Sermon - 4/6/25

Sermon 4/6/2025 – Jn 12:1-8

 

The prophet Isaiah brings us words from our Lord God: 

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

This is a beautiful reminder that God will surprise us

God makes a way for us

God brings out an army of fighters for us

God nourishes and replenishes us

Whatever we face,

God is there, navigating beside us

 

The arc of the Gospels from Luke these past weeks have been building the tension toward Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion

We can feel the tension within the community

The Pharisees are threatening Herod’s wish to kill Jesus

They’re grumbling about what Jesus is doing and who he’s hanging out with (all the wrong people)

And Jesus is responding with outrageous parables about how God isn’t going to fall in line with human expectations

God is extravagant in God’s love for God’s people

God will protect God’s people like a fierce mother hen

God will nourish the fig tree until it bears fruit

God will welcome the wayward son with open arms and celebration

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

 

In the midst of anxiety

With the threat of death

Burdened with tension

God is there

God is about to do a new thing

Can we perceive it?

Can we?

Because fear

Anxiety

Tension

The energy of these emotions

act like walls

Huge barriers to God’s love

Barriers that make God’s love, mercy, tenderness and forgiveness sit on the outside of our hearts ---

One thing we know about anxiety and tension –

Is that they spread

They are more contagious than Norovirus or Influenza A

As they travel among people and communities

 

So today, we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel story about Jesus in a safe place, the home of his friends

His chosen family – Lazarus who he raised from the dead, and Martha and Mary

These people who are close to Jesus have been shown the nature of God through the person of Jesus

They have been shown God’s extravagant love again and again

Through parables

And miracles

Through Jesus raising Lazarus from death

But the tension from the community is there,

It’s seeped in

It has spread into their home

Into their hearts and minds

as Mary does a new and extravagant thing

 

We read these stories year after year

We know that Judas is the “bad guy”, who will betray Jesus to the soldiers leading to his imprisonment and crucifixion

But having a woman act as the “good guy” is surprising

It would have been even more surprising then than it is now

For Mary to demonstrate God’s abundance

For Mary to break cultural expectations

Challenging gender roles

As she takes her hair down

Uses an entire pound of perfumed oil

And wipes Jesus’ feet

But Mary’s role isn’t the only surprising role in this story

We see the human side of Jesus,

the fierce advocate,

the strong defender,

the wise teacher,

the righteous Son of God,

As he sits and acknowledges his need of tenderness

His need of support

His weariness from these past months

As Mary cares for him

Wiping the tension out of his whole body through his feet

 

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

 

We acknowledge the intimacy of this act on Maundy Thursday when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples

Imagine the intimacy of Mary wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair and expensive perfume…

Imagine how close she would have to sit to Jesus…

Imagine her face, and her gaze upon him…

Imagine the smell of the perfume, an entire pound of it,

filling her nostrils

and wafting up to Jesus’ face, filling his nose

The lovely fragrance spreading…permeating the entire room

Lingering…

Imagine his gaze upon her…

As Jesus sits around the dinner table, surrounded by others, and Mary touches his feet for the first time…

Imagine Jesus’ surprise as she continues ministering to him until the entire jar is gone…

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

 

Now imagine God caring for you in that extravagant and tender way

Imagine God knowing all you’ve done

And not done

All you’ve endured

And all you’re facing in life

Imagine God bringing God’s self so close to you

So close, just a hair’s length away

Close to even the dirtiest and sorest parts of yourself

Not just the parts you’d offer first

But even the embarrassing and hurt parts

The parts you keep tucked away and covered

Imagine God coming so close to those parts

And blessing them

Wiping them

Loving them

Anointing your past, present and future

With a beautiful and unexpected fragrance

That takes over your whole self

That fills the whole room

That is obnoxious in a way that even others notice

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

/         /         /         /

We are so often like Judas

Keeping track

Judging

Anxious

As the tension of our community and world

Spread and infect our spaces

Our school and work

Our congregation

Our homes

Even our thoughts and hearts

Which is why this season of Lent is all about repentance

Turning back toward God

Taking a chance to let down the walls and barriers

The hardness this world has erected within us

And let God in

Let God sit so close to us

Let God let down God’s hair

Let God use the whole jar

And reach our most unpresentable parts

Let God tenderly touch those parts of us

Let God wipe them clean,

Let God bless them,

and anoint them

with God’s extravagant and Holy love

Amen