Lazarus had fallen seriously ill, in fact so ill his life was in danger. His sisters immediately sent for Jesus but by the time he arrived, Lazarus had died. The sisters were distraught. If only Jesus had been here Lazarus would still be alive. Jesus went to the grave and asked that the stone be taken away from the entrance to the tomb. He called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" And out he came. Where there had been weeping there was now laughing, the sounds of joy and excitement. Lazarus was alive! Once again, Jesus had turned a funeral into a celebration.
Next we hear of Jesus having dinner with Lazarus. Martha is busy in the kitchen as she always was. Jesus and Lazarus are at the table. Mary came into the room where the men were eating, carrying with her a bottle of the most exquisite and costliest perfume. (Aromatic oil made from a plant in India. This was pure and unmixed so was very expensive. People would buy this as an investment. We are told that Mary’s flask of perfume coast about a year’s wages for a labourer in Jesus days).
Mary did something remarkable. She assumed the position of a servant (servants or slaves washed the feet of visitors) and poured the perfume on to Jesus’ feet. And then with her long beautiful hair she proceeded to wipe Jesus feet.
We are told the whole house was filled with the beautiful aroma.
What was Mary thinking?
What made her pour her life’s savings on someone’s feet?
What made her use such expensive perfume, when something cheaper would have been just as effective?
Simply put – what Mary did was an act of devotion. It was a gift from her heart. She wanted to give the best she had, and the best she had was a flask of pure perfume, her life saving. Jesus was someone very special, she loved him dearly, and she wanted to show it, so she gave him the best.
That’s what happens when people love. When a husband loves his wife, he wants to give her the best and vice versa. When parents love a child, they want to give that child the best.
One afternoon three children, two boys and a girl, entered a flower shop. They were about nine or ten years old. They looked around the store and nervously approached the owner. One of the boys said: "Sir, we'd like some yellow flowers, please."
The man immediately realized that this was a very special occasion. He showed them some inexpensive yellow spring flowers. The boy who was the spokesman for the group shook his head. "I think we'd like something better than that." The man asked, "Do they have to be yellow?"
The boy answered, "Yes, sir. You see, Mickey would like 'em better if they were yellow. He had a yellow T-shirt. I guess he'd like yellow better than any other colour." The man asked, "Are they for his funeral?" The boy nodded, the little girl was struggling to keep back the tears. " his sister," the boy said. A truck hit him while he was playing in the street." "Us kids have put all our money together. We got eighty cents. The man smiled. "It just happens that I have some nice yellow roses here that I'm offering special today for eighty cents a dozen. " The man pointed to the roses. "Gee, they are beautiful! Mickey would sure like those." The man said, "I'll make up a nice bouquet with ribbons. Where do you want me to send them?" One of the boys responded, " That is ok, mister, we will take them with us? We'd like to give them to Mickey ourselves.
The florist fixed the bouquet of flowers, accepted the eighty cents and then watched the youngsters marched out of the store. They walked down the street carefully holding the bunch of yellow roses. They had spent all their pocket money so that they could give Mickey this last gift of love.
With the bunch of roses, those three children were showing the same generosity, and devotion toward Mickey that Mary showed toward Jesus with her flask of perfume. Nothing but the best will do my friends! That reminds us of God’s love toward us. Last week we heard about God’s never-ending love for us when we heard Jesus’ story of the man and his two sons. Even though he was terribly disappointed in his two sons – one had cashed in his share of inheritance and wasted it all on loose living and the other couldn’t see why his father was so generous and lavish with his love when the younger brother came home.
This is a story about how devoted God is toward us; how extravagant his love is; how lavish he is with his forgiveness and grace. He loves us even though we rightfully deserve nothing from God at all. And today we hear of Mary who realizes how much love Jesus has shown to her, to Lazarus, and to Martha.
She demonstrates in a practical way how much she is devoted to him. She gives boldly of the best that she had, just as Jesus will give himself boldly in his devotion for us when he is raised on a cross on Calvary.
There will always be those who will callout "wasteful", "irresponsible", "reckless", "foolish" and "rash" when they see others being far more generous than they are prepared to be.(Example the reaction on Mel Gibson’s film: The Passion of the Christ). We do that when we question the motives of someone who donates generously to the church or gives many hours of his/her time to some cause.
In Jesus’ story, the older brother thought his father was extravagant and foolish when he showed his love and forgiveness to the younger son who didn’t deserve such kind reception. And today we have Judas complaining that Mary has been irresponsible in the way she wasted this perfume.
She could have sold it for a lot of money which could have been given to the poor. By worldly standards, Mary was extravagant; by worldly standards she was foolish and irresponsible but Jesus could only see in her love, and devotion.
We are now just one week away from Holy Week which starts next Sunday with Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. This text has a special message for us as we draw near the end of the Lenten season.
Firstly, it reminds us what true devotion is. As Mary knelt at Jesus’ feet in the posture of a true servant we are reminded of what happened at the– Passover meal – when Jesus was eating his last meal with his disciples. Out of true love and devotion to his disciples he knelt before them with a bowl of water and towel and proceeded to wash the disciples’ feet. Jesus came into the world to be our servant, to serve us because of his extravagant love for us.
Secondly, we are reminded that Jesus did not hold back his love for us. Just as Mary gave of the best of what she had, even more so Jesus gave the best of what he had to offer – his life. Out of his complete and total love for us, he gave up everything so that we could be certain of life.
Thirdly, we are led to ask ourselves, how extravagant has our devotion been to our God and Jesus? Like Mary we should be satisfied with nothing but the best when we come here to worship – the way we listen to God’s Word as it is read and spoken, the way we participate in the service – reading, playing music, singing, ushering, welcoming visitors, the way we pray and respond to God’s Word with joy and lives full of devotion, and excitement about our faith.
God’s extravagant love for us calls for unselfishness in all areas of life, an unselfishness like Mary's – unselfishness as we serve others who are facing hard times, the sick, the sad, in fact, anyone who needs our love. Judas was concerned that Mary had been reckless in her demonstration of her devotion to Jesus, but Jesus commended her. She gave unselfishly and likewise we are challenged to give of our resource, our time and ourselves generously as a way of expressing our thanks, our love and our commitment to our Lord and Saviour.
Finally: This text makes us aware of how much we are like Judas. How tight fisted and stingy we are when it comes to giving of ourselves, our time and our resources. We are led to ask ourselves, "When was the last time we did something extravagant because of our devotion to Jesus? When was the last time we threw caution out to the wind and went ahead fully committed as we gave of ourselves and what God has given us generously and sacrificially?"
Extravagant love like that of Mary, is the kind of love to which we are called. Indeed it is the kind of love that Jesus himself showed us, when he, on the day after Mary anointed his feet and dried them with her hair, rode in Jerusalem and gave himself up to death.
Lent reminds us that we have been failures
when it comes to being extravagant with our love.
That is why Jesus came.
He came to forgive us and to give us a fresh start.
Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
March 28 , 2004