sermon excerpts: "Love Stinks"

It’s an evening of odours in Bethany. Mary, Martha and the newly resurrected Lazarus are hosting Jesus and his friends for supper. The smell of fine perfumed ointment filled the air. It clings to the nostrils and mixes with the smell of food finely prepared and a meal well enjoyed.
And, me being one to ruin nice moments would notice the smell of feet, hot and stinky. I’m like Judas, practical and critical. Why wasn’t the money used for this perfume not used to help the poor?

...The gift she offers is an expensive one, ointment of the highest quality, rare and pricey. It cost a year’s wages, maybe it was used for her brother Lazarus, when he was pronounced dead and he was buried in a tomb for four days before Jesus brought him back.

Maybe she was so thankful to Jesus that she wanted to show her appreciation in the most extravagant way that she could. That by her actions, she proclaims how important he is to her, that she believed in him and what he was teaching and what he could do. It was all an eerie foreshadowing of what would happen at the Last Supper where Jesus would wash the feet of his disciples, when later he himself would be dead and buried, treated with burial spices, ointments, and herbs.

Poor Mary. She offers so much of herself in that moment, supremely vulnerable, only to have Judas very publicly criticize her. He was a prominent member of the disciples, being the treasurer and all, he carried a degree of respect and importance within the group. So regardless of his motives (and I have some sympathy for Judas, not for him being a thief, but how he’s portrayed in this story being on the wrong side of history), he has good deal of influence among those gathered in that house.

And he makes a valid point. Hasn’t Jesus always taught that we should tend to the poor and needy, that those who do not have enough should be our first priority, that we build up one another so that the world may be a better place? Didn’t Jesus preach about not being overwhelmed by the size of the world’s problem but imagining what could happen if we took action?

Yes, the poor will always be with us; that’s true enough. But the fact that Jesus is quoting this fact and admitting defeat disturbs me. But Judas wasn’t asking a genuine question, so maybe it didn’t deserve a genuine answer.

When Jesus states this fact of life, he is standing up for Mary. He is defending what she did. He takes her side in a time of great humiliation and guilt. All she was trying to do was a nice thing and got taken to task for it. Her heart was in the right place, putting her faith and belief into action.

There is always time to tackle the sorrows of the world; let’s take a moment to celebrate and remember our blessings, to value and cherish the people that are important to us. We all know how quickly and unfairly we can lose our health, our loved ones, our safety net.

...That very supper in Bethany had the lingering presence of death all around this story. In the previous chapter, Lazarus was just recently dead himself. And we know the coming story of betrayal, arrest, torture, and execution of Jesus the Christ. The smell of ointment intended for the grave hung in the air, a pleasant and expensive reminder of our mortality and the suffering we all face in times of loss and grief.
...
I suppose it’s kind of like Shelley and I taking our cruise for the 10-year anniversary. That’s an occasion that we’ll only have once. Sure all of those dollars could be better used on the kids, for an eventual down payment on a house or to the Mission and Service Fund or any other charity.

But we wanted to take the time to cherish one another and do something special that will strengthen memories and relationship. We choose to embrace life and love and the opportunity of the here and now. Judas might say that it’s another display of prodigal extravagance, reckless spending that makes no sense, outstripping the occasion. The Judases of the world can say what they want. It won’t change what is in the hearts of those of us who choose to live life, giving fully and freely in the spirit of what God has given to us.

Mary goes above and beyond what was accepted and acceptable with her offering. Jesus Christ went to the cross, with the smell of that evening’s ointment treasured in his memories. He suffered greatly for the sake of humanity, offering a gift that is excessively extravagant, going beyond what is appropriate and proportional. Such is the grace and generosity of the holy divine who loves us; surely the least we can do is respond with the same reckless abandon, heedless of the cost and embracing the life that enfolds and surrounds us.