March 25, 2007
“How Much Does It Cost??
John 12:1-8

“How much does it cost?” I remember from my Spanish class in high school this being one of the first things we learned. “Cuanto es?” or “Cuanto cuesta?” A basic element of language for living in this world is trying to find out how much something costs. You don’t want to get caught asking for something without being able to pay for it!

This is probably a really good time in our church’s life for me to be asking this question, “How much does it cost?” In part because each month our Mission Council, with which we’ve been experimenting for over a year, is trying to bring new and creative ideas to life more quickly, but also responsibly. We ask the tough questions, such as “How does this idea help to fulfill our church’s mission?,” “Who from the congregation is involved in this Endeavor?,” and the ever popular, “How much will it cost?”

We recognize, of course, that many of the very best ideas don’t cost any money at all. But every idea costs in terms of time, energy, people-power, facilities, and creativity. And then, a few cost some money. The Mission Council asks the question, not in a miserly way, but as a way to be good stewards of this congregation’s resources. “How much does it cost?” is a legitimate question.

Or, you may think I am bringing it up because of some of the exciting big proposals that are being worked on in our congregation. The first that will come up within the next month or two will be the question of hiring a new staff person to help minister to our growing youth group and to give this congregation the additional pastoral support it needs to keep on growing. I am deeply appreciative of the task force that was appointed by the board to work on a proposal, and am proud of the Officers of the Board who will continue to shepherd this idea. They are willing to ask the tough and faithful questions to help ensure the success of this idea. And one of the big questions is, “How much does it cost?”

There are also other proposals which will come to this congregation in the coming months helping to build on recent successes. One most likely will be about creating a second worship service. Others will be about some critical evangelism and publicity ideas to help get the Word of God to a community yearning to hear the Good News. In each case, we will have to ask important questions to make sure our attempts are both faithful and viable. “How much does it cost?” is a faithful question.

That is why it is so startling when it comes out of the mouth of Judas Iscariot in our text today. Mary has just poured out some mighty expensive oil to put on Jesus’ feet, and Judas probably wasn’t the only one with dollar signs rolling over in his mind. One hundred... Two hundred... Three hundred... enough denarii to pay a laborer for a year! And the inevitable question is asked, “Couldn’t the money that could come from the sale of this oil have better been better used to care for the poor?” Judas asks it, and we are told in no uncertain terms that Judas is a scoundrel, but the question is fair and certainly on everybody else’s mind in the room. And Jesus, in a quote that rings out through the ages, almost directly from the Torah, responds, “The poor you will always have with me, but you do not always have me.” In Deuteronomy it would continue, “Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and the poor, in the land.” (Deut. 15:11)

Again, an interesting exchange in light of the relocation of the Thursday Meal Program away from our facilities after 30+ years. Ideas are already sprouting up for how this congregation can continue to serve those in need best in our neighborhood. Questions will and should follow, including, “How much does it cost?” Can we both serve the poor AND honor Jesus at the same time? I do believe so.

“How much does it cost?” I’m intrigued with asking the woman whose oil it was, how much it meant to her. But this is a trickier question than at first glance. This story is told in almost the exact same way in all four Gospels, but the slight variations are revealing. In all four gospels a woman comes into a house and pours expensive oil onto Jesus and those watching comment on how wasteful the act was.

In both Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9 an unnamed woman arrived at Simon the Leper’s house in Bethany and poured costly nard over Jesus’ head from an alabaster flask, thus “anointing Jesus’ body beforehand for burial.” In Luke 7:36-50 a “woman of the city, who was a sinner” entered a Pharisee’s house and “anointed” Jesus’ feet with her tears and the ointment from an alabaster flask, which provided an occasion for Jesus to preach about forgiveness.

And here, in John 12:1-8 Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, is clearly named as the one who, in their home in Bethany at a celebration meal for Jesus, anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment which, Jesus announced, could be “used for my burial”

“How much does it cost?” For each woman, the cost must be calculated in different ways. Each way offers us a glimpse into what we must risk and how we might calculate that risk when we give ourselves to Jesus.

For Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, it cost a lot. Having known death, the death of her brother, Lazarus, Mary knew well the ointment was for burial preparations. Perhaps even this was some that was meant for her brother, Lazarus’ burial. She and her sister had waited so long for Jesus when Lazarus had died, hoping he would come and heal him, bring him back to life, she just never got around to using the burial spices.

This is the same Mary, you’ll remember, who had sat at the very same feet of Jesus, listening, learning, soaking up the grace and wisdom of her teacher. Enduring the twitting of her sister, hard at work with dinner in the kitchen, Mary had come to a deep and profound faith in this radical rabbi who lived God’s love as much as he talked about it.

You can imagine, then, that as Mary witnessed how Jesus’ act of miraculous life-restoring healing of her brother had enraged the established religious leaders, she knew well that this gentle man would not be allowed to live much longer. “No good deed goes unpunished,” the cynics say. Being powerless to stop the impending murder, she would offer one last act of devotion, to hell with the cost, and, in the words of one author, “be the first to say ‘goodby’ to Jesus.” (1) Mary risked devotion in the face of damnation, she risked hope in the face of death.

This family had tasted death and knew its pain, but they had also tasted resurrection, and knew its hope. For those of us who have known death close-up, whether through serious illness of our own or a loved one, through our ailing and aging bodies, a traumatic experience at home, work, or school, or through the death of someone close to us, we know the immensity of pain it brings.

And we know the ever present hope of new life. Sometimes it does comes to us, in a loved one brought back from the brink of death, or a medical exam that proclaims “benign” or “in remission,” or a signed job contract, “Whew!” But in the midst of the not knowing, hanging between life and death, don’t we say to ourselves, “I’d give anything, anything in the world if...” If our brother could live, our test would be negative, our job would be saved. “How much does it cost?” Ask Jairus about his daughter, or the centurion about his friend, or any one of the lepers. I’d give away the world if it were mine to give...” We, beloved, must also risk devotion in the face of damnation, and we must risk hope in the face of death.

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“How much does it cost?” For Mary, of Magdala, it cost both very little and a lot. First let me explain why I bring her into the picture. I would guess that most of you, like me, if asked the name of the woman who anointed Jesus with oil, would have said, “Mary Magdalene.” Even though her name is not connected scripturally in any way with any one of the four gospel accounts, I believe it is commonly held that the woman was Mary Magdalene. Why? Because of Luke’s description of her as a woman of the “city” who was a “sinner” and John’s use of the name Mary, albeit a different one. This unbiblical and incorrect portrayal of Mary Magdalene has relentlessly followed her through history, and this is tragic. But before I explain why, let me tell you who she was.

How much did this ointment cost Mary Magdalene? Little, probably very little. Little in the sense that she was clearly a woman of means. Not only does her ongoing presence in the circle of Jesus as they travel throughout the countryside indicate she had to be independently wealthy. But she is also counted among those women who helped bankroll Jesus’ ministry in Luke 8:3. “The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.”

But there is often a cost for being a strong and self-reliant woman, especially one with access to money. Rumors and attacks on women’s integrity are often the painful result. As the saying goes, “Well behaved women rarely make history.” History has not been so good to this Mary, and, in large part due to this story, she is linked with “the world’s oldest profession” and unreasonably shamed throughout the ages. Yes, she had seven demons cast out from her, but I’ve had far more than that cast out from me, and I am no “prostitute!” Neither was she.

Mary Magdalene risked her reputation, whether she realized it at the time or not, in order to be with Jesus, to serve him – quite literally to the end. We need to risk our reputations in order to serve Jesus. Sometimes that means risking being seen as a troublemaker or sometimes as a “goody-too-shoe.” Sometimes we need to risk our image as “the perfect unquestioning Christian” in order to dig deeper into scripture and examine simplistic superficial answers in order to really hear what the Holy Spirit is leading us to for this day and in this place. Sometimes we need to risk being seen in the houses of sinners (think Zacchaeus or Simon the Leper) and other persons of “ill-repute” in order to do the work of Christ. He’s already there, don’t you know?

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“How much does it cost?” For the adulterous woman, in Luke, this jar of lotion probably cost the most, but she cared the least about using it. Isn’t that the way it is, those with the least to lose oftentimes share the most with the world. I think immediately of the woman who had been caught in adultery whose story is recited earlier in John’s gospel. You remember Jesus stark demand, “Let anyone who is among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” She had known the pain and humiliation of her sin, and had been on the cusp of punishment unto death. Her community shamed her and, even after Jesus’ intervention, most likely shunned her the rest of her life.

But she had also known abundant forgiveness, and her life had been spared. “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and sin no more.” What was forgiveness worth to her? What was new life, not necessarily in the eye’s of her family or neighbors, but in the eyes of God worth to her? Everything! With her own tears, more precious than the ointment itself, she anointed Jesus, as Messiah, as Heart Of God, as One To Die.

Is not this third woman each and every one of us? Does this not remind us of our own selves, mired in sin, on the cusp of punishment which feels like death, and unprepared for the forgiveness God offers abundantly to each of us? Has not each and every one of us done something, sometime in our life, for which we feel worthy of death. A friend betrayed, a family member excluded, a neighbor taunted, a stranger ignored... Does not each one of us, in acknowledging to God that we are unworthy of divine love and forgiveness, risk the possibility that we are worthy, that we have already received forgiveness? Can we risk already being forgiven?

And this takes us to the question, “How much does it cost?” and the proper ones to whom we should address it. Jesus, how much does it cost, this forgiveness you will offer us, this new life to which you call us? “Nothing, really, even though I know that I must and will give up my very life for the gift I will give.” Jesus rested assured of the promise, given to all of us, that we are forgiven and will be with him in paradise. It costs him nothing, really.

God, how much does it cost, this forgiveness you will offer, this new life to which you call us? “Everything,” God says, “everything, for my son who was given up for your sake, is all that I have, every ounce of goodness I could muster, and I give it away, gladly but not without great pain, for you.” All that I ask is that you “therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,” as Christ loved you and gave himself up for you, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to Me. (Eph. 5:1&2) God, how much does it cost? Everything. Everything.

Amen.

(1) Myra B. Nagel, Journey To The Cross: Lenten Reflections For Individuals and Groups, (1996, Cleveland: United Church Press), p. 18

Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2007 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096