Sermon 3rd April 2022 – 5th Sunday in Lent Text: John 12:1-8 – Sparing no expense

 Sermon 3^rd April 2022 – 5^th Sunday in Lent

Text: John 12:1-8 – Sparing no expense

 

Lent is a time when people usually give up something – it may be alcohol, chocolate, meat or something else.

There are different reasons people do this – some do it as a spiritual discipline – as I crave for these things I’ll focus on Jesus in prayer.  Some do it as a sign of respect for Jesus. Jesus gave up his life for me – I’ll give up something for him. Some do it as part of a financial Lenten Appeal. The money I save on not buying chocolate or alcohol I’ll donate to a charity. In our Gospel we see Mary giving up an expensive jar of perfume to anoint  Jesus in preparation for his death. But what is expensive? It is said to be worth 300 denarii – the Greek currency of the time. One denarius is a day’s wage so it’s basically a year’s salary – and on the average salary today that’s around $80,000 for the jar of perfume. That’s a very expensive jar of perfume. But when we compare that to what Jesus sacrificed for us – his life – and what we receive because of his sacrifice – eternal life – it really puts things into a different perspective.

 

Often when we want to show how measly something is we might compare it to the cost of a cup of coffee – for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day you can sponsor a child in Africa and save them from starvation.

Or in recent times when people complain about something we have been comparing the situation to people living in the Ukraine. Your internet is slow – be thankful you don’t live in the Ukraine. But how many of us as Christians continue to ponder about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and the reward we have of eternal life in heaven? Mary isn’t concerned at all about the cost of the perfume because just a short time ago Jesus did something for her that no money could buy. He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had died and Jesus came to show that he has full and complete control and authority over death. He walks up to the grave and demands it be opened even though he is advised not to do it because Lazarus has been dead for 4 days the stench of his dead and decaying body will be unbearable. But in an act of defiance, he tells Lazarus to shake of his grave clothes and come out – and he does.

 

So, what is an expensive bottle of perfume compared to the life of her brother. And so, she opens the bottle of expensive perfume and pours it over Jesus – not thinking of the cost. In gratitude for her brother’s life, she lavishes her Lord with an absurdly abundant gift: perfume that would cost as much as a year’s total wages.

John tells us that the whole room filled with fragrance as Mary anointed Jesus.  Maybe this is John’s attempt of further ridicule at death – rubbing it into death’s face. The people were worried about Lazarus’s stench of death which has now been replaced by the sweet aroma of Mary’s perfume anointing Jesus to prepare for his death.

 

So as we reflect on this gesture of Mary – this total disregard for the cost of the perfume because of all that Jesus has done for her and will do for her in the future with eternal life – we are challenged to look at our lives in comparison. Is there something negative in our life we are hanging on to because we are totally justified in feeling this way? Is there a grudge against someone? Is there a decision we are afraid to make because of what it might cost us? Is there something that we could possibly do for God but I have other priorities that I don’t want to sacrifice? What would happen if we placed them side by side with what Jesus has done for us?

Is there someone we feel justified in remaining angry with? What if Jesus remained angry and never said – forgive them Father for they know not what they are doing? Do we feel that God should or could have done more in my life and it’s just not fair? What if Jesus who emptied himself of his heavenly glory never said – not my will be done but yours – when he said to God that what he is going through is too hard and to take it away from me. Or what if something we’ve been asked to do – maybe serve in the church or something similar.

What if Jesus, when tempted to come down from the cross and save himself – did that because it wasn’t actually doing anything for him by staying on the cross.

 

The sacrifice of Jesus and all he has done for us puts our entire life in perspective as it did for Mary today when she sacrificed an entire year’s salary to anoint Jesus’ feet with the perfume. She didn’t think about the cost – because Jesus didn’t. Paul had exactly the same understanding of putting his life in perspective.

Before he started believing in Jesus his life was to be envied: He did everything required of an upstanding Jewish citizen: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin – the tribe of Israel’s first King, Saul, after whom Paul was named, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to dedication, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But, he says, I regard all of that as nothing compared to knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish All I want to know is Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection and that I may attain the resurrection from the dead also.

 

That’s all that mattered to Paul. That’s all that mattered to Mary. What matters to you? As we prepare for Holy Week next week and hear again the suffering and death that Jesus underwent for us – not himself – perhaps it is an opportune time to reflect again on what Jesus gave up for us.