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
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
posted by Steve at 12:35 PM
2 Comments:
I really didn't like this-it seemed to set up Mary as an example to be followed and Judas one to be avoided. I spent my time thinking about, "well, what about me?" It just seemed as though you were about to call for a decision and to come to the rail to receive the SPirit.
The second time I read this, I see that I was too hasty in my first read. I should have read it closer, because you did point to Christ alone. Perhaps if it was tightened up a bit and cut down in places, it would be easier to follow-or, of course, it is probably better heard than read.
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