Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2
So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3
Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,5
“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6
He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7
Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8
For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
In the days of Jesus, a woman in that culture would not let her hair down in public. Apparently to do so was to be a sign that you were a woman of loose morals to
let her hair down in the presence of men. But Mary did not stop to calculate public reaction, she was not overly concerned with social convention or with what everyone else was going to think, she just knew how to express her love for Jesus.
Have you ever stopped short of devotion to your Lord because of others…someone might think that you are a bit odd? Or do you find it easier to speak ill of a Christian
brother or sister because they are not sticking with the status quo….like Judas?
But people will think I am a fanatic…Yea, they might.
I might seem to be on the fringe…Yea, you might.
Hey, no one else is living this radical, extravagant life and they are just fine! Are they?
Here is a picture of fringe…of radicals. A woman spending one year’s income by pouring it out on the feet of a man who the authorities are seeking to put to death
and then in front of everyone, bowing at his feet and drying them with her own hair!!! The men of the earth, laugh, mock they scorn such action and not doubt chalk it up to the foolishness of feminine intuition, or religious fanaticism…but I will bet you that
the hosts of heaven, archangels and all, stood in tearful awe and that the heavens erupted at such devotion…such love. And I can imagine the archangel saying as he watched Mary; “Ah, finally, they are starting to get it.”
Is that not fringe enough? How about this for crazy: The Almighty, all powerful being who created everything, and everyone, watches as those He made rebel against
Him, confining themselves to all the miseries of this life and to the pains of hell forever. And so, He goes down to them…He becomes one of them, not to damn them, but to save them…not to demand them bow to him, but to bow to them…He suffers indignities and
human pain that is unequaled on their behalf, and he does it in their place. And all of this so that they will not have to suffer but might have been blessed forever…come on…how fanatical, how fringe can you get?
Judas.
The response of many of the Jews at the resurrection of Lazarus was that Jesus needed to be killed. And Judas here at one of the beautiful acts of devotion and love
toward Xp is indignant…he just doesn’t get it. Judas finds fault with Mary’s actions and blames her as guilty of wasteful extravagance. He does not seem to have very high views of Christ’s dignity and worthiness. But of course, the Holy Spirit tells us what
is behind the scenes, that is, shows us the heart of Judas. Judas betrays himself. Here he is, as close to Jesus as any man on earth and yet his heart is hard, and he has been for some time, a thief and a hypocrite.
What a contrast Judas is to the beautiful Mary: One devoted to heaven and to heaven’s king and the other dedicated to self. One a giver, one a taker, one filled with
love the other with greed.
Judas says, what a waste. He could not comprehend the native language of love which is eager to bow, eager to lose life, eager in all zeal to express itself in the
greatest most extravagant way it can think of. It would have been much better, in the mind of Judas, for Mary to have sold the ointment and have given the proceeds to, well, to the poor, but you can go ahead and make the check out to, “Jesus and the 12,
c/o Judas, Treasurer.”
Judas is of course one of the most disconcerting characters in all of the Bible, even more than the Pharisees. Judas bothers us. Here is one who was so close to Jesus…did
some pretty amazing things as well, preaching, casting out demons…healing the sick…I mean most of us haven’t done those kinds of things. And of course, the most frightening is that he lived pretty much undetected among the other 11. And so it has been ever
since. There are those who can speak quite well of Xn things:
Missions, preaching, theology…respected in the community…and yet, they are missing something and it is not a small something. They will even call the radical devotion
of those seeking Jesus, extreme, unbalanced, zealous and even unbiblical. It is a shame…but brothers and sisters, this is the way it is. Jesus told us that the weeds will grow with the wheat and even forbids us to try and figure out which is which, He says,
to let them grow together until the end and He will separate the wheat from the chaff.
Our text ends with vindication, the vindication and defense of the one Jesus loved. Jesus defends Mary, He shuts the mouths of the accuser in the presence of the saints.
Now, this is a very important biblical way of acting, where a biblical character, here, Jesus Himself, in time, in history, in the lives of real people, demonstrates a principle that is eternal. We see in this historical event what is shouted in heaven…we
see the connection between the unseen realities and how they work themselves out in this world, right in front of our eyes. Jesus does in time what He wants us to know He is doing forever…and it is simply this:
Jesus shuts the mouth of THE accuser and all accusers when they come against those He loves…
He silences the enemies, no matter where they come from, outside the religious community, or deeply embedded within it. Jesus defends you from all accusations and
He does so in the presence of the saints. You had an accuser, and he accused you day and night…he pointed the Father to your sin, to your rebellion, to the acts of treason against God and Jesus. He said, “See her sin, see his wickedness!” And what were
you going to say? No, it isn’t true? We have nothing to say…he accuses us and it IS true…we ARE all those things. But…this accuser has been cast down…the accuser has been thrown out…we have overcome him, How? By the blood of the Lamb…There are no accusations
against us…Jesus bore all that was laid against us!
When a person knows what it means to have Jesus, to have Him as your defender, as the One who has silenced the accuser, by taking upon Himself the punishment of the
accused, that is, of us…There is only one response, there is only one life to be lived: To love Him, to serve Him, unto death. There is only the response of radical, fringe-like behavior…nothing else will do but to love Him back…and to love Him powerfully.
Heaven says that at the last day when you are standing before Him, He will, having silenced all accusations against you, receive you into glory, saying well-done good
and faithful servant, and in the hearing of all. And you might think, what do I have to do? He has done it all, you are free now, free to love Him, free to sit at His feet, free to give Him everything. He is your Lord, He is your Savior, He is your defender
who has silenced all accusations so that the Father only hears your name on the lips of Him who loved you and gave Himself for you.
Prayer: Father, I thank you that all accusations against me have been silenced. I thank you that there is One who still speaks my name but not to accuse me before
Your face but to defend, love and protect me. I thank you that I am who Jesus says I am and who He is making me to be. Help me to give Him everything, to give You everything in joyful praise and thanksgiving, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: And Can it Be
