(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “And Then It Gets Weirder”, originally shared on March 31, 2022. It was the 203rd video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
Do you feel weird about being a Christian?
Maybe you should. Today, we’re going to find out why.
It was the day before what we call Palm
Sunday and less than a week before the Passover, and Jesus was sitting down
with some of his closest friends on earth, and things got very weird.
Last time, we told the first part of this
story, in John 12:1-3, where Jesus and his disciples were present in Bethany at
a celebratory meal held by Mary and Martha, sisters between whom Jesus had
settled a fundamental dispute, and their brother Lazarus, who Jesus had
recently raised from the dead. Yup, he was there too.
In the course of the evening, Mary anoints
Jesus’ feet with roughly $37,200.00 worth of perfume and then dried them with
her hair.
Then things got even weirder. Here’s the
rest of the story in John 12:4-8.
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.”
Yup. You think that this story can’t get any
weirder, and then we learn that Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus inner circle, one
of the 12 disciples, was a thief. An embezzler.
Oh, and John incidentally also mentions that
he was “the one who was about to betray him”.
Judas was upset that Mary had poured out so
much expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, when it could have been sold for 300
denarii and the money given to the poor.
Which makes sense. Jesus ministered to the
poor. A denarius was the
daily wage of an unskilled laborer. So, by our standards, $15.50 per hour x an
8-hour day x 300 days = $37,200.00! Wouldn’t Jesus
want them to give it to the poor?
Except Judas didn’t care about the poor. He
wanted that money in the common purse so that he could steal some of it.
Judas raises his objection on good grounds,
as would many today. How many people could be helped with $37,200.00? That much
money could be life-changing, not just for one or two, but for many people.
Though he was a thief, some of it, presumably, would have gone to help people.
He didn’t get that money. But he would soon
sell Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver, in exchange for identifying Jesus at
night when the authorities came to arrest him.
He didn’t get it because Jesus’ death was an
exceptional singular event. His death would be the pivotal event in world
history. It was coming, and it wouldn’t be long. It was time to prepare.
In actuallity Mary was showing gratitude and honoring Jesus
by humbly anointing his feet.
As I said last time, what would
you have done in gratitude for the life of your brother? How grateful would you
be? What would you give in exchange for 15 more minutes with your parents, or a
friend or a loved one? Seen in that context, it doesn’t seem so extravagant,
does it?
In effect, however, Mary poured out the nard
to prepare Jesus’ body for Jesus’ burial. Maybe she saw that things were not
working out well for Jesus.
Or maybe she wanted him to smell the flowers
while he was still alive.
Jesus’ objection seems to be a callous
remark. It seems dismissive of the genuine needs of the poor.
It’s reflective of Deuteronomy 15:11,
11 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.”
But I think of it as being a response along
the same lines as to corporations or high-profile rich people who announce that
they will provide matching funds. “XYZ has announced that they will match every
dollar given to the UVW cause for the next 3 days!”
Why doesn’t XYZ just donate the money?
They’ve already budgeted it.
It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. This
money spent to honor Jesus doesn’t have to mean less money spent to support the
poor.
In a similar vein, I would ask, “How do our
churches present themselves to the world”?
In an increasingly secular world, what does
the world know about us, or think that it knows about us?
Certainly, the negative impressions dominate
in the popular media.
But what positive things are we known for?
It appears to me that the only thing that we
want the world to know about us is what side of the social divide we stand on.
What our positions are on social issues. What social services we provide, and that
we are friendly without being weird. We want to be liked and accepted.
But the more secular our culture becomes,
the weirder the expressions of our true character will be. This isn’t anything
new. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 1:18,
8 For the message
about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God.
We are weird in the eyes of a secular culture.
However, standing true to who we are, presents
a positive, particular alternative to the world that sin has made.
If we do not make a clear proclamation of
“why” we do what we do, we make the “what” we are doing no different than that
of a secular organization using religious language.
Jesus poured out his blood for our salvation,
life for all who believe and are baptized. Let that expensive, extravagant gift
be our message, the thing that we are known for.
It may be weirder than the world’s message,
but it’s true and it leads to new and eternal life.
