Brothers and Sisters, I am grateful for the chance to fellowship with you in the St Stephen’s LC pulpit on this of morning St. Patrick’s Day 2013. Although I admire and respect St. Patrick for his efforts as a missionary and bishop, I usually do not participate in St. Patrick’s Day parades or celebrations. Although I opt out of the celebratory practices associated with St. Patrick’s Day, I do celebrate my birthday in March. Every year like clockwork, I always find it a bit of an awkward thing to observe a birthday during the Lenten season. Lent consists of prayer, fasting and almsgiving while in my life, birthdays have generally consisted of karaoke, fatty food, and social gatherings with loved ones. On my birthday, I celebrate as much as I can all while still fasting and keeping my Lenten promises since nothing truly compares to Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, as trite as that may sound. Jesus Christ is unapologetically the center of our lives and Lent is the time for us to walk more closely with our Christ and even more importantly prepare our hearts for the Holy sacrifice, death, and resurrection that we continue to wrestle with and reflect on as the body of Christ. Today especially, our readings bring us a gospel story and timely psalm 126 meditation that brings us closer to our Lord and savior as we approach Holy Week and the crucifixion.
Brothers and sisters, in our gospel from the 12th chapter of John, Jesus begins to not only talk about but also prepare for his ultimate mission of dying on the cross. The cross, brothers and sister, is the focal point of our faith and lives today as the former symbol of suffering and shame. Jesus’ crucifixion stands out to us as the gateway to the Paschal Mystery that we still prepare for to this very day; but, back then when Jesus was sitting at that table in Bethany with Martha and Judas sitting around him worrying about money, crucifixion was the very last thought on any of the disciples’ mind. They were so happy to be around Jesus after he had raised Lazarus from the dead that they were eating and liming (as we Guyanese say) until Mary makes a move of God.
Brothers and Sisters, while the men sit and eat the food being served up by Martha, Mary catches the Holy Spirit and brings the most expensive and exquisite perfumed oil to Jesus feet. She breaks open that oil with the strength and insight of a true prayer warrior woman, and even uses her hair to anoint Jesus with this perfumed oil that fills the whole room, drawing attention to Jesus and the value of his presence. The price of that oil that Mary pours on Jesus’ body is so high that Judas denounces Mary’s action as a waste of money! In verse 5 of this gospel reading today, Judas cries ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ in other words: Why squander this expensive fragrant oil on lil’ ol’ Jesus?
After a statement like that, Brothers & sisters, it’s clear that Judas believes in the worth of this oil more than the worth of Jesus…and often brothers & sisters, what we believe is the most revealing thing about our lives and actions. While Judas believes in the value of this oil and obsesses over the kind of money that will lure him to betray our savior, Mary takes a leap of faith and believes in that moment how God is doing something awesome in Jesus and that Jesus was worthy to be praised, prayed for and anointed.
Mary wisely ignores that foolishness of Judas and keeps her heart focused on Jesus. She keeps up the faith that Jesus is more precious than any oil or perfume or money that any of them had ever seen or will see and she makes a move of God that actually sets Jesus to be ready for his greatest teaching & miracle of all.
Acknowledging Mary’s act as right and Holy in that moment, Jesus then reveals the breaking news that will change time and creation forever. In verses 7&8, he announces to Judas and all the people in the room and in the world: ‘Leave her alone. She bought the oil so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ in other words Jesus was not going to be with them for much longer to go to the cross.”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus proclaims his imminent death and also uplifts Mary’s holy foresight of setting him up for burial. In anointing Jesus with that oil, Mary actually prepares Jesus for the life-changing death and crucifixion that allows us to die to sin and rise again to new life with the resurrection that follows.
As Mary knew in the spirit, Jesus’ time was short and he was not to live as a man for long. As Mary knew then and we know now, the day of Jesus burial would be a time of weeping and a time of loss that caused people to realize Jesus’ true value once for all. Much more than any oil or perfume or money, Jesus is the precious lamb of God who suffered and then dies to take away all of the sin of the world and turn tears of sadness into tears of joy.
Our Psalm today sings out this very message of redemptive suffering that is possible in God’s plan of salvation when we likewise look at that last verse six of psalm 126: He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Though there is an appointed season for weeping and death and sadness, GOD surely appointed a time thereafter for Joy and a new state of life once the work of salvation reaches the time of completion. Jesus death was to be that kairos moment when the fulfillment of all of God’s promises was to be laid on the cross. The emotional sadness and mourning of the disciples is part of a larger set of bad feelings that all of us struggle to understand alongside the suffering and killing that God allowed.
But ladies, and gentleman, Jesus was never trying to change the color of our mood rings; but he was striving to change the quality and content of our lives. Jesus was willing to teach and journey with the disciples through all their human struggles and emotions -including sadness. Jesus even volunteered to experience death for each and every person on Earth so that we all could rise with him on Easter to new lives of peace and joy.
Jesus was indeed God’s thermostat to the world, re-setting a new standard of holiness and peace and joy that transcends temporary weeping. As God’s thermostat, Jesus sets a standard of peace & joy that lasts eternally in spite of the sad feelings brought on by the vicissitudes of circumstances. As Psalm 126 states, the seeds of salvation sown with weeping on the day of the crucifixion leads to the joyful reaping of all the saints of every time and every place. We have the right to live into that joy and peace today in spite of the transient changes in our life circumstances that tempt us to feel or believe otherwise. We are too blessed to behave like Judas who acts much more like a thermometer than a thermostat. Judas, was measuring the money and lets Mary’s anointing of Jesus bring him to a place of anger and greed as he measures the circumstances of his life rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to maintain peace in his spirit. If he was like Mary and relied on God’s thermostat to keep him in perfect peace, he would have reacted with joy at the revelation of how precious and short Jesus’ life was to the Glory of God. Brothers and sisters, we are to be a lot less like Judas and a lot more like Mary by keeping our minds and hearts fixed on Jesus until our own spirit is like a thermostat consistently set on the peace and joy that God promises.
As Isaiah 43:19 states God is “doing a new thing” in creation that we can watch Spring forth out of our hearts and lives as the Body of Christ on Earth. Like Mary, we can stop dwelling on things that we seem lose and instead keep our eyes and ears open for all the new things that God is doing and open ourselves to new opportunities to grow and show our spirits of joy and peace to others.
as children of God, our spiritual birthday is the day that Jesus died that we re-enact during our baptisms.
Jesus’ suffering and death remains redemptive since it is our window to life and life more abundantly in God and the community of saints..
Because of Jesus we can open our mouth and proclaim joyful songs of praise. Because of Jesus, we can open our new spiritual ears and let God’s word and the Holy Spirit of peace penetrate our hearts, minds and bodies.
Because of Jesus we can and WILL be a lot more like Mary and a lot less like Judas and God can help us to keep our spiritual eyes fixed on God as our source of divine knowledge and wisdom. Because of Jesus, we can do God’s will and fulfill the purposes of our lives and have power over sin, the world and evil that Jesus’ precious blood brought for us at Calvary.
Brothers and sisters, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us since Jesus has a value that far exceeds that of the most expensive of oils and he is worthy to be praised. Let us embrace the value of his death and resurrection in particular as the price paid for our spiritual thermostat set to peace and joy for all the days of our lives. Walk in God’s peace and joy throughout the rest of this Lenten season and always and forever more.
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
AMEN
msparris.com 