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A Thing of Beauty
by The Very Rev. Frank F. Limehouse, III
[ Above: John Keats ]
Year C, 5 Lent, John 12:1-8
3/21/2010
unedited
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
“Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus…”. Have you ever known a happy tightwad? Lord knows I don't want my children to remember me as a tightwad. If you're like me you want to be remembered, especially by those who love and know you best, as someone who didn't mind turning things loose, and giving away. Extravagant spending is something different, extravagant spending is commonplace and it's not so pretty. But extravagant giving away is not commonplace. Extravagant, sacrificial giving is a thing of beauty.
I think about something that took place during an important capital funds drive in my previous parish. A man and his wife were discussing what they could give to the capital funds campaign. Not too much. They were already giving a nice pledge to the annual operating budget of the church, and although they made a fairly nice income, their assets didn't amount to a whole lot. Nevertheless they both agreed to pray individually and discuss it in a week. A week later the wife said she felt called to sell her engagement ring and give it to the campaign. Now, the diamond ring was a very nice one. Years ago, the husband had really stretched to pull it off. I mean, when you're madly in love you can sometimes go overboard and this guy had gone overboard, so to speak, to buy such a beautiful diamond. “You want to sell our engagement ring?! Why that's a symbol of our love for one another… it's irreplaceable!” She said, “I want to give it to the glory of God, for there's an even greater treasure than our love one for the other.” True story. And the man and his wife sold the ring and give the money to the church.
To borrow from John Keats poem: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Whatever you think of the wife's decision to give up her engagement ring, I believe he Lord saw it as a thing of beauty. And I tell you that story because the Bible tells us about a much more astonishing act of beauty that will indeed be a joy forever in the history of the church. It took place at the beginning of the last week of Jesus' life on earth. I am talking about what Mary did out of love and gratitude for Jesus, the account of which we have read this morning. In Mark's version of this same incident, Jesus himself said, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what Mary has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Mark 14:9).
What would cause Christ say such a thing? What was so beautiful about what Mary did? I mean, at first glance it seems Mary's extravagant turning loose was downright wasteful. So I want to review the story, praying that God will help us to get into the minds of both Mary and Jesus for therein lies the heartbeat of true Christian adoration.
In this story we are approaching the final days of our Lord's ministry on earth. John wants us to feel the tension building as Jesus beings his final march to Jerusalem to die. While the Jewish pilgrims were at Jerusalem making preparations for Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where a supper was given in Jesus honor. We remember that the Sanhedrin had given an order that if anyone knew where Jesus was, they should report it to the authorities. To fail to do so would get them in very serious trouble. Nevertheless, these people held this supper, a kind of “thank you” dinner for Jesus, openly. From Matthew and Mark we learn that this was held in the house of Simon the Leper, undoubtedly healed at one time by Jesus. Lazarus was there, once dead, but thanks to Jesus, now alive. Martha, Lazarus' sister, was there serving; and Mary, another sister, was there. What is to be remembered, however, is not the bravery of those present, but this act of Mary that is forever etched in the hearts of Christians.
Verse 12:3: “Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.” We can be obliged to Judas for calculating the cost of that precious ointment, otherwise none of us would have not just how expensive it was. He said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? So we learn the ointment was worth three hundred denarii! In today's American economy that would be approximately seventeen or eighteen thousand dollars. Either Mary's family was wealthy or perhaps this was an heirloom unguent passed down, we cannot say. But John made sure we knew what it cost and what an utterly remarkable act it was.
I was traveling home years ago after spending a month in Israel. The plane made a stop at the airport in Parish. We had about a five-hour layover. One guy asked me what gift I was bringing home to my wife. The answer was, nothing. I had not even thought about bringing home a gift. Another guy said, “Hey man, you need to bring home a gift- if not from Jerusalem, why not Parish?” The airport in Parish had many shops. My friend suggested I get her some French perfume. So out of desperation I bought her the finest I could find in one of the many airport gift shops. Now, Jane doesn't even wear perfume, but that's what I brought home. It didn't cost $19,000- far, far from it. But it was more expensive than I'd like to admit. I was in a jam. I say that because I'm trying to imagine what it might have felt like if Jane had taken it and poured it out on somebody's feet.
You have to admit, Judas, despite his evil intentions, had a valid, reasonable point. As it was and ever shall be that poverty and starvation is a painful reality and never too far away. Some degree of sympathy with Judas, at first sight, seems justified. And yet the one who had the biggest heart for the poor that ever lived said, “No, let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
There in these words of Jesus we see the profundity of the story. Though Jesus had repeatedly spoken plainly of his death to his disciples, it went in one ear and out of the other. We cannot know that Mary had full knowledge of what would happen to Jesus and why, but apparently this woman knew more about our Lord than all the disciples put together! She was indebted to Jesus for many reasons. She had been at the feet of Jesus and heard him preach of the Kingdom of God. Jesus had called her brother, Lazarus, out of the grave. But the gratitude behind this action went much deeper. The reader of John's gospel is invited to see Mary's action as a symbolic anointing of Christ's body with spices as if it he were already dead. In approximately one week from that very evening, Jesus' body would lie in the silence of a tomb. “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what Mary has done will also be told, in memory of her”.
What do we learn from all this? Brothers and sisters in Christ, the wonders of redeeming love flowing from the hard wood of the cross are so significant that there is no expression of love too extravagant. Mary's action, like all acts of true Christian devotion, is prompted above all by an understanding of the love of God revealed in the death of Christ. And NOTHING- no worldly blessing whatsoever; no gift, no healing, no anything you can possibly name is worth comparing to the blessings that come from the cross of Jesus.
Amazing Love! How can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Of course Jesus is not teaching that giving to the poor has no place in a disciple's obligation or the church's financial obligations. What he is saying is his death on the cross should control every aspect of the Christian life, including outreach and giving alms.
“Let her alone” Jesus said to Judas. Thus he ordained that what Mary did should be recorded in his Gospel and continue be held up for the admiration of mankind even to the end of the world. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
I close by reflecting on the words of the Psalmist: “The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow… But you, O Lord have rescued my life from death… How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me? (116). What could you and I possibly render unto the Lord for our deliverance from sin, guilt, judgment and death? May the sweet love of Jesus come and fill our souls to the brim, for he has come from heaven for the express purpose of dying for lost men and women like you and me, opening the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
May God draw reluctant hearts, and now give doubting souls courage to believe this for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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