we took from the story was it just may be necessary we give from our stuff, our little and our excess, to those we feel least deserving for all to be saved. But some criticize such giving saying look out for number one, don’t give to those too selfish or lazy to work for what you have earned. Forget them! Hold on to what is rightfully yours!
This Sunday in the scripture the criticism continues. Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus take Jesus in and they make him supper. And true to form, criticism soon follows; criticism for excessive giving on Mary’s part.
The dinner is at Lazarus’ place. One sister, Martha served her guests. The other sister, Mary, is criticized, by of all people Judas, for using an expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. Judas, the one who betrays Jesus, criticizes Mary for what he thinks is an unwise and extravagant gift. In his view, Mary is squandering her gift.
Judas says the money spent on the perfume could have been better spent on the poor. He is saying the poor are more deserving than Jesus. The truth of course is he wanted some of the money spent for himself. His reputation was as one who skimmed a bit for his own pocket. He is angry his profit is being wasted on Jesus.
Jesus, for his part is giving in to Mary’s wishes and her gift. From what we learned in the story of the prodigal son, and like Mary, we are to make available to God all that God needs from us.
At the dinner at Lazarus’ Mary shows us what we have that God needs. God needs the most expensive of our possessions. God needs all of us. God needs our body, our mind, and our spirit. Oh yes, and God needs all of our stuff too.
The dinner at Lazarus’ is also a foreshadowing of the last supper where there was another meal, criticism that led to controversy among the disciples, and the exchange of another extravagant gift.
Jesus served at that dinner. Jesus even serves Judas who will enter into the controversy of betrayal and criticize him to the authorities who will take his life. Jesus is at odds with Judas again. Be it Jesus’ comfort or his life, Judas criticizes and the result is excessive.
Mary is holding a slender clay jar in her hands. Without a word she kneels at Jesus’ feet and breaks the neck of the jar, so that the smell of the perfume fills the room. As everyone is watching she loosens her hair, pours balm on Jesus’ feet, touches him, then wipes the salve off again with her hair.
Mary gives the extravagant gift of her lifelong love for Jesus. And Jesus? Why he will ultimately give the extravagant gift of himself.
The Son of God, given to each of us for the forgiveness of our sin gives his life that we may know a life filled with grace and blessings and joy. That we may know a love lasting for life eternal, for life in God’s kingdom. But there is more. There is something else afoot in these dinners of criticism and excess. There is embedded here a radical new form of worship. There were many forms of worship in Jesus’ day as there are in ours. Some however, may surprise us.
Sunday Worship is worship, of course. Participating in the sacraments, Baptism and The Lord’s Supper, is another form of worship. Living in the faithful covenant of marriage is a life changing form of worship. As is obeying the ten commandments, studying God’s word, prayer, and ministry and service to the church and to one another. All are forms of worship.
But our lives, giving the most extravagant gift we have, our lives, is perhaps the most powerful form of worship in our worship options. We show our love for God in how we live our lives. How we choose to live our lives is our ultimate act of worship to God. It is in the giving of our lives to God that God sees the depth of our love and our gift giving intentions.
Yet criticism comes to us if we do it the right way. If we give gifts from what is ours to those least deserving, our selfless extravagant gifts, criticism will come. Criticism will come when we live our lives, giving our love and more to our neighbor. The ones across the street and the ones across town. Friend and foe alike. Criticism comes to us when we give our time, our talent, and our possessions in ways the world sees as unwise and extravagant.
Oh yes, we will be criticized by people who hold this world secular values. But, Jesus will say to them as he said to Judas, Leave her alone. Leave her alone. She will always have me with her. See how she worship me. See how she loves me.
If we enter into a life of worship in these ways, the power of God’s love, grace, blessing and covenant promises will be revealed to us. Though we were lost, we will be found, and we will always have God with us. Our hearts will be opened to God’s and we will forever be at table with him receiving the extravagant gift of his love and his life for each of us.
So Mary proceeded to rub his feet with ointment so precious that its sale might have fed a poor family for a year, an act so lavish that it suggest more about her excess. Dear ones, there will be more excess to come. There will be nothing simple about the death of this man, just as there has been nothing simple about his life. In Jesus, the extravagance of God’s love is made flesh. In him, the excessiveness of God’s mercy is made alive.
Mary understood this and acted on it. While some of those standing by thought her mad, or wasteful at least, she and the one whose feet she rubbed suspected the truth.
Where God is concerned, there is no need to fear running out of nard or of life, either one. Where God is concerned, there is always more – more than we can either ask or imagine - gifts from our lavish, lavish Lord who in his extravagance holds back not one iota of his love.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen. 031213.gpc
