March 21, 2010

John 12: 1-8; Philippians 3: 4-14
“Smell The Sweet Aroma Of God’s Love Here?“

Today’s lesson is the last event before Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time on the day we now call Palm Sunday.

Bethany is a small community less than two miles and within easy walking distance of Jerusalem. His raising Lazarus from the dead in Bethany not too long ago had become the final straw for the Judean authorities. After that, they began plotting his death because they were afraid of what the Romans would do to the Temple and their nation because of him.

It is a dangerous time for Jesus who has stayed outside Jerusalem in Ephraim in the region near the wilderness. But as the Passover Festival draws near, Jesus heads to Jerusalem for the final revelation of God's glory, stopping off in Bethany, which is near by, to see his friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.

When he does, the Judean authorities (the chief priests) find out and, John says, they begin plotting Jesus’ arrest and his eventual death, as well as that of his close friend Lazarus. There is a sense that Jesus knows what’s going on and the danger he and his friend are in. Yet he is not deterred.

This is the setting and context that helps us to understand, I think, the significance of Mary's anointing of Jesus' feet at this particular moment in time. Smell the sweet aroma?

It was a normal custom of hospitality in the homes of influential leaders for the host to have his slaves wash the feet of guests. But this is entirely different - this is Mary, one of the hosts. She performs this act of hospitality herself; what she does is not at all customary; it is almost scandalous in the way it was done; it seems recklessly extravagant and costly; and it is so different and strange, it makes those looking on wonder, “What in the world is going on here?” Like when you know something important is about to happen, but you are not sure what. At any rate, Mary’s action is a statement that something very important is about to take place. It seems to have been a sign of sorts marking an end and a new beginning.

Paul, in Philippians, speaks about becoming “like Christ,” of “knowing Christ,” and of “knowing the power of the resurrection.” Paul considers this his goal and the goal of all Christians. And in pressing on toward that goal, and “for the prize,” there are things that must be left behind. Paul doesn’t say what those things are but he does say, “…this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (13-14)

To be like Christ Paul knew he would need to end what he had been in order to begin what he was now to do, which is the very same thing that happens in Jesus’ life at this moment in Bethany at the house of his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He enters their house, from a ministry of teaching and healing, and will leave, as Paul wrote about himself, “straining forward to what lies ahead… the heavenly call of God.”

Some have suggested it is significant when John points out this event takes place six days before the Passover, a period of time which hints of the creation. God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh. If the Passover/Last Supper is the culmination of the New Creation of Jesus, then what is happening in Bethany could very well be the lead in to a this new, creative “week” of shadow, darkness and light, a week where everything changes.

Mary represents a family whose very life has been restored and for which there is nothing too costly to give in honoring their Lord. She has poured out her whole bottle of perfume without thinking twice, knowing it is only a small thing compared to the love of God she sees in Jesus. And as she does, the sweet aroma and fragrance of new life fills the house. Mary, grateful for new life, understands. Jesus is there, and so, a sweet smell fills the house.

By anointing him now, as opposed to after he’s been put to death, Mary is essentially giving the very best she has (literally, the most expensive thing she owns) to the living Jesus. The real waste would have been to honor and gave her expensive gift to the dead Jesus. Rather than give what she has in memoriam, she gives it in witness to the living, breathing, presence of Christ.

Her great act of devotion has a clear implication for the church today. There’s a danger that our churches become, as Barbara Brown Taylor says, “museums for Jesus, and that our existence will reflect more about his death than his life.” In The Preaching Life, she writes, “I cannot take my own ministry and the ministry of the whole church for granted. If we do not attend to God’s presence in our midst and bring all our gifts to serving that presence in the world, we may find ourselves selling tickets to a museum.” (p. 6)

If that is true, then what are we to do? Is it to devote our gifts, even the most precious, to serving Christ’s presence in the world? Otherwise our churches run the risk of becoming only museums. In other words, rather than devote our time, our attention, and our energy to merely preserving the memory of Jesus, in a building or things we can affix brass plates to, we are called to give the very best we’ve got to the living Christ. Mary’s extravagant act reminds us that an authentic commitment to Jesus will involve giving him the best we’ve got right now to continue his living ministry. Smell the sweet aroma of God’s love here?

It challenges us to let our life be centered on the living Christ in our midst, rather than only telling others about what he once did. It challenges us to respond wholeheartedly to God’s gift of love to everyone. Richard Rohr, who has written a lot about spiritual formation, says: “God does not love us because we are good. He loves us because God is good.” Then he says, “Why can’t we surrender to that?” Smell the sweet aroma of God’s love here?

Mary was responding to God’s love and acceptance she felt in the person of Jesus. For her, it was not the time to talk budgets, but to value the person of Jesus Christ; not a time to be fearful but a time to rejoice. Unlike Judas, and even the other disciples, who were so good, so devout, and so busy being his ‘disciples,’ that they missed the point, she simply breaks the perfume container open and generously spreads its contents over Jesus’ feet. Smell the sweet aroma of God’s love here?

When Christ is everything to us, the future is big. It’s risky. It’s creative. It’s fulfilling. It’s sweet. What lies ahead is no longer scary. Our vision is clear. The goal is within reach. And, the prize is ours. Smell the sweet aroma of God’s love here?