Pasadena Presbyterian Church Sermon Text
March 28, 2004

"A Royal Waste"

Preached by The Rev. Gregory Norton
The Reverend Gregory Norton is Minister of Music at Pasadena Presbyterian Church

Scriptures:  Epistle - Philippians 3:4b-15, Gospel - John 12:1-8

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: (5) circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; (6) as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  (7) Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.  (8) More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  (9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.  (10) I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, (11) if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  (12) Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (13) Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (14)  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3: 4b-15

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. (2) There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. (3) Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  (4) But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, (5) "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?"  (6) (He said this 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.) (7) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.  (8) You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

John 12:1-8

They were enjoying a private moment.  It was time spent together at table.  It was one last gathering of friends before Jesus was to head to Jerusalem, riding on a donkey.  Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus (yes, the formerly dead Lazarus) were spending the night at home with Jesus and some disciples.  None of them could have guessed what was to come.  I'm sure some of them thought Jesus' entry into Jerusalem would be a victory for their cause; that Jesus and his Gospel of love would overturn the status quo and cause a revolution.  But the status quo was powerful and brutal, and so even the most confident among them must have harbored some fears, some misgivings about what might lie ahead.  After Jesus entered the city, no one really knew what might come next.

And in the middle of it all, Mary gets out some perfume - the really expensive stuff -  and pours it on the feet of Jesus.  And, according to John's Gospel, "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."  Judas, the disciple who would become infamous in the week that was to come, spoke up.  This perfume was worth a whole year's wages, he pointed out, and it was being wasted.  It could have been sold and the money given to the poor. 

Jesus tells Judas to leave Mary 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."

This story of the anointing of Jesus at Bethany is in all four Gospels.  But John's version has several unique features.  For instance, this is the only one in which it is Jesus' feet that are anointed - it's his head in all the other accounts.  There is humility in Mary's act of anointing because she stoops to pour the ointment on Jesus' feet.  And then she wipes it with her hair, a detail that carries a "whiff of scandal" because commentators tell us that it was most unusual for a woman of that culture to ever be seen with her hair down.

But Mary was in private space with close friends.  And she was not thinking about social norms or of solving all the problems of the world.  She was simply offering an act of extravagant love to Jesus at a moment when everyone present was probably a little on edge.  She was tending to Jesus, who she knew as a friend. Jesus, who she believed was the Son of God. Jesus, the King of her life.

My mother would call this "sending flowers to the living."  "Don't send flowers when I die," she often tells me, "I won't be able to enjoy them then!"  It is so tempting for us to spend our energy trying to change what's wrong with the status quo, to rant against The Big Things, and in the process forget to tend the loving relationships in our lives.  But Mary's extravagant act of love toward Jesus reminds us to give flowers to the living, to love the ones that are close to us, to do what we can, even when it seems small compared to the problems of the world. 

Mary's extravagance and Judas' objection also remind us that the economy of God is different that the economy of the world.  For us, to give something to one means not giving it to someone else.  Hard choices must be made.  Ours is a "zero-sum" economy of winners and losers; those who get and those who don't.  But when we're talking about God's grace, those rules don't apply.  Our God is abounding in steadfast love, a love that knows no shortage or scarcity or limited time offer.  A love that is available to you and to me and to everyone.  And we all have it - even without asking!  That is one of the unchanging truths about God: there is nothing we can do to change the way God feels about us.  We are loved by God, and the supply of God's love for us, and for all God's children, is never ending.

So when we show God's love to others, there is more, not less, to go around.  Love that is carefully measured out is not really love at all.  Christ came to live among us to show that true love doesn't keep a balance sheet, adding and subtracting.  Our human love is often conditional.  We hoard the good things in our lives.  But our calling is to lead lives that are like Jesus' life; what St. Paul in today's epistle lessons calls "the prize, the goal."  We need to be less like Judas, figuring out clever rationales, quoting the rules, offering critiques, being distracted by The Big Things.  Those motivations might lead us to be betrayers of our Lord.  We need to be more like Mary: spontaneous, extravagant, giving, without counting the cost.  Those are motivations that make us more Christ-like.

"The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."  I discarded several titles for this sermon.  One was "Let's Raise a Stink for Jesus."  The author of John's Gospel records that "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."  John's account is the only one that includes that detail.  It seems like mere description, but I think it's important. Because Mary's seemingly wasteful act of kindness and love did not end at Jesus' toes.  It affected everyone in the place.  "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."

When we practice what may seem to be small, even intimate, acts of love, the effect can be enormous.  The effect can fill a whole household.  The sweet smell of that perfume poured out at Jesus' feet can fill a neighborhood, or even a city.  It can even reach the lives of the poor that Judas seemed so concerned about!  What we may dismiss as "little things," can change the Big Things.  But it starts in a small way and, like a beautiful fragrance, and gently begins to spread, to grow, and to transform the way things are.

I spend a lot of time in churches.  And it is rare that I am tempted to steal something from one.  But last weekend, I was really tempted.

The Claremont Chorale, a community chorus I direct, sang in San Francisco last Saturday. The concert took place in the Unitarian church in the middle of the city.

Now I don't know a lot about Unitarians, bit I do regard them as being on the more "open minded" side of the American religious spectrum.  And one can only imagine that Unitarians in a city like San Francisco are probably among the most liberal and progressive of Unitarians in general.  So I was not surprised that their grand old church building had been made accessible to those using wheelchairs.  It is, of course, a smoke-free facility.  And the notice boards were covered with flyers announcing rallies, meetings and community gatherings. 

But it was the signs that I saw in the sanctuary, hanging on the front three pews on the right-hand side that tempted me to steal.  They said:  This is a FRAGRANCE-FREE PEW.  The sign went on to note that there are people who suffer from allergies or other respiratory aliments who cannot tolerate being close to people wearing perfume or cologne.  So these seats were reserved for those who wish to worship in a fragrance-free environment.

Now, the reason this caught my eye was that in every choir I have ever directed, the issue of perfume has come up.  In order to sing, it is essential to be able to breathe.  So, if one has an adverse reaction to the scents being worn by a fellow singer, it's a big problem.  I have often given speeches to choirs requesting that people use fragrance-free products and refrain from using any perfume at all on the days when they are going to be with the choir.  So, last weekend I thought I could probably use some of those Unitarian signs to put on the choir loft here at PPC!

When Judas smelled the fragrance of Mary's perfume being poured out on Jesus' feet, it wasn't his allergies that bothered him.  His reaction was motivated by a different dis-ease: greed, a missed opportunity to "skim some off the top" for himself - all nicely dressed up as concern for the poor.  Even a small act of kindness and love was threatening to his view of the world.

Friends, we live in a culture that, like Judas, wants to hang a "fragrance-free" sign on life - not out of empathy or concern, but out of selfishness and greed.  Individually we do not take enough time to pour out the perfume of loving sacrifice.  Just as those seemingly small acts of loving can spread like a beautiful fragrance to transform everything, so our neglect of them can have terrible consequences. 

How else to explain the dilapidated public school buildings that are deemed "good enough" for those unfortunate enough to be learning or teaching in them? 

How else to explain our willingness to spend public money to incarcerate people but not spend the time to teach them and lift them up? 

Tens of millions of dollars are available for overseas wars, while our elderly citizens are told to fund their own health care and fend for themselves here at home. 

Our op-ed pages are filled with invective toward recent immigrants - children of God who are seeking the same economic advantages that have motivated every wave of immigration in this country's history.  Meanwhile we tolerate an "underground economy" and enjoy the fruits of their of their usually menial labor.

We live in a world that even considers this time we're spending in worship to be a waste.  The time we spend in this place could be sold and the money given to our self-directed retirement accounts.  Or to "the poor."   After all, it's a "dog-eat-dog" world out there.  Be a winner, or you'll be a loser.  There is no free lunch.  You only get what you earn, what you fight for.   To use the imagery of today's Gospel lesson, it is a tough, "fragrance-free" world - a culture that too often holds its nose when the perfume of human kindness and grace is freely poured out.  That sort of thing the world judges to be a waste.   But for us, the lovers of Jesus, embracing such a life is our highest calling, our goal and prize, the thing for which we "strain forward;" it is what St. Paul calls the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

They were enjoying a private moment.  Nobody knew what the coming days might bring. And, as it turns out, Mary was the only one who really understood what was going on in that dinner hour there in the house at Bethany.  She humbly stooped down and poured out her very best at the feet of Jesus.  That act of kindness filled the house with sweetness.  It was also an act of anointing: Mary was anointing her King, identifying the one whom she served and sought to imitate.  And, not long after that, a crowd would also proclaim Jesus to be their "King" as he entered Jerusalem.  "Hosanna in the highest!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" 

But those cheers would soon turn to calls for his death, and even lead to his execution.  By dying on the cross, Jesus made his own extravagant act of love, another "pouring out" that took no notice of price; a holy sacrifice that has affected everything, so much so that we who gather here today are still feeling its effects.  It is no exaggeration to say that the 'fragrance' of that sacrifice has filled the whole world. 

My friends, we are called to identify our King through the way we live our lives.  At whose feet will we be found pouring our very best gifts?  Where are we willing to 'waste' ourselves?  How will Christ's people cause the culture to smell the sweet fragrance of "flowers for the living"?  What seemingly small acts of kindness and sacrifice of ours will multiply and fill the world with their fragrance?

We are called to waste ourselves royally - to walk alongside this King Jesus.  This kingly Jesus is a King of Love, not of power and wealth, whose holy sacrifice on the cross offers a critique of the status quo, and of every human life.  This Jesus challenges us to strive to be like him, to enter our own "Jerusalems" and to make our own sacrifices.  To waste ourselves royally. 

It is not an easy call.  As Paul reminds us, it is our goal, something to continually strive for.  It is a high calling, this royal waste!  We know that it is not the way things are.  But imagine the power that will be unleashed -the "stink raised for Jesus" - as everyone who claims the name 'Christian' moves a step or two closer to that goal!  God is using our lives - the very best we have to give - to transform the world.

There are no limits to the love of God.  The goal of Christ-like love calls each of us to humbly enter into God's economy of never-ending grace and love.  In that economy, when we strive to pour out the best of ourselves in Jesus' name, when we seek to waste ourselves royally, everything can change.  AMEN.  

(c) Copyright 2004 by Gregory Norton.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution.