How Your Devotion Impacts the World
John 12:1-8
by Rev. Karen Goltz

The time is just before Passover.  Last week Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  This inspired belief in some, and fear and anger in others.  The priests and Pharisees have discussed the situation and agreed that Jesus must be killed before his following attracts the attention of the Romans, who would come and destroy the people of Israel for raising a king of their own.

Jesus is currently visiting Lazarus and his sisters in their home in Bethany.  He knows what’s coming.  He knows that this journey to Jerusalem is one-way, that his three-year ministry is about to end.  He knows that his disciples will betray or desert him, and scatter.  He knows that he’s going to die.  He’s indicated to his disciples what’s in store for him and for them, and they’re trying to understand what it means to worship a Lord who has set his mind on death and rising from the grave.

Given all that, it should be somewhat surprising that a feast is going on.  It would seem that more sober issues might need attention, and that is exactly true.  And it’s Mary who provides the occasion for the shift from celebration to deathly anticipation.  Mary took a bottle of perfume, about the size of a Coke can, which was worth a year’s wages for a laborer – 300 denarii for them, maybe the equivalent of 20 to 30 thousand dollars for us – and poured it all over Jesus’ feet.

There have been a few times in my life that I’ve been in the presence of large amounts of money.  The first time was when I worked at a bookstore in Harvard Square, where I sometimes worked in the accounting department.  It was my turn to check the cashiers’ reports and make the deposit to the bank, and it happened to be for the last Saturday before Christmas.  I don’t remember how much I had in checks, but I know I was carrying over thirty-two thousand dollars in cash through Harvard Square.  Have you ever tried to carry thirty-two thousand dollars in cash without looking like you’re carrying thirty-two thousand dollars in cash?  Not an easy thing.  A few years later when I was working for the Air Force, the Navy was supposed to send my office a check for a little over eleven million dollars for reimbursement.  For some reason, they put my name on the “pay to the order” line.  I won’t say I didn’t consider a sudden relocation to the Cayman Islands, or thought about where else I might be able to go where they couldn’t extradite me.  But in the end I did make sure that check went through the proper channels and was deposited in the proper account, which, sad to say, wasn’t mine.  A few months later the Navy made the same mistake with the next reimbursement check, but that one was only for five million, and not nearly as tempting.  But it was still exciting.

We’re fascinated by large sums of money; we’re giddy with it because of the potential it represents.  Most of us working schmucks can’t imagine a life where money simply is not a concern.  We hear about people who drink wine that’s worth $500 a glass, or buy clothes that are worth thousands of dollars, and we can only imagine what that would be like.  We also can’t help but think what else that money could have bought.  $500 could buy a very nice glass of wine, or it could put a well in a village, providing its people with the only source of clean water for miles.  Several thousand dollars can buy you one heck of a wardrobe, or it can educate entire schools of children in a third world country.  And this brings us back to Bethany.

Mary felt that her perfume was meant to be on Jesus’ feet.  Before anyone could react, she put it there.  Never mind the fact that respectable women didn’t loose their hair in the presence of men, and that rabbis would never allow themselves to be touched by a single woman.  That alone makes this an extravagant act.  But the perfume that was worth an entire year’s wages?  Judas sees what she does and raises the question, “Wouldn’t we have rather had the money?”

Now, let’s go slowly here for a minute.  We can be quick to dismiss Judas’ words simply because John has already incriminated him as a thief, and because none of us extol greed as a virtue.  But let’s think about what he’s saying.  If you take his words at face value, he actually has a very good point.  Why weren’t these resources put to use for the poor, the hungry, the needy?  Why waste it, first by owning the perfume at all, and second by pouring it all on someone’s feet?

The fact of the matter is that we don’t know why Mary anointed Jesus’ feet the way she did.  Perhaps it was gratitude for returning her brother to life.  Maybe it was sheer adoration.  She never explains herself; she never says a word in the whole story.  If you think about it, there’s probably nothing she could have said that would have justified her before Judas’ critique.  Jesus had consistently demonstrated to them his preference for the poor, the outcast, and the marginalized.  So, in a way, it’s very much a surprise that it’s Jesus who defends her extravagant action.

Whatever significance Mary may have thought her action had, Jesus assigned a meaning to it that transcends whatever it was she may have intended.  In effect Jesus says, “Before a body is buried it is prepared with perfume.  Just as Lazarus was dead only a few days ago, so I will be dead only a few days from now.  Mary has observed our custom; it is permissible.”  Mary gave the devotion, Jesus gave the meaning.

As Christians we’re called to give our devotion.  That’s what we’re doing now, by gathering together for worship.  We give our devotion when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, when we baptize a child, when we receive a new member into our congregation, when we tithe, pray, study, or perform services in our community.  These are the nuts and bolts of the spiritual life.  Let’s be honest; it’s work to do these things.  It’s not easy to discipline oneself to attend church consistently.  It’s tiring to work on a ministry committee.  And it’s scary to make a financial commitment like tithing.  When you add up all the time you spend at church in a year, and you add up the money you give to the church over that year, and you add up the hours you give to ministry over that same year – it adds up to a pretty expensive bottle of perfume, doesn’t it?

If we look at our Christian life strictly on an earthly level, we’ll naturally ask, why?  Why give of ourselves in this way?  We could be using our time to develop a hobby, or to work on our careers and make money, or just to relax and have fun.  To someone who says church is just a big waste of time, we may feel we have little to say in response … until we remember that it’s all about Jesus.  Jesus is the one who gives meaning to our worship and concrete acts of discipleship.

Several years ago a slogan became very popular.  You still see it on bumper stickers from time to time.  “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” This is a good saying, insofar as it encourages us to take a break from ourselves and improve the life of another person in some way.  However, we know as Christians that kindness is not random, nor is beauty senseless – for these are, ultimately, characteristics of God.  God loves us not randomly, but personally and intensely.  Beauty around us is a reflection of the beauty of God.

Should we be kind?  Of course.  Should we work deeds of beauty?  Of course.  But what a tragedy if, after all our kindness and beauty, the most that can be said of us is that we were random and senseless!  Instead the beauty and kindness of our lives should be a reflection of Christ.  We are to be beautiful as Christ himself was beautiful; kind as Christ himself was kind.  When all is said and done it should be said of us, not that we were random and senseless, but that were his disciples.  Our love for Christ links together everything good and beautiful that we do and points to a reality larger than ourselves.

Consider a poor cold man on the sidewalk.  We bring him a hot cup of coffee.  “Here you go, sir,” we say.  “Thank you,” he says back.  We reply, “You’re welcome; this is just a random act of kindness.”  Implication – this could have just as easily not happened, or happened to someone besides you; you are not essential to this event; it’s just your lucky day.  The man has received a cup of coffee, that’s all.

Now consider a disciple in the same scenario.  “Here you go sir.”  “Thank you.”  “Don’t thank me; thank Christ whose love for us both compels me.”  Personal, deliberate, meaningful.  And more than a cup of coffee is given.  An invitation is extended for the man to see beyond the act itself to the Lord who inspires it; to see beyond just the specific act of kindness or beauty and to see the Author of love and glory himself who cares deeply for him in his plight.

When Mary poured out her perfume on Jesus, he justified her by saying, “I will certainly die.”  When we do our acts of devotion, Jesus reveals himself through us with another pronouncement: “I am surely alive.”  Every time we act in obedience to Christ it shows people that Christ is risen.

We don’t always know what God is up to in another person’s life.  We can’t study them to figure out what the right thing to say or do might be.  All we can do is be faithful and let Jesus’ love work through us in tangible ways.  Likely we’ll be surprised at the effect our devotion to Christ has on others.  So be encouraged in your devotion this Lenten season; the risen Christ is active in your life and he glorifies himself through you and through all of us together, when we let him speak and act through us.  All we have to do is provide the devotion, and he’ll provide the meaning.  Amen.