PAST SERMONS
March 21, 2010
The Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 21, 2010; St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Camden, Maine,
Sermon by Rosalee T. Glass
Text: John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary 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. 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.) 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.”
Imminent arrest and death were looming for Jesus by the time he arrived at the dinner being given for him in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus had always been a thorn in the side of the powerful religious establishment of his day. Now things had come to a crisis point. His friend Lazarus had died and he had brought him back to life. Because of this miracle, more and more people believed in Jesus and wanted to follow him.
He had just performed the ultimate miracle that made him become an unauthorized religious celebrity and therefore a high profile threat to the status quo. So the chief priests and Pharisees had decided to have him arrested and killed. His days left on earth were numbered. He knew it and his friends knew it too.
And that’s why, in today’s Gospel story, while there was still an opportunity, his beloved friends, Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, host a dinner where they can be present with him and serve him for the last time. It was an evening of loving comfort among dear friends, friends that will not see each other again.
At this dinner, in a moving expression of devotion and ritual preparation for burial, Mary anoints Jesus’ feet. In that culture, the feet were the parts of the body first anointed for burial. Mary uses something far better than regular oil. She uses a very precious pure nard ointment, a perfumed oil associated with the Biblical love poetry of the Song of Solomon. She makes of this a shared ritual, because she not only anoints his feet, but also wipes some of the oil with her hair. A spirit of genuine affection and the beautiful fragrance of the precious nard perfume filled the house where they were dining.
Suddenly the exquisite mood of the moment is broken. Wouldn’t you know that it would be Judas who spoils things! He suggests that there has been a misuse of the expensive oil by Mary, asking why it hadn’t been sold and the money from the sale given to the poor. The atmosphere is now poisoned with doubt and conflict. Never mind that Judas was a traitor and thief and would have stolen the money in question. That wasn’t the point at this moment. There was a problem. Wasn’t it true that Jesus had always favored the poor? So why should this resource have been used for love of Jesus instead of for the needy?
A similar argument resonates in our own day in criticisms of the Church of Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ in the world. Some critics say that millions of dollars are spent on maintaining churches and church property. This includes paying salaries of clergy and staff, buying fancy vestments, flowers, etc. Critics claim that instead of that the church should be a “bare-bones” institution, and money for these things should be used to relieve the poverty in the world. They say the churches should not spend money on themselves while the poor around the world suffer with not having enough resources to live with dignity.
Other criticism of the Body of Christ is about its very existence. Critics in this camp claim that the Church isn’t needed at all. They say that there are many, many more worthwhile and efficient non-profit charities than the churches for eliminating poverty and promoting human dignity and justice. Both of these criticisms have some partial merit as do even more bitter criticisms that decry the clubbiness and hypocrisy in some churches.
But should the church’s failings lead us to give up on supporting the Body of Christ in our day? Our answer I believe should be “no.” And it should be prompted by what Jesus’ meant when he answered Judas’ criticism. He said, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” I believe he meant that he, the incarnate presence of God’s love with them, was unique and necessary. Of all things, intimacy with him was the thing to be most desired, especially since he must soon leave the world. The poor, on the other hand, would always remain with them in the world. The person of Jesus Christ was before them, personal and real. And less important was an idea, an impersonal category of persons without individual identity, called “the poor.”
And the Body of Christ today? Should we close our doors, stay at home, and send our money to the nameless poor by way of secular agencies? Again, “no.” We support the Church as the Body of Christ today; because no matter how imperfect our churches may be, it is where we can be reminded of the love of God in Christ, now present in the Holy Spirit and present in our relationships with each other. It is the presence of Christ in our hearts that is the foundation of all charity. It is what prompts us to care for all of God’s beloved, and yes, especially those in need.
The Church is where we can hear God’s call to see Christ’s presence in every person we meet, and where we have the opportunity to minister to each other as Christ would minister to us. We at St. Thomas’ have been called to support the poor in general, and we collaborate and work together to do that with our Outreach Program. But also, the love and care for those within our community of St. Thomas’ is always urgently before us. The Church, the Body of Christ, is where, with God’s grace, we can have the experience of the love and comfort that Jesus and his friends had at the special dinner in our Gospel story. And then, if we do have that experience, we may hope that the love and comfort so permeate our hearts that its perfume will waft out of the church and give fragrance to the whole world. AMEN.