April 7, 2019
John 12:1-8
When was the last time you did something really extravagant for someone? Was your extravagance well received by the receiver? What about others who either witnessed your extravagant giving or heard about it later. What did they think about your act of generosity?
Now think about a time in your life when you were the recipient of someone’s extravagant giving. How did you receive it? What did you think when they chose you as the beneficiary of their gift?
I read a story yesterday about a woman, Kathleen Shumate, who spent time volunteering at a vocational training center for young women in the slums of India. This center was run by a team of locals and a missionary couple from Switzerland. Toward the end of her time there, Kathleen and her partner were invited to the apartment of the missionary couple and as they sat down the couple brought out a prized Swiss caramel treat. This was the last such treat this couple had brought with them from their home country. Not only that, a treat like this was not even available in India.
Kathleen wrote that she initially felt uneasy about the gift. Yes, they would enjoy it, “but not as much as [the Swiss couple] would have, because it didn’t have the same feeling of home for us.”[1] Knowing it would be highly offensive to refuse their gift, Kathleen ate and “tried to enjoy the heck out of it for the sake of their kindness.”[2] The thing is, even as she tried to enjoy the heck out of it, she “thought it was a waste. A waste of their treasure on people who couldn’t value it fully.”[3]
Later on, Kathleen recognized how seeing the world as a world of scarcity creates fear. And that fear feeds stinginess and tight-fistedness which is always willing to provide the illusion of feeling safe when it feels like generosity and trust can’t. More than that, she realized that she is in awe of generous people, and that she wants to be one of them, but not in the normal sense. She doesn’t just want to give away money and things, she wants to be “someone who lives without fear of lack, someone who delights in others’ joy more than [her] own. [She] wants to be open-hearted and open-handed, giving freely as God has given to [her], trusting that [she] will have what [she] need[s].”
Ultimately, she received a gift greater than the prized sweet treat. You see, even after nine years had passed Kathleen still remembered their culinary sacrifice and began to see more clearly the real gift that couple had given her. The realization that their “waste” had reverberated through these years because it is the essence of love.
************************************
Similar to the setting that led to Kathleen’s revelation about the wasteful nature of real love, the setting for the story from our text today is a meal. Now, this particular meal takes place just before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Now this meal is apparently taking place with Jesus and some of his close disciples at Martha’s house in Bethany. Apparently, Martha is doing what needs to be done so the meal can proceed without a hitch. Mary is introduced, but John doesn’t tell us what she was doing until she did that thing. Until she anointed Jesus’ feet with very expensive perfume and then uses her hair to wipe his feet.
That is when another character appears in the story. Only this character has a firm opinion about that thing Mary just did and like so many of us who find it hard to bite our tongues, he opened his mouth and let fly with his opinion.
Even though John gives his thoughts about why Judas shared his opinion – It is clear John wanted the reader to know that Judas was a thief, I’m not sure any of us today can accurately conclude why Judas felt he had to share. Or better yet why he felt he had the right to share his opinion. There is one thing we do know, though, and that is women weren’t highly regarded citizens during that day. On top of that, we don’t know anything about what led up to Mary anointing Jesus’s feet. Did Jesus ask her to do that? Did someone else there ask her to do that? Ultimately, maybe even frustratingly, we can’t answer those questions, but no matter what Judas clearly felt the need to tell Mary that what she did was an unnecessary waste of something that could have been put to better use by feeding the poor.
Some might even agree with Judas. After all, like us today, they lived in a world with so much need. And to a large extent Judas was right, but for the wrong reason. Mary’s act of anointing Jesus’ feet with the expensive perfume and wiping his feet with her hair was a wasteful act – a wasteful act of love.
Jesus’ response to Judas is telling for he essentially reprimands Judas and does so with his first three words… “LEAVE HER ALONE…” Yes, there is more to what Jesus said than those three words, but just for a moment I want us to consider what Jesus might have been saying when he said “LEAVE HER ALONE!” Maybe Jesus was telling Judas that Mary, a woman, had every right to do what she did and no man should tell her otherwise. Maybe Jesus was telling Judas to stop judging Mary, a woman, and start learning from her instead. Maybe Jesus was telling Judas that Mary, a woman, was worthy of his respect. Maybe that is why Jesus began his response to Judas with those three words, “LEAVE HER ALONE!”
The remainder of Jesus response shows why Mary was justified in her waste, but in order to understand her justification I think it is necessary to re-frame how we think about waste. Jesus helps us do that by showing that what Mary did was take a unique opportunity to be extravagant in the way she showed her love. Such a re-framing, I think, is hard for us because of how we define waste and how we define love. Yes, Mary was wasteful, but not in a negative sort of way. She was wasteful in the most beautiful way. She opened up something of extravagant value, in essence she opened herself up, and poured it out precisely because of her love.
“LEAVE HER ALONE” Judas. It seems you don’t quite get it, yet, but I believe you will. “LEAVE HER ALONE” Judas because even though you aren’t really sure about what it means to be all in, Mary is and if you let her, she can teach you. “LEAVE HER ALONE” Judas because Mary understands that I am part of that group you call the poor, and if you will allow, she will teach you how to wastefully love others within that group. Mary is wastefully loving me in the same way you must wastefully love them.
*******************************
Loving in this way requires a re-framing of waste. Wasteful Love is never about laziness, destructiveness or abuse. Wasteful love is about a love so great that we are compelled to give without thinking about whether or not our actions are useful. This is the re-framing we need. It seems this is the re-framing that came to Kathleen Shumate and it doesn’t seem to matter that it took nine years to realize it. How long it takes to realize isn’t as important as actually realizing.
Our lives could be so much more enriched if we could wastefully love others. If only we could waste our time on people and give them a part of ourselves and in doing let them know they are worth it. Mary seemed to know this even when Judas didn’t. The missionary couple seemed to know this even when Kathleen Shumate didn’t. If nothing else, let these two examples teach us so that we too will start to love in such a wasteful way.
[PRAYER]
Amen!
[1] Shumate, Kathleen, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wasteful-love_b_9260910
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
John 12:1-8
When was the last time you did something really extravagant for someone? Was your extravagance well received by the receiver? What about others who either witnessed your extravagant giving or heard about it later. What did they think about your act of generosity?
Now think about a time in your life when you were the recipient of someone’s extravagant giving. How did you receive it? What did you think when they chose you as the beneficiary of their gift?
I read a story yesterday about a woman, Kathleen Shumate, who spent time volunteering at a vocational training center for young women in the slums of India. This center was run by a team of locals and a missionary couple from Switzerland. Toward the end of her time there, Kathleen and her partner were invited to the apartment of the missionary couple and as they sat down the couple brought out a prized Swiss caramel treat. This was the last such treat this couple had brought with them from their home country. Not only that, a treat like this was not even available in India.
Kathleen wrote that she initially felt uneasy about the gift. Yes, they would enjoy it, “but not as much as [the Swiss couple] would have, because it didn’t have the same feeling of home for us.”[1] Knowing it would be highly offensive to refuse their gift, Kathleen ate and “tried to enjoy the heck out of it for the sake of their kindness.”[2] The thing is, even as she tried to enjoy the heck out of it, she “thought it was a waste. A waste of their treasure on people who couldn’t value it fully.”[3]
Later on, Kathleen recognized how seeing the world as a world of scarcity creates fear. And that fear feeds stinginess and tight-fistedness which is always willing to provide the illusion of feeling safe when it feels like generosity and trust can’t. More than that, she realized that she is in awe of generous people, and that she wants to be one of them, but not in the normal sense. She doesn’t just want to give away money and things, she wants to be “someone who lives without fear of lack, someone who delights in others’ joy more than [her] own. [She] wants to be open-hearted and open-handed, giving freely as God has given to [her], trusting that [she] will have what [she] need[s].”
Ultimately, she received a gift greater than the prized sweet treat. You see, even after nine years had passed Kathleen still remembered their culinary sacrifice and began to see more clearly the real gift that couple had given her. The realization that their “waste” had reverberated through these years because it is the essence of love.
************************************
Similar to the setting that led to Kathleen’s revelation about the wasteful nature of real love, the setting for the story from our text today is a meal. Now, this particular meal takes place just before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Now this meal is apparently taking place with Jesus and some of his close disciples at Martha’s house in Bethany. Apparently, Martha is doing what needs to be done so the meal can proceed without a hitch. Mary is introduced, but John doesn’t tell us what she was doing until she did that thing. Until she anointed Jesus’ feet with very expensive perfume and then uses her hair to wipe his feet.
That is when another character appears in the story. Only this character has a firm opinion about that thing Mary just did and like so many of us who find it hard to bite our tongues, he opened his mouth and let fly with his opinion.
Even though John gives his thoughts about why Judas shared his opinion – It is clear John wanted the reader to know that Judas was a thief, I’m not sure any of us today can accurately conclude why Judas felt he had to share. Or better yet why he felt he had the right to share his opinion. There is one thing we do know, though, and that is women weren’t highly regarded citizens during that day. On top of that, we don’t know anything about what led up to Mary anointing Jesus’s feet. Did Jesus ask her to do that? Did someone else there ask her to do that? Ultimately, maybe even frustratingly, we can’t answer those questions, but no matter what Judas clearly felt the need to tell Mary that what she did was an unnecessary waste of something that could have been put to better use by feeding the poor.
Some might even agree with Judas. After all, like us today, they lived in a world with so much need. And to a large extent Judas was right, but for the wrong reason. Mary’s act of anointing Jesus’ feet with the expensive perfume and wiping his feet with her hair was a wasteful act – a wasteful act of love.
Jesus’ response to Judas is telling for he essentially reprimands Judas and does so with his first three words… “LEAVE HER ALONE…” Yes, there is more to what Jesus said than those three words, but just for a moment I want us to consider what Jesus might have been saying when he said “LEAVE HER ALONE!” Maybe Jesus was telling Judas that Mary, a woman, had every right to do what she did and no man should tell her otherwise. Maybe Jesus was telling Judas to stop judging Mary, a woman, and start learning from her instead. Maybe Jesus was telling Judas that Mary, a woman, was worthy of his respect. Maybe that is why Jesus began his response to Judas with those three words, “LEAVE HER ALONE!”
The remainder of Jesus response shows why Mary was justified in her waste, but in order to understand her justification I think it is necessary to re-frame how we think about waste. Jesus helps us do that by showing that what Mary did was take a unique opportunity to be extravagant in the way she showed her love. Such a re-framing, I think, is hard for us because of how we define waste and how we define love. Yes, Mary was wasteful, but not in a negative sort of way. She was wasteful in the most beautiful way. She opened up something of extravagant value, in essence she opened herself up, and poured it out precisely because of her love.
“LEAVE HER ALONE” Judas. It seems you don’t quite get it, yet, but I believe you will. “LEAVE HER ALONE” Judas because even though you aren’t really sure about what it means to be all in, Mary is and if you let her, she can teach you. “LEAVE HER ALONE” Judas because Mary understands that I am part of that group you call the poor, and if you will allow, she will teach you how to wastefully love others within that group. Mary is wastefully loving me in the same way you must wastefully love them.
*******************************
Loving in this way requires a re-framing of waste. Wasteful Love is never about laziness, destructiveness or abuse. Wasteful love is about a love so great that we are compelled to give without thinking about whether or not our actions are useful. This is the re-framing we need. It seems this is the re-framing that came to Kathleen Shumate and it doesn’t seem to matter that it took nine years to realize it. How long it takes to realize isn’t as important as actually realizing.
Our lives could be so much more enriched if we could wastefully love others. If only we could waste our time on people and give them a part of ourselves and in doing let them know they are worth it. Mary seemed to know this even when Judas didn’t. The missionary couple seemed to know this even when Kathleen Shumate didn’t. If nothing else, let these two examples teach us so that we too will start to love in such a wasteful way.
[PRAYER]
Amen!
[1] Shumate, Kathleen, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wasteful-love_b_9260910
[2] Id.
[3] Id.