John 12:1-8
March 21st 2010
"Extravagant Love!"
In Jesus day perfume was used to anoint bodies for burial. Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, had such a treasure. It was hers.
Mary poured out the entire pound of nard and anointed and washed the feet of Jesus with her hair. She took the position of the lowest slave, unbound her hair, which proper Jewish ladies of her day did not do in public, and in an act of “extravagant love”, anointed Jesus feet with her hair and perfume.
This act of worship, of extravagant love, prefigured 3 things:
1. Jesus “anointing as king”.
2. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.
3. Jesus death and burial on our behalf.
To understand our Scripture in a deeper manner you need to know the setting of this story. This was a celebration feast for Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead.
It comes of course, right after Jesus raised Mary’s brother, Lazarus, from the dead, a miracle that set the religious leaders against Jesus and began their plot for his death.
It came right before Jesus’ triumphal entry as a King into Jerusalem, and all the events of his last days before the crucifixion, including the foot washing.
Chapter 12 is the pivot of the Gospel of John, where everything afterwards tips towards Christ’s death and resurrection.
And Mary’s anointing prefigures his entry into Jerusalem as King in fulfillment of the prophecy.
Anointing for Kingship usually was oil poured onto the head, but this was perfume poured on his feet, fitting anointing for our King who came to serve and not be served. Fitting for our King who took the form of a humble slave and knelt and washed His disciple’s feet. He then commanded that we do likewise, that we love as He first loved us.
Now we really need to keep in mind the image of Jesus kneeling and washing His disciples’ feet. We need to keep in mind that Mary did this for Jesus in an extravagant waste of pure or liquid nard in an extravagant act of love. For Mary’s act is an act of pure worship, love and discipleship. This scripture becomes challenging when we realize that Christ at his last supper – in his foot washing of his disciples – calls us to worship him in similar acts of extravagance love for each other.
Our discipleship of Jesus will be measured by how we love each other. Not just those whom we like and know, not just when it’s to our benefit or pleasure, but the ones we really know who are Christians and we don’t like.
Yes! That person comes to mind and yes, the measure of my Christianity and your Christianity is in how we treat them in love.
All who believe in Jesus are part of the family of God. Some are odd or even mean and disagreeable at times, and yet we are called to love them as being part of the same family. And we’ve all got family members that drive us wild and yet we love them.
The scariest thing to think about in regards to this scripture is that Jesus washed even Judas’ feet, though He knew what Judas was going to do!!!
This is the type of love Christ calls us to. Judas and Mary are the contrasts in true discipleship. Mary demonstrated and was the true disciple even before Jesus called us “to love one another as He loved us” in a servant manner.
Judas, on the other hand, used pious words to cover his evil, thieving motives. Judas’ actions lead to the destruction of the flock, in fact, the verb used to describe Judas’ actions also is used to mean “stealing sheep.”
Mary served Jesus in an extravagantly loving way. Judas’ flimsy excuse covered up his self-centered, selfish motives: his thievery and betrayal, but Jesus knew his heart! Jesus knows our hearts.
Today this scripture asks us where do we stand? Do we stand with Mary who gave it all for Jesus or do we stand with Judas with our self centered, selfish motives, keeping us from giving our all, our hearts to God in Jesus Christ and our lives in love to each other?
You see, our “religion” can have all the right words like Judas’ “why was this perfume not sold for a year’s worth of wages (that is what 300 denarii are) and the money given to the poor?”
You see, the Devil knows the scripture. He tempted Jesus with it. But God knows the heart and his ultimate plan.
I deeply believe that we here at Christ Church are working to live out God’s plan right here in the heart of Tucson. And as you participate here you are part of God’s plan. God’s plan is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for this scripture today contrasts the nature of true discipleship against selfish, self centeredness.
3 years ago we as a church took on the mission statement you see on the front of our bulletin “As People Caring for People, Christ calls us to teach, baptize and make disciples in a spirit of compassion.”
This reflects our Denomination’s mission statement: “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
Last year we refined our mission by taking on the Project: “To become the church for families with children living at home.” This is a deeply sacrificial project on behalf of the members of this church for the vast majority do not have children living at home, but they recognize that young people are the future of the church and more importantly that we are our children’s future. Our investment in them and their parents will provide for them far into the future of this community, country and even world.
Last Sunday I asked for letters and emails to help me shape this message today. I want to say thank you for those who replied. One new person to our congregation wrote the following, “I was thrilled to hear that the entire congregation, all the committees and groups, were going to be focusing on one thing—becoming the church for families with children and youth still living at home. What an amazing statement for a congregation to make!”
It is indeed an inspiring statement for a congregation to make and it will take all of us to see it to fruition. We need to risk change in order to see it happen. And change is scary and often painful. To do this we need to avoid thinking and actions that go along the lines of “we’ve always done it that way.” Or “we like doing this, we have done this since we started 50 years ago.”
Our neighborhood, society and culture are not the same as they were 50 years ago, even 20 or 10 years ago. We need to be able to change and adapt and reach out to people in new ways through every ministry, outreach, service outreach, group, worship service, Sunday school class, Bible study group, breakfast meeting to invite people in to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
We as a denomination have been struggling with membership since 1963. We reached a peak in 1968 of 13 million and today we are about 7.7 million strong. We have finally woken up to our responsibility to make disciples, which is why we have added “witness” to our membership vows.
We as Christ Church reached a peak in membership about 20 years ago and have been declining since, but last year we brought in more new members in one year than we have in over 12 years. Our attendance is up, our pledges are up. I believe it is because we have been catching God’s vision to make disciples of Jesus Christ and God has been honoring that.
We as a denomination are searching and studying the religious culture in which we live, so that we can speak more effectively to it and draw more people in. That is what you see in the insert in your bulletin. I spoke some about this study last week and want to touch on it and one other study to help guide us in how to be the church of today and tomorrow that is thriving and growing and making disciples.
My desire as your pastor is to help you fulfill the membership vow you made today or renewed to “witness” to your faith.
Under “The Practiced Faith of American Teenagers” the first statement is “Supply and demand matter to the spiritual lives of teenagers—e.g., the more churches invest in youth ministry and youth ministers, the more likely teenagers (and children too) are likely to practice faith. Churches that do not invest significantly in young people find that youth do not invest in them.”
I mentioned I would speak to this today. There is another study called, “The Study of Exemplary Congregations in Youth Ministry: Assets for Developing Spiritually Mature Youth.” It had a list of 42 assets that churches can have that develop spiritually mature youth who go on to become spiritually mature adults.
Mercifully I am going to touch on a few that have to deal with investing in the lives of youth. Successful churches that develop spiritually mature youth into adulthood have many of the assets that we see here at Christ Church. We demonstrate hospitality to all and especially to the children and youth in terms of facilities, welcoming them by making special effort to greet them and speak to them, and things like giving them a special seat to sit in on the front row in the second service.
We have deeply dedicated teachers and lay volunteers who model Christian love, the extravagant love that Mary demonstrated in our scripture, who work with the children and youth. We include youth and children in a variety of service ministries as well as worship and leadership in various programs.
We do great things for the children and youth. But one asset or area that I have lifted up that we need to focus on is opportunities for parents to learn how to share their faith with their children. We have classes and groups on Sunday mornings and on Wednesday nights that teach the faith, but we need more classes and studies that focus specifically on helping parents share the faith with their children.
Remember always, “the single most important influence on, and predictor of, the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents: “We get what we are.” as the insert in your bulletin says right at the top. This other study I spoke of indicated this too.
So again I have a call for someone or some ones to step forward and volunteer to work in this area. As I said last week, “A pressing need here at Christ Church is for seasoned parents and grandparents, leaders and teachers to step forward and start and organize new classes and groups for parents. If we are to bring in new families with children living at home and keep them here at this church this is a vital immediate necessity.”
We as a church invest heavily in our children and youth in terms of staff, facilities and financial resources, but there is something even more precious than money that we can give.
There is something more precious than money that Christ asks from us. He asks us to use it to do acts of extravagant love, to spend it on each other and others.
We only have so much of it. We all have the same amount. We can use this, spend it, save some of it, but we can never hoard it, and when we use it, it’s gone, just like the nard perfume, but in its wake, it leaves the fragrance of good experience, when well used.
It’s “time”.
One writer I read wrote that today the most precious commodity any of us have is time!!! We indeed have all the same amount, we spend it, we save it, we waste it, and once it’s gone, it’s gone, and all we have is the memories.
The most scary thing is today Jesus might not be asking for your money as much as He’s asking for your time if you have the ability to teach and lead parents in Christian parenting.
In the eyes of the world, we’re wasting our time here. The band/choir wasted their morning playing and singing for us, and those who didn’t participate, because it wasn’t their thing to do saved a lot of time.
You and I, we’re wasting our lives, being here Sunday after Sunday, when we could be golfing, or playing or sleeping in.
And don’t get “the world” started on what it thinks about your volunteering as Sunday School teachers, youth counselors, choir and band members. Those of the world scream, “What, you mean they don’t pay you for that?”
But our hearts are like Mary’s heart: broken, anticipating Jesus death and burial on our behalf.
So we kneel before Jesus and worship Him by spending our time on each other and with the little children, youth and parents he calls to himself.
I encourage you today to be extravagant wasters of time. Waste your time in prayer, Bible study, and worship. And most of all waste your time in loving each other and the children, youth and their parents who are among us.
Verse 8 has always been misunderstood and misused as an excuse for not serving the poor. Jesus said, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Jesus wasn’t giving us an excuse to ignore the poor and spend the resources he has given us on ourselves.
Jesus was saying something Mary knew in her heart. The time is short. The time is now. Make your decision!
Judas decided to betray. Judas’ motive was self-centeredness like the cultural religion of our day we see in the study in our bulletin. Mary, though, like Jesus, decided to make her life-- all that she was, all that she had an extravagant gift to God!!! Will you do the same? Our scripture asks?
Let us pray. Every head bowed, every eye closed! In invite you today to make your life an extravagant waste for God. Pray with me in your hearts.
Dear God, take all that I am all that I will ever be. All my resources, all my time, and let it be an extravagant used in love for you!
If you prayed this prayer, raise your hand. If you’ve made such a commitment for the first time or in a new and profound sense, speak to me afterward.
In Jesus Christ name. AMEN.
