"Mary of Bethany"

Sermon 03.21.10
“Mary of Bethany”

I didn’t realize that I had used the whole jar. The perfume that is. And the furor that it caused – well, it’s not like I had planned that for the evening. I really wanted to just show my love for Jesus.

Oh, forgive me – I’ve been so rude to you, without introducing myself. My name is Mary and I’m one of Jesus’ followers. I live with my sister Martha and my brother Lazarus in a small town called Bethany. We’re all of his followers and several months ago, we witnessed one of the Master’s miracles.

My dear brother Lazarus had been very ill and we sent word to Jesus, who was out traveling and preaching to the crowds in the countryside. We wanted Jesus to heal my brother because we knew about his healing of lepers and other injured and sick people. But he didn’t get here in time. Lazarus had already died and had been buried for three days before Jesus arrived. I was so angry. But it was Martha who ended up getting into it with Jesus. He told her about the resurrection of the dead. We talked about that for many nights thereafter and we came to believe in it.

But that story had a happy ending – Jesus brought my brother back to life. I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw Lazarus walking out of the tomb. More than ever, I became a fervent disciple, determined to be part of those who were in Jesus’ inner circle.

Which is why I ended up at this dinner. Simon the Leper, another of Jesus’ followers, was hosting. And so Martha and Lazarus and I went over to his house. It was six days before the Passover, when we head into Jerusalem and Simon wanted to honor Jesus. All of the other apostles were there.
My sister Martha was serving. I swear that she never sits down. Always bustling about, never still.

Anyway, as I said, we were going to dinner and I told her that I was going to bring a small portion of nard – perfume – to anoint Jesus. It was the sort of thing that was done XXXXXX. The perfume had been given to me by my mother to be used as a my dowry, should I ever get married. I knew that it was expensive – it was to be my brideprice. But I felt that I could use just a little bit on Jesus as a way of showing thanks for bringing my brother back to life.

Let me tell you, it was hard to walk and carry that jar without spilling some of it along the way. Martha was just beside herself because it took so long to get to Simon Peter’s house and she wanted to get busy with the cooking and serving.

The dinner was just an ordinary event for us – friends eating with friends, and sometimes Jesus would speak and tell us of the kingdom that awaited us. He told us stories and gave us hope. We believed that he was the Messiah that the prophets had written about – he was the one to bring light to the peoples XXXXXX.

Oh, but I still haven’t told you about the perfume incident. As the meal was ending, I went over to Jesus with my container and removed the stopper. It was our custom to put oil on one’s hair as a sign of gladness. It had been a wonderful meal with a wonderful teacher. It was the proper thing to do.

But before I knew it, I was pouring out the whole container – all of the perfume was flowing out onto Jesus’ head, dripping down his beard, onto his clothes and fee. The whole pot of perfume, suddenly gone. I just loved our Master that much. I was embarrassed at first, ashamed of my impulsiveness, and tried to wipe up Jesus’ feet with my hair. I was so clumsy at first and then the firestorm descended.

Judas jumped up from where he was reclining and started in on me. “Why in the world did you do this, woman?” He was screaming at me in front of all of the others. The whole house smelled of the perfume that I had put on Jesus and I was suddenly afraid when Judas confronted me. He was the one who controlled the common purse, where we all pooled our money. And a scary fellow at times – dark and moody. I tried to slink into the kitchen with my empty perfume jar, but he was right in my face.

“Don’t you have any sense?”, he roared. “We could have sold that container for 300 denarii and given the money to the poor!” I honestly think he said that to impress Jesus, who had such love and compassion for the poor. I was now just shaking and standing there in front of Jesus, waiting for him to agree with Judas and to chastise me. All of the apostles were staring at me, wondering what would happen.

Now, here comes the surprise, at least for me. Judas was right in my face. Jesus suddenly got up and stood between us, defiantly facing Judas and indicating for him to step aside. I silently waited for Jesus to condemn me for wasting the perfume. Silly me – I had been way too extravagant and there was no way to take it all back.

Jesus words, however, were not directed at me, but to Judas.
He said, “Leave her alone.” I breathed a sigh of relief. At least there would be no more verbal abuse from this apostles.

Jesus then explained to the others that I had brought it for the day of his burial. I was a little confused at that notion. Perfume was used as part of preparing the corpse, along with other spices, but Jesus was alive, not dead. Was he going to die, I wondered, and shuddered at the thought.
Jesus then told Lazarus that the poor were going to be around for a long time and that I had honored him for the moment while he was at the dinner.

The party dissolved after this little incident, I’m happy to say. Judas stalked out of the room and Mary and I made our way to the kitchen to clean up. I washed out the remains of the perfume jar and we said very little to one another. But on the walk home we remembered Jesus’ words when he raised Lazarus from the dead.

NRS John 11:24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
NRS John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

NRS John 11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
NRS John 11:27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

I surely hope that Jesus will not be dying anytime soon. His work is just beginning – I believe that there are still many more miracle to be performed and people to be healed. There are still many unbelievers. His words at dinner comforted me and yet disturbed me. How could the Messiah, they one who came to deliver us, be vulnerable. Why was he concerned about the present moment and not about the future of his ministry?

When we arrived home, I placed the perfume bottle high on a shelf in the bedroom, and a little chill went through me. I shrugged it off as just the cool night air. The next day I would buy a small amount of perfume from the vendor down in the marketplace, just in case.