"Extravagant Love"
Sermon Presented March 21,
2010
Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year C
John 12:1-8
Extravagant gifts often come with strings attached! Some people give millions to a college or university with the stipulation that a science building or student union be named after them. Others give large amounts to their church provided that it goes to purchase a new organ or sanctuary in their name. Some people and organizations are most generous to a politician with the expectation that the politician will support their agenda. An expensive engagement ring is given with the promise of marriage.
Our text this morning tells of an extravagant gift given to Jesus with no strings attached. It was an outpouring of love that was lavished on him right before the Passover - right before his death. Both the gift and the giver are remembered today - 2000 years later - long after buildings crumble, organs no longer make music, and marriages end. The occasion is a festive dinner to celebrate Lazarus' life! I'm reading John 12:1-8.
Let's look at the cast of characters in this story. Lazarus, who was once dead, is present as the reason for celebration. Martha, whose gift is entertainment and hospitality, does what she does best and lovingly prepares and serves the meal. Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who was chastised on another occasion by Martha for sitting at Jesus' feet while she worked - offers her extravagant gift. Judas and the disciples are also present, although Judas is the only one mentioned by name. And then there is Jesus - the guest of honor - the recipient of Mary's extravagant love.
We can't do justice to this story unless we understand just how valuable this perfume was. The text says that it was a pound of pure nard worth almost a year's wages. Nard comes from the root of a plant grown in the Himalayas in India and this oil was lavishly poured on Jesus' feet. (Timothy Shapiro, New Proclamations 2006-2007, Advent - Holy Week, p. 221)
Now perfume at a cosmetic counter can cost more than $100 for a quarter of an ounce - making a pound cost more than $6400, and this perfume evaporates quickly if exposed to the air. That isn't a year's wages for most people, but it is a lot of money. At the time of Jesus, the process of extracting the oil of nard from roots and transporting it from the Himalayas to Israel would increase its value.
I wouldn't want to be around anyone who was wearing a quarter of an ounce of perfume, let alone a pound. The scent would be overpowering! But in the days of Jesus, perfume was used to anoint a dead body to obliterate the stench of decay. That's what nard was used for, and by her generous act of love, Mary gives a preview of Jesus' approaching death.
When Mary pours the oil on Jesus' feet and wipes it with her hair, the silence in the room must have been ominous. The discomfort of the witnesses to that extravagant display of love would have been palpable. But then Judas breaks the silence - saying what others may have been thinking. His speech is meant to humiliate Mary.
Have you noticed how humiliation often takes the form of ridicule? "Don't talk so loudly!" "How can you be that stupid?" Why are you so clumsy?" "Can't you ever get it right?" "That's just a worthless piece of junk!" Got the picture?
Judas' ridicule took the form of chastisement for wasting money. He thought he had a legitimate point and that Jesus would support his logic. The perfume was worth a year's wages! Couldn't the money be better used to feed the poor? His argument sounds good and religious! I would support that argument! But 2000 years after the fact, Mary's extravagant act of love is remembered and applauded, while other aspects of Jesus' ministry were not even recorded. At the time our gifts are given, we can never know their significance or the way they will be remembered.
More than 20 years ago, James Melvin George stood in church to share his faith. He told that when he was a junior in high school, he was in a drama class that I taught. This class - by tradition - presented the Junior Class play. I recognized that James didn't have the ability to memorize lines, but he was good with his hands. So I pulled him aside and asked if he would build the sets. He was thrilled and was recognized by all for the tremendous job he did. At the time of his testimony, he and his wife had just moved into a house he had built. In that drama class he gained some skills, but more important than the skills, he gained a sense of confidence and self-esteem. At the time, it didn't seem like an extravagant gift, but it was to that 17 year old boy.
It was the same with Mary - although her gift was much more valuable than my small gift of hope. The significance of her gift became clear when she witnessed Jesus' death a few days later, but not at the time it was given. She lavishly demonstrated her love for Jesus while he was living.
Mom always said: "Bring me flowers while I'm alive, because after I'm dead, it won't matter!" I remember that today - and I love to give and receive flowers - an extravagant gift that doesn't last long but brings great joy.
Jesus didn't need to come to Martha's defense because Martha was fulfilling an appropriate role for a woman and a hostess. However, he did need to defend Mary because she stepped outside the box and did something creative and extravagant. Jesus says: "Be careful how you criticize others. You can't know the circumstances or the motive behind the act."
Everyone needs to be loved! Sometimes a person needs a shower of extravagant love. Jesus had needs as we do. This was an emotional time for him. Oh, he had enough to eat, a robe and sandals, but Mary's gift of extravagant love - a full pound of perfume - may have given him the courage to face what lay ahead. Mary's extravagant love offered to Jesus rubbed off on her as she wiped off the excess perfume with her hair.
We have a stark contrast here between Mary and Judas. However, don't forget that Judas was selected by Jesus to be an apostle. We can't assume that he was bad to the core - or beyond salvation. And we are a combination of the two. The grace of Jesus is offered to both the faithful and the unfaithful, because no one is faithful all of the time.
Generosity breeds generosity. You may have heard of the idea of "pay back by paying forward" where someone offers an act of generosity by paying the road toll for the car behind them. The idea is that the recipient then gives to another person. Wilanna was telling me last week that Les's mother was recently in a restaurant and when she started to pay the bill, the waitress said that the man who just left paid it for her.
Should we live spendthrift lives - or ones of generosity? Does generosity have to do only with money and things? Can we justify wasting God's gifts? Well, that depends on what we mean by "waste". Jesus received Mary's extravagant gift and then he gave back an extravagant gift - his life. One gift cost a great deal of money, and the other was an act of sacrifice.
We can't fix Jesus an elaborate meal or send him a cheesecake or an armload of flowers or buy him a new robe or sandals. But we can bring light and hope to another in an act of love!
I don't want to close before we look at the last verse of our text: "You always have the poor with you, but you don't always have me." This verse has been misused by some to claim that Jesus says we shouldn't care for the poor. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 15:10-11. Here are these verses in their entirety. "Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you: 'Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.'"
Evelyn Underhill, a 20th century mystic wrote that worship "is summed up in sacrifice," the movement of generosity in response to God's sacrificial act of redemption and our participation in it. Mary's sacrifice was sumptuous and surprisingly excessive in generosity. Mary counts no cost and anoints Jesus (him). (H. Stephen Shoemaker, Feasting on the Word Year C Volume 2, p. 143)
Let's remember to include extravagant acts of compassion and generosity in our worship and in our every day comings and goings. Jesus doesn't call us to a mind-set of scarcity, but to a mind-set of abundance. (ibid, p. 145) Loving God - loving Jesus - will include conscious and unconscious acts of love toward God's people. This is what will be remembered!
03/23/2010
