5th Sunday in Lent

Good Morning!
What a wild couple of weeks it’s been.
While you all had an ice storm, cancelling church last Sunday,
My family and I were in a severe storm:
With tornado warnings in Indiana:
We spent some time in a grocery story meat freezer with numerous
strangers.

When we arrived home,
(a day late)
Our neighborhood swiftly found itself in complete chaos:
As a house on our block was ingulfed in flames.
Our street was blocked off for nearly 24 hours,
And we were without power for a good amount of time.

In both scary situations:
No lives were lost.
The tornadoes did not cause any loss to life.
​
And blessedly, neither did the fire on our street.

But events like this have a way of making us think:
Not just about what could have been:
But about what IS.

I found myself this week,
Walking around with much more gratitude:
For all of that I have.

All of this fits perfectly with where we are in the life of the church:
On this 5 th Sunday of Lent.
It fits pretty well with our Gospel text today too:
But it’ll take some explaining on my part.

In order to understand exactly what’s going on in todays Gospel story:
We have to go back a few chapters in John’s Gospel.
Before we get to Mary’s anointing of Jesus
(that we hear about today)

We have to remember that this takes place after the death of Lazarus.
Let’s recall that story.
Jesus hears about the death of his friend Lazarus:
And he waits to go to him for a number of days.

When he arrives,
Lazarus’ sisters: Mary and Martha:
Are deeply grieved.
Their brother has died,
And Mary accuses Jesus saying,
“Lord, if you had been here, our brother wouldn’t have died.”

Jesus ignores them and asks to go into the tomb.
The grave, with Lazarus’ body already a few days dead, smells awful.
But Jesus doesn’t mind:
He goes right in and raises Lazarus from the dead.

We then jump to today’s story:
Lazarus is alive after all that came before.
He’s sitting at the table with Jesus.

Martha is working in the kitchen:
As she is known to do:
And Mary is once again at Jesus’ feet.

She takes a pound of perfume:
Of nard:
And pours it on her Savior.
It’s clearly a sort of redemption moment for Mary.
She had previously accused Jesus of being at fault for her brothers death.

Now, she’s making it up to him, by anointing him with some expensive
perfumed oil.

We don’t know for certain:
But it’s safe to assume that this is the same perfume she had from her
brother’s death:
The same ointment that she put on her dead brother’s body:
While she wiped her own tears of grief.

This time, though, she isn’t caressing a corpse:

She is using this scent of death as an anointing for the God she so dearly
loves.
And here’s where it all comes together:
She didn’t buy anything new.
Instead, she uses the oil that she already has.

At first glance:
This story seems bizarre.
Jesus: who is constantly railing against wealth:
Defends Mary’s seemingly “wasteful” use of this expensive perfume.

Judas questions the use of this costly perfume saying:
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money
given to the poor?”

And Jesus responds, “Leave her alone. She brought it so that she might
keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you
do not always have me.”
It’s a crazy turn of events:
A different side of Jesus who told many stories about not hording wealth:
Selling everything and giving it to the poor:

Not storing up “treasures”

But that’s exactly the thing.
Mary isn’t hording wealth.
She isn’t storing up treasures:
She isn’t keeping things for herself.
She uses what she has:
And in deep gratitude,
Gives it back to her Lord.

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday.
And we’re going to do something a little bit different.
Instead of ordering Palms to wave around:
We’re going to use what we already have.
Taking what we have in gratitude and thanksgiving:
And offering it back to our Lord.

I invite you, next Sunday:
To bring your own branches

From your own yards, or parks: or wherever you might find some lying
around.

We’ll pray over these branches:
Using what we already have:
In gratitude for the creation that God has provided for us to share in,
And in remembrance of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

And let me be quite clear:
There is no official rule that churches must use Palms for Palm Sunday.

Palms were used on that first palm Sunday:
Not because Palms are inherently special and “Jesus Worthy”
But because Palms are what the people had.

They grabbed what was near them:
And used what they had to usher Jesus into his final week of life,
Just like Mary used the costly burial perfume that she already had:
In order to prepare for Jesus’ last days.

And it’s good stewardship too:
To use what we have.
Rather than purchasing something that we don’t really need.

It’s good stewardship to bring our branches and clippings in our own
vehicles:
Rather than pay to transport refrigerated clippings from thousands of miles
away.

And what fun it will be:
To see the different things that people bring.
To share with one another the diverse fruits from our own backyards:
And to enter holy week:
Offering what we already have:
In gratitude to our God.

Amen.