Sermons for the Month
Another Prodigal?
DATE: March 25th, 2007
SERVICE: Fifth Sunday in Lent
TEXT: John 12:1-8“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
These questions echo through the ages. What is to be done with Mary and her costly perfume? How can we make sense of this story? And, the answer is the same through the ages. This is an account that is not intended to be understood with the mind. Instead, it's a story that is to be felt with the heart. Mary, evidently, was one of those people who was moved to express herself in extravagant, excessive ways. I'm reminded of two scenes from a movie, although I must admit to you that I cannot pinpoint which movie. But, in once scene a young woman came home to her apartment to find a path of rose petals leading from the elevator to her door. And then, once inside, there were bouquets of roses of a multitude of colors on every surface. She was overwhelmed by this testimony of love, but it got better. Her boyfriend whisked her away, in a limo, to a surprise location. They entered by a back door, walked down dark, echoing hallways, and entered a room in which nothing was visible. Then, light flooded the room to reveal that they were in an upscale jewelry store, the diamonds sparkled in the cases and the staff smiled in anticipation. Of course, the boyfriend got down on one knee and proposed. She was speechless, but said "yes" to the cheers of the salespeople. And, she had the pick of the place when it came to engagement rings. Now, that's a guy who was moved to express himself in extravagant, excessive ways. And, it didn't hurt that he had money. In contrast, most scholars say that Mary probably did no have money; she wasn't wealthy. Yet, she did two excessive, extravagant things. Jesus had come to dinner and the home she shared with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus on the night before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As he reclined at the low table, as was the custom, Mary did not do the customary thing of simply washing his dust-stained feet with water (or, of ordering a servant to do so.) Instead, she knelt beside him and poured very expensive perfume on her Lord's feet. The value of this ointment was 300 denarii, which is what a working person could expect to earn in a year. It was an extravagant, excessive gesture that was made even more scandalous when she let down her hair and used it to wipe away the excess perfume. All who were gathered there must have been appalled; women only revealed their hair to their husbands. Mary's actions were shocking, and exposed her to public ridicule. Why would she make this sacrificial offering of resources and reputation? She had prodigal love for Jesus. (Remember that last Sunday we defined the word prodigal as describing behavior that is excessive or extravagant.) Her actions were a gesture of this deep love. What do we know about Mary from previous accounts? She's the one who sat listening to the words and wisdom of Jesus while her sister Martha prepared the meal. You'll recall that she was chastised by her sister for being idle, but was commended by Jesus for focusing on what was more important. Perhaps her deep love for him grew out of being supported in that for which she often was criticized. After all, a woman had too much to do to spend time contemplating God's will and ways. We also heard about Mary's response when her brother Lazarus had died. She and Martha had sent word to Jesus that their brother was critically ill, and Jesus had purposely delayed going to them. Lazarus died and was placed in a tomb. When Jesus finally arrived, Mary again knelt before him and made a proclamation of questioning faith, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." In response to her sadness - and knowing that doing so would initiate his own death - Jesus raised Lazarus from death to life. The one who came out of the tomb wrapped in grave clothes sat at the table that night, so perhaps her devotion was based in gratitude for returning her brother to them. Or, maybe Mary had listened more closely than the other followers; she sensed that Jesus would die soon and wanted to make a final gesture of gratitude. Love had arrived in her life in a profound way, and as Mary poured out the costly perfume she was engaged in a sacred act. Jesus looked down at her flowing hair and blessed her with his words. He defended her against criticism, received her gift, knowing that it had meaning beyond what she herself may have grasped. "Leave her alone," he says, "She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial." Her actions are a precursor of what will be; the day of his burial is less than a week away. We usually think of Palm Sunday as the beginning of Holy Week, but perhaps it starts here with this holy act. In it, we are encouraged to enter Holy Week with Mary's heart; that is hearts filled with gratitude and deep love for Jesus. In a way, we have even more reason than Mary to feel that way because we know the full extent of Jesus' sacrifice, suffering and victory, which were yet to occur when her love was poured out. Yet, her actions were a response to the love she saw in Jesus, and that can and should be true for us as well. But, remember, it's a matter of the heart, not the head. What does our heart tell us about responding to the extravagant, excessive love of Jesus? That may be a difficult question for many of us to answer because of all the "stuff" that clutters up our thoughts - and that gets the bulk of our attention as we deal with day to day life. I certainly understand that; I learned early in my ministry that in order to really get in touch with "heart felt" responses and to interact with my Lord I had to extract myself from the day-to-day for an extended period of time and set aside all input from sources like newspapers, TV, e-mail. To make that happen I went on spiritual retreats; never less than three days, and one time for 30 days. What came out of those times away was astounding; the Holy Spirit does indeed speak to us if we would open the channels of communication. (It's about time for me to take up that practice again.) But, wouldn't it be a gift if in the midst of "it" we could, like Mary, be so in touch with the love of Jesus that our response to it was extravagant and excessive? Holy Week begins one week from today. One of my fondest hopes is that we would allow that week to live up to its name, that we would view it as a mini-spiritual retreat when we purposely refocus our attention from our heads to our hearts and find the love of Jesus there. Then, like Mary, we would respond with excessive, extravagant love that probably would surprise others, and certainly would label us as prodigals. AMEN