For the fifth and last sermon of Lent, we hear the story of Mary pouring perfume on Mary's feet from
John 12:1-8 and we hear Isaiah's warning to the Israelites to not remember the former things for God is about to do something new in
Isaiah 43:16-21.
I again memorize the gospel in order to tell the story in a more meaningful way. I can't believe the responses that I have received. Many people are just shocked that I'm able to memorize the text, though this week I was a lot less accurate. But even more heartwarming are the people who have said that the gospel stories have become much more meaningful to them and it has opened the Bible to them.
But anyway onto the sermon:
Can you imagine the smell? How overwhelming must it have been to be in Lazarus’ home and smell the pound of perfume that was poured on Jesus’ feet? Many of us love the smell of various perfumes, but often just a dab or a quick spray is enough to leave that lingering scent. But yet most of us have been somewhere when someone had on too much perfume. Too much of a good thing can cause headaches, dizziness, sinus pressure. And it doesn’t matter if it is a teenage boy who sprayed the entire bottle of Axe Body Spray on him before his date, or the elder woman who accidentally put on too much perfume before going out to dinner with her family.
I’m one of those people who practically run through the perfume section of the department store or try to plot a way to get around it. So when I come across someone with too much perfume on I wonder if they bathed in it or I try to figure out who they are trying to impress, and sometimes I even wonder if their sense of smell works. I can’t say I have ever wondered if someone else bathed them in perfume as a sign of their extravagant love for them.
But that is exactly what Mary did. She took this bottle of expensive perfume and anointed Jesus’ feet with it and then wiped the excess away with her hair. This was a sign of love. Can you image the adoration that must have been in Mary’s eyes and she did such an act? Can you image how humble Jesus must have felt when Mary did this? I wonder what Mary felt like as she anointed Jesus’ feet; did she feel like she was doing one of the most important things in the world.
But yet Judas points out that Mary was wasteful. Now let’s cut Judas some slack about that side comment about him stealing what was in the common purse. Judas makes a very valid point. That perfume was worth something. It was worth a lot of something. If Judas’ estimate of the cost is correct, that perfume was worth a year’s labor for the average worker. That perfume could feed and house a family for a year.
$40 Thousand dollars is the current average income for US workers. So how would you feel if right now I bought a Chevy Tahoe just to crash it or blow it up? Or if I consumed a $40 thousand dollar meal? Or if I took out a bottle of perfume worth the same amount and dumped it on your feet? We might at first thing the explosion was really cool or enjoy the smell of the food or perfume but I would venture a guess that many of our minds would start to wander and think about the cost of such extravagance and what else could have been done with that money.
But yet Jesus does not agree with Judas, Jesus is not concerned about the cost. He tells Judas to leave her alone for she has bought the perfume for his burial. Jesus knows that his death is coming, that God is about to do something new through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And Mary, through her extravagant love of Jesus, has allowed God’s work, God’s love, to be demonstrated to others in that room.
In our Old Testament text today, Isaiah commands the Israelites who were exiled in Babylon: “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing.” Jesus is telling Judas not to worry about the poor for God is about to do something far greater than what could have been done with the sale of that perfume. No amount of money in the world would be able to free Judas and everyone of us from the power of sin and death, in fact often money leads to sins, but it is through God that a new covenant, a new promise of salvation, a new forgiveness of sins is about to happen.
So what does this mean for us? Are we suppose to just forget about the past, the last 100 year history of this congregation or the past 500 year history of the Lutheran church or the past 2000 years of Christianity or the past 3000 years since the words of Isaiah? No Isaiah’s words do not mean for us to forget the past, they mean for us to be open to the new things that are coming through God, through Christ, through the work of the Spirit in each and every one of us. If we are so focused on the past, and our mindset is stuck on what has been, how great we once were or that “we’ve never done it that way before” then we are not allowing the Spirit to work in us today in order to demonstrate our love for Christ to others.
If Mary only thought about how perfume is suppose to be used, because that is the way it has been done before, then Mary would have never shown such a demonstration of her love for Christ. If Martin Luther was only concerned about what had been done before, what was the status quo, in the Catholic Church then he would not have spoken out against things he considered spiritual injustices and the reformation would have never happened. If the founding members of this congregation were only concerned with how they had worshiped before at home in Aland, than this congregation would have never started, worship would have never been done in English and I would have never been called as a pastor solely because I am female.
But yet these things happened. They happened because we are a reforming church, they happened because God is constantly doing new things, they happened because people were moved by the Holy Spirit to show their love, their extravagance for Christ. God’s new things come from our extravagance. New missions support and social ministries are created because we have an extravagant need to care for others. Evangelism happens because we have an overwhelming desire to tell others about Christ. Worship happens because we have an extreme need to praise God from whom all blessings flow.
But when we stop being extravagant in our love, new missions and ministries dry up, no one new shows up and worship becomes the same boring ritual that happens week in and week out. God doesn’t want that to happen, God does not want us to become bored. God doesn’t want us to stop caring, stop being concerned about others. That is why God is constantly doing new things, that is why God is constantly showing us signs of God’s extravagant love for us. Water that is poured out upon us in baptism, bread and wine in the Lord’s supper, new life in young children, new seasons in the flowers, cool breezes and warm sunshine that we have enjoyed so much this week. Those plain, every day things are signs of God’s extravagant love for us. And those plain everyday things move us to ask: how can we show our extravagant love to God?
And I think that answer begins with showing God’s extravagant love to others, especially as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead this Easter. It begins by following Mary’s example of pouring out our love for Christ for all to see.
