Mary’s Extravagant Gift
Rev. Ann Beaty
Fellowship Hall 11:00 Service
March 21, 2010
Text: John 12
The 12th chapter in John’s gospel is where the end really begins for Jesus. He’s been traveling with the disciples and now he is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. It is six days before the Passover.
Next week we will come back and wave palm branches to celebrate his arrival into Jerusalem. We will then turn our thoughts from celebration to reflection and grief to joy and hope as we journey with Jesus through the course of holy week – through Maundy Thursday and the last supper with the disciples to Good Friday and the story of his trial and crucifixion, and then finally to Easter Sunday where we celebrate the joy of the resurrection and the true meaning of our faith as Christians.
But, we are not there yet. Today, Jesus is still on his way to Jerusalem and he has stopped at a home in Bethany – to be with his old friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Just days before, Jesus had worked a miracle at their house. He had been across the river when the sisters' urgent message reached him. "Lord," it read, "he whom you love is ill." So he had come to them, but Lazarus was already dead, so dead that Jesus stood in front of his tomb and wept. But, then he did a miraculous thing. He scared death away for all to see. Lazarus came stumbling out from his tomb, trailing his shroud behind him.
The religious authorities have been watching Jesus closely for some time now, but by raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus has become even more of a threat in the eyes of those who fear his power and want him dead.
But, now, as he moves closer to Jerusalem, Jesus comes back to Bethany to be with his friends. It’s possible that Jesus knows this is one last night to be with those who love and cherish him before he moves on to Jerusalem to face those who seek his life.
Martha, always the host, serves Jesus and the guests who are there. Supper is on the table and they all sit down to eat. Mary leaves the table and comes back holding a clay jar in her hands. Without a word, she kneels at Jesus' feet and opens the jar. The smell of the “nard” fills the room. As I understand it, the smell would have been strong – similar to the scent of mint and ginseng.
Then, as everyone in the room watches her, she does four remarkable things in a row. First she loosens her hair in a room full of men, which an honorable woman never does. Then she pours perfume on Jesus' feet, which is also not done. The head, maybe--people did that to kings--but not the feet. Then she touches him--a single woman rubbing a single man's feet--also not done, not even among friends.
Then she wipes the perfume off with her hair--totally inexplicable--the bizarre end to an all around bizarre act.
Most of us, when we read this story, are so moved by what is clearly an act of love and devotion of Mary for her friend and Lord, that we overlook its strangeness. The point is that she loved him and served him.
This story is also in Matthew and Mark, but only in John's version of the story does the woman have a name-Mary--and a relationship with Jesus--not a stranger, not a notorious sinner, but his long-time friend--which makes her act all the more peculiar. He already knows she loves him. He loves her too. So why this public demonstration that would defy what would have been acceptable in that setting? It's extravagant. It's excessive. She's gone overboard, as Judas is quick to note.
"Why wasn't this perfume sold for a whole lot of money and given to the poor?" That's what Judas wants to know, but Jesus brushes him aside.
"Leave her alone," he says. "She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me"--which is
about as odd a thing for Jesus to say as what Mary did.
Here is the greatest advocate of the poor that exists, always putting their needs ahead of his, suddenly reversing course. Leave her alone. Leave me alone. Just this once, let her look after me, because my time is running out.
In this act, Mary has demonstrated, in her own way, what Jesus’ life and relationship was meant to be in the world – a gift that is extravagant, extraordinary, excessive, and one that comes from a place of heart –a gift of pure love and devotion in gratitude for relationship.
So, out of love and gratitude, Mary rubbed his feet with perfume so precious that its sale might have fed a poor family for a year. In the word of preacher Barbara Brown Taylor, “Mary knows there will be nothing economical about this man's death, just as there has been nothing economical about his life. In him, the extravagance of God's love is made flesh. In him, the excessiveness of God's mercy is made manifest.”
Whatever Mary thought about what she did, and whatever anyone else in the room thought about it, it seems to me that Jesus took it as a message from God that he was being given a gift - A gift in the form of an act of significant love and devotion. Jesus responded in the only appropriate way he could to such love – he just soaked it in and accepted it.
Have you ever been given a gift – an extraordinary, excessive, extravagant gift that is so unexpected that all you can do is soak it in and accept it?
I actually heard a story just this week that is a perfect example of this. A friend of mine has a young adult daughter who is newly married with a baby. In order to make this family life work, the couple had to make some financial sacrifices in their family. When the baby came, they sold one of their cars to lessen the bills and have been working it out between them with their one car that was appropriate for a car seat.
They have worked out this elaborate plan so that each day, the husband takes the wife to work and then takes the baby to day care before he goes to work. Then, after work, she gets a ride to where he is and picks up the car to go get the baby and then they work it out again for her to pick him up when he is finished.
On Monday of this week, there was a knock on their front door. My friends daughter went to the door and a woman she didn’t know was outside with an envelope for her with her name on the front of it. She handed it to her and left before offering any explanation. When the young wife opened the envelope there was a car key inside, $700 in cash, and a note about someone to contact the next day to get the title to a car transferred into her name. A note inside told her to go outside and look to see the car. She went outside and sure enough – there was a well-kept, used Ford Taurus sitting in front of her house.
She called her mother (my friend) in tears. She was just sure her mother had something to do with it or would know who did, but she did not. My friend just said, “Honey… it’s a gift from God. Just accept it and then sometime – you’ll have the opportunity to pay it forward to someone else.”
Did God pluck the car down in the driveway with $700 for insurance and a name to call for the title? No… but knowing this family, it was likely someone who was moved by pure love and devotion in their own faith life, to provide an act of extravagant, excessive, free gift – and one that was really needed and is appreciated.
Now, that’s a great story! BUT… is extravagant giving always about offering something expensive? Many of us will never be able to spend a lot of money doing something like giving away a car to someone.
No… it’s about sacrifice…whatever that means for you and for me. It’s about knowing the extravagant love of Jesus so deeply in our hearts that we can’t help but share that love with others in ways that touch them and might even surprise them.
When I was on my sabbatical from the church a couple of years ago, I was gone for 4 ½ months. That is approximately 135 days. When I returned to work, a woman in the church, who had told me she would be praying for me while I was gone, came to me with an almost completely used up candle. (show size)
She told me that she lit the candle every day – every day! – during her prayer time while I was on my sabbatical to remember me and to pray for my rest and renewal. I was blown away – it was an extravagant, extraordinary gift. The candle probably cost $20.00, but the price of what she did in prayer for me? – unlimited.
When we’re given a gift like that, I think God wants us to accept it – take in the magnitude of the act of love that has been done for us, and then when it seems right – pay it forward.
Some of you probably saw the movie with that title a few years ago. It’s a great story of how one young boy from a school assignment starts a whole movement of “paying it forward” – giving a gift and asking that the only thing in return is that you do something good for someone else. His action changes his mother, his teacher, his friends, strangers, and then a whole community and beyond into the world. In fact, as I think about it, there are many parallels is his story to Jesus’ story – a great movie to watch in Lent – Pay It Forward.
That gift of prayer that was given to me in the candle, well- I’m paying it forward right now in a particular way myself. But, I’m not going to tell you what it is and spoil the surprise. And, it isn’t about telling you anyway. I make mention of it only because I KNOW it is because of the gift that was done for me with the candle that I even got the inclination or idea to do what I’m doing now for someone else.
As we continue our Lenten journey, moving now closer to Holy Week, may we also move closer to the spirit of Mary’s extravagant, loving act of anointing Jesus. May we, like Mary live out our faith ever grateful for what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
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