Word of Salvation – Vol.42 No.10 – March 1997
Unbelievable Love
A Lenten Sermon by Rev G Vanderkolk
on Mark 14:1-11
Scripture Reading: 1John 3:11-24
Suggested Hymns: BoW 453; 419; 468; 91
Congregation,
By the time that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he was popular for his miracles and demonstrations of power, but at the same time, very unpopular with the religious establishment. The first verses in our text remind us that the priests, scribes and elders are plotting. They are plotting to have Jesus killed.
Let us first ask ourselves the question, “Why was Jesus so unpopular with the religious establishment? Why were they so dedicated in their attempts to have Jesus put to death?”
Point One: Why Jesus was unpopular with the religious establishment.
The list is rather long!
First of all, they were envious of the attention that Jesus was receiving. The whole town, the city of Jerusalem, was talking about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. They saw themselves as the established church and they saw how the people hung on the very words of Jesus.
Secondly, they had witnessed the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the words that the crowds had been singing:
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest.” The crowds, the children, all sang and it was becoming obvious to the religious establishment that Jesus was seen as the Messiah of Israel
Thirdly, they were upset with the actions of Jesus at the temple. He had thrown out the money changers and caused unbelievable chaos at this very busy time of year. He had declared them to be cheats and robbers and that was a terrible humiliation
Fourthly, they knew Jesus’ parables highlighted their own hypocrisy. Not only were they the brunt of Jesus’ parables, but they knew that the woes of Jesus were directed against them. Jesus had said things like, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you are like white washed tombs on the outside, but inside you are full of dead men’s bones.” (Mt 23)
So the leaders of the people went about their plotting, their aim: to kill the one who the people recognised as the Messiah. Their problem was that the one they passionately longed to kill was also the most popular figure in town. The leaders recognised the volatile character of the town of Jerusalem, especially during the time of the Passover.
William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible, tells us that not only was every adult male who lived within 20 kilometres of the city required to participate in the Passover celebrations, but it was the desire of many Jews from around the Roman Empire, to come to this feast at least once in their lifetime.
Jerusalem was so full of people that people were required to give free accommodation to all the pilgrims. The Roman authorities sent crowd control troops to Jerusalem at this time of year. All the elements for a decent riot were there in Jerusalem at that time. There were huge crowds. They were a volatile crowd who had come to remember the past acts of God, and how he had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. So when they came to celebrate the Passover they also remembered that they were no longer free but the Judean province of Rome.
The leaders of the people were very cautious. They were the ones who went along with Roman authority and they had no desire to have a riot on their hands.
The amazing thing is that they did not want to have him killed during the feast, but God’s timing was such that Jesus was put to death during the Passover celebrations, the time the Jewish people commemorated their deliverance as a nation from Egypt. At the same time as the Jewish people would celebrate God’s deliverer out of Egypt, Christian people celebrate God’s deliverance of mankind through Christ defeating the powers of evil and death on the cross.
Point Two:
Spontaneous Love
At the same time as the gospel writer points out the plotting of the leaders of the people, he also wants to point out in contrast, that there were others that loved Jesus. In a sense this story is sandwiched between ugliness, ugliness of the scribes and elders who plotted the downfall of Jesus, and the greater ugliness of Judas who betrayed Jesus. This story of the woman is so striking because this is one of the last acts of kindness done for Jesus before his lonely death on a cross.
Jesus at this time was in the house of Simon the Leper, in the village of Bethany, in Israel, people did not eat sitting at tables. They ate as they reclined on couches. They lay on the couch resting on their left elbow and they used their right hand to bring food to their mouths.
As Jesus was reclining, a woman came to Jesus – a woman who, we understand from John’s gospel, was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. This woman came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she broke the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
Nard is an ointment or perfume that came from the Northern parts of India and was extremely expensive. In today’s dollar terms we would say it was worth about 30,000 to 40.000 dollars.
It was the custom of the day to pour a few drops of oil on a visitor but this woman broke the jar and poured out the lot. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves why this woman was so overwhelmed with love for Jesus. The answer we gain from the gospel account is that this woman Mary was a great friend of Jesus.
She hung on to the very words of Christ and she knew Jesus to be the Messiah. Not only had Mary loved Jesus as a friend but Jesus had just raised her brother Lazarus to life and her thankfulness knew no bounds. In a sense, the only way she could express her gratitude to the Lord was through this spontaneous and generous act of love.
Of course there were others standing nearby who criticised the woman for her actions. “What a waste,” they said. “The money could be used for other more noble purposes. Had this money been spent on the poor she would have provided a huge amount of food for many of the starving in the district. What a waste!”
It would appear that it was Judas, the treasurer, who voiced the strongest objections to this act of love by the woman. He calculated the cost. As one prominent scholar (Gresham Machen) said, “…Lord set us free from the oppressive tyranny of the efficiency expert.” The slightest calculation might have made the woman act differently, but the point is that she did not calculate at all. All this woman saw was Jesus, the object of her love, her Saviour and the rest of the world was forgotten.
Point Three:
The lessons we learn
Can we learn anything from this act of love? Jesus obviously thought that we could. Jesus said, “Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” A memorial to her and a lesson for us.
In many ways this woman’s act is unique. We will never have the opportunity to pour oil over the head of Jesus or wipe his feet with our hair. This woman’s act is special because it is so self-giving. The perfume cost this woman all that she had and yet she didn’t hesitate to pour the oil over the head of Jesus and, as the gospel of John records (John 12:1-8), to wipe the feet of Jesus with her hair. This woman, if you like, lost herself in her love for Christ.
Such love, congregation, doesn’t just happen. Such love is a response to the love of Jesus. Jesus had done the most marvellous thing in her life. He had raised her dead brother, Lazarus, to life. He had raised her brother, who was buried for four days, back to life. In a sense she couldn’t contain her love. it burst out from her and this was the only way she could respond to Christ’s love.
Her act is unique, congregation, but her response isn’t. Ever since Christ was crucified to death, rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God, people throughout the world have known what it is to love him and to be loved by him.
The Lord willing, we know what it is to love Christ. When we hear the words of the scriptures, that Jesus died for sinners like us, and that he sacrificed his crown so that we may gain one, what response does it strike in us? When we hear that Jesus became sin so that we might gain life, surely we cannot help but be moved to respond in love to him? The Holy Spirit moves in our hearts and we want to serve him.
The apostle Paul never met Jesus in a physical sense and yet Paul said this: “But whatever was to my profit / now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things… I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead.” (Phil 3)
This love which Paul felt for Christ moved him into action and he dedicated his life to spreading the gospel. The love that Mary felt for Jesus moved her into an action of response. Love must give birth to a response!
Have you ever come across a couple who claim to be in love and yet who do not demonstrate such love? A lack of activity on the couple’s part would make one wonder about the quality of such love? Surely a young man wants to demonstrate his love to his girlfriend; to buy her flowers and send her cards? The girl also wants to demonstrate her love. True love gives birth to a response, and so it is with our love for the Saviour!
We can’t pour oil over the head and feet of Jesus. Yet Jesus said this in his parable of the sheep and goats: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. / needed clothes and you clothed me… Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” I am not saying that doing good things for poor people is loving Christ. I am saying that for those who love Christ, loving others is loving Christ.
This woman, congregation, stands out because her love was directed to the Saviour. This woman will be remembered because her love was directed to a person, and that person was Christ himself. Christianity is not an activity as such. Christianity is based on love for one particular person, and that is Christ himself.
This text reminds us that we serve a person rather than a philosophy or an organisation. Some believe that they are Christians by observing the commandments. Some believe that they are Christians by serving the poor. Some people think they are Christians by their activity in the church or in the wider world,
Surely, that was the sin of the others standing in that room that day. They saw a woman pour out her heart to Christ and they called it a waste. Their understanding of the kingdom of God was that it was an activity rather than love for a person. Jesus rightly reminds them that the kingdom of God revolves around a person, not an activity, noble though that activity is. Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.”
Sometimes we comfort ourselves with the thought that we are active in God’s kingdom. Yet, the greatest fruit of the Christian life is the love of Christ.
I believe that this story of the woman does make us uncomfortable. We might have been uncomfortable in our activism but Jesus asks us the same questions he asked Peter:
“Simon, son of John, do you truly love Me more than these?”
“Simon, son of John, do you truly love Me?”
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
The same question is asked of us. “Do you love me?” asks Jesus. He isn’t asking us whether we go to church on a Sunday. He isn’t asking us if we pray to God. He isn’t asking us if we give to charity. He isn’t asking us if we are on Session, or the Board of Management. He isn’t asking us if we have preached the gospel or gone overseas to tell others the good news. He is asking a simple question: “Do YOU love me?”
This question is a haunting question. Let us not be so engrossed in one thing or another that we forget the essence of Christianity!
This woman anointed Jesus for burial. She didn’t know it but that is exactly what she did. In those days a flask of perfume was poured over the corpse and the glass of the flask was left around the dead body. As we know, the women who came on the Sunday morning after Jesus’ death came with perfume to anoint his body. They never made it. Jesus had already risen.
This woman, in her act of devotion, prepared Jesus for his sacrifice. Jesus didn’t go to Jerusalem to bring about a revolution. He went to die; to die for the sins of his people. When this woman poured out her love in this wonderful act, Jesus understood it is an act of love in response to His grace.
Calculation, busy-ness, efficiency, kingdom service all have their place. But their importance must never be at the expense of ‘love’ for Christ. “Love for the person of Jesus.”
Judas stands in contrast to the woman. He stands in contrast because he was an active member of the band that followed Christ. He, along with the rest of the disciples, followed Jesus at expense to himself. He must have participated in miracles of healing but his ambition came before his love for Christ. He followed Christ with the thought that he might get something out of him. His motivation was self-seeking rather than Christ-loving.
The others standing by were indignant. They thought her response was inappropriate, wasteful. Sometimes we are a bit like efficiency experts. We are a bit quick to stand on people because we think that their response is inappropriate. A young child might play a recorder in a worship service and get a few notes wrong and we suggest their displacement.
Love for Christ demands a response. Let us be careful with words that say that someone’s response to Christ’s love is inappropriate. Sometimes it might be, but then our words must be seasoned with gentleness and mercy.
What is motivating us, congregation?
What lies behind our service?
Jesus is asking us the question:
“DO YOU LOVE ME?”
What is your answer?
Amen.