A sermon for Mt Hawthorn Community Church
You are a church which is interested in social justice issues. Indeed God is quite interested in justice. Because of your interest in justice, I have chosen a passage for today which puts justice in a new perspective.
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” (Matt. 26: 6-13 ESV).
This is a fairly outrageous story in some ways. The woman in the story poured out an incredibly expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus that was probably worth the equivalent of $50,000. The disciples complained and Jesus shut them up by telling them that he is more important than the poor. My message today is about the relative value of social justice and Jesus. I am going to consider this matter by looking at the people in the story. There are four significant people or groups of people in this story: the disciples, Judas (mentioned in John 12), Jesus, and the woman who anointed Jesus. I am going to consider the attitude of each in turn. I will begin with the disciples and Judas and get to Jesus and the woman later.
The disciples were indignant with the woman. She did something so very outrageous and it did not fit with what they had grown up with. These men were all pious Jews, who had been taught the law of Moses in the synagogue their whole lives. It had no doubt been drummed into them that Jewish piety involved helping the poor. One aspect of the tithe was to feed the poor (Deut. 26:12). Job expressed his piety by insisting that he gave to the poor (Job 29:11-12). Even the New Testament insists that giving to the poor is right (Luke 12:33; Acts 10:31).
So when the disciples objected to the woman’s actions they probably thought of themselves as pious Jews who had a righteous concern for the poor. The problem was that they were still thinking like Jews and not like followers of Jesus. Even though these men had followed Jesus around for three years, they seemed oblivious to who he actually is. If they really knew that he is the long awaited Messiah then they would have stopped thinking of themselves as Jews. They were totally missing the point. They failed to see that Jesus is more important than Moses. They did not seem to realize that the one who fulfils Judaism was standing in front of them. God had come down to Israel in the flesh and lived with them. And they were objecting the idea that Jesus should be worshipped at all costs! This was blind foolishness. Instead of complaining about the woman worshipping Jesus in this costly way, they should have been commending her and joining in.
Then there is Judas. Matthew does not mention Judas in the story, but John 12 contains this story in a slightly different form. After the woman poured the perfume on Jesus, we are told: “But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ 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” (John 12:4). On the surface Judas looked like all the other disciples. He sounded like an outraged pious Jew, saying how important the poor are. But on the inside he was a greedy man whose only concern was lining his own pockets. His outrage was not really about the poor but about an opportunity he saw for himself slipping away. His piety was a façade for the sake of making himself look good.
Judas was a long way from seeing who Jesus is. He was purely concerned with outward appearances and did not allow himself to be transformed by knowing Jesus. Three years of walking around with Jesus and his heart was still hard. There was no repentance and no searching for the truth. If he realized the truth about Jesus he would never have agreed to betray him. He was totally indifferent to Jesus.
The third person in this story is Jesus. Instead of rebuking the woman for pouring out a year’s wages in perfume on his head, he said, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” If we only had this story about Jesus we might wonder what kind of man this is. His statement is quite plain. He is more important than the poor. He clearly said that it was more important for the woman to spend $50,000 anointing him than it would be to feed the hungry.
When I first heard this passage taught in church, I was seventeen and not yet a Christian. At that time I considered communism the answer to poverty and injustice. I was young and naïve, I know, but I tell you this because it coloured what I thought about Jesus at that time. I heard Jesus say, “For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me,” and I thought to myself, “Who is this man to say such an outrageous thing?” We still need to ask that question. “Who is this Jesus?”
We might take this statement which Jesus made here as the saying of a man who is arrogant and self-absorbed, if it were not for the fact that the Gospels paint a very different picture of Jesus. In the Gospels Jesus comes across as anything but arrogant and self-absorbed. Jesus is an incredibly humble man and indeed an incredibly humble God. He was born in a stable to ordinary parents. They did not have a lot of money. Joseph was a carpenter, not a king. Early on in his life, Jesus was forced to flee the country of his birth and become a refugee, because Herod wanted to kill him. He surely knew what it was like to be poor. He had no possessions and no home of his own. He was itinerant and had to rely on others to provide for his material needs.
I suppose that being poor does not necessarily imply that you are not arrogant and self-absorbed. But the Gospels also tell us something else about Jesus. He did not simply experience a poor and humble human existence because he had no choice. This man is God come down to earth. He had a choice. His decision to be a poor and humble human was made before he was born. As the Son of God he chose to enter the world, not as a king in a palace, but as a baby in a country oppressed by foreign armies. He entered the world intentionally in order to redeem us. From the beginning of his ministry he knew that he would die a disgusting death on a cross. Yet he deliberately went towards Jerusalem instead of away from it. He headed towards the death of a slave, of one who is at the bottom of society. The death that Jesus knew he would die was one which removed all shred of dignity from the victim. This was not the life of an arrogant and self-absorbed man or even an arrogant and self-absorbed God.
Yet Jesus knew full well who he is. He knew that he is Emmanuel, God in the flesh. He accepted the woman’s worship, since it was right that this woman worship the one who is both Messiah and Lord. There was no false humility with Jesus. But he never denied that he is God and worthy of our worship.
This brings us to the final person in the story, the woman with the perfume. In Matthew’s Gospel she is not named, but in John we learn that this is Mary, sister of Lazarus. Since it was a woman who did this thing it is not surprising that the men dismissed it as foolish. Women had little status at that time. But she was the only one who actually understood what was about to happen to Jesus. The men had been told that Jesus was going to the cross, but they ignored this. Yet Mary had a soft heart that actually heard what Jesus said about his death.
Mary had earlier demonstrated that she had a heart that was hungry to spend time with Jesus and listen to him. We are familiar with the story about Mary and Martha told in Luke. Martha was busy doing things, but Mary was commended by Jesus because she was sitting at his feet and listened to his teaching (Luke 10:39). Her heart was open to embrace the Messiah. Instead of merely being a pious Jew like the disciples, Mary recognised that something amazing had happened in Jesus. The Messiah had come and worship is the only appropriate response to that fact.
Her worship was specifically directed to Jesus. She did not worship by doing something like feeding the poor, as good as that act is. She worshipped Jesus in an extravagant way. She wanted to express her love to Jesus. Her whole focus was on pouring out what she most treasured onto the one she loved the most.
Conclusion
So what does this passage have to say to us about social justice? It does not say that Christians should not care for the poor. Jesus is clear that the poor will always be there and the Church will always need to work to help the weak, the poor, the fatherless and widows. Continue seeking God’s justice in the world.
However, we need to consider the mistakes and insights of the people in this passage. The disciples and Judas failed to see who Jesus is and they did not worship him. The disciples let their piety get in the way of seeing who was actually before them. Judas let his fake piety get in the way of opening his heart to the truth. It is quite possible for you and me to get caught up in doing things, important as those things may be, and then forget to worship Jesus. We can easily get sidetracked and lose our relationship of love with Jesus.
Therefore, I want to emphasise today that we must put Jesus before acts of social justice. Put Jesus before your projects. Put Jesus before the needs of the world. Jesus is more important than anything else, including helping the poor. That sounds outrageous. However, if we lose sight of who Jesus actually is, then all our good deeds are vacated of their value.
Remember who Jesus is. He is the one who fulfils all piety. Don’t get lost in trying to be pious instead of knowing Jesus. Set your heart on worshipping Jesus and let him lead you. He may well lead you to feeding the poor or fighting against injustice. But let him lead you. We can easily get caught up in causes, because a cause can make you feel like you are doing something important. But your importance, your purpose, your value, your destiny are found only in Jesus. Focus on him first and foremost.
Finally, learn from the woman who poured out the perfume. Have a heart which desires first of all to be in the presence of Jesus and to give him the most precious thing you have. Pour it out before him in extravagant worship. Be outrageous in your worship of him.
Let us pray.