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.

Make It Bear More Fruit

Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Pascha / Easter (RCL - B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville

Texts: Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:25-31; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8

In the mountains of North Carolina, the McGee’s lived a simple and humble life, but one that was filled with lots of joy and love. These folks are my wife’s grandparents and if you’ve heard me talk, then you likely know that they have been very important people in her life. One summer in college, she went to live with them in order to learn a bit of their wisdom.

Erin recalls one day early on in that summer when she was out in the massive garden that old Reverend McGee planted and tended. She was out to help Grandpa with his weeding. Now, Erin grew up in the city, and so she was not too familiar with gardens. Grandpa McGee was the Master Gardener, and he took great pride in his amazing vegetables. And so you can imagine how quite frustrated he was when he found out that Erin, who thought that she was being helpful and pulling out weeds, instead actually had spent the day pulling up all of his newly sprouted bean plants!

Trust me: it’s best to let the Master Gardener handle the garden, and it’s best for those who don’t know what their doing to just stay out of the way!

Our Lord Jesus reminds us today that God is the Master Gardener, and God has a plan for shaping our lives so that they can become beautiful, lush gardens that produce bumper crops of fruits and vegetables that can be shared with family and friends and neighbors all around.

But, in order for these gardens to be fruitful, they have to be weeded! In order for the grapevines to produce more grapes, they have to be pruned.

Who likes the idea of being pruned? I mean, really! Do any of us really welcome change in ourselves?
In the Greek, the word translated here as pruning has the same meaning as cleansing.
Kathairo – to prune, to cleanse, to make clean.

Jesus teaches us that God intends to do this in our lives: “[My Father] removes – literally, carries away – every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that [does bear] fruit he prunes – he cleanses – to make it bear more fruit” (John 15:2).

Can you see the plan? If you bear fruit now – if you are open now to the Holy Spirit - then God’s plan and intention is to change your life so that every year you bear more and more fruit.

But what really does it mean to “bear more fruit”? It means that my actions – and your actions – become increasingly more and more in line with the actions of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It means that we become his disciples, his students who are learning from him how this life is meant to be lived.
As our Epistle reading stated so clearly today: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” So that we might through him, in him, for him, with him.

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:8).
You see, we all imitate someone else. Each one of us is a disciple of at least one other person. We all learn how to live from others.

We need to be careful about who we emulate. This is why I cannot simply agree with others when they say that all religions are basically the same and they teach the same things. Are they really? Do they really teach the same things?

Muhammed is claimed to be the prophet of God. His followers claim that he is the final and most perfect of all of the prophets. And yet, Muhammed was a wealthy slave owner.
Muhammed violently attacked and killed those who opposed his teaching.
In contrast, our Lord Jesus Christ was a common, humble man who never displayed violence against anyone. And when he was attacked and opposed, he responded with love and compassion and was willing to sacrifice himself rather than to attack.
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter…”

What kind of fruit would you expect to see in the lives of those who follow these two very different men?
In the real world that you and I live in, choosing which one of these men to follow has an enormous impact upon our lives.
It is our choice to make. God has given us a mind and we are to use it. We must be careful in our choice of who to imitate. It truly can be the difference of life and death.

On this past Friday, the Church celebrated and remembered the Feast Day of blessed Dame Julian of Norwich. Some of you may know her story. Others of you may have heard of her amazing visions, the most famous of which is the vision of the hazelnut lying in her hand.
This nut symbolized the world resting in the loving hand of God. Small and fragile though the world is – small and insignificant our lives may be – yet God created us in love, sustains us even now in love, and is redeeming and cleansing our lives now in love.

After this vision, Dame Julian wrote down a remarkable prayer which summarizes her vision of God’s redeeming love:

"God, of your goodness, give me yourself, for you are enough for me, and I can
ask for nothing which is less which can pay you full worship. And if I ask
for anything which is less, always I am in want; but only in you do I have
everything.”

Only in you, Lord, do I have everything. For God is love, and that is enough for me.

-Someone very wise once said that “faith is the direction your feet start movin’ in when you know that you are loved.”
-God is love, and God has loved us with an amazing, everlasting love. When we truly can embrace that love and carry it in our hearts – in the center of our being – all the time, then our feet start moving. Then we begin to love others as we have been loved. “We love because God first loved us.”

The invitation to each one of you here today is to make yourself at home in the love of Christ. There is no better place for your heart to dwell. And, my friends, don’t fight with the pruner. Don’t argue with the Master Gardener. Let God cut out of you every little hint of bitterness or anger or greed or jealousy. Every hint of that spirit that grabs and takes, and let that be replaced with the open hand that receives, that receives every good thing as a gift from our loving Father who surrounds us at all times.

This is true and abundant life. This is the fruit of love. Amen.


Blessing of Mothers for Mother's Day

Father, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given us;
the gift of life, the gift of those who love us.
We thank you today for the gift of our mothers and grandmothers.
We give thanks for our Mothers and Grandmothers who have diedand for the unique way they have revealed for us your love.
We ask that you Bless them and keep them in your careuntil the time comes for us to join them in the heavens.

We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers who are unable to be with us here today.May they know how much we love and care for them.
We pray for birth mothers who have loved their children so much they have shared the gift of their child with those who could better care for them and their needs, and give them a secure home.

And we pray for adoptive mothers, that they may always know their special role of being a true mother, a revelation of God's love for their children.

We ask your blessing upon Mothers who have lost childrenthrough miscarriage, stillbirth, crib death, accident and tragedy, that theymay know your continuing strength and courage.

We ask your blessing too, upon those who would very muchlike to be mothers but who are having trouble having a child.
And we ask your Blessing especially upon the Mothers and Grandmothers standing before us here +. Give them the strength to live the faithful and loving lives you call them to live.
Protect and guide them. Keep them in your care.

We ask this Blessing in the name of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.