It’s serious work, this work we do for the gospel. There’s more than we can possibly do, every day, year-round, to share the gospel, to care for those who are hungry, who are homeless, who need help. It could be our lifetime job, every single one of us. There aren’t enough hours in the day.
I think the Apostle Paul felt the urgency and overwhelm of the call of the gospel when he was writing today’s gospel: “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him….I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul came from an opposite worldview: a persecutor of Christians. He was well-known and firmly entrenched in the Roman Empire. And then came that flash of light and the call of God. And he gave up everything, EVERYTHING, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. Church-planter, tent-maker, letter-writer, travel planner. Paul’s life was changed in an instant. “I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Paul’s language in this passage sounds awfully Type A Christian. “In order that I may gain Christ.” “if somehow I may attain the resurrection.” “I press on toward the goal, toward the prize...”
I guess that’s how we like to think of all-star Christians. At church four days a week, not including Sundays. Involved in two committees, a couple of special projects and always available to help out with the youth or bake a plate of cookies. The Type A, Paul-approved style of Christian.
So what do we make of Mary? We’ve heard a bit about Mary. While her sister Martha cooked and cleaned to make Jesus and his disciples comfortable, Mary reclined next to Jesus, attentive to his every word. And when Martha, another type A disciple, is doing all the work, she’s getting bent out of shape at her sister. Jesus takes Mary’s side: Martha, Martha, you are troubled and distracted by so many things….
And today, Mary is back at it. Jesus had recently brought their brother Lazarus back from the dead. And she is listening to Jesus telling them he will be heading into Jerusalem for the Passover, predicting that his controversial ministry will result in his death when he heads into Jerusalem.
I picture Mary, so intent. While the other disciples blow off yet one more prediction from Jesus about dying, Mary is wide-eyed and heart-broken. His words take away her breath, consume her.
Mary doesn’t back out of the room to go help in the kitchen. She leaves the room briefly and comes back with the jar of spikenard, an expensive perfume often used to anoint someone for burial. This highly scented perfume didn’t come cheap: think about a year’s wages for a laborer. 300 denarii. Oh, U.S. currency, maybe $10,000. So, not a dollar-store bottle with a twist-off cap. This costly fragrance came in an alabaster jar that had to be broken to be used.
And instead of setting it aside in case Jesus’ prediction about his death comes to pass, Mary breaks the bottle, the sharp, spicy scent filling the room. She walks over to Jesus, and instead of anointing his head and shoulders,
Mary pours it over Jesus’ feet, takes down her hair, and slathers the perfume all over his ankles, his dusty feet, his toes. She rubs the fragrant oil into his skin and uses her hair to spread it.
Now, just a word of protocol – no woman took her hair down in mixed company. It just wasn’t done. No woman dropped to her knees at a man’s feet in a room full of people. So, imagine a room full of men and women, jaws on the floor. Judas was the first to put words together, and his words weren’t amazement; they were anger. He tried to look like the Type A disciple. “Why did she go and do that? We could have sold that perfume and fed the poor.”
But everyone knew he was making no sense – Jesus didn’t use the disciples’ fund that Judas managed to feed the poor. He multiplied the bread and fish of a little child to feed thousands. Jesus didn’t need the 300 denarii to feed the poor. Which only meant Judas was desiring the funds for himself. And Jesus turned on him:
“Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
More than a few of us have read Jesus’ words, struggling with that part about “always having the poor.” It’s the last thing we want to hear. We want our Christian work to end hunger, to make a dent into poverty. We don’t want our work to be for nothing.
By now, maybe you are seeing these two side by side. Paul, serious and goal-oriented, planting new churches, and Mary, perfume in hand, filled with the joy of worshiping the Lord. And it’s easy to see who …
No. Not easy to see at all. Because both Paul and Mary loved Jesus. Loved Jesus with everything they had. Paul was called to start churches, to share the good news. Mary was called to give us the most pure example of worship in our gospel. She held nothing back, didn’t worry one iota about what anyone thought. She heard Jesus say he would be killed, and she anointed and worshiped the Son of God.
When we respond to Jesus with the pureness of what we have, what we are, there are no all-star disciples. There are only those who hear the word of God and respond with gifts they are given. One hears the word of God and responds with their gift of music. Another one hears our worship on the radio and shares the message of Jesus’ love with caregivers. Still another responds with prayer for the people and situations the Spirit places on her heart. Anointing, Evangelizing, Worshiping, Praying, Sharing God’s Love. The Spirit fills us and seeks to use each of us in our own beautiful and unique ways.
And when that happens, it is just a wonder and a joy to behold. A church filled with the Holy Spirit, moving people, the Pauls and the Marys, this way and that, finding new ways to guide our church out, into the community.
- Pastor, what do you think about…? Go!
- I heard about this project… Let’s see if that is the Spirit calling us!
- Could we try…? Why not?
Because there’s a new thing happening here, if we’re open to it. There’s a new thing ready to spring up, because God promised through the prophetic words of Isaiah that it’s true:
“Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
Amen
