A Holy Waste and A Traitorous Friend
Today is the fourth week in our Lenten sermon series “Journey to the Cross.” In this series we have been taking time each Sunday to look at one day in the last week of Jesus’ life. It’s a week we now refer to as Holy week and a lot happens during this time.
We started this series by talking about Palm Sunday. We remembered and celebrated Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We talk about the symbols he used from Israel’s history and how he was hailed as king. But we also talked about how Jesus was a different kind of king than the crowds had expected. They wanted him to overthrow the Romans by force but he had a different plan in mind.
Then we talked about Holy Monday and Jesus’ visit to the temple. We spent some time exploring why Jesus would have been so upset with the moneychangers and dove sellers. We talk about the corruption that was prevalent in the temple, not only by the merchants but the priests as well. By the end of Monday, Mark tells us that the scribes and chief priests were angry enough with Jesus that they were looking for a way to kill him.
But they were afraid of Jesus because he was so popular among the people. So the religious authorities spend all day Tuesday testing Jesus, trying to trap him in the controversial issues of the day. They test him with questions about his authority, whether or not to pay taxes, the resurrection, and which commandment is the greatest. But it’s not the issues that the religious authorities care about. They are just trying to trap Jesus by asking him about the most controversial topics of the time.
By the end of Tuesday, Jesus has answered all of their questions so well that we’re told no one else dared to ask him any more questions. Jesus spends the rest of the day teaching the crowds in the temple, and then privately instructing the disciples.
So far this week, Jesus’ activity has been in Jerusalem and primarily in the temple. Each morning he and the disciples walk into Jerusalem and then in the evening they head back to Bethany where they stay the night.
Today, we pick up on Wednesday. We’re not told much about Jesus’ activity on Wednesday but we do know that he shares a meal with several other people in Bethany and that the religious authorities are still trying to find a stealthy way of killing Jesus. This passage is an example of what many scholars call a “Markan Sandwich.” It’s something that happens frequently in the gospel of Mark. Mark will begin to tell a story, then part way through the story he pauses to tell another story. Once the second story is finished he goes back and finishes the first story. It’s like the two half of the first story is the bread in the sandwich, and the second story, inserted in the middle, is the meat or the filling of the sandwich. Often when this happens in the gospel of Mark, the two stories act to illuminate one another.
In this case, Mark begins to tell us about how the religious authorities are looking for a sneaky way to arrest and kill Jesus. Mark specifically tells us that they are afraid of the crowds. This “fear of the crowds” that the religious authorities had wasn’t just about their public approval ratings. It’s not just that they wanted to be liked by the crowds to maintain their power. In this case, they are afraid of the rioting that might ensue.
You see, Passover is one of the mandatory pilgrimage festivals. All Jewish males who lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem were required to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Additionally, every Jewish male was supposed to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem at least once in his life. So during the Passover, people from all over the world were converging on Jerusalem. Josephus, a history from around the time of Christ, reports that on one Passover, 256,500 lambs were sacrificed. The law required that there by at least 10 people to one lamb. Which means the population of Jerusalem during Passover would be upwards of 2.5 million people.
So Jerusalem was way over-crowded and more than any other time, there was a strong nationalism sentiment among the people. Passover is the time set aside every year to remember God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and many people long at this time, more than any other, for God to deliver them from the Romans. Everyone was proud to be Jewish and full of a sense of expectancy about what God might do.
The crowd was so large and so energetic, that during Passover, there were always extra Roman troops deployed to Jerusalem to maintain order. It’s a situation that would have been ripe for someone to rally the people together to over throw the Romans. When Jesus doesn’t do that, the religious leaders also know that there’s a strong possibility the crowds will riot if Jesus is arrested. So it’s with good reason that the religious authorities are looking for a way to kill Jesus without setting the crowds off.
Then Mark interrupts the story of the religious authorities looking for a way to kill Jesus by telling us about a woman who anointed Jesus during a meal. We are given very few details about this woman. But we are told that the ointment she anointed Jesus with was costly. In fact, many scholars believe that the nard contained in the alabaster jar would have been worth almost an entire year’s wages for the average worker.
I want you to think about how much you earn in a year. That’s before taxes, before paying your mortgage or rent or any other bills. Just think about how much total you earn in a year. That’s roughly the equivalent of what this ointment the woman poured out on Jesus was worth. That’s a lot of money to spend on ointment! No wonder, those who were watching this were upset. It seemed like a huge waste to them.
But it didn’t seem like a waste to the woman or she wouldn’t have done it. It was a truly extravagant gift. She could have used just a little of the ointment to anoint Jesus. It was customary to pour a few drops of perfume on guests when they arrived at the house or before they began eating. But she didn’t just dab a few drops on Jesus, she poured out the entire bottle. She uses the whole thing. An entire year’s wages is poured out on Jesus. And we have no idea why she did it.
Some scholars suggest it’s a symbolic anointing of Jesus as King. Luke’s version of the account suggests that the woman’s anointing of Jesus is a sign of her overwhelming gratitude at having her sins forgiven. But none of the other gospel writers give any hint of the woman’s motives. Some scholars, based on Jesus’ words of explanation, suggest that the woman knew Jesus was going to die. They suggest that unlike the disciples who were unable to understand or accept Jesus’ predictions of his death, this woman had understood what Jesus was trying to say and so anointed Jesus in preparation for his burial. The text is unclear as to whether or not she actually understood Jesus was going to die. But Jesus certainly interprets her acts as preparation for his burial.
The truth is, we simply don’t know her motivations for anointing Jesus. We don’t know what prompted her to make this gesture. But we do know that it was an extravagant act of selflessness. It’s an act of generosity, love, and faithfulness that is made even more poignant by its setting.
After telling us about this anointing of Jesus, Mark goes back to the original story by telling us that Judas has decided to betray Jesus to the authorities. We’re told that Judas went to the chief priests. The text says nothing about the chief priests soliciting this role from Judas so we can assume that Judas willing went to the chief priests on his own accord with no previous prompting from them.
It’s a striking contrast to the story of the woman anointing Jesus. On the one hand we have this woman, who’s unnamed and whose story we don’t know, who literally pours out her love for Jesus. And does so in such a lavish way that others call it a waste. On the other hand we have a disciple, one of the original twelve who is supposed to be one of Jesus’ closest friends, who becomes a traitor and betrays him to the religious authorities. On the one hand we have a woman who is willing to give up an entire year’s income to show her love for Jesus. On the other hand we have a disciple who is willing to give up Jesus for a relatively small sum of money.
It makes me wonder, what are we willing to waste, what are we willing to pour out? Which one would we be in this story? Are we willing to give up our prized possessions for the sake of Christ? Are we willing to give up our status and reputations because we love Christ more? Are we willing to give up our priorities, our dreams for the future so we can follow where Christ calls us?
Or are we willing to trade in our values so we can get ahead and climb higher and higher up the corporate ladder? Do we try to take back control of our lives when we don’t like the direction God’s leading us? Are we willing to let our love of comfort overcome our love of Christ?
My guess is, there’s a little of each of these characters in each of us. Sometimes in life we’re more like the woman who anointed Jesus. We’re willing to make the sacrifices and to pour ourselves out because of our love for Christ. And other times our comfort is more compelling than our relationship with Christ. My guess is, we all have a little of both in us. The question is, which are you going to intentionally nurture?
I don’t know what your answer will be. But I do know, that by the end of this week in Jesus’ life, ointment isn’t the only thing that will have been wasted in the eyes of some. By the end of this week, Jesus will have poured out his life for you. In the eyes of some, he will have wasted himself, allowing himself to be beaten and killed. And he will have done it all, for you.
The truth is, it won’t have been a waste. The ointment wasn’t a waste, and Jesus didn’t waste his life. Both were freely and lovingly given for the sake of another. The truth is, love always involves a certain amount of extravagance. It doesn’t ask how little it can decently give. As William Barclay says, “There is a recklessness in love which refuses to count the cost.” This woman gave all that she had to Jesus. Judas gave up Jesus, for money. And before this week is out, Jesus will have given all of himself for you.
What will your response be? Which will you chose to love more?
Amen.
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