Lent 5C sermon on God’s extravagant love and Judas. Texts for this week are John 12:1-8 and Philippians 3:4b-14. This sermon was preached at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Greene, Iowa, on March 31, 2019.
As we move towards Easter, we’re getting close to the climax of the story. The day after Mary anoints him, Jesus will enter Jerusalem and be greeted as a king by cheering crowds. We’ll hear the Palm Sunday story next weekend. In Jerusalem, he’ll celebrate the Passover meal, which will turn out to be the last supper. Then he’ll be arrested and crucified.
Think about what Jesus is going through. The way John tells the story, Jesus knows what’s coming. He knows he’ll be betrayed. He knows he’s going to suffer and die for the sins of the world.
But first, on his way to Jerusalem, he stops to visit some old friends in Bethany, some familiar faces: The sisters Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus.
They throw a dinner in Jesus’ honor, and maybe it’s a way to say thank you for the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. No hard feelings for waiting those extra days before coming last time. Or, maybe Jesus stops by for dinner every time he’s in the neighborhood—we know he’s been there before for dinner, so who knows?
Martha is serving the dinner, because of course she is. Martha’s love language is totally acts of service. Preparing and serving a banquet for someone is no small gift, especially when they come with 12 friends. Martha’s hospitality is an extravagant way of showing her love for Jesus.
During dinner, Mary does something strange. She takes a bottle of perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet, wiping them off with her hair. It’s this strange, intimate act.
Culturally, for Mary to touch Jesus at all is a bold display of affection, because after all, they are not married. In that time and place, women are supposed to keep their hair covered and under control, not let it all hang out there. Mary is making a big, shocking statement.
This isn’t just a few drops of cheap perfume—it’s a pound of pure nard that costs a year’s worth of a laborer’s salary, thousands and thousands of dollars. Traditionally, two occasions could call for an anointing like this: The coronation of a king, and a burial, and of course, both of those apply to Jesus. Mary is making a declaration that Jesus is her king, and she’s preparing him for death. This is her act of extravagant love.
Not surprisingly, someone gets offended. I’m sure Judas wasn’t the only one thinking this is inappropriate and wasteful, but it’s Judas’ response we hear about.
I love the parenthetical notes in this story from the narrator. Tradition says this Gospel was written by John the disciple, and John clearly has some issues with Judas. I mean, that’s not surprising looking back at how it turned out, but John’s not exactly an unbiased narrator. First, as soon as he mentions Judas, John has to add, “The one who was about to betray Jesus” (Spoiler alert!).
As we keep going, John wants us as the readers to know that not only did Judas betray Jesus, he’s also a thief who doesn’t care about the poor.
Here’s something I never thought I’d say in a sermon: Can we can give Judas the benefit of the doubt for a minute? Can we assume he truly does want to help the poor? If that’s true, then you can see how easy it would be for him to justify the little bit he takes out of the common purse at first, because he needs to be in good shape so he can help the poor. Gotta put your own air mask on before helping your neighbor, right? And after all, who knows what the others might do with the money. See how easy that is?
Judas is interested in Jesus for what he can do for other causes. He hitches his ride to Jesus, because Jesus was going places, attracting the crowds, doing the miracles. Judas sees Jesus as a way to progress his own agenda.
Mark Achtemeier (in Feasting on the Gospels: John, Kindle location 2611) calls this “for-the-sake-of” discipleship. Maybe Judas’ agenda is good—maybe he really is concerned about the poor. Maybe his agenda is bad—he’s a thief who just wants to fill his own pockets.
But either way, it’s his own agenda that he cares about. One of the lessons here for us is that discipleship is not using Jesus to achieve our own goals; discipleship is doing what Mary does: Loving Jesus for his own sake.
Discipleship means worshipping Jesus not for what I get out of it, but because Jesus is worthy of worship. This whole Christian life is not about me at all.
“For-the-sake-of” discipleship is an easy trap to fall into. I struggle with it when I write or talk about stewardship. When we’re raising money for something as a church, is it for our sake, or is it for Jesus? As we start talking about getting money to repair the steeple, it’s easy to stick a Bible verse in there to make it sound like a spiritual cause.
And it is a spiritual cause. This building is a tool to serve God’s mission. It provides a space for worshipping God. As long as that’s true, we’re good.
But it’s awfully easy for us to care about the building because it’s a nice building, because it makes us look good. I like being the pastor of a church with a good, well-maintained building. It makes me look like I know what I’m doing.
Is the money we raise as a church used for the sake of the Gospel, for fulfilling Jesus’ call to us? Or are we using Jesus as a tool for making ourselves look good?
We’re soliciting lots of donations right now for the Texas BBQ on May 5 to support the Luther League trip to Houston. I genuinely believe this trip is part of the ministry God is calling us to do. And as long as we keep serving Jesus at the center of the trip, we’re in good shape. But there’s always the temptation to make it about us, and turn Jesus into a fundraising tool.
It’s a constant temptation to guard against for all of us. We constantly need to ask, “Is this for Jesus, or am I using Jesus for the sake of my own agenda?” How often we are like Judas, quick to question others’ motives, using God for our own purposes, and failing to recognize God’s presence right here with us.
Do you think Jesus knew Judas was stealing? I suspect he does, but notice Jesus doesn’t condemn Judas. Even later when Judas is about to go betray Jesus, Jesus tells him to go to what he must do. You know he could have called Judas out then and Peter would have done something about it with his sword.
But I don’t think Jesus ever gave up on Judas. Remember, even on the very night when he knew Judas was going to betray him, Jesus washed Judas’ feet. He never gives up on Judas.
Here, when Judas gets upset, Jesus explains to him what’s going on. Yes, helping the poor is important, and Mary’s act was wasteful. But it was a pure act of worship. Yes, we’ll always have the poor with us, and we need to keep helping them. Jesus is probably quoting from Deuteronomy 15:11 here, which says, “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.’”
Serve the poor. But don’t lose sight of the most important thing, that you were created to worship God.
The spirit of Judas is ultimately self-serving, but the spirit of Jesus is generosity. Jesus came to restore our broken relationship with God.
As Paul drives home in our reading from Philippians, the most important thing is knowing Jesus Christ.
Everything else is worthless next to that. When we understand Christ Jesus has made us his own, we can’t help but serve the poor. Knowing Jesus leads to discipleship.
Martha’s extravagant hospitality and Mary’s lavish gift reflect the generous love God has for them, and for us.
As we continue with Jesus on the journey to the cross, may you know the extravagant, intimate love God has for you, may you join with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in sharing the feast with Jesus, and may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen