An Unexpected Gift
RCL Year C • Sermon • Submitted
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Back in May of 2020 we were smack down in the early stages of the pandemic and isolating as much as we could. One of the ministries that my former congregation Grace started during that time was to make face masks for hospitals, clinics, and the Native Americans in Peach Springs. After one of the first batches had been put together, we gathered those who had made them and gathered socially distant from one another outside and blessed the face masks for the various groups they were going to be sent to be used.
After the blessing one of the ladies asked if they could chat for another minute. I said of course and she handed me a gift bag and told me that it was a “May the 4th be with you present”. For those who don’t know May 4 is also known as Star Wars Day. I thanked her and headed back home. When I got home I opened the gift bag and then opened the box inside and sitting in the box was a handmade baby yoda from what was then the brand new Star Wars show The Mandalorian. I have to tell you I was completely floored when I saw this. She knew that I love Star Wars and she did it just because it was Star Wars Day. At the bottom of the stand that this guy stands on was a business card with her ‘from home company’ name and logo on it and handwritten was the phrase 1 of 3, meaning it was one of only 3 of these that she made. I called her and attempted to find the words to express my deep gratitude and joy at this gift that she had made for me.
She shared with me a few days later that the masks that had been made and blessed were given to the various places and that the most appreciative and awestruck by that outpouring of love and care for their community were the Native Americans in Peach Springs. They, on a completely and more important level than my baby yoda, were moved by the gift of masks to help their community that had already been hit hard by COVID. The lady who received them on behalf of the community was brought to tears and wished that she could have shared a hug to show her appreciation for such a wonderful gift.
I share these two related stories because the one happened to me and I can speak from my own personal experience how it feels to be completely blown away by the generosity of another person, when I had no idea that anyone would even think of doing something like that. I have had some other experiences like that happen including one that just happened this last week to me. It really makes you wonder what you could have done to deserve such a thoughtful gift. I share the other one becuase I think it points more to an act of love that has a real impact beyond something sentimental.
That is how I see Mary’s gift to Jesus when she anoints his feet. It was an unexpected gift that was brought out to her Lord. Why did she do this? I think there could be a couple of reasons and maybe it was one of them, or even it was all of them. Verse two tells us that that they were having a dinner for him and that Lazarus who was raised from the dead was at the table with Jesus. So I think that the dinner was possibly in thanksgiving to Jesus because in the chapter before this had, in fact, raised Lazarus from the dead. So while Martha serves Mary tries to think of a way to say thank you to Jesus for what he has just done for her brother, which as we know must have dramatically impacted her life as well.
Perhaps she did it because, as one of his disciples she knew who Jesus was, as the Messiah. Perhaps she wanted to serve Jesus in a way that showed how much she loved and cared for him and so she decided to wash his feet, anoint his feet, in a way that showed how much she loved and cared for the Word made flesh.
Finally perhaps she had come to understand what Jesus was about to do, that she knew and understood what it meant for him to head to Jerusalem for the Passover and how that meant the end of his life here on earth and it was a symbolic act of preparing him for what he was about to do. So understanding he was going to give his life for them she decided she needed to prepare him for what comes next, so she anointed him with what she had. Whether it was one of or all three of these reasons, what we do know is that she used her most precious item she had to show her overflowing love, care, support, and dedication to her savior. She poured out her love in the form of an anointing.
The problem is that Judas doesn’t get it. He wants to make this moment not about love and appreciation, he wants to make it about money and profit. He wants to falsely show that he cares about the poor in order to maybe both shame Mary and get money in the common purse so that he can later pocket some of it for himself. His greed gets in the way of understanding on any level what Mary is doing for Jesus.
I know that happens in this world. We and others try to pretend that we care about something when we are actually trying to do something to shame others for our own benefit. I think it really means that we need to look deep inside and see what are our motivations and goals for what we are doing. Are we doing something like giving money away for recognition? Are we doing it to make someone else look bad while pretending we are well intentioned? Judas wants to feign care and look good in front of everyone, and he wants to then benefit from it.
While Judas and other may be like this I hope you have seen how genuine Mary’s gift of perfume was not. In fact, it really isn’t about the perfume or the monetary value of it, but about the love poured out by her. She loved Jesus so much she felt compelled to do the most wondrous thing she could do. Then in a what seems like an odd turn Jesus tells us we won’t always have Jesus but we will always have the poor. If we take a look at Deuteronomy 15:11 “11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”” We see that God tells the Israelites that they must be liberal in their generosity to the poor and that is really what Jesus is talking about with Mary’s act. Jesus tells us that this moment is a moment of outpouring love toward God and it’s ok that it happens, just like when we give generously to those people we love around us. There is a time and place for that AND there is always a time and a place to be generous with your love and concern for the needy in the world. So just as Mary was generous to Jesus we are called to be generous with those in need. We are called to pour out our love and care for them.
Just as Mary saw who Jesus was and what he meant to her we see that also in our own ways, and in our own ways we are called to express that love to both God and to the world around us. We are called to give unexpected gifts of love and support for the people we meet just as we were given an unexpected gift of love through the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.