St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday sermon – Fifth Sunday in Lent – March 21, 2010
“A Gift To Be Remembered!”
Text: John 12:1-3
If any of you remember the movie, “The Sound of Music,” you may remember Julie Andrews singing the song, “These are a few of my favorite things.” One of the verses she sang mentioned:
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Crisp apple strudels, schnitzel with noodles sets me to thinking, not just about favorite things, but about something else somewhat similar; that is, favorite smells.
How many favorite smells; how many different, delightful aromas and fragrances can you think of that remind you of wonderful moments to be alive, wonderful people to be around, wonderful foods to enjoy or to anticipate enjoying?
Forget the smell of dirty laundry! Forget the smell of spoiled food or something burned on the stove! Forget the barnyard smell of cattle or pigs or chickens or manure or diesel exhaust.
Forget the smells that get embedded into clothes & rugs & drapes. I’m not talking about reaching for Pine-sol or Fa-breeze or plug in air-fresheners to cover up unpleasant smells.
What are a few of my favorite, natural smells? What about the fresh, sweet, spring-time smell of new-mown hay filling the air; or the smell of spring flowers in full bloom so fragrant & so fair! What about in two weeks the strong, fresh, pungent fragrance of Easter lilies opening their big, trumpet-like flowers adding their bold fragrance to the joyful celebration of Easter.
Of all the delightful, wonderful outside/inside smells there are does love have a rich, beautiful smell to it? Sort of! When I first met Sandy over 40 years ago, a favorite, fragrant perfume she wore on special occasions was Estee Lauder. Doing a quick search on the Internet, I see where 2½ ounces of Estee Lauder now sells for around $50 to $55. That would put a pound of Estee Lauder at about $350, and there are some bottles of perfume that sell for twice that much, three times that much.
Would you believe such a rich, beautiful smell of love, such an expensive, fragrant perfume was Mary’s gift to Jesus as recorded in John chapter 12 read earlier. Only bear in mind, there was nothing romantic, nothing sensual, nothing superficial or gaudy or self-serving about Mary’s anointing Jesus’ feet with “a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard”, but what a gift of love it was.
Despite the protests of Judas, the greedy treasurer for the disciples who was always dipping into the treasury for his own purposes and who piously claimed Mary’s rich perfume, worth 300 denarii (a full year’s wage for a hired hand) would have been better spent on the helping the poor. None-the-less, Mary’s act of anointing Jesus’ feet was an act of faith & hope that when others would later read of this rich, beautiful anointing - they would see a connection and be reminded of the rich, beautiful, unconditional, unlimited, priceless love of God for all human beings -- manifested and poured out in Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.
Try to picture what happened that day in Bethany at the home of Martha, Mary, & Lazarus as Jesus & His disciples arrived to spend the evening just a few days before Jesus entered Jerusalem & was delivered over to the hands of his enemies. Writes one creative author:
The smells of fresh baked bread and slow-cooking soup reach the guests, and soon they are all at the table. Then, while the others are eating & talking, Mary comes in quietly, carrying the bottle of her best fragrant oil. She walks over to Jesus & without a word kneels, uncorks the bottle and pours all of the expensive sweet-smelling oil over his feet.
Jesus closes his eyes as the cool oil soothes his dusty, calloused aching feet. Soon others are sniffing the air, wondering what a rich beautiful smell is cutting thru the aroma of fresh bread & simmering soup.
The apostle John places this story in his gospel about a week after Jesus arrived in Bethany following word of the death of Lazarus. That’s when Jesus commanded that Lazarus grave be opened. And that’s when Martha warned Jesus that her brother had been four days in his grave & the stench of death would be anything but pleasant or sweet.
But now, about a week later, rich, beautiful smelling perfume that Mary pours over Jesus’ dusty feet, Mary’s act of love is reported HERE by the apostle John to highlight the fact that this rich, fragrant perfume poured out on Jesus feet, is a sign, a fore-shadowing of God’s sweet, persistent, selfless, priceless love that overcomes stench of all death & dying, overcomes the decay & smell of things old & spoiled in a broken & sinful world.
The authors of the Gospels do us well to have included this story in their account of Jesus’ life & ministry. Think about it! What’s a bottle of expensive, sweet smelling perfume poured on Jesus’ feet compared to the magnitude of God’s life-redeeming love poured out on a world in need of the freshness & newness of life that comes from Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life for all who seek Him.
Although some theologians & commentators see Mary’s anointing Jesus’ feet with a jar of expensive perfume as anointing Jesus for burial, it is also noted by John that Mary wiped the oil away with her hair. Imagine Mary so filled with gratitude for the life of her brother, Lazarus; imagine Mary as a believer in Jesus filled with faith & hope that Jesus is close to accomplishing His mission to give His life as a sacrifice for all; imagine Mary as a woman so full of devotion to Jesus’ call for workers in the harvest fields; that she is not the least bit worried about missing her perfume or messing up her hair.
It’s not appearances Mary is thinking about but affirmation, anticipation. Mary’s gift represents the bold fragrance of new life, and the joy deep in her heart that overflows like the smell of her expensive ointment – filling the whole house as a sign of the sweet fragrance of Christ’s love filling Christ’s church & the whole world. [B,Sanders, College Park First UMC, CP, Ga 3/6/07]
What a moment, what a remarkable act of devotion to be remembered. What’s also remarkable & worth remembering is that this is more than just an act to be remembered. Where & when in our world today has anyone caught a whiff of God’s love toward us in Jesus Christ and through us toward others in this 21st Century?
Speaking of a pound of something rich & wonderful, or extravagant & tasteful, I recently read where our mothers, grandmothers, even great-grandmothers made a cake called “a pound cake”. The name pound was given to this cake because the original recipes called for one pound of each of the four basic ingredients; a pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, a pound of sugar, a touch of baking powder. Talk about extravagant; “in typical volume measurements, the ingredients for this cake amounted to approximately three cups of flour, two cups of butter, eight large eggs and almost three cups of sugar.”
Also I read, “American pound cakes are lighter but often contain an abundance of butter to provide a rich taste and are considered a staple in the cuisine of the Southern United States. Typically they are not deco-rated in any way.”
What’s the point? The point is that the New Testament nowhere speaks of living a life of Christ-like love that is a mix of ingredients carefully measured out in limited amounts but the New Testament does speak of living a life of Christ-like love in terms of God-given gifts in no short measure or limited amounts: example, Mary’s act of devotion with no counting, no calculating the cost.
Imagine your life in Christ as a “pound of Christ”. It’s not the size or weight that matters but the ratio; whatever the size of your loving, your giving, your devotion, it’s the ratio that’s the key: 1 to 1 to 1 to 1. A pound of love & compassion, a pound of prayer & praise, a pound of patience & gentleness, a pound of goodness & self-control! You may not have a pound to give, maybe only a half pound, but then again maybe you have two pounds, three pounds to give. It’s not what makes sense, what’s reasonable, what’s practical that matter’s most but what’s in your heart. The pleasure is not in the knowing, the having, mixing, the baking, but the pleasure is in the giving.
For a joyful Zaachaeus it was giving half of his goods to the poor; restoring four times the amount if he had over-charged anyone on their taxes. For a boy in a large crowd listening to Jesus at the end of the day, it was giving five barley loaves and two fish for Jesus to feed 5,000. For a lonely widow passing through the temple treasury it was her last two mites. For those two disciples on the road to Emmaus, it was inviting a risen Jesus to stay with them for the evening and have dinner with them.
“Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet it’s treasure store; Take myself, and I will be Ever only, all for thee.” (LSB, 783,v.5)
We may never know what lives around us are enriched, helped, com-forted, influenced, what differences are made because God takes a kind word spoken, a generous gift given, a open hand extended, a difficult effort expended, and gives it a life and power far beyond the intention and expectation that prompted it. (Craddock, 5th Sun. in Lent, C Preaching thru the Christian Church year, p. 164)
What rich & beautiful acts of love & kindness & gracious, what pound or two pounds or three pounds of God’s rich and priceless love in Christ dwelling in us can we pour out on others for Jesus’ sake?
Favorite things, favorite smells, favorite works where Christ’s love dwells!
