Sermon-Sunday-April 22, 2007

Third Sunday of Easter
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Earlier this week when I asked Jim Stout if he would be willing to fill in for me next Sunday, he asked me if there was a theme that I was preaching on throughout Easter. And I said no, not really. I mean nothing really outside of the death and resurrection of Christ. But as I read these lessons that have been assigned these last few weeks, there does seem to be a sort of common thread.
Of course the death and resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith and that of course is very present in these lessons, but underneath that there seems to be this recurring theme of Jesus absolutely refusing to leave us in darkness and despair. Last week we talked about the risen Jesus appearing to the disciples as they were hiding in fear and Jesus appearing in the midst of them and saying "peace be with you," and then later of course Jesus appearing to Thomas, and thus bringing Thomas and the rest of the disciples out of their fear, doubt, and confusion.
Certainly in light of the tragedy that took place this week in Virginia, it is reassuring to know that Jesus does not leave us alone in our darkness and despair, and that He enters into that darkness with us and over time brings us out of it.
And In our first lesson this week, in the story of the conversion of Saul, we see one of the most powerful examples of Jesus refusing to leave someone in their own darkness and confusion. Like most of us, Saul thought he was a good man. Like most of us Saul professed to love God and had a desire to serve God. But Saul didn’t realize that the people whom he was spending so much time persecuting really were who they said they were; disciples of the risen Lord Jesus.
Saul thought he was doing God’s work. As he breathed threats of murder against Jesus’ disciples, or as he looked on approvingly over the stoning of Stephen; the first Christian martyr, Saul thought he was doing God’s work.
And then, on his way to Damascus to bring some letters to the synagogues in Damascus he sees this great light from Heaven flash all around him and then he hears the words that would change his life. He hears the words that cut him to the core and laid him bare and exposed him to be the sinner that he was, and exposed just how much in bondage he was to sin. From the mouth of the risen Lord Jesus Saul hears "Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?"
These words have the same effect on you. These words cut you to the core and expose your sin and your darkness and your bondage. We are all persecutors of Christ, every one of us. What Saul realized in that moment, among other things, was that when you persecute God’s people, it is the same thing as persecuting Christ Himself.
You persecute Christ with petty jealousy toward your neighbor. You persecute Christ by holding grudges against each other, when you should be forgiving each other and trying to understand each other more. You persecute Christ when you put up walls between yourself and your neighbor. You persecute Christ when you gossip about other people. You persecute Christ when you say bad things about someone behind their back. You persecute Christ when you ridicule each other.
The words that the risen Lord Jesus spoke to Saul that day make Saul and you realize that it is in our very nature to persecute Christ. It is in our very nature to think of ourselves before we think of others. In that moment Saul, soon to be Paul, was struck with the truth. He was struck with the truth that would eventually lead to him writing the well known words that he wrote in Romans 3, "…that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
But as the story goes on, you can see that once again Jesus refuses to leave His people in the darkness and futility of their own sin and despair. Saul gets up and can’t see, but the men who were with him, who themselves were completely speechless at what was going on, led Saul by the hand the rest of the way into Damascus. But for the remaining three days that it took them to get to Damascus, Saul was without sight.
And while all this is going on, Jesus speaks to a man named Ananias who is described as a disciple, and he lives is Damascus, where Saul is going. And he is told to go find Saul and that Saul is an instrument chosen by Christ to bring the name of Christ Jesus before gentiles and kings and the people of Israel.
And when Ananias finds Saul he greets him as a brother. He no longer sees Saul as an enemy but instead as a brother. And Ananias tells Saul that Jesus has sent him to Saul so that Saul may regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And then Saul’s sight is restored, and he is baptized.
He was claimed by Christ. He was brought into the family of God in Christ Jesus. That is what happens when Christ Jesus exposes you for the sinner that you are and you are brought into the stark reality of the futility of trying to be righteous through your own efforts. And once you realize that, you realize it’s not up to you, but that everything has already been done for you on the cross. Then all you can do is follow the lead of Saul who after spending time learning from the disciples immediately began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying "He is the Son of God."
Saul was shown that the real way to serve God is not in arrogance and pride but in service and humility. It’s the same thing that Peter was shown in today’s Gospel lesson when three times Jesus told Peter that if he loved Jesus, then he should feed and tend Jesus’ sheep.
The light of Christ comes into your darkness, exposes your sin, leaves you bare and helpless, and He claims you as His own. And you realize that when Jesus said "It is finished." He meant it. Martin Luther wrote that we can actually find comfort in that moment when Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting Him. Luther writes…
These, I say, are words filled with comfort. They are spoken to strengthen our faith and to make us bold to disdain the world’s persecution and hatred and to sing this song of defiance in opposition to any sadness with which the world wants to submerge us: "Dear world, you are not persecuting me; you are persecuting Christ, my Lord. Since I am aware of this, I challenge you to do your worst. Here I stand in God’s name and let you, together with all the devils from hell, fume in their name. You can persecute, exile, yes, even kill me, if my Lord Christ so wills; but you will not deprive me of my courage and my comfort, nor will you bring me to the point of being grieved in my heart.
Persecution of Christ continues as the world rejects the Gospel that you have been called to proclaim to your neighbor. But on the cross Christ Jesus took all the persecution that the world can muster and He came out victorious. And now, you have been freed from having to worry about whatever rejection or persecution the world might offer up. You have been freed to follow the lead of Peter and Paul and feed and tend Christ’s sheep, your neighbors, and proclaim to them the Good news of Christ Jesus that "He is the Son of God" and He refuses to leave you in darkness.
Amen

Sermon-Sunday-April 15, 2007

Second Sunday in Easter
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus has defeated sin, death and the devil. He has walked out of the tomb, and He has appeared to Mary Magdalene and now He is appearing to His disciples. And where does He find them?? He finds them in hiding, out of fear. After the humiliation that He endured at the hands of the chief-priests and the Roman authorities, after the beatings that He endured, after suffering and dying on the cross and then walking out of the tomb victoriously three days later, He finds His disciples hiding in fear. He told them what was going to happen. He told them it wasn’t going to be easy. He told them that He was going to have to go through death in order to bring about new-life.
And yet at His shining moment of victory they are in hiding. If they were half as devoted to and trusting in Jesus as they claimed they were, they should have been lined up outside of the tomb waiting to give Him a high-five as He walked out of the tomb. OK, maybe that’s a little much. But for all their claims that they would never deny Jesus, and all their talk about following Jesus and all their claims about who would be the greatest among them in the kingdom of Heaven, after all of that, when things got rough, did they stand defiantly in the face of their persecutors??? No, they went into hiding.
These are the founders of Christianity. This is Peter and Matthew, and James and John and all the disciples and probably many of the early believers. Imagine how we might have acted. Truth be told, any one of us would have been right up there with them. I mean these guys faced real persecution. Their lives were literally on the line. We’re resistant to sharing our faith with our neighbor out of fear of embarrassment and rejection, but these guys faced death. So, in a sense, it’s no wonder that they went into hiding.
Nevertheless, this still had to be distressing for Jesus, knowing the magnitude of what has just taken place. In His awareness of the new reality that had just broken through in His resurrection, it had to be somewhat disappointing for Him to find those in whom He had called to proclaim the good news of this new reality, and the good news of the defeat of sin, death, and the devil, and the good news of the gift of eternal life given to those who put their faith in Him, it had to disappointing to Jesus to find them hiding in fear, doubt, and confusion.
But that’s where He finds them. The door was locked and they were hiding for fear of the Jews. But Jesus appears right before them, right in the midst of them. And does He berate them for their lack of faith? Does He say, " You know what I thought you had what it takes, but I guess I was wrong, I am going to find someone else?"
As deserving as this group might have been to hear that, that is not what Jesus says to them. Instead He stands among them and says "Peace be with you." And when Jesus says "Peace be with you." It’s not said in the same way we say it. When we say it, it’s a wish or maybe even a prayer. But when Jesus says it, it is a declaration. He is not wishing them peace, He is bringing them peace. In the midst of their cowering in fear and confusion, He is bringing them peace. He brings peace in the same way that God the Father brought about creation; through His Word. He speaks and it is so. He said "peace be with you" and there was peace among them.
And then, as if to address any lingering doubt that there might have been after that He shows them His hands and His side to visually and tangibly confirm for them that standing right there among them in their midst, was the risen Lord Jesus, the risen Savior. He is no ghost, He is no apparition, and He is certainly not a mere metaphor, He is the risen and victorious Messiah and thanks be to God He does not leave them in their fear, doubt, and confusion.
He is fulfilling the promise that He made to them before going to the cross; the promise that He will turn their grief into joy. And it says that they rejoiced after seeing the marks in His hands and on His side. And then He repeats His declaration of peace and lets them know that He now sends them as the Father sent Him. This is their moment of commissioning, and then He gives them everything that they will need to fulfill this commissioning by breathing the Holy Sprit on them.
They had been freed from the clutches of sin and now the Holy Spirit has been poured upon them. This is the same Holy Spirit who was poured upon you in the fulfillment of the prayer that was made over you at your baptism, after you also had been welcomed into the family of God and raised up in new life. Indeed in baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon you and fills you with the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and fills you with the same joy that can only come with being in the presence of the risen Lord Jesus.
You are given the same commissioning that those disciples have been given. Jesus sums up their commissioning, and yours by bestowing upon His disciples, then and now, the authority to forgive and retain sins. And that authority comes not from you, but from God’s Word. It’s the same authority that Jesus displayed when He said "Peace be with you." But Jesus knew that for the disciples to truly have peace, they had to believe that He was bringing them peace and so He showed them that, when He verified for them that He is indeed the risen Messiah by showing them the wounds from His crucifixion and then breathing the Holy Spirit upon them.
Now, in God’s Word you have the authority not to pray for your neighbor’s forgiveness, not request it, but to declare it to them. But just as it was necessary for Jesus to show the disciples that He was risen and thus that He does bring them peace, you are called to show your neighbor that they are forgiven by loving them, not just as yourself but as Christ has loved you.
The authority to forgive sins is not simply about being an arbiter of right and wrong, it is about continuing the revelation of God in Christ Jesus. To have sin is to be blind to that revelation. In John 3:19 Jesus tells you that light has come into the world but that men love the darkness instead of the light. Forgiveness of sin is about revealing the risen Lord Jesus to your neighbor and allowing the Holy Spirit, through you to reach out to your neighbor, and bring them out of that darkness and into the light of forgiveness of sin through Christ Jesus.
This is the darkness that Thomas was trapped in as he entered the story in today’s lesson. The disciples tell Thomas that they have seen the risen Lord. But Thomas refuses to believe without proof. He demands that he be given the same tangible proof that all the other disciples were given; the opportunity to see and touch the marks of the crucifixion. And when Jesus appears to Thomas and declares peace to him and allows Thomas to touch the marks of the crucifixion, he can only do one thing, confess Jesus as Lord when Thomas says "My Lord and my God."
And lest you think that Jesus has forgotten about you and your need to daily experience the revelation of the risen Lord Jesus, He promises in today’s lesson "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." This is not a conditional statement, it’s another declaration, it’s a promise. Jesus is promising that He will continue to be revealed to those who don’t have the advantage of seeing the physical appearance of the risen Christ, as the disciples did. He reveals Himself in the proclaimed Word; the very Word being proclaimed to you right now. He reveals Himself through His supper which you will come forward and partake in just a few minutes, and through your fellowship with each other the risen Lord Jesus is revealed.
Daily He reveals Himself to you and confirms for you that you have been rescued from the darkness of sin and confusion and brought into the light of forgiveness and the risen Lord Jesus; your Lord and your God.
Amen

Sermon-Sunday-April 8, 2007

Easter Sunday
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Today is Easter Sunday and that is good news. Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and that is definitely good news. We have made it through the 40 days of Lent. We have made it through the darkness and despair of Holy Week. The stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty and Christ Jesus has been resurrected, and sin, death, and the devil have been defeated all for you.
Today we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s work that began way back in the garden of Eden at the fall of man. God put the wheels in motion after Adam and Eve partook in the forbidden fruit and brought sin into the world. God could not stand the thought of leaving His people, you, in the clutches of sin, death, and the devil. So rather than leave you to be banished into the darkness of hell He opts to send a light in the darkness of a world plagued by sin; that light comes in the form of His Son Christ Jesus your Lord.
He sends one who brings redemption to a condemned humanity, forgiveness to sinners, and new-life to a world condemned to death. In Isaiah we read that God promises that He is at work creating a new heaven and a new earth. He promises that the former things will not be remembered. He promises He will not remember your iniquities. He will not remember your weakness and how you give in to temptation. He will not remember the ashes and the blunders of your past. And He does all of this for you.
Today as you once again ponder upon the empty tomb you see the fulfillment of this promise made to you. You see the fulfillment of God’s promise to forget the former things, and to forget your iniquities and weakness. You see the very defeat of sin, death and the devil. You see the fulfillment of the promise that we read in our lesson from Acts for today; "…that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name." It is in His name; the name of Christ Jesus your Lord that you find forgiveness of sins, redemption and eternal life.
In 2nd Corinthians we read "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!"
In Christ Jesus you indeed are a new creation and He promises that through the Holy Spirit you are continually renewed. From John 14 we read where Jesus promises that the Father will send another, an Advocate to be with you forever, of whom Jesus says "This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you."
Jesus is of course speaking of the Holy Spirit here; the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies you through the Gospel, and through the sacraments and through fellowship with each other. He is speaking of the same Holy Spirit through whom, you were claimed by Christ as His word of promise and forgiveness was proclaimed over you at your baptism.
So in light of all of this, in light of all that you know about this day and all that was accomplished on this day, in light of the promise fulfilled, in light of the knowledge that you have regarding the defeat of sin, death, and the devil for you, in light of your awareness of the claim by Christ that was made on you at your baptism; as you once again ponder into the empty tomb, allow me to ask the same question of you that those two men in dazzling white clothes asked of Mary Magdalene and all those other women in today’s Gospel lesson, as they also pondered upon the empty tomb, and that question is "Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
You wallow and lament over that which might make it seem at times like your life is unfair. You seek fulfillment in material wealth, and relief from the burdens and the stresses of everyday life in the temporary securities of this world.
You do it all the time. When you feel like life is just throwing too much at you, you start to think your life is not that great, maybe you even start to think that life your sucks. So you decide that you have to do something to try to change this. When the stresses and the burdens become too much you decide to try to make things better by drowning your sorrows in things that are only temporary and ultimately only leave you feeling empty.
And so you find yourself trying to make your life better through indulgence in things of the world; be it alcohol, or gambling, or overeating, or even taking on too much in your work. Maybe you find yourself making a quick trip to Williston or Minot so you can indulge in some shopping at the Super Wal-Mart or the Dakota Square shopping mall. In the end all of this just leaves you feeling empty. It leaves you feeling empty because when you do this you are using things of the world to try to fill that which can only be filled by faith in Christ Jesus. In the end, you end up looking for the living among the dead.
But alas you have a God who does not leave you among the dead. You have a God who sends His Son to die for you and become a curse for you on the cross and three days later He walks out of the tomb victorious and reveals Himself to be the only true source of new and eternal life that there is.
You have a God who, as the psalmist writes, knit you in your mother’s womb, and beheld your unformed substance, and wrote all the days that were formed for you when none of them yet had existed. Because you see, it was you who God had in mind when He began the work that He began way back in the garden of Eden. It was you who God had in mind as He rescued His people Israel from slavery in Egypt. It was you who God had in mind as He provided military victory for His people through the leadership of King David. It was you who God had in mind as He spoke a message of hope and promise to His people through the prophets.
And it was you who God had in mind as His Son suffered and died on the cross for your sins. And it was you who Christ Jesus had on His mind as He walked victoriously out of the tomb. And today it is still you who He has in mind as He comes to you in His Word and in the sacraments and in fellowship with each other.
He does not leave you in the futility and the emptiness of a -sinful and empty world. In John 14 Jesus says "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world."
Stop looking for the living among the dead. The stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty. The world, sin, death, and the devil have been defeated and your Savior Christ Jesus is breaking through to rescue you. He is coming to you right now proclaiming your forgiveness and redemption; the forgiveness and redemption you will literally be able to taste and touch in a few minutes when you come forward for the Lord's Supper. And He will continue to come to you in fellowship with each other. He’s been doing it all along, He’s not going to stop now. May the peace which surpasses all understanding be with you always.
Amen

Sermon-Thursday, April 5, 2007

Maundy Thursday
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So once again, it’s Maundy Thursday. And as is usually the case on Maundy Thursday the Gospel lesson is the story of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. So what is this about? What is Jesus doing in this story? What is God up to here?
The tendency with this story is to turn it into Jesus setting an example for the disciples, and for us. And indeed in verse 15 from this chapter, Jesus says to the disciples that by washing their feet, He has set an example for them. And in the final verses from tonight’s lesson you can see an extension of this idea when Jesus gives His great command that we are to love one another, just as Jesus loved us, and that by this everyone will know that we are Jesus’ disciples; that we have love for one another.
So Jesus does indeed appear to be setting an example of humble service and devotion to each other, but I also believe that there is more going on here than an example being set. Almost immediately we see a reference to the devil and that the devil had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. So right there, you can see that in the midst of this powerful demonstration of humble love and service, there is a battle between good and evil going on.
Beyond setting an example, Jesus is revealing something about how the devil is going to be defeated; not through military might, not through your good works or acts of piety, but only through the selfless act of sacrifice of the sinless Son of God; Christ Jesus.
Indeed the appearance of Judas in this story reminds you that the devil is there in the midst of this powerful moment of intimacy between Jesus and His disciples. This devil who put it into the heart and mind of Judas to betray Jesus is the same devil who daily puts it into your heart and mind to betray Jesus as he casts his slings and arrows of doubt, sin, pride, and shame at you. It is the same devil who daily tempts you to think of yourself before thinking of your neighbor, and you once again fail to follow this example that Jesus set for you with this act of humble service and devotion.
But John reminds you in tonight’s lesson that Jesus does not allow the presence of the devil and all of his deceitfulness and temptation to stop Him. As it says, Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands. Jesus knew that everything that was taking place had been put into motion by His Father. He knew that He had come from the Father and that He was going to the Father and that the presence of the devil would not derail that in any way, shape or form.
You can see His determination and devotion to the path of victory that has been laid out for Him not because He assumes the role of great military leader or great politician, but because He assumes the role of servant. In tonight’s lesson, He assumes the role of servant by tying a towel around Himself and filling this basin with water and beginning to wash the feet of His disciples. As it says in Matthew 20, the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve.
And as Jesus comes to wash the feet of Peter you can see that, like you, even Peter fails to grasp just what it means to be cleansed by Christ. At first, of course Peter fails to understand that Jesus must assume the role of servant in order to continue on the path that has been laid out for Him, when Peter says that Jesus will never wash his feet.
Jesus then tells Peter that unless He washes Peter that Peter will have no share with Him. And then Peter, showing confusion once again, insists that Jesus wash not just his feet but his hands and his head also.
Peter’s confusion is your confusion. In the waters of baptism you also experience a cleansing in Christ. But in the same way that Peter got confused, you get confused. Like Peter you think the power of baptism comes in the ritual itself or in how much or how little water is used. In doing this you reduce baptism to just that; a ritual, as opposed to the moment of being welcomed into the family of God and being claimed by Christ that it really is.
For as you are reminded in the catechism, "Baptism is not simply plain water." " Instead it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s Word." " Baptism brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the Word and promise of God declare." "For without the Word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is a grace-filled water of life and a ‘bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.’(Titus 3:5-8)"
What Peter failed to understand was that the impact of that act of servanthood was not in the water that was being used to wash the feet of Peter, but in who was doing it; Christ Jesus coming not to be served but to serve.
And we know that Jesus is pointing to something that is still to come. We know that Jesus did not leave Peter in His sin and confusion. Jesus would continue on His path and He would go where He told His disciples they could not come. He would go and become a curse for them and for us, and in so doing defeat sin, death, and the devil for you.
Jesus tells Peter that he (Peter) does not know now what Jesus is doing but later he will understand. Jesus is promising Peter that what is about to take place must take place, but that He (Jesus) will come back and the veil of mystery and confusion will begin to be lifted from Peter’s eyes. Jesus is of course pointing to the cross, the empty tomb, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
And He doesn’t leave you in your sin and confusion either. He continues to come to you in Word and sacrament and fellowship with other believers. In His supper He continues to bring His grace and forgiveness to you in a tangible and touchable form. And He continues to cleanse you with His Word as it says in John 15:3 You are clean because of the Word that Christ Jesus has spoken to you. And that Word is you are His and you are forgiven.
In taking on the role of servant Jesus does indeed set an example of servanthood to each other that He calls you to try to follow. But He also knows that, in sin, you will fall short of this example every day. So out of unconditional love and grace, He takes on the role of servant and becomes a curse for you on the cross, and defeats the very same sin, death and the devil that you struggle with everyday. You struggle with it, but you know that because of the servanthood of your Savior; sin, death, and the devil have been defeated.
In the footwashing you see Jesus pointing to the future of a new reality; the future that will take Him to the cross where He shed the blood that frees you. And like the Israelites that you read about in our Old Testament lesson from Exodus who were passed over from a plague of destruction, because their houses were marked with the blood of the lamb, you are passed over and saved from sin, death and the devil as you have been marked with the righteous blood of the lamb of God; Christ Jesus.
In the footwashing Jesus is pointing to the new reality that breaks all barriers and gives you a share with Jesus and frees you to be servants to each other and thus join the Israelites from tonight’s lesson from Exodus in their celebration of freedom and redemption, and you are made a part of the intimate fellowship that Jesus has with His Father.
Amen

Sermon-Sunday-March 25, 2007

Fifth Sunday in Lent
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We’re over halfway through the Lenten season. And in our Gospel lesson for today we find Jesus in the final stages of his journey to the cross. This passage contains one of those stories that just seems to scream out to the reader "Where are you in this?" Where are you in this unusual story of both extravagance and greed, and faithfulness and selfishness?? You are in there. Make no mistake about it, you are in there. But where?
The story opens with Jesus going to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, whom Jesus had just recently raised from the dead. Martha is mentioned briefly but her role in this should not be overlooked. It says that Martha served, meaning she served the meal for Jesus. In a similar account of a similar story in Luke it says that Martha was distracted by all the preparations that she had to do.
You are right there in this part of the story. When you get so caught up in trying to put on a good show for Jesus, so you can make yourself look good, like a good pious Christian, like Martha you allow yourself to become distracted by what you see as obligations. This leads to you putting on heirs rather than displaying true devotion and faithfulness.
Then we see Mary, who performs this extravagant act of love, devotion, and faithfulness to her Lord. Are you there? Are you in this part of the story? Maybe. But we’ll come back to her.
There is someone else who we need to talk about. Judas enters into this story. You don’t really like to talk about Judas. When Judas enters the story, you can generally be fairly certain that something connected to betrayal is about to happen, and you don’t like talking about Judas’ betrayal.
Or maybe you do like to talk about Judas’ betrayal. Maybe you like to talk about Judas because you have convinced yourself that there is absolutely no Judas in you. You think that you wouldn’t be like Judas and steal from the common purse, as it says He often did in today’s Gospel lesson.
There is no way to really know whether you would actually steal from the common purse in the situation that Judas was in. But Jesus calls you to give up everything you have for Him. You are told that God will provide for all your needs and contentment. But you convince yourselves that contentment is not limited to food and clothing. You convince yourselves that contentment comes from the abundance of your possessions. And you lose sight of just how abundant your possessions are.
You find comfort in the security of a good job or a steady income or a good market, but all it takes is one family crisis or a corporate takeover or stock-market crash to wipe all of that security away. All of those things that provide temporal security have good places in your lives, but they don’t give you the eternal hope that you need. And the truth is every day when you cling to the temporary hope of a good job or steady income or a good market then you once again fail to fulfill your calling to give away all your possessions, and you thus show the same greed and misplaced trust that Judas showed. Judas’ betrayal and greed is your betrayal and greed.
But in the midst of Judas’ greed and unfaithfulness and Martha’s distraction and putting on heirs you can see something else happening. You can see the Word breaking through all of this in the extravagant act of faithfulness and devotion that you see in Mary. You can see that the redeeming work of God in Christ Jesus will not be slowed down or contained by greed, or misplaced trust. You can see that the Word has already taken hold of this humble servant and has brought forth a faithfulness that cannot be contained.
In the actions of Mary and Judas you can see Jesus being prepared for His eventual burial. But with Judas it comes through betrayal and greed; his, mine, and yours. But with Mary it comes in the form of a humble servant who has completely lost hope in a world crippled by sin, poverty, greed, death, and despair. Everything that she once placed all her hopes in has been completely done away with, and she is left with no choice but to cling to the promise and hope of the one who raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, the Word of God incarnate Christ Jesus.
In the Gospel lesson, Jesus’ response to Judas’ inappropriate condemnation of Mary’s extravagant use of the perfume is translated in a way that has Jesus telling Judas that Mary bought the perfume for the day of Jesus’ burial. I don’t really like that translation, and when you look to the Greek you can see that the phrase "…she bought it so that…" is not actually there in the original manuscripts. A more appropriate translation would be "It was intended…"
Mary is displaying a truly inspiring degree of faithfulness and devotion here to be sure. But make no mistake about it, this is not about Mary. This is about the hope and promise that has taken hold of Mary in Christ Jesus. It appears that Mary knows that her time with Jesus is limited, and she wants to cling to His gracious presence as long as she can. Whether she knows all of the details concerning what is in store for Jesus is not relevant. She sees something in Christ Jesus that none of these other people seem to see.
What we see in Mary is not just a great act of faithfulness and devotion, but the emergence of a new reality, hope in the midst of despair, new life in the midst of death, and a foretaste of the feast to come. And this Word that has taken hold of Mary is the same Word that takes hold of you in baptism. It’s the same Word that claims you as a child of God for eternity, marked with the cross of Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit
And for you the time for the feast of righteousness that Mary’s extravagant act of faithfulness foretold has come. It’s the righteousness that Paul writes of in the lesson from Philippians for today where Paul refers to a righteousness from God based on faith; faith in the One who laid down His life for you and frees you from your attempts to attain righteousness through the law. Through faith in Christ Jesus you are found by God to be righteous through the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
And you have now been freed to regard everything that you once placed your faith in; such as wealth, comfort, possessions, or even the appearance of piety, as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord. And you have been called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified to the same faith that took hold of Mary.
And you have been freed to now show that faithfulness through love and service to your neighbor. With the reckless way that she anointed Jesus for burial with that perfume, one could literally smell the faithfulness that had taken hold of Mary, as the fragrance of that perfume wafted throughout that room. You live in a culture that yearns for that fragrance of faith; the same faith that has taken hold of you and claimed you as a child of God just like Mary. And now you sit at the feet of the faithful One and He calls you to unleash that fragrance of faith on your neighbor, through proclamation of the Gospel, and faithful deeds of love and service.
Amen