Fifth Sunday In Lent (C) 2019

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: John 12:7
Theme: “For the Day of My Burial”

Dear followers to the cross,

Jesus had friends other than the Twelve. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were among His closest. They lived at Bethany, only a mile and a half from Jerusalem. It was the last place Jesus visited before His trial and crucifixion in the holy city. They met at the home of a man named Simon the Leper1 where a dinner was being given in Jesus’ honour. The disciples and other followers were also present. During the evening Mary opened a jar of very expensive perfume, poured it on Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. It was a striking and memorable act of devotion. It was also the cause of contention and a teaching opportunity for Jesus.

One of the protesters of this act was Jesus’ own disciple, Judas. The treachery of Judas was not yet public knowledge at this point. Here we are given insight into his character. Judas’s concern for the poor is only contrived. He is greedy. He had established himself as the treasurer of the group, but he had been embezzling the funds. Jesus does not use this as an opportunity to expose him. Judas will condemn himself in due time. Instead, Jesus brings the focus back to Mary’s act of affection. He connects the expensive perfume she was using with His burial. She was anointing His body now, something the circumstances would not permit at the time of His death. More on that in a moment.

First, consider, dear friends, that as was the case with Judas, the God of forbearance maybe foregoing an opportunity to expose your guilt. Maybe He has already done this many times- and, unbeknownst to you. Do we not take for granted His patience with our sinful attitudes and actions? I am certainly guilty of that. Contemplate your opportunity for repentance. We should never put the Lord to the test. Contrition is never premature. Humbleness is never ill-timed. Modesty is never incongruent with the character the Spirit seeks to foster within us. Cries for mercy never fall on deaf ears. Grace is never withheld. God is bubbling over with compassion.

Jesus makes a point of connecting Mary’s anointing of His feet with His upcoming burial. It would have been remarkable for the others to hear, and undoubtedly made the occasion more poignant. Sometimes the present must be understood in terms of the future. You too, dear friends, have already been anointed for burial. It happened at your baptism. It happened when the life-giving waters of the Spirit washed over your soul. It happened when you were promised an eternal inheritance. It’s not morbid or macabre to think in these terms.

Our temporal lives are lived under the burden of mortality. With fragile frames and finite capacities, we must negotiate the challenges of this existence. We bear the weight of brokenness. We navigate the demands of illness. We manage the threat of uncertainty. We pray that our joys will outnumber our hardships. We have no guarantees. Placed before us and within us are promises and blessings too profound for us to comprehend. We must be gifted with faith to enjoy even a hint of the holy treasures God has prepared for us. We peer with strained eye through the window to these mysteries until the day we “see Him as He is”2 Believers, of course, have already experienced one resurrection. The Holy Spirit resurrects from the sleep of death those who lived in spiritual morbidity. The Spirit does this through the gospel. It is our new birth. Yet, we await the resurrection and that great and glorious day when these physical frames will also be clothed with immortal life.

Mary’s was a unique and unusual act of devotion. It can’t be repeated. Yet, dear friends, there is not a single believer, acting in faith, that God doesn’t use for the benefit of His kingdom. There is no act of charity, no thoughtful gesture, no caring word, no deed of kindness, no expression of love, that is so insignificant that God would deem it unimportant. Never underestimate the impact you may have on others. Perhaps you can’t see the evidence directly, or maybe you’re blind to it. The Spirit facilitates such situations to maintain our humility. He knows the sinful nature is looking for praise. (How many so-called acts of kindness and ‘expressions of love’ are actually done because the one doing them is seeking glory! Thereby, they become detrimental to the faith of the one doing them)

Yet, we can love selflessly, worrying neither about recognition nor exhausting our resources, because Christ meets all of our needs. Our glory is located only in Him and to search for it anywhere else ends only in shame. But the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”3 Our trust is expressed in action- in the mindset we have about life and relating to others. Perhaps during this season of Lent, or Easter, you’ll consider with fresh perspective what a privilege it is to be His child? The apostle Paul gives us inspiration when he says, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”4

The final leg of Jesus’ journey is not far off now. Three years of public ministry are coming to completion. The goal is within reach. It’s been an exhausting time. Fame and notoriety meant that the crowds were always thronged around Him. Solitude had to be strictly guarded. Regular clashes with Jewish religious rulers demanded His time and attention. The Twelve needed constant mentoring and were often dull of heart and weak in faith. Satan was always lurking, looking for his opportunity. He had taught in their synagogues, preached in their villages, healed their sick, raised their dead, forgiven their sins. He left little doubt that in His person the kingdom of God had come near.

Now the final sprint to Calvary is in the immediate foreground. It will be a strenuous stretch of hours ahead. Loyalty will be tested. Trust will be broken. Regret will be exhibited. In the hours ahead Christ will suffer betrayal, slander, mockery, torture, abandonment, and finally, death. Hope will hang by a thread. Truth will be balanced on a knife’s edge. The world will hold its breath. But Life does prevail. Christ triumphs. He does so through sacrifice. In Him we have more than a friend, more than a Brother, we have a Saviour. And just as He visited the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, so He says to all believers, “My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”5 Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Fifth Sunday in Lent
7 April 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 See Matthew 26:6
2 John 3:2
3 Romans 10:11
4 Philippians 3:8-9
5 John 14:23