Last week we heard about the prodigal son, the lost son > our prodigal God, the prodigal love of our God that reaches us in our shame and in our pride, who calls us to go on a journey with him of God-discovery and God-conformity (see ‘Prodigal Love,’ March 30).
Today our gospel reading follows on from this, and there are some other brilliant verses from our other texts today that help us understand what is to discover God and be conformed into Christ’s image.
But first, a question for you:
What is the most expensive thing you own?
Something you can hold in your hands, something like this expensive perfume Mary has, what is that for you?
Something that’s important to you, something you would make sure you grab if you ever have to evacuate your house during a major weather event, maybe something you’ve insured because it is so special and precious to you!
For me, maybe for a lot of people, the possession I would make sure I have is my phone > access to money, internet, ID, other people, and these things are quite expensive these days as we pay them off month by month.
Next question:
Could you ever bring yourself to give away that most-important possession?
I would find it very difficult to give away my phone, it has a lot of important stuff on there, gives me access to a lot of important things!
This brings us to our passage today > Mary has a very expensive item, a perfume – as we hear later from Judas it’s worth a whole year’s wages – and she pours it out, she pours it out on Jesus. She doesn’t spray it on herself like we would with our perfumes or fragrances, she doesn’t drip it sparingly so she can still have some left over, she POURS IT OUT on Jesus feet, as they share a community meal together.
Why would she do that?
Isn’t that a waste? Sure Jesus is important but why would you pour out all your perfume on his feet, not his head or his body but his feet > not a place perfume usually goes… And there is so much of it she has to wipe it up with her own hair!
What Jesus says after this happens is the key here, as well as the pointers we get from some of the other passages we’ve heard today.
So what does Jesus say in response to this generous, slightly messy act that’s just happened? You can imagine the nice smell filling the room as well, and this hasn’t happened in private – it’s for everyone there to see!
He says this: ‘Leave her alone.’ Then he says this: ‘‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
What does that mean??
He defends her actions in front of the group, he doesn’t go along with peer pressure and join Judas in his dismissal or her reckless act (remember the word prodigal from last week!). He goes against the grain, he stands up for Mary, he calls out those who would have self-interest and greed dictating their words and actions.
Then it gets a bit weird, where he says the perfume was for the day of my burial. Since when is Jesus getting buried? Why is he talking like this? Matthew’s gospel has this event but with a few differences: head not feet, prepare me for burial, bit easier to follow there.
He speaks as one who knows what’s going to happen, who knows the future. Like a prophet, but he’s not talking about someone else – he’s talking about what’s going to happen to him!
And then he goes back to what Judas said about selling the perfume and giving the money to the poor – out of the very same money bag he would help himself to. Jesus says this: “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
So they’re hearing about Jesus’ burial, and that he won’t always be around… Probably a bit concerning for the people in the room! Where is he going, why is he going, what does he mean by burial… Plenty of questions they would have had, plenty for us to consider.
There are three things we can pull out of this as key takeaways for today:
- Jesus always goes for humility over pride: We see this time and again through the bible, humility is always key. It’s not our human strength or power or intelligence or hard work that gives us access to Jesus, it’s his coming to meet us in our weakness. Mary humbles herself in this scene doesn’t she, she pours out this perfume on Jesus and wipes it up – not with a towel but with her own hair! This is a humble act, she makes herself low so Jesus can be lifted up. It’s the lowest you can go really isn’t it, wiping someone’s feet with your own hair – and of course we know Jesus also goes low when he washes the disciples feet at the Last Supper. Mary’s not only acting in humility here, she’s also acting in great generosity. She’s not planning when she can next wear this expensive perfume herself, she’s freely giving it away. We can think of this in our giving, when we give financially or we give of our time and energy, all of these things we have are from God, as we belong to him so do the things we have, and so Mary shows us here an amazing example of how to live as God’s people > not keeping things for ourselves but giving freely and generously. This is an act of praise and worship too, an act of humble devotion to her Lord and Saviour. And Jesus defends her action, because this is the example for us to follow > not the self-interested example of Judas but the self-less example of Mary.
- Jesus is king, but not the sort of king we expect: He’s a king who does more and who does less than we would expect! He’s operating on a different level. For example: he’s not holding huge banquets in some luxurious palace, he’s hanging out with his mates in their home. He meets them where they are, he meets us where we are. Amazing he would do that for us.
And he’s also just raised Mary’s brother Lazarus from the dead. We need to stop there for a minute – he has raised someone from death to life. That’s not normal for a king to be doing, a king is probably more likely to take a life than to bring it back! And it also adds a layer to Mary’s act, she’s thankful too, her brother has come back from the dead – he’s there with them at this meal!
There’s yet another layer to Mary’s act here as well – this is an anointing, Jesus is being anointed as the Messiah, which means ‘anointed one.’ This part is like a typical Israelite king: Saul was anointed, David was anointed, this was how God identified his chosen king for his people. But Jesus isn’t anointed to then go and take the throne, he’s anointed to suffer and die on the cross. Bit different. He’s the only king like that.
- Our third point, Jesus is here now, don’t miss it! He says he will not always be with them here, we could take this a subtle way of saying ‘I am the Lord your God, you are in my presence!’ We easily forget how good our God is, how big our God is, how much love he has for us and how much important work he has for us to do. Jesus reminds the people in the room that he’s here now. So be with him, as he is with you. Do life with Jesus, receive him into your heart, become an ambassador for Christ. This is what Paul’s talking about in our second reading from Philippians (3:7): ‘But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.’ I’m all about him, not all about myself. What stuff and gifts and abilities I have I can give away, because I have Jesus. We see this in Mary’s act too.
But what about the idea of Jesus not being around anymore… He says he will not always be with them. Does that mean we don’t have Jesus? As we know he does go to heaven after he rises from the dead (he not only raises others but he is raised himself!), but there’s another detail > he gives his disciples, he gives us the Holy Spirit to be with us, to be our connection to him and our Father in heaven. We might not have Jesus physically with us, but we do have access to him and he has access to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. So he’s still here! He is here now, don’t miss it!
What are we missing if we don’t have Jesus?
Two more things from our other readings today: Psalm 126:5 says – ‘Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy,’ and Isaiah 43:19b says – ‘I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’
In Jesus our tears turn to joy. We’re going to hear about this very soon with Easter just around the corner now. We have a way in the wilderness, there are streams in the wasteland.
This is the amazing, life-changing, transformational reality we get to live in and share with others by faith in Jesus. You don’t want to miss this!
Lord we thank you for the generous love you pour out on us, that by your grace we are saved and have a place with you. We ask you would turn our tears into joy, you would lead us through the wilderness, you would make streams of living water flow in our wastelands. Thank you that you are always with us, not distant but close and connected to each of us. In your name we pray, Amen.
Tom Kitson 