April 6, 2025 Sermon
Sermon title: “Mary’s Gift”
Scripture: John 12:1-8
(Other lectionary suggestions include Isaiah 43:16-21, Psalm 126, and Philippians 3:4b-14.)
John 12:1-8
Mary Anoints Jesus
1Six 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.”
When I first heard this story of Mary pouring expensive perfume on Jesus, I think I agreed with Judas: “What a waste! This could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor!” But Jesus gives a surprising answer: “Let her alone.” Jesus is always surprising us, isn’t he? Sometimes when we are just absolutely sure what Jesus will say or do, we get a surprise. We of course should NOT be surprised, because our thoughts are not Jesus’s thoughts nor are our ways his ways.
And we need to say this: Jesus is on his way to be crucified, and Mary somehow knew this. There is tension in the house of Mary and Martha and Lazurus, and the disciples had to have been embarrassed by Mary’s very unladylike action of letting her hair down. In that culture women just didn’t DO that!
Also, this story is found in all 4 Gospel accounts, although the Mary we know is identified only in this one. I think in other accounts the Mary referred to is Mary Magdalene, but we don’t really know that. And something else: today’s account is from the Gospel of John, thought to have been written later than the other three. And notice the treatment Judas gets! In the other accounts, he’s simply one of the disciples, who eventually betrays Jesus. But in today’s Scripture reading, he’s called a thief and somebody who didn’t really care about the poor! What I believe is that when John was written, the writer or WRITERS really hit Judas with everything they had! By this time, it was known what Judas did, so the writer or WRITERS of John dump every bad thing they can think of on him! I am not trying to defend Judas for betraying Jesus -- but in John’s Gospel we have to admit that there is a certain lack of Christian charity. toward Brother Judas. And think about it: Judas did try to repent of his sin by telling the temple leaders that he had betrayed innocent blood, and they told him, “What is that to us?” I personally feel sorry for Judas because I think he was hoping that Jesus would call his disciples to arms and NOT submit to the Romans and the upcoming painful death he would suffer. He was wrong; and when he realized he had made a mistake, he tried to take it back, but he couldn’t. That sometimes happens to us, doesn’t it? We make a mistake and TRY to take it back, but we can’t. Life is tragic sometimes, you know? And compare Peter with Judas: Peter made a mistake, too, by denying that he knew Jesus. That’s a tragic story, too, and Peter cries like a baby when he realizes that he has betrayed his Lord. Why is Peter forgiven and Judas not, at least as far as what we have in Scripture? I don’t know, and I don’t know that anybody does. Maybe Peter forgives himself and Judas doesn't? I don’t know.
Jesus says two strange things here. Are they related? The first is that the perfume would be used for his burial. Did he already know that he was going to die? Also, he says the poor we would always have with us. Was he trying to let you and me off the hook? I don’t think so! Perhaps he was trying to say that sometimes we NEED to be extravagant, and this is while he is at Bethany, which means “house of the poor.” So much is going on here, and we can’t really know everything!
Somehow Jesus believed that his coming death and resurrection “would be the action through which the world as a whole, including the world of poverty and all that went with it, would be put to rights,” according to N. T. Wright. Was Jesus right or simply tremendously idealistic? He was right, in one sense: the poor we still have with us.
Maybe this passage is aimed at you and me. According to N. T. Wright, we are being challenged to choose a side. Are we with Mary, who has expressed over-the-top love for Jesus? Or are we standing back with the disciples, not knowing what to feel when a woman lets her hair down in public? Or are we with Judas, who, says Wright, “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
And Wright says this: “Put aside your natural inclination to distance yourself from Judas. After all, even at that last moment none of the other disciples had suspected him of treachery. Can you see just a glimpse of him as you look in the mirror?” Boy, N. T. Wright is a good preacher as well as a scholar! Where do you see yourself? Amen.
Pastor Skip
