“New Perfume”

Sermon delivered 21 March 2010 at Belleville Presbyterian Church.

Scriptural basis: Isaiah 43:16-21, John 12:1-8

            Spring has finally arrived!  The calendar tells us that yesterday afternoon, the vernal equinox occurred and we are now officially in the season of spring.  The weather may not be as glorious as it was last week and the week before (after all, we are in Michigan), but the promise of longer, warmer days is being fulfilled and with that promise comes all manner of sights and sounds and smells that usher in the new season.  All last week, people were out walking, riding bicycles and motorcycles, folks were cleaning up their yards and getting gardens ready to plant.  I saw high school athletes out running, and younger kids on the playgrounds.  One of our neighbors drained the gas out of his snowblower and was running the remaining fuel out of the carburetor – which may come back to haunt him, remember what I said about this being Michigan?  The crocus and daffodils are breaking through the soil and there’s a freshness to the air.  Soon there’ll be that after-rain aroma that smells so sweet to me.  It seems to me that we often discount our sense of smell; we don’t give it the credit it deserves for informing us of what’s going on around us.  Why is that?  Think of the aroma of freshly-baked bread, of food grilling on the barbeque, of grandma’s toll house cookies in the oven.  That new-car smell, your spouse’s favorite perfume or aftershave, the way a baby smells fresh from her bath.  While many of us fear the loss of our sight or hearing, think of how much we’d lose if we couldn’t smell the world around us.  Think of the imagery in today’s Gospel, where the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume Mary had poured on Jesus’ feet.  If you sit quietly, you can easily envision the scene and imagine the movements of the characters, but when the idea of the fragrance of the perfume is added, it completes the picture, doesn’t it?  The sweet smell of new perfume.

We are nearing the end of our journey to Easter.  Next Sunday, Palm Sunday, will be a celebration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  And then it’s on to Holy Week and the darkness of Good Friday before the glory of Easter Sunday.  I sincerely hope you’ve found a way to focus your attention on the role your faith plays in your life this Lenten season.  Very soon now, God is going to do a new thing.  As Isaiah asks, do you not perceive it?  The message in the Hebrew Scripture for today really is that things are going to change.  For Israel, they are no longer to focus on the Exodus, but instead are to focus on being the nation of Israel, on trusting fully in God’s providence to provide for them and on the faithful worship of God as God’s chosen people should.  For Christians, it’s a head’s up that Easter will change everything.  The anticipation that has been building over the forty long days of Lent is about to be satisfied in the victory of life over death, in the forgiveness of our sins by Christ’s extravagant sacrifice on the cross.  Today’s Gospel is also about anticipation, although in this case we only have six days to wait for satisfaction, not six hundred years.

On the eve of Passover, the highest holy day on the Hebrew calendar, Jesus arrives at the home of his dear friends Lazarus, Martha and Mary on his way into Jerusalem.  The cast of characters in this passage includes Judas, but none of the other disciples.  Odd, isn’t it?  We know that Jesus traveled with all twelve of his disciples, but the only one who seems to have been invited to dinner is Judas Iscariot.  This begins to make a little sense as the story plays out, but I’m intrigued by the guest list.  And by Mary’s actions in anointing Jesus with the expensive perfume.

The story of Jesus being anointed by a woman is found in each of the four Gospels, slightly different in each of the three synoptic gospels, very different in the Gospel according to John.  John places the anointing before Jesus enters Jerusalem; the Synoptic Gospels place it after Palm Sunday.  In the Synoptic Gospels, the woman is not identified by name.  In Luke, the woman is called “sinful,” but the nature of her sin isn’t spelled out – some assume that she’s a prostitute, but there’s really no way to tell from what is written.  While the dinner is held in the town of Bethany in all the Gospel accounts, it is being hosted by a man named Simon in the Synoptic Gospels, specifically Simon the Leper in Matthew’s case, and the guests are Pharisees in Luke.  In Luke and Matthew, the substance used to anoint Jesus is an expensive perfume, its pure nard in Mark as it is in John, and it is Jesus’ head that is anointed in the three Synoptic Gospels.  But in John, the location of the dinner, the guest list, the body part anointed, and the protagonists are all different.  In John’s version of the story, Jesus is having dinner with Lazarus, whom he has recently raised from the dead, in Lazarus’ home with Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus, not with Pharisees.  Mary pours a whole pound of pure nard, an extremely expensive perfume made from the root of the spikenard plant that had to be imported from northern India over Jesus’ feet and then wipes his feet with her hair.  The thirty denarii that Judas claims this perfume to be worth was nearly a year’s wages, an extravagant gift indeed!  There is a lot going on here to think about; Mary wipes the nard from Jesus’ feet with her hair, implying that her hair was down.  A woman of this time didn’t let down her hair in public unless she was of questionable virtue, which led to speculation among some early Bible commentators that the Mary in this story is Mary Magdalene, who the church tried to discredit as a prostitute for many years.  But this speculation doesn’t hold up to historical or exegetical scrutiny – the Mary in our story is almost certainly Lazarus’ sister.  And why anoint Jesus’ feet in this version instead of his head?  Well, there are a couple of possibilities.  First, Mary could be showing deference to Jesus as the Messiah and sovereign king, so anointing his feet could be seen as an act of humility and adoration.  Mary may not see herself as worthy to anoint Jesus’ head, only his feet.  Second, this act can be seen as a prelude to Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet that comes along in chapter 13 of John’s gospel.  It’s also a preview of the anointing of the dead in preparation for burial – think of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus going to the tomb on Easter morning to anoint Jesus’ body.  Make note of the fact that Judas Iscariot is part of the story in John’s account but not in the other Gospels.  In particular, look at the treatment Judas receives from John – he’s identified as the one who will soon betray Jesus, which we know is coming, and as a thief, which we don’t know about from any other source.  This seems like an odd addition to the story and of little value other than to further demonize Judas in the eyes of John’s intended audience.  So why is it in here?  Is it to emphasize the linkage between Judas and the Sanhedrin found in Luke’s version of the story?  Is it to demonstrate the stark contrast between Mary’s extravagant gift and Judas’ greedy thievery?  I don’t know for sure, but a clue may lie in the fact that John’s is most likely the last of the gospels written, and some of the Gnostic writings that attempted to paint Judas in a somewhat more sympathetic light were in circulation at the same time.  John wrote his gospel expressly so that those who read it might believe in Jesus, and a sympathetic portrayal of Judas would not necessarily contribute to that goal.  I sometimes think it would be nice if all the Gospels told the story of Jesus in the same way, but as Origen, an early church father, noted: there are not four Gospels, but one four-fold Gospel.  Each Gospel account is addressed to a different audience at a different point in history, so I suppose we’ll just have to deal with the differences for now.

            So what does all of this mean to us today?  What can we take away from John’s account of Jesus’ anointing?  Certainly there is merit to Judas’ expressed concern for the amount of money represented by Mary’s anointing nard, regardless of whether or not he was truly concerned for the plight of the poor or if he had other motives for wanting the money – perhaps to fund his Zealot compatriots in their battle against Roman domination.  A central theme Jesus’ ministry was service to the poor, and keeping that in mind, his seemingly dismissive response to Judas, that the poor will always be with them, is out of character   Jesus is most certainly not telling his dinner companions not to be concerned with the poor amongst them.  Ignoring the underprivileged is not the message to take away from the story.  The extravagance of Mary’s gift bears consideration as well.  How can a gift given to the Son of God be considered extravagant?  Are we to take away from this passage that we are to overextend ourselves financially in order to give lavish gifts to the church, so that the work of Christ can be further advanced?  No, not at all.  We are called to sacrificially give what we can with a joyful heart, from the first and best of the gifts we receive, not to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy in order to give beyond our means.  Extravagant gift-giving isn’t the message to take away from this story.  No, I think what we should take away from this story is to treasure our loved ones, and to demonstrate to them as often as possible in tangible ways what they mean to us, before they’re gone.  We will not always be able to enjoy the physical presence of those dear to us.  We should offer praise and thanksgiving for what they’ve brought into our lives, just as Mary has done in anointing Jesus.  Distill what Mary has done down to its basic elements: she has performed a simple act of kindness for Jesus that demonstrated how very special he is to her.  It brought him a bit of refreshment, released a pleasant aroma into the room, and let everyone in the room see the depth of her love for Jesus.  In honoring him, she in effect sings his praises for all to see.  Remember that she does not yet know, at least not for sure, that Jesus will be taken from her within the week.  Her only indication that something is coming is Jesus’ own declaration that he will not always be with those around the dinner table, so she most likely isn’t saying good-bye to him.  And that is absolutely critical here!  Mary expresses her love not knowing that circumstances are soon going to change, and change profoundly.  She doesn’t wait for “just the right moment,” doesn’t wait for a “special occasion,” she seizes the moment when Jesus is present to express her true feelings, because she will not always have him.  That, my friends, is what I hope you take away from this passage.

            Is there someone in your family, your church family, your circle of friends, who doesn’t know how you feel about them?  Think about it.  Have you told your loved ones, whether it’s your spouse, your children, your long-lost college chum, or the person sitting next to you in the pew this morning, clearly and unequivocally, what they mean to you?  If you’re in a committed relationship, does your partner know how you feel?  Oh, sure, you probably tell them “I love you” as you head out the door in the morning and maybe when you go to bed at night, but do your actions match your words?  Do you do simple things to show your appreciation, do you demonstrate for all to see just how special they are to you?    Do you pay attention when your partner is talking, really pay attention, instead of trying to multi-task?  Don’t underestimate how highly that honors the one you’re talking with.  When you talk to others about your partner, are you building up or tearing down?  Do you say “thank you?”  Do you hold them in prayer every day?  Have you sent flowers to work, or put a card in a briefcase? I’m not being paid by a florist or Hallmark to plant seeds in your minds, but I hope you get the point.  Just as Mary’s essentially simple gesture leaves no doubt as to her feelings about Jesus, simple gestures and simple words directed at the ones you love, and the ones you should love, will speak volumes.  And I suggest to you that coming into Easter is a pretty good time to be about the business of making your feelings clear to those who have touched your life in some way.

            And I invite all of you to say “thank you” to everyone in your life, and to do it now.  I invite you to tell every person who has touched your life in some way exactly how much you appreciate them, and to do it now.  I urge you to back up your words with actions, small, simple gestures that will leave absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind or heart how you feel.  Whether it’s a hug, a handshake, a pat on the back, the sweet aroma of baking bread or a favorite pie, or anointing their feet with the finest ointment, follow Mary’s example in offering praise and honor and love for all the people who are part of your life, for all to see and hear and smell.  And do it now.  We know not what even the next hour will bring, so do it now.  Because you will not always have them with you.

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen