Holy Monday 2021

 

Holy Monday 2021

John 12:1-11

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.[b]” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you,[c] but you will not always have me.”

9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believed."

"Marked by Anointing"

Mark says the perfume was "spikenard", John says "pure nard" and some scholars estimate this to be about $3000 in today’s currency. What an extravagant picture of love! Judas thinks this is a waste of $3000. That money could have been used for our mission projects. It could have been given to the poor. Today Judas would have wanted to stick that in the building fund!

 Instead, Mary….well, she wasted it.

The irony is that in a few days Judas will betray Jesus for 30 piece of sliver, about $600.

Judas kept the money bag. Mary broke the bottle.

Judas tried to hold it all. Mary gave it all away.

Probably the most valuable physical thing that she owned. She used it to worship Jesus.

I know that our most valuable possession probably is something different. I don’t know that any of us have a $3000 bottle of perfume lying around the house. But there is something that is that precious to us.

In Matthew 19 Jesus addresses this with a man who has many expensive possessions, and here Jesus does tell this man to sell it all and give it all to the poor, but he can’t do it. He doesn’t really own his stuff, his stuff owns him.

God doesn’t need our most expensive possessions, He just wants to make sure that our most expensive possessions don’t own us.

This Lent we have talked about being marked by the holy, different marks that we have as Christians. And tonight I want you to picture being marked by an anointing.

That is what Mary did, she anointed Jesus with this oil.

In fact, Jesus says that this was saved for this purpose, to anoint him for his burial.

Anointing a body with oil was an important part of the funeral process in the 1^st century. The oil helped preserve and clean the body before it was wrapped in burial cloths. If you remember, this didn’t get done to Jesus’ body when he was taken from the cross on Friday, because it was Passover and it was a hasty process to get the body into the tomb, which is why Mary Magdalene comes on Sunday morning with oils and spices to prepare the body, but the body is not there—we’ll talk about that story on Sunday morning!

But on this night, probably not all the disciples completely understand what is going to happen in a few days. Even though Jesus has talked to them several times about his dying and on the 3^rd day he would be raised from the dead, they didn’t want to hear it then, and they don’t see that happening now. 

And I get that, I think that’s human nature. When my mom would talk about her death I would often steer the conversation in a different direction, because I wasn’t ready.

On Palm Sunday we talked about a donkey that perhaps could see more clearly than the disciples that day, and I think that on this night it was Mary who understood what this week was all about.

Martha is serving the food, that’s her gift. It frustrated her at times, especially when her baby sister didn’t help, but not tonight. Tonight she serves. Her brother Lazarus is at the table beside Jesus, the one Jesus raised from the dead after 4 days. And Mary is serving in her own way, giving what she has to give, and using her unbraided hair to wipe Jesus feet with this oil. 

Anointing was not only used for burials, it was also used at coronations. When a king was crowned, oil would be poured on his head, and not just a little trinkle, the goal was that the oil would run all the way down the beard and cover the king. Probably it would drop onto his feet as well, which may have been what Mary did here, covering Jesus in an anointing of oil.

Recognizing his kingship but also as Jesus said, symbolic of his death.

On Thursday night we will break open some oil for an anointing as part of our Maundy Thursday service.

But for tonight I want you to see that it wasn’t just the oil that was poured out, it was Mary herself. It was not just the oil that was the offering, it was Mary offering herself to Jesus.

“And the house was filled with that fragrance”—I think John means literally the fragrance of the oil filled the house, but also I think the fragrance of her praise filled the house, the fragrance of her offering filled the house, the fragrance of her devotion filled the house, the fragrance of her love filled the house.

 

All because she poured it out.

When Paul wrote his 2^nd letter to Timothy, toward the end of his life, he said that his life was poured out like a drink offering to God.

And that image brings us to the Communion Table tonight. It wasn’t just Paul pouring out himself, or Mary pouring out perfume, it was Jesus blood poured out for the forgiveness of our sins that is the greatest outpouring of love of all time.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Marked by Faith

 

I was told fairly often by my mom when I was younger that I needed to get right with God. Were you ever told that when you were younger?  In a way that’s what today's blog is about.... getting right with God. 

A question that Paul is laying out in the book of Romans is are we made right with God by what we do? This is called justification by works. There were some people that Paul is writing to here, that said to be a Christian you have to be circumcised, that is the mark that is needed. They are bringing in some rules of being Jewish into their new Jewish-Christian life.

Or, are we made right with God by believing and trusting in Him? This is called justification by faith. And then good works come after this as we are justified, made righteous, because then we seek to do good for other people with pure motives and a clean heart.

 It was a question that the people living in Rome needed an answer to. This was a question that people wrestled with even in the 1500’s as the Protestant Reformation was happening and this idea was one of the 5 pillars of the Reformation, called sola fida, which means in faith alone.

 We are justified, made righteous, saved, only by faith in Christ.

It is a question that we need to look at today, because being made right with God allows us to do good works, but it all begins with faith.

So, faith is a pretty important mark of who we are as Christians.

So, let’s define it and then we’ll get into this about Abraham and faith and promises.

Faith= a belief or a trust, and those are 2 good words to help us.

When we say “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord” we are saying this is where we place our faith because we believe in this.

I have heard faith described like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. And there is something there that faith has a potential of growth. That’s why Jesus said that just a little faith, the size of a mustard seed, could move mountains in your life. Not that you are doing it but that you place your faith, your beliefs and your trust, even if you only have a little bit today, in the mountain-moving God who is ready to move on your behalf.

You just gotta have, faith, as George Michaels said.

Martin Luther said that “faith is a living, bold hope in God’s grace” That’s pretty powerful.

And probably the best definition comes from Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”.

And so Paul uses the example of Abraham, this OT patriarch, who had faith in God, confidence in what God promised him, even though the promise was far off, he couldn’t see it yet.

Before we get into the promise that Abraham was hoping for, I wonder if there is anybody reading this who is trusting God for a promise that you can’t see the results of yet?

Is there anybody who needs to believe God for something specific in your life that you aren’t seeing the fruits of yet? 

If so, then that’s good, because that’s faith.

 Sometimes we’re right here but the promise is wwwwaaaayyyyy over there. And we have faith it’s over there, somewhere. But we cant see it yet.

And that’s good, because if we could see it, then the promise is already being fulfilled. But when we can’t see it yet, we have hope because of our faith. And we walk by faith, not by sight.

But we still walk.

When your promise is waaayyyyy over there, and you’re waaayyyy over here. The distance from where you are to the promise that you are seeking is called you faith….walk. 

It’s a walk. It’s a journey.

That’s what faith is.

It takes faith to access the promises that God has made to you.

We need to stop starting and stopping in our faith walk because we get discouraged or bogged down by external circumstances that are trying to trip us up, cause that’s what the enemy is doing when you’re walking, tripping us up, blocking the path, putting little detours in there that seem easier, but the devil can’t mess with the promise because the promise was made by God to you and nothing will stop that, unless you quit walking toward it.

I heard another preacher say once that this is called a “finishing faith”. 

And he took that from 2 Timothy 4:7. There the apostle Paul is writing old and about done with his walk but he’s writing to encourage Timothy, a young preacher to keep on walking in faith.

Paul writes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

A finishing faith will allow us to live those words one day, a finishing faith will help us walk this way keeping our eyes on the promise, our eyes on the prize, and will give us the strength we need to do that.

We are marked with a finishing faith, a faith that goes the distance.

Just like Abraham.

The promise made to Abraham is that he would be the father of many nations. That he would have descendants as numerous as the sands on the seashore or the stars in the sky.

The only issue is that when the promise was made Abraham was 75 years old and his wife, Sarah, was about 70.

But Abraham had faith in the promise because it was made by the Promise-Maker.

But like then the next month nothing happened, and then the next month nothing happened. Have you ever been there? Like, "I know I trust in the promises God is making to me, but it’s been like 45 minutes, what are you doing up there?"

And Sarah had we could call a laughing faith. When she heard the promise she laughed at it. Cause it’s a crazy promise. It seems that it’s an Impossible promise.

And if it was only biologically left up to Abraham and Sarah it would have been impossible, but the promise isn’t based on their works, the promise isn’t about what they do or don’t do, although I guess that there is ONE thing they would need to do to FULFILL that promise, but Genesis 15:6 says “Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness”.

Abraham was justified, or made right with God because of his faith in God.

25 years later, Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac. That’s 25 years of walking by faith when there was no visible sight or signs of the promise.

But he had to just keep walking.

V18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope, believed and so became…”

That’s a finishing faith, walking into the promise and becoming what God has called you to be in the process of your faith walk.

It’s amazing how people believe what is said about them and then become, or live into, those defining statements.

If a parent constantly yells insults at their children and tells them that they are worthless, if they hear they are stupid or no good then they believe it and in some ways they…become it.

But if words of affirmation and hope and encouragement are spoken over children then their self esteem is raised to where they believe that they are beautiful, that they are smart, that they can do anything.

The same is true in our faith walk. What words are you hearing spoken about you? Are there words from your past that keeps up coming up to mark you when the reality is that you have been marked by God himself, set apart as a beautiful and to-die-for, literally, child of God?

Maybe today you feel like you are living those words, against all hope. Then I want to encourage you to see it the way Abraham did, through believing and becoming.

Maybe sometimes God places the promise a little further out because he needs to work on your hope a little bit more in your walk. Maybe the length of the walk is strengthening you for the claiming of the promise when you actually get there.

V19 “Without weakening in his body he faced the fact”

The fact is he’s old and his wife is old.

Walking in faith involves facing the facts. Faith is not a pie-in-the-sky denial of reality.

Faith is not some sugar-coated ideology that “everything is peaches and cream”.

Faith is not blindly saying that everything is ok.

I have ministered with church members who have been sexually abused, everything is not ok.

I have walked with church members through the death of parents, children, and spouses. Everything is not OK.

I have talked to couples on the brink of divorce because of infidelity. Everything is not OK.

I have been with Christians wrecked by addition. Everything is not OK.

I have sat with people overcome by anxiety and depression. Everything is not OK.

 

Faith is about recognizing the reality of the situations and saying, “everything is not OK. But my faith can handle that because my God can handle that”.

There are 6 words printed in the bulletins of the churches where I serve.

Be Real. Be Loving. Be Involved.

I believe that this points to our faith walk. But the first 2 words, “be real” is about honesty and authenticity. And that is where faith starts.

Faith is not about having it all together, faith is an acknowledgement that we don’t have it all together but we are trusting in the promises of the One who does. And so we keep on walking, one step at time. One day at a time.

That’s why the Lord’s Prayer is prayer of faith. We are asking in faith for our daily bread. We have to ask daily, for daily bread. If God gave us weekly bread some people probably wouldn’t even talk to him the other 6 days.

Daily bread is about faith. It is about coming to God every day and saying, “thank you for taking care of me yesterday. I trust you that you will take care of me today.”

And then you just keep walking, walking this way.

Every step you take on your faith walk is taking you somewhere. And we need a finishing faith when we feel that we are against ALL HOPE, so that we will not weaken in our faith but claim the promises of God even when we don’t see them yet.

V20 “Abraham was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God”—this is before the prayer was answered. This was before the promise was realized. The only physical things that have changed at this point is that Abraham and Sarah keep on getting older. The spiritual part though is that they keep on walking, and trusting, and in that giving glory to God

V21 “being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he promised”

We can get persuaded by all sorts of stuff at times. About 15 years ago the Kirby door to door vacuum salesmen persuaded me and Heather to buy a vacuum that cost more than some cars I owned.

Are you fully persuaded today that God has the power to do what God has said that he will do? 

And all this promise business isn’t just about Abraham, V24 says, “but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification.”

And this happens through faith.