Series: “Encounters
With Christ”
“Mary – Extravagant Love”
The setting is the little village of Bethany,
just outside of Jerusalem. According to John's gospel, a
dinner is being served. Jesus is there, apparently with
His disciples. So are His friends, Mary and Martha, and
their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.
Matthew and Mark in their gospels tell
a similar story to John's account, and say it takes place
at the home of Simon the leper. Some of the details differ,
but it appears as though each gospel writer is relating
the same event in slightly different ways.
In a few days Jesus will go to the cross
and die. But now there is warmth and laughter as Jesus and
His friends are enjoying good food and conversation. For
Jesus, it’s the calm right before the coming storm
of Gethsemane and Calvary. Those around the table are engrossed
in conversation as Mary enters the room with a vial of perfume
in her hands. She seems hesitant, nervous, as she opens
the flask with its valuable contents, then walks over to
Jesus and kneels before Him. She begins to pour the liquid
over Jesus’ feet, and wipes His feet with her hair!
The others in the room look on – surprised, shocked!
What has she done? She has anointed Jesus! Is this a symbolic
act to recognize Jesus as King, Messiah? After all, the
term “Messiah” means “the anointed one”.
Does she suspect that the end is near for Jesus? Is she
anointing His body for burial?
But she has used up the whole bottle on Him! And this is
very expensive nard – a fragrance from far away India!
Some in the room perhaps are deeply moved by Mary’s
extravagant act, but others are upset. Look at what John
writes: "But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the
one who was about to betray him) said, 'Why was this perfume
not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to
the poor?' (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.)" (John 12:4-6).
According to John, Judas scolds the woman.
Mark says, “some there” and Matthew says the
disciples are the ones who speak up angrily. "What
a waste," they grumble. "She just blew 300 denarii
- money that could have gone to the poor!" A denarius
was about a day’s wage. She just squandered about
a year’s salary on this impulsive act! How much do
you make in a year? That’s what this perfume cost!
You can go to Boscov's or Bon Ton and check the price of
perfume. It's not cheap, is it! But a little vial for $15,000?
$45,000? $75,000? And to pour the whole thing out! I can
imagine Mary’s accountant or financial advisor fainting
in disbelief!
That money could have been spent on the poor! I mean, hadn’t
Jesus taught about giving to the poor? The disciples were
finally getting it! Can you blame those in the room for
being upset with Mary? And anyway, she comes in there with
her long hair hanging all over the place – no respectable
woman would appear in public with her hair unbound. Only
prostitutes did that! And to wipe His feet with her hair!
Jesus was a teacher, a rabbi – women didn’t
have that contact with men in public! How shameless can
you be!
Jesus says, “Let her alone!” "Jesus said,
'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).
Yes, you need to take care of the poor, but you’ll
always have poor people around you. You won’t always
have Me.
What we have here is a beautiful story of extravagant love!
Lloyd Ogilvie, writing about this story, says of Mary: “She
was lifted out of arithmetic calculation to abandoned compassion…she
did not allow reserve to keep her from the moment which
would never come again…Mary let herself go and taught
us the basic essential of response to Christ’s love
and forgiveness. The Christian is not a tight-fisted, clenched-teeth,
grim-faced person. Rather…one who loves and laughs
and gives himself to Christ lavishly. In Mary we are challenged
by extravagant love.”
When’s the last time you broke open
the jar and poured yourself out in a costly or uncalculating
way to show your love for Christ? See, a lot of us are “good
Christians”.
We keep our nose fairly clean morally. We hold to the proper
beliefs. We do some things for the Lord and the church.
But so much of it is measured, calculated – and often
rather half-hearted and joyless. But Mary went far beyond
that! She took a bottle of perfume that represented a year’s
pay, and poured it out over the feet of Jesus.
What would it look like if I broke open the jar and poured
myself out for Him? Can you think of people who have done
that? I served 5 years in a rural area of the Pocono Mountains.
We lived in a parsonage that was out in the country, a very
scenic area. Near there was a Christian retreat center,
nestled in the mountains with a breathtaking view. It
was the dream child of a Christian man – who actually
owned the lot next to parsonage. Someone who knew him told
me that he had been given a large inheritance, and that
he was spending that whole inheritance to provide a place
where Christians could come to relax and learn under the
teaching of some of the outstanding leaders in the church.
He never did build a house on that acreage next to the parsonage
– but sold that also to someone else. He poured out
his vial of costly perfume for Jesus.
In a way, he was like the widow whom Jesus used as a model
for Christian giving.
Remember the story in Mark 12, where Jesus goes into the
temple and watches what people give? "He sat down opposite
the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the
treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow
came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth
a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them,
'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than
all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all
of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she
out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she
had to live on'" (Mark 12:41-44).
How many churches are filled with people
who are measured and calculating in our giving to the Lord?
Tithe? Give 10% of my income to God? Not me! Why not, when
God promises that the more we give, the more He’ll
provide so that we’re able to give! When God’s
people are extravagant givers, churches will have more than
enough for their ministry and mission to the world.
Mary showed her extraordinary love for
Jesus by pouring out the entire costly jar of perfume on
His feet. But you know, most of the time we show our love
for Jesus by loving other people. We can't see Jesus. We
can’t pour out the perfume on His feet literally,
as Mary did. So we have to love Him by loving people in
tangible ways. Remember the parable, “Inasmuch as
you did it to the least of these, you did it to me”?
Nancy and I have friends who are in their
late 60’s, early 70’s. The lady, the wife, not
long ago had knee replacement surgery. She surprised us
recently by saying she was going with a group from her church
to New Orleans, on a work project. Her husband’s a
retired builder – he stayed home! Now our friend Virginia
is not your “builder” type. But last month she
went south with a work team, artificial knee and all, to
help clean up and rebuild in a hurricane damaged area. She
poured out the vial for Jesus.
In Matthew and Mark’s version of this story, Jesus
says of Mary’s act of love – “Truly I
tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the
world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of
her” (Mark 14:9). (Here we are today, remembering
her extravagant love!)
What does it take to build a memory? I remember seeing a
Christian magazine article by that title. As I recall, it
was written by a father saying how important it is to spend
time and even money to build memories for our children.
One summer when I was just a young boy, my family went on
vacation to the shore. At that time I was playing in a musical
group, and we got a chance to audition for a TV program.
But the audition took place when I was away on vacation.
Mom and dad could see how dejected I was. So my dad, who
was a pilot, called one of the instructors at the airport
back home and hired this man to fly down, pick me up, and
fly me home where I could stay for a few days with the next
door neighbor, so I wouldn’t miss out on the audition.
I never found out how much it cost to hire a plane –
mom and dad weren’t wealthy – but I’ve
never forgotten how they broke open the flask and poured
out their ointment of love for me.
When’s the last time you broke open the jar and poured
yourself out for your husband, or wife, or mom, or dad,
or a friend, or someone you don't know well? O'Henry has
a classic short story called The Gift of the Magi. It’s
about a young couple, Della and Jim, who were very poor
but very much in love. Each had one prized possession: Della’s
long, luxurious hair was her glory. Jim had a gold watch
that had come to him from his father. It was the day before
Christmas and Della had exactly $1.87 to buy Jim a present.
So she went out and sold her hair for $20, and bought him
a platinum fob for his watch. Jim came home and when he
saw Della’s short hair he was taken aback –
not that he loved her any less. Slowly he handed her his
gift – a set of expensive tortoise-shell combs with
jeweled edges for her long, beautiful hair – bought
with the money he had gotten by selling his treasured watch.
Each had given the other all he or she had to give. Love
knows no other way! On whom can you break open the jar and
pour costly perfume today, this week?
A pastor tells of the time when he was
about 12 years old. His family was camping on vacation.
Each of the children had been given spending money for the
week. Soon after arriving, his younger sister wandered off
and couldn’t be found. Everybody in the campsite was
searching for her. About an hour later a teenager found
his little sister near the pond and brought her back to
her parents. This pastor remembers being so thankful that
he gave this teenager all of the spending money he had for
the week.
John writes, “The house was filled with the fragrance
of the perfume” (John 12:3). Isn’t that beautiful!
Is your home filled with the sweet aroma of spontaneous
acts of kindness? Is your place of work or your classroom
filled with the perfumed air of costly love? Are our churches
filled with the fragrance of people pouring out our lives
for Jesus and one another?
Sometimes we have to act now, for that moment will never
come again. Jesus said, “You always have the poor
with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:8).
Thomas
Carlyle loved his wife Jane Welsh Carlyle, but he was a
rather irritable man who never made life happy for her.
Unexpectedly she died. Someone tells of Carlyle’s
feelings when he lost her. He was looking through her papers,
her notebooks and journals; and old scenes came mercilessly
back to him. In his long sleepless nights, he recognized
too late what she had felt and suffered under his childish
irritabilities. Remorseful, he cried again and again, “If
I could see her but once more, were it but for five minutes,
to let her know that I always loved her through all that.
She never did know it, never.”
Perhaps Mary knew that if she did not seize
the moment that day at the table to show her immeasurable
love for Jesus, the chance to do that would be gone forever.
There's a song
from a famous Broadway musical, “What I Did For Love”.
That song includes these words: “Kiss today good-bye,
the sweetness and the sorrow. Wish me luck, the same to
you. But I can’t regret what I did for love, what
I did for love…love is never gone. As we travel on,
love’s what we’ll remember.”
Love is what we remember, isn’t it?
I was pastor of a church perhaps for a month or so when
word got back to me that a certain man in the congregation
remarked that I didn’t measure up to the former pastor
who had left. I was stung – angry – and I remember
thinking, “For heaven’s sake, why don’t
you give me a chance before you put me down!” But
over the months and years I got to know this man and his
family, and a mutual love and appreciation developed. The
last Sunday I preached at that church before I left, he
came out after the service, and instead of just shaking
my hand, he put his arms around me, and we embraced, and
cried together. And somehow, that is what I remember about
George, not the stinging criticism he leveled at me when
I first came there.
I believe it is these self-forgetful moments
of spontaneous love, when we leave our reservations behind,
that fill life with joy and meaning. It’s true, isn’t
it? “I won’t forget what I did for love, what
I did for love. …love is never gone. As we travel
on, love’s what we’ll remember.”
Harry L. Kaufhold, Jr.
Preached at Lititz United Methodist Church
March 2, 2008
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