GOSPEL: John 12:1-8 [NRSV Text and Introduction from Words for Worship]

Judas misunderstands Mary’s extravagant act of anointing Jesus‘ feet with a costly perfume. Jesus recognizes the true significance of her beautiful expression of love and commitment as an anticipation of his burial.

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany , the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus‘ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5″Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?“ 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, „Leave her alone. She bought it 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.“

THIS WEEK’S SERMON

Think for a moment about the context for today’s lesson.

Lazarus had been raised from the dead, and people were talking. Imagine that. If you had been there and seen the raising of a four-day-old corpse, you would talk. But even if you had not been there, if you knew Lazarus or knew Mary and Martha, you would talk. For you all those theological arguments about the resurrection of the dead were silenced by this last of Jesus‘ signs. Resurrection was no longer talk. It was real.

But what if you hadn’t been there? And what if you didn’t know Lazarus, Mary, or Martha? You would talk about all the talk that was going on about a real resurrection. Eventually the name Jesus would surface as the one who was at the center of controversy. And you would have to decide what to think about Jesus. (Wasn’t that the point of the signs that Jesus did?)

Yet what if you had not been there and were also not an uninterested party in the goings on in the territory around Jerusalem ? What if you were a religious leader of God’s people or a Roman official in charge of keeping order? You, too, would have to decide how much longer you could allow all this talk about Jesus and resurrection to disturb the peace. You would have to decide if it wasn’t time to put a controversial figure like Jesus back in his place. After all, resurrection was a matter for theological discussion not something to take seriously – not something to disturb the blessed order!

That gets us to the present moment in today’s text. You know Jesus. You have witnessed the resurrection, indeed if you are Lazarus, you have been raised. You are also aware that, unlike the other signs, this sign can’t be dismissed as so much smoke and mirrors. Dead men don’t rise from the dead, but Lazarus has – after four days! People aren’t going to quit talking. People aren’t going to quit gawking. People aren’t going to let this one go. They are going to say that Jesus raises the dead. They are going to want him to go to the graves of their loved ones. They are going to talk about Jesus in the holy places. They are going to upset the order of things, because dead men are supposed to stay dead!

Once again Martha is serving dinner. She doesn’t even seem to mind this time. Once again Mary is sitting at Jesus‘ feet. This time she breaks out expensive perfume, the kind used to anoint dead bodies. She is anointing Jesus‘ feet. It is a touching moment and a moment pregnant with meaning. Surely Jesus will be swapping places with Lazarus whom he has raised. Surely Jesus is a dead man. For if the powers that be want to keep the peace by keeping resurrection as a safe theological argument, they will need to get rid of Jesus and Lazarus, too!

Of course, the cast is not yet complete until we mention Judas Iscariot, the keeper of the disciples‘ purse, and a disgruntled follower of Jesus. He says that he can’t abide the wastefulness of Mary’s extravagant gift. Surely the money could have been used for the poor, he says. But the narrator comments that, by this time, Judas has no love for anyone but himself.

And so it is that at the beginning of chapter 12 the stage is set for chapter 18 when Jesus will allow himself to be arrested and killed. We have the motive for his murder. We have his betrayer in the foreground and his murderers in the background. All that is left is the opportunity for the betrayal, the arrest, and the murder itself.

So six days before Passover, Mary is anointing this living corpse, the man that raised her brother from the dead. Yes, we know that the angel of death cannot pass over Jesus. (We have known this since chapter 1 when John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God.) We know already, as Mary anoints his feet, that Jesus will be the sacrificial Lamb for this celebration of Passover.

While some of us may be hearing this story for the first time and hence are among those that have heard the talk about Lazarus‘ raising and are wondering what to think about Jesus. Most of us know the story that Jesus has not only raised Lazarus, he has raised the ire of those with earthly power. Indeed most of us know the story that Jesus is the Lamb that was slain, that he is risen from the dead.

So then what is our response? As he asked Peter at the end of John 6, Jesus is asking us if we are going to stay or go. Are we going to be like Mary pouring out our extravagant love? Or like Judas the betrayer? Or like those that did the actual murder?

What is your response? Is the resurrection of the dead simply a matter of words? Is it like the notorious theological argument: “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Or is Jesus truly the resurrection and the life? Has he raised you from the dead?

Churches all over the world have nominal members that may turn up for an obligatory baptism, confirmation, wedding, or funeral. But for many church members the resurrection of the dead is just talk. The kind of talk that disturbs the peace of orderly lives that have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus!

If you have died with him today in the washing of Holy Baptism, and if you have been raised with him today, you have more to offer than exceptionally expensive embalming fluid. The Risen Lord Jesus has no need of that! If you have died and risen with him today, then, with Mary of Bethany, your life becomes a fragrant offering, a sacrifice of thanks and praise, not merely with your lips but with your whole being.

If you have died and risen with Jesus, then you hasten to the Sacrament of the Altar with outstretched empty hands on bended knees. You willingly receive the Lamb of God that takes away your unbelief and half belief. You cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus.” And he does to take away your sin and death again and give you his own life and righteousness as a free gift!

So what is your response? The hymn writer Thomas Chisholm offers these words for you and I to sing today:

“O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to thee; For thou, in thine atonement, didst give thyself for me; I own no other Master, My heart shall be thy throne; My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for thee alone” (“Living for Jesus”, copyright 1917 by Heidelberg Press and renewed in 1945 by HC. Harold Lowden and assigned to The Rodeheaver Co. ).

The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Zumwalt
St. Martin’s Lutheran Church
Austin TX USA
szumwalt@saintmartins.org