John 12:1-11

02/07/10
John 12:1-11
Hudson UMC

Every once in a while, we read a passage in the Bible that seems like it throws a bunch of stories together without a real rhyme or reason. The different elements in the story don’t seem to go together and it seems, at first, like there is only the telling of facts, not making any larger point or interpretation of those facts. This is what we find in our text today. We have three major points, the anointing of Jesus for burial, the greed of Judas, and the plotting of the chief priests to put Lazarus to death as well as Jesus. At first, these three ideas don’t look like they are too related except that they all happened at about the same time, but there doesn’t seem to be any big point that they are all working together to make.

One thing that binds these major ideas together is the theme of death, particularly the death of Christ. Mary anoints Jesus, which He interprets as a preparation for His burial. Judas is talking about money, when we know that he has either just betrayed Christ or is just about to. Finally, the plotting of the chief priests to kill Lazarus is rooted in their desire to put Christ Himself to death. The passage for next week tells the traditional story of Palm Sunday. Our text for today tells of what happened the night before that famous day. In many ways, they are deeply connected. In both stories we have joy and sorrow mixed together, even in the very same actions. Whereas on Palm Sunday, we have people shouting praises who, just a week later, would be shouting for Jesus to be crucified, today’s reading has Jesus being followed by crowds and treated with honor while Judas is there, imagining how he can betray Christ or how he can bring that betrayal to fruition.

Another major idea, and one that I think we need to spend a bit more time on, is the idea that sometimes, things are not what they seem. Now, there are some people who want to remind us that some things are not what they seem in order to shake our confidence in what we know and to question everything. Those people will not be satisfied with any proof and are not happy until we doubt absolutely everything. That is not my purpose. I think that we really can know things, that we can even really know something of God, even though God is always more than we can ever imagine. I hope to encourage everyone I know to be realists, that is, people who are firmly rooted in reality, but I hope that we might be critical realists, people who double check our facts, who make sure we’ve gotten it right and don’t only take everything for granted.

In fact, out of the four main players in this passage, there are two of them who are exactly what they seem and two who are not at all what they seem. The first reliable person in this story is Jesus. The wonderful thing about Jesus is that, even though we may need to probe a bit into the historical and Biblical context of Christ, He is never out to deceive us. We don’t have to worry that Jesus is somehow hiding the truth from us, that God is somehow different than He seems to be in Christ. Jesus is the most reliable person that has ever been, and this passage does nothing to shake our confidence in Him. In Jesus, we see the compassion of God being shown to a woman who is under attack from Christ’s followers, of all people. We see that, even when people misunderstand what Mary has done, He still stands up for her and defends her. We also see a man who is patient, even with those who hate Him. When Judas complains, Jesus knows that he is a thief and cannot be trusted, and yet, He does not attack Judas and give him what he deserves, but gently reminds him of what really matters. It is only a shame that Judas did not listen to Christ.

This is encouraging for us today because we are told that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, that the Jesus we read about in the Gospels is alive and well and we can meet Him today. So, if we have the best of intentions and we mess up, or if people criticize us because we did not do things how they would do them, we can take courage when we remember that Jesus does not join in the attack of the woman but looks to the heart and sees things that nobody else sees. Even if the leaders of the church miss the point and seek their own way, Christ still is the center and the final judge about what is right and wrong. On the other hand, even if we are false, if we put on a front that seems really good but that is only covering a desire to fight against God or to do things our own way and seek our own good instead of what God wants us to do, we can be encouraged because God does not attack Judas, but gently corrects him. Even when we set ourselves against God and the ways of God, God does not set Himself against us, but shows us more compassion and kindness than we deserve and can transform us if only we let Him.

The other person who is exactly what they look like is actually a group of people, the chief priests. They have a clear grasp on what they are doing and they are quite clear about why they are doing it. There is no deceit here. Everyone knows that they hate Jesus and want to stop Him. They have sent out word that anyone who knows where He is should report to them so they can arrest Him. Not only does everybody else know that the chief priests hate Jesus, the chief priests themselves know that they hate Jesus and make no attempt to cover it up. They can list specific reasons why they want to get rid of Jesus and all of them are rooted in their own desire to have things their way.

Even though the priests are clearly wrong to hate Jesus, there is something refreshing about their honesty. They aren’t trying to hide anything. They don’t make a show of how much they love Jesus and then stab Him in the back, like Judas does. Nobody would ever mistake them for being followers of Christ and so everyone knows just where they stand. In today’s world it is getting easier and easier to live a double or even a triple life. Not only is it possible to behave differently in two different social settings, it is also possible to completely fabricate an identity to surf the Internet with. A person, who is truly the same person no matter where they are or what they are doing, both at work and at home, both at church and with their friends, is a rarity. Authenticity is so uncommon today that sometimes you just want to stand up and say, “Pick something and stick with it!” It is true that I think that, when the chief priests picked between Jesus and the world, they picked the wrong one. However, at least they picked one of them and are giving it their all. I would much rather meet and have a conversation with a committed atheist than someone who refuses to make up their mind either for or against Christ.

The remaining two people are not quite what they seem. The most obvious is Judas. Judas proclaims that he is upset that the perfume that was used to anoint Jesus was not sold and the money from it given to the poor. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? It is good to take care of the poor, to help charitable causes, to contribute some of our excess to those who do not have enough. If we did not know Judas very well, and if John did not interrupt his story here to tell us what was really going on, we might think pretty well of him at this point. We might think to ourselves, “Wow, now there is someone who cares about people. He wants to give this huge sum of money to the poor instead of having his group use all of it for themselves. Here is a man who is concerned about justice and making a difference in the world around him.”

And yet, though all the signs point in that direction, we are assured that Judas is not nearly so caring and devoted to the needy as it seems. If he had his way, some of the money might very well have ended up in the hands of the poor, but what else would have happened? John tells us that, when Judas said this, it was “not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.” As it turns out, all Judas really wanted was for a whole lot of money to end up under his care so that nobody would notice that some of it was gone when he took it. Money drove him absolutely out of control. Normally, we wouldn’t think that following an itinerant preacher who had no home address and gave all kinds of things away would be a great way to get rich, but that is what Judas is doing.

However, it seems that it doesn’t take all that much to get Judas to do something dishonest. After all, we read that he betrays his leader and teacher for only thirty pieces of silver. That really isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things, especially when we compare it to the value of a human life. Here we have him wanting three hundred pieces of silver put under his care but he seems to think that thirty is enough for him to actually have for himself. It is almost like there is a sick twisting of the idea of the tithe at work here. For every ten pieces of silver that go into the common purse, he keeps one for himself. He looks like a real follower of Christ; he even goes wherever Jesus goes and does whatever Jesus tells him, but then turns around and sells his master for a quick buck. Judas is clearly not what he seems. Jesus is not taken by surprise. He knows that Judas has been stealing from the ministry, but instead of attacking him, or kicking him out of the fellowship, gently reminds him that, since there are poor people all around, he should remember them instead of stealing from the money that they are using to help them.

The other person who is not what they seem is Mary. This might strike us as odd because Mary comes off as something of a hero of the faith. We don’t really want to think of her as deceptive. Don’t worry, even though there is more to her than meets the eye, I don’t think that she is trying to fool anyone like Judas was. We see a woman coming up to Jesus and taking a full pound of extremely expensive perfume, which might be worth several thousand dollars today, and pouring all of it out, and pouring it all over Jesus’ feet of all things. Why in the world would anyone care if Jesus’ feet smelled nice? It all seems like such a waste and, if Mary could do something so incredibly wasteful, perhaps she is a wasteful person, someone who is utterly irresponsible who cannot be trusted with nice things or to make the best decisions with the things that she has.

Not only might we think this, it is clearly the picture that Judas would want to paint of her. And yet, just like He did with Judas, Jesus sees right through the situation and understands exactly what is going on. Jesus looks at Mary and does not see a wasteful and irresponsible person. He sees a woman who is so desperately in love with Him and the God He calls Father that she is willing to give up even that which is most dear to her for Him. Even if there were nothing else lying underneath this action, love would be enough. Jesus knows when love is the motivating factor and does not despise actions done in love, even if other people misunderstand.

However, that is not the only thing going on here. She, whether she realizes it or not, is making a very important statement. Just like the three wise men in the Christmas story bring gold, frankincense and myrrh, proclaiming that Jesus is a king, one to whom prayers are made, and one whose destiny involved death, Mary’s actions are reminding us that Jesus did not simply come to say a bunch of nice things to us and then let us do the best we can. Jesus’ words and actions are sealed with the greatest miracle of all, that the God of the universe entered into our weakness and brokenness and made it His own, putting to death everything in us that goes against God, and then raised our humanity up to newness of life and promises that we, too, will participate in the mighty resurrection of God. This anointing is not just a nice thing to do. In that ancient culture, it brought to mind the preparation of a body to be buried. So, even though Mary may not have been thinking that she was pointing out that Jesus was about to die for us and our salvation; even though the other people there at the time certainly did not understand this, Jesus accepts it because her actions indicated far more than she realized.

In many ways it is just like our celebration of Holy Communion. There are seasons of our lives where we do it because we know we’re supposed to. There are times when we do it even when we don’t feel like doing it. There are times when we have serious doubts as to whether we actually have any idea what it really means when we gather together and share a single loaf and a single cup. And yet, we should always remember that, even if we aren’t feeling it deep in our being, our actions are pointing far beyond ourselves to what God has done in, through, and as Jesus. We remember that God shed His own blood for us, that He has in no uncertain terms, given His very self to us in a real way. There is more to the sacrament of Communion than always meets our eyes and yet Jesus Himself instituted it among His followers.

So, as we gather together around the table of God, let us strive to be as open and honest as we can possibly be. Let us be open for the Holy Spirit to make us like Christ. However, if we find that, in spite of our best efforts, we are misunderstood or we end up doing something that we wish we could take back or if we think that our words and actions will communicate one thing and they end up communicating another, let us always remember that our God is not limited like other people are, who only can judge by what they see and hear. God peers deeply into our very souls and the inner recesses of our hearts and judges us, not by what we do, but by who we are. And what we are, is beloved children of God who are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to receive His kingdom. Let us rejoice and give glory to God. Let us pray.

AMEN