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An Unexpected Love

So here we are on the 5th Sunday in Lent, and instead of hearing from the Gospel of Luke, as we will on most Sundays this year, our Gospel story today is from the Gospel of John.

So, let me set the scene for you. Jesus has been preaching and teaching and healing throughout Galilee for quite some time and he has become famous. Now, unlike the other Gospel stories, in this Gospel, Jesus travels to and from Jerusalem often, and what we know now is that he is about to make his final journey to Jerusalem. But while he had been preaching and teaching and healing, he had upset many of the religious leaders because he had not been following the rules, and that had upset them, and they were afraid his teachings and actions might cause an uprising, which would not be good. But Jesus continued on and made matters even worse when one day, while he was traveling, he got word from Mary and Martha that their brother, Lazarus, was sick and needed him. But Lazarus died before Jesus arrived, and his family had buried him. But Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and as John notes following the raising of Lazarus, many came to believe (John 11:45). But that created even more problems for Jesus, because now the religious leaders feared him even more, because they feared his fame would cause the Romans to come and destroy not only the people, but also their holy places, so they put a plan in place to kill him.

Now the word about the plan to kill Jesus was out, and it was now time once again for the Passover. Many believed that Jesus wouldn’t come to Jerusalem, but we know differently. And this is where our story begins today. It is now six days before the Passover, and Jesus is in Bethany, which is only about 3 ½ miles from Jerusalem, and he is at the home of Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. But this dinner, which I am guessing was intended as a friendly gathering, became awkward very quickly. Now it would have been the custom in a setting like this for the men to sit together and then be served by the women. Martha was serving, but Mary does something that was unthinkable. She came to Jesus, knelt before him, and began anointing his feet with a very costly perfume. In the Gospel of Mark we are told that the perfume she used would have cost about a year’s wages for the average person. This act of anointing was a burial procedure. Mary would have been very familiar with how to anoint a dead body because recently she had anointed her brother Lazarus when he had died. But Jesus wasn’t dead; why would she do this? Remember, Jesus had a death warrant out on him and he was about to head into Jerusalem, where that warrant would most likely be carried out.

But there are more problems with Mary’s actions. First, she should not have been touching Jesus. She was a woman, and that was considered inappropriate, but to make matters worse, she let her hair down, which was also not done by respectable women in public, and to make matters even worse she used her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet. The whole act begged for a bad response, and she got it. Judas complains, but his complaint isn’t against the breaking of Jewish customs; no, his complaint seemed to be in line with Jesus’ teachings. Jesus had come to care for the poor, and that expensive perfume could have cared for a lot of people. That sounds like a legitimate complaint to me. But Jesus chastises Judas when he says, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:7-8).

Was Jesus saying that it was okay to ignore the needs of the poor because Mary was caring for him first? I think you know the answer to that is no. In fact, I would argue that Jesus is saying just the opposite. You see, the words we translate as “You always have the poor with you,” could be translated differently. As it is translated it is a statement of fact, but the same word in Greek could also be translated as a command. So we could translate this as “keep the poor among you always.”

With this in mind, I look at Jesus’ response a little differently. The anointing itself is an act of love that shows Mary recognizes that Jesus is about to die, which means he will be leaving them soon. Mary gets it; the others don’t. So in response to Judas, Jesus says, “Look, I am going away, and what Mary has done has prepared me for this departure from you, but your work must not stop when I leave. My mission has been to care for the poor and now that will be your mission, so 'keep the poor among you always,' care for them extravagantly and generously. Love them as you have loved me.”

The anointing of Jesus’ feet showed that Mary was willing to give all she had for the one she called LORD. She was willing to do this because she now realized that Jesus had given her new life by raising her brother from the dead. Jesus raised her brother from the dead, and that act was about to cost him his life, but for Jesus, there is no cost too great that could keep him from loving God’s creation. And, so, Mary shows that she is now willing to do the same.

This is what God’s love is like. It is a surprising and empowering love. It is surprising because we regularly experience God loving and caring for those we think are unlovable, or not worthy of God’s love. As we look throughout history, we see that God loved and walked with the most unlikely of folks. Moses was a slave who had also killed, and yet, God loved him and used him to free his people. King David was nothing but a shepherd who would commit adultery, and yet, God loved him and used him to build a mighty nation. Elizabeth was an old woman who could not have a child, yet God loved her and gave her a son who would prepare the way for our LORD. Mary was a young woman who had no experience raising a child, yet God loved her and made her the mother of God. When it appeared the world needed a mighty warrior to break the bonds of slavery and hate, God instead loved the world by becoming a poor carpenter’s son.

Brothers and sisters, as we continue our journey to the cross, may we never forget that God loves us, and through us, God is bringing about the unexpected, that is, God’s Kingdom. But as this is happening, we are to continue to keep the poor with us. We are to continue to do what it takes, at all costs, to care for and love the poor and all in need because God’s love is always with the poor, and God is always with you. So, go, love this world, at all costs, and do the unexpected by loving those who have been deemed unlovable. Amen.

Tags: Sermons