Discipleship | Judging Others

Please stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel. If you would like to follow along, you can find it on page 1308 in the pew Bible. This morning it comes from the Gospel of John chapter 12 verses 1 through 8. So hear now the Word of the Lord. "6 days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters hosted a dinner for him. Martha served and Lazarus was among those who joined him at the table. Then Mary took an extraordinary amount, almost three-quarters of a pound, of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus' feet with it, then wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house was filled with the aroma of the perfume. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him) complained, "This perfume was worth a year's wages! Why wasn't it sold and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would take what was in it.) Then Jesus said, "Leave her alone. This perfume was to be used in preparation for my burial, and this is how she has used it. You will always have the poor among you, but you won't always have me." This is the Word of God for the People of God. You may be seated.

So, I just want to spend a moment putting this passage into context. John does mention that Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead. This happened in the chapter immediately before, John chapter 11, but this event is still a few weeks after that event. But interestingly enough in the next chapter, in chapter 13, is when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. And so this is a really interesting passage to connect the two. You know, you can sense that Mary is grateful for what Jesus has done for her and her family. John doesn't tell us about her motivation, but it doesn't seem like a great leap to assume that that's part of it, that she is grateful to Jesus for raising her brother from the dead.

It's also interesting because this passage, or some variation of it, is one of the few that is actually in all four Gospels. But there are some significant differences between them. So for instance in Matthew and Mark, they are at the home of Simon Peter and the woman who comes in to anoint Jesus is not given a name, we don't know who she is, and she pours the oil on Jesus' head. In the Gospel of Luke, they are at the house of a Pharisee, and a woman, a sinner is all we are told, is before Jesus and crying. And she is washing his feet with her tears before she poured the oil to anoint him.

But in this passage in John, it is Mary, the brother [sister] of Lazarus. Mary, who is the one who sat at Jesus feet to learn.

Sitting at the feet of the teacher was the posture of a disciple, a student, someone who sought to learn. At the feet of Christ, Mary is the very embodiment of a disciple. In John 13, Jesus washes the feet of his 12 disciples and then he tells them, "Just as I have done for you, so you should do for others." He doesn't even have to tell Mary to do it. She just does. I want to take a moment just to reflect on this passage and not to gloss over it because this is a really significant event that's being described here. Imagine that you were in a house with, let's guess at least 15 men. Martha. They're eating dinner. And Mary comes in. She has a bottle of expensive perfume. She doesn't say a word, but she comes in. She kneels at the feet of Jesus

and she pours the perfume on it.

We all know the perfume can be strong. Right? Have you ever had to be an elevator with someone who just sprayed as if they swam in it? Right? This was a powerful scent.

And then she wipes his feet dry... with her hair.

This is an act of abundant love.

And if we were to witness this today, if this had happened in front of us.

Pretty sure most of us would feel uncomfortable watching this.

And the disciples are uncomfortable.

It's interesting that Judas is the one in John who speaks up about the money, right? About the worth of this perfume. A year's wages!

That's a lot of time. That's a lot of money.

He sees in this, in this act a waste of resources.

Jesus' answer to him is actually pretty gentle. He just says leave her alone.

Yes, it could have been used to feed the poor, to help the poor. We will always have the poor among us. We will always have the opportunity to do something good. But Jesus is reminding them to take advantage of the time that you have with me. She's used this perfume to prepare me for burial.

Mary knows something that the others just haven't quite gotten. Jesus has been telling them that he's going to Jerusalem to die,

to be buried and be raised again.

But it doesn't, it doesn't click.

In Luke, Jesus tells Simon Peter that this woman, this sinner is washing his feet, but when he entered this house, Simon Peter made no effort to wash his feet. He says that you didn't greet me with a kiss on my cheek, but this woman has hasn't stopped kissing my feet. And so the message that Luke is pulling out in the parable is that the one who is forgiven much, loves much.

Love is costly. Right? I mean,

I can't say I've ever witnessed an act of love as extraordinary what Mary is doing, anointing Jesus feet,

but I am reminded of a quote from Mother Teresa.

And she said, this is hard for me to read. She said, "You must give what will cost you something. This is giving not just what you can live without, but what you can't live without, or don't want to live without. Something you really like. Then your gift becomes a sacrifice which will have value before God. This giving until it hurts, this sacrifice, is what I call love in action.

We know of Mother Teresa because of her extraordinary acts of love.

And reading these words, it convicts me because I have to ask myself the question of... am I giving my best to God? Or am I giving what's left over?

Mary

has, in showing this act of love to Jesus, she is using perfume...that, I don't know, let's say it would be the equivalent of $30,000, I don't know. That's a lot.

That's a car. Can you imagine just giving the car to someone that's not like your children?

Guilty [of getting a car from my parents].

It's an extraordinary act.

We've been doing this series, Cultivating and Letting Go, and today we're focusing on cultivating discipleship and letting go of judging others. Because it's interesting that Judas is pointing at Mary's act and saying this is a total waste! Does he care? No. He's selfish, he's motivated by selfish reasons.

But there's something in this.

How dare we look at an act of sacrificial love

and criticize it?

There's a quote, it's don't mistake discipline for discipleship, even self-discipline. Judas is criticizing this act of love.

He's saying, you know, we could have done something else with this, but this was Mary's decision. This was Mary's sacrifice. Mary is acting as though she and Jesus are the only ones in the room. She is not worried about what the others think.

All she wants to do is just show Christ the depth of her love for him. She doesn't care about looking good. About keeping the mask on. The way Judas is.

She bares herself before him, putting, she puts herself in a vulnerable position... on her hands and knees using her hair to wipe Christ's feet dry.

Wow.

I invite you just to sit with that image.

To think about it, to imagine what it would have been like in that moment. Can you imagine yourself in the feet of any of the disciples or even better in Mary's position?

Can you imagine loving Christ so much

you don't care if you look like a fool,

you don't care that others might judge or criticize?

Because you are just loving Christ in response to Christ's love for you.