“I Don’t Know How to Love Him”
John 11:55-12:11
In Jesus Christ Superstar Mary Magdalene sings the following:
“I don’t know how to love him
What to do, how to move him
I’ve been changed, yes, really changed
In these past few days when I’ve seen myself
I seem like someone else.”
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus had come to where Mary and Martha lived because their brother Lazarus had gotten sick.
When Jesus arrived, the funeral was already over, and the sisters were absolutely overwhelmed with grief.
Now, usually when a funeral is over the mourners gather for a meal.
The strange thing about this meal is that the person who died is hanging out with Jesus and the other guests at the table—and he is very much alive!!!
And so, how grateful are his sisters?
Well, Martha is busy serving the food, and Mary?
Mary is so grateful that she takes out, what could well have been the family’s life savings, and anoints the feet of Jesus with it.
Then she wipes His feet with her hair.
And Judas, who is watching all this take place, gets red in the face mad and asks: “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?”
Well, that’s not a bad question.
Judas may have been a thief and a traitor, he may have embezzled money from the common money bag, he may have had other motives besides the high moral road he seems to project, and he probably doesn’t care a bit about the poor.
But isn’t he basically right?
Couldn’t the pint of expensive perfume been used for a better purpose?
It was worth a year’s wages, for crying out loud!
Couldn’t the money be used to buy food for starving people or to improve the miserable housing in Mary and Martha’s neighborhood?
I mean, they did live in the ghetto.
The name of their town literally means “House of the Poor.”
Didn’t Mary go just a little overboard?
She reminds me of people who choose the most expensive casket possible only to have it buried in the ground.
That’s essentially what happens to this perfume.
It’s wasted.
But instead of agreeing with Judas, Jesus tells Judas to “Leave Mary alone.”
And then He says something that sounds a bit confusing, if not downright mean.
He says: “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
What does Jesus mean by that?
That the poor can go fly a kite?
Is He giving the green light to prosperity preachers—the Jim and Tammy Bakers of this world?
I mean, this verse has been used to justify more than one massive church building program.
What does Jesus mean by these words?
***Put Scripture on Screen***
Jesus’ words are a quotation from Deuteronomy 15:11.
And the meaning here is unmistakable.
It reads: “There will always be poor people in the land.
Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy…”
***Take down Scripture***
There can be no doubt that Jesus is NOT suggesting that we neglect the poor.
Jesus’ ministry was all about the poor.
The evidence is so overwhelming that we should hardly even need to mention it—the poor in spirit, the financially poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, those in prison—you name it.
So what does Jesus mean?
Years ago, a friend of mine used to teach school in Camden, South Carolina.
It was a classroom for mentally challenged children and most of them were very poor.
In December, right before Christmas break, a little girl named Natasha brought my friend a present.
It was a very nice present.
It was a present that cost more than her family could afford.
My friend didn’t need the gift.
But Natasha was so proud standing there.
Her family was grateful that my friend had taken an interest in their daughter.
They didn’t need to buy that gift.
But what could my friend do but hug that little girl and say: “Thanks”?
A pastor tells the story of the first congregation she served.
It was a country church where many of the members had gardens.
A church member asked: “Would you like some carrots, pastor?”
She answered, “A few would be nice.”
The next day a bushel of carrots appeared on the parsonage porch.
The pastor recalls wondering, “A bushel of carrots for two people? Were they crazy?
Not at all; just grateful to God, just happy.”
A bushel of carrots was an extravagant way of saying “Thanks.”
The pastor says, “We ate what we could.”
So, we might ask, “Well, if Jesus accepted a $50,000 foot massage, would He also drive a Lexus?
Would He stay at the Hyatt Regency?
Would He always eat His steak at Ruth’s Chris?”
To ask these questions, though, is to miss the point.
The record is clear that Jesus was a homeless nomad living among the poor outcasts of His day.
This is a dinner where two grateful sisters are giving thanks to Jesus for bringing back to life their once-dead brother.
So Mary anoints Jesus’ feet.
This is how she shows Him how much she loves Him.
I find it interesting that in the very next Chapter in John Jesus is washing the feet of His disciples—giving them an example of how they are to serve one another in love.
This passage seems to be telling us that there is a real connection between worshiping Jesus and serving Jesus—between loving God and loving our neighbor as well!!!
Is it possible that we miss that connection sometimes?
Not too long ago I was speaking with someone and he was telling me how big the church is that he attends.
He told me that they have 5 worship services and they are running out of room for parking.
I was impressed.
I thought, “Wow, with all that money and all those people they can accomplish a lot.”
So I asked him, “What kind of outreach does your church do in your community?”
His face went blank and he sort of looked at me inquisitively.
He didn’t seem to know what I was talking about.
Now his church, may very well do a lot for their community.
I have no idea.
He just may not know about it.
At any rate, the point of this story in John is not Judas’ argument—that Mary went overboard in honoring Jesus.
The point of this story is that we usually go underboard in honoring Jesus.
How often do we take Jesus for granted?
I mean, He is the Creator of the world.
He is our Savior.
He died for us.
When all is said and done, Jesus is really all that matters.
And yet, how much effort do we expend in giving Him thanks?
Or, how thankful are we really?
It’s been suggested the statement “we will always have the poor with us” is not a statement of promise as much as it is a charge against people and systems that get rich at the expense of the poor or do nothing for the poor.
And that Jesus’ words are a criticism of the Judas’ in our midst.
I mean why did Judas really get mad and say: “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?”
It’s because he was holding the money bag and he was a thief.
And the money would not have gone to the poor, it would have gone to Judas!!!
“You will always have the poor with you,” is a wake-up call to us to love and give thanks to Jesus by serving the poor!!!
And never has this wake-up call been more pressing or needed!!!
Our world is increasingly a world of the “haves” and the “have-nots.”
And the “haves” aren’t sharing much.
Theologian Stanley Hauerwas says the following: “The poor that we always have with us is Jesus.
It is to the poor that all extravagance is to be given.”
After-all, does not Jesus say in Matthew Chapter 25: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me”?
Mary wanted to show Jesus how much she loved Him.
We are told that after Mary poured the perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair that “the house was filled with the fragrance.”
Was this not the fragrance of love, devotion, of giving one’s whole self--of being a disciple of Jesus Christ?
We too, as Christians, are called to fill the entire world with this fragrance.
We too are to show Jesus how much we love Him by giving our whole selves to Him.
Are we doing it?
How are we doing it?
