John 12:1-8
March 28, 2004
5 Lent C
John 12:1-8
March 28, 2004
“Extravagant Love”
Dear Friends at Martha and Mary; Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
This morning as we hear the Gospel, we find ourselves at the home of our namesakes, Martha and Mary. Their brother Lazarus is there, too—alive and well, and at the table—having recently been raised from the dead. The occasion is a Thank-You dinner for Jesus, their dear friend and miracle-worker, who brought the stinking Lazarus out of the tomb, restoring him to the sweetness of life. None of us have ever given a dinner party for an occasion such as this.
Last week, in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, we learned about the extravagant love of a father who welcomed home a son who had squandered his inheritance. We learned that “prodigal” means to be wasteful, extravagant, even foolish in what is spent or given. We learned that the father in the parable was really the Prodigal—the one who gave extravagantly, even foolishly, in forgiving and welcoming his wayward son. Today’s Gospel is another story of perhaps foolish, but certainly extravagant love.
Six days before the Passover, that is, six days before the Last Supper, and the beginning of what would become known as the Passion of Christ, Jesus went to Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, to the home of his friends Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. The Gospels clearly show that their home was a sanctuary for him, and that they were close and intimate friends. I imagine that this dinner was given by Martha and Mary in gratitude, to show Jesus how thankful they were to have their brother back—alive again. But how do you give thanks for such an unheard of thing? Mary does the only thing she can think of—an extravagant act.
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.” Costly perfume. Well, how costly? I like Estee Lauder perfume. It costs $65 an ounce, and I always hope to get some for Christmas. It lasts me a year. Mary used a pound of perfume, which, as the text goes on to tell us, was worth three hundred denarii. A denarius, a Roman coin, was equal to a laborer’s daily wage, so the perfume that Mary used to anoint Jesus was worth almost a year’s income! That’s pretty extravagant, don’t you think?
In our time, we have CD’s, IRA’s, and pension plans as investments. At the time of Jesus, there were no banks, or investment brokers to help folks save for their future. Instead, they invested in tangible good—like costly perfume, which could be stashed away and sold when the family needed income. Hide it under the floorboards, or under the mattress, until you need it. That night at the dinner party, Mary cashed in her family’s retirement plan, to return just a portion of the extravagant love that Jesus had shown to her family to him. And as soon as the perfume is poured out, other things begin to pour out as well.
Mary, on behalf of Martha and Lazarus as well, pours out unbridled love and gratitude. It is a love that holds nothing back for the self, but gives all it has to give, to the giver of life. Let’s call this the Martha and Mary mindset.
Then there is the Judas mindset. In response to Mary’s gift, Judas says, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor?” Now, mind you, it wasn’t Judas’ perfume—it belonged to Martha and Mary’s family. And John, the gospel writer goes on to tell us that Judas didn’t say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and the treasurer of the Jesus Movement. What poured out of Judas’ heart was greed.
And what about Jesus? He could have kept silent, but defended Mary’s action, saying, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. I won’t always be here, you know, so show your gratitudenow, while you can.”
There is the Martha and Mary mindset, which overflows with gratitude. And there is the Judas mindset, which is stingy and self-centered. As we approach Holy Week, and prepare to experience the Passion of our Lord, please consider which mindset you think is most appropriate.
We are drawing ever nearer to Holy Week. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, also known as the Sunday of the Passion. Don’t say you haven’t been warned about what is coming. Today’s Gospel text, which tells of a dinner party given by Martha and Mary, foretells all that is to come.
It begins with a prediction of the coming resurrection of Jesus—Martha and Mary give a dinner party, not unlike the Last Supper, and Lazarus—who Jesus has raised from the dead, is at the table. In this, Jesus’ resurrection is foretold.
Mary anoints Jesus with a costly perfume, just as women of her time would have anointed the bodies of their beloved dead. Don’t say I didn’t warn you—in this Jesus death is foretold.
Judas objects to the extravagance of Mary’s gift—betraying his own selfishness. Don’t say I didn’t warn you—Judas will betray his Lord, just as you and I do every day of our lives.
But if you stay with the story, and follow it through from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday to Good Friday to the Resurrection of our Lord, you will arrive at what is the core and the ground of our faith—that is, that God loved us foolishly, extravagantly enough to give the life of his only Son for our sake.
Mary of Bethany, along with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus, having experienced the extravagant love of God, did not hold back in responding to that love—foolishly, perhaps, extravagantly for sure—modeling the love that God bears for all of us.
Martha and Mary welcomed Jesus and showered him with extravagant love as he prepared for his Passion. May we, the people of the Lutheran Church of Martha and Mary, be inspired to do the same. AMEN