John 12:1-8<\/strong> Revised Standard Version<\/p>\n 12<\/strong> Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 <\/sup>There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him. 3 <\/sup>Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. 4 <\/sup>But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, 5 <\/sup>\u201cWhy was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?\u201d 6 <\/sup>This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. 7 <\/sup>Jesus said, \u201cLet her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. 8 <\/sup>The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.\u201d<\/p>\n also<\/strong><\/p>\n Isaiah 43:16-21<\/strong><\/p>\n Psalm 126<\/strong><\/p>\n Philippians 3:4b-14<\/strong><\/p>\n THE GIFT OF SURPASSING VALUE<\/strong><\/p>\n Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Last Sunday the parable of the prodigal son was introduced by the notice that Jesus was receiving tax collectors and sinners, and eating with them. Today\u2019s gospel begins with more table fellowship, right at the threshold of the last week of Jesus\u2019 earthly life, six days before Passover, in Bethany, a little town about two miles from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n We leave St. Luke\u2019s Gospel this week to hear this account of a dinner to celebrate Lazarus\u2019 recovery from death, but Jesus has already been a welcome and honored guest at the house of Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. The depiction of Martha serving and Mary worshiping are quite consistent with Luke\u2019s account of an earlier visit of Jesus to this house, in St. Luke 10. Then Mary sat at Jesus\u2019 feet listening to his teaching.<\/p>\n Now Mary\u2019s act of worship is astonishing: a pound of expensive ointment to anoint Jesus\u2014and not to anoint his head, as an honored guest, but his feet, where the preparation of a body for burial would begin. For her then to let down her hair and wipe a man\u2019s feet with it would be extraordinary in our own day. In the first century, when a woman would only let down her hair for intimacy with her husband or as a sign of distraction in mourning, the other diners were no doubt speechless.<\/p>\n Then Judas speaks up for social justice. Well, not really\u2014not only does St. John remind us that Judas is the one who will shortly betray Jesus, he also ascribes his objection to Mary\u2019s action to old-fashioned greed. But the suggestion that such an extravagant gift amounts to a failure of charity for those who need it most appears, on the face of it, to be a proper \u201cchurchly\u201d objection, a thought probably shared, in embarrassed silence, by many of those present.<\/p>\n If nothing else, it\u2019s the surpassing value of the gift that astonishes. If the daily wage of a vineyard laborer was a denarius, and two hundred denarii would have fed five thousand, then one act of worship offering perfume worth three hundred denarii is the gift of a year\u2019s income for a working family. That ointment was very likely Mary\u2019s most precious possession.<\/p>\n This little scene in Bethany is a turning point in St. John\u2019s Gospel. The raising of Lazarus in chapter 11 was the last of Jesus\u2019 signs. In this twelfth chapter, Jesus will soon announce that his hour has come, the hour of his lifting up in sacrifice and glory. Jesus understands that Mary\u2019s gesture of worship is not\u2014at least not only\u2014a demonstration of gratitude for Jesus\u2019 resuscitation of her brother. He recognizes that she has been listening to his teaching; she understands what will happen not many days from this supper.<\/p>\n Mary recognizes that what is about to happen is important enough for this extraordinarily generous act of worship. No generosity we can offer can ever be commensurate with Jesus\u2019s self-offering. St. Paul says it best: I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. I can lose everything else to gain Christ and be found in him, being given the righteousness of God based on faith in him. Nothing could compare with the value of being caught up in the death and resurrection of Christ.<\/p>\n This is our life, not only in Lent, but the whole Christian life: participating the in the life of Christ, pressing on to the goal of inward union with Christ and outward imitation of Christ, encountering new possibilities as our worship gives us vision. Like the exiles to whom Isaiah wrote the prophecies of our First Reading, we need not spend all our time looking back on what God has done, or even looking back on the relative success or failure of this year\u2019s Lenten discipline; rather, we can look with anticipation to God\u2019s leading in this very day, doing a new thing in our lives now.<\/p>\n Do you trust God to act in your life now? Do you wait in expectancy and faith for that action? Do you recognize, like St. Paul, that you have not reached the goal, but you are pressing on from today\u2019s sowing with tears to tomorrow\u2019s reaping with joy? It might not be tomorrow, of course, but we believe the promise: that the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, who brought the exiles home, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, is continuing to act in our lives now.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus is at the start of the last week of his earthly walk. On the Sunday before the Passover which will be Jesus\u2019 last, Jesus and his disciples come to Bethany, on the slopes of Mt. Olivet, less than two miles along the Jericho road from Jerusalem, Jesus\u2019 destination. In Jerusalem a new thing will spring forth: God\u2019s most precious gift of surpassing value\u2014Jesus\u2019 self-offering on the cross and his resurrection, redeeming all who trust his word of promise. God has a future for us all. He has promised to redeem us and restore our fortunes, no matter what our situation may be now, that we, too, may gain Christ and be found in him, our anointed King and God and Lord.<\/p>\n In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. Paul Bieber, STS<\/p>\n San Diego, California, USA<\/p>\n