A Pound of Costly Perfume

Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Lent (RCL Year C - 3/21/2010), offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8

Help us, O Lord, to become masters of ourselves, so that we might become the servants of others. Take our minds and think through them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

We are marching through the season of Lent and moving inexorably toward the Passion of Christ. And so on this final Sunday before the start of Holy Week, we hear this very odd story about the anointing of the feet of the Lord by Mary of Bethany, who most likely is the same as the one known in the Gospels as Mary Magdalene.

It is quite an odd story: a woman pouring a pound of costly perfume on the feet of Jesus, and then wiping it off with her hair?! It sounds bizarre to us, and it was extremely improper according to the customs of that time. But, as always, the Gospel of John has a specific goal in mind in telling this story.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to join us in our Bible Study on John’s Gospel, here is a bit of background which is crucial to understand this Gospel. Of the four canonical gospels, the Fourth Gospel is unique in a number of important ways.

It was the last of the canonical Gospels to be written. As such, it does not seek to re-tell the familiar stories once again, but to explain and defend the views of a particular Christian community. Everything in this Gospel is carefully shaped and edited, and we can see the effect even here in this story. Those reading this story in the original Greek would see that the same exact words are used to describe both Mary’s wiping of the feet of Jesus, and the Lord’s wiping of the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. These two events are linked in a deeper meaning. More on that in a few minutes.

This Gospel is also unique in the way that it gives crucial and exalted roles to women. Just look at this family that we see here: the family of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. In the eleventh chapter of John, we read that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” and also that Lazarus is referred to as the man whom Jesus loves.

And it is right there at the grave of Lazarus where Martha makes the great confession: “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” In the other three Gospels, this confession comes out of the mouth of Peter, and Jesus declares that he is the rock on which the church will be built. But in John’s Gospel, it is Martha, sister of Lazarus, loved by the Lord, who makes this bold confession. It comes from the mouth of a woman.

After Martha makes her confession, the Lord raises Lazarus from the dead. Soon afterward, the three siblings throw a dinner party in Jesus’ honor at their home in Bethany. And blessed Mary cannot contain herself. Her heart has been touched forever. Her love for and her devotion to Jesus overflows with an act of sheer extravagance.

In this Fourth Gospel, the defining mark of a disciple is always love. Love for the Teacher, Jesus the Messiah, and love for the disciples as well. Next week, on Maundy Thursday, we will read from the 13th chapter of John and hear about the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of the twelve. At that meal, after Judas left to carry out his plan, Jesus defined their new way of life in him in the simplest, most direct words: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

And so the Fourth Gospel presents to us a clear choice to make. We are given two competing models for imitation, two different ways of responding to Jesus. One is the path of darkness that leads to death. The other is the path of light that leads to abundant life.

Judas, of course, is the model of darkness. We truly do not know why Judas did what he did, why he betrayed the Master. Many people have offered various explanations. This Johannine community believed that it must have been the demon of greed which took control of the heart of Judas. But it may also have been fear. Afraid of leaving behind the traditions of his people, Judas may have been unable to receive and trust all that the Lord taught him. He was unable to see who Jesus truly is.

But the path of light that leads to life is seen in blessed Mary Magdalene. If love is the defining mark of a true disciple, Mary has this in abundance, even before Jesus gives his new commandment. Unlike the men reclining around the table, Mary does not need to be told of the importance of love. She knows it and she lives it. She is a true disciple.

A pound of costly perfume! Her gift of extravagance is getting us ready for the coming Passion, when we will stop and remember again the extravagant gift of God: the Son who comes down to give life to the world, the Bread of Life given and broken to heal this damaged creation.

I’m not about to ask you which of these two paths you are traveling: the path of Judas or the path of Mary. God has brought you here, and you agreed to come! Therefore I know which path you are on. But we need to dig deeper.

Think about it: a pound of costly perfume! The sweet fragrance of Mary’s devotion filled the entire house! So let me now ask you: does your love, your devotion fill your entire house where you live with a sweet odor, a lasting impression of goodness and truth and beauty? Can the people you live with, the people you work with, the people you spend time with – can they sense the authenticity of your devotion to the Lord Jesus? Does your life give off a sweet fragrance of genuine love?

The author Rita Snowden wrote once of her visit to a small town near Dover, England. She was taking the late afternoon tea when she suddenly became aware of an unbelievably pleasant scent filling the air around her. She asked the waiter about the source of the scent. He explained that it came from the people walking by. They worked down the street in a perfume factory and were on their way home then. When they left the factory, they carried with them the fragrance that had permeated their clothes during their day’s work.

This is what the life of a Christian is like. We open our hearts so often to the amazing love of God, we spend quality time with God, so that our souls become permeated with divine love. And when we walk down the streets, we can’t even help it! We give off the scent of the love of Christ everywhere we go.

Most Sundays, when our worship has ended, we are dismissed with these words of mission: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” Love and service: these are the things that make up a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God that Mary has shown us the way. Amen.