April 7, 2019 Sermon on Jesus @ Bethany
We have been focussing on the last number of months on the Trinity so that we come to understand more deeply who God is,
who the God is that we love, worship, the God is who has provided salvation for us, to better know who the God is who loves us with an everlasting love.
But there are two types of knowing: there is the kind of knowing that occurs in our minds, which is essential. But there is also the kind of knowing that is about our heart.
And generally that knowing transfers slowly with difficulty from our minds to our hearts, from our intellects to the seat of our emotions.
The distance between head and heart is the longest distance that exists in the world.
And when we are talking about God, we are in fact talking about the one who loves us with an everlasting love, and to give ample evidence for that love He went to the cross to suffer for our sins in order to reconcile us to God.
This is the One who calls us by name. The one who has adopted us to the family of God.
It is very personal. It is very intimate. The gospel is very personal and intimate.
And the gosPELS give us what is really a very personal and intimate line of sight as to what God would do and in fact did when He came face to face with people just like us.
We make a mistake if we think that the people and stories we find in the gospels are too ancient, too far away from what the human race is today, from what our lives are about today, to be relatable.
In fact, the closer you look, the more you see yourself in the people. The nearer you get to the story, the more you see how truly universal the gospel is. It speaks to all times.
To all nations. To all ethnicities. To male and female. To all frames of mind, to all personality types. The gospel stories speak because they are the heart of God speaking.
And so today we will be looking at a couple days in the life of some people that Jesus knew.
It was an incident that happened during the period of time leading up to Jesus entry into Jerusalem, because holy week is coming, Palm Sunday is coming, Good Friday is coming. Easter Sunday is coming.
In the narrative today there are 6 people. Each is responding in their own way to the presence of Jesus. Each has a role in the story, in the dinner party.
Martha experiences the event as the servant, the helper.
Lazarus has recently spent 4 days of his life dead. He views the scene as one who has literally been raised from the dead. That’s got to be a unique perspective.
Mary experiences the story as a worshipper, one whose response to Jesus is to love.
Judas is there trying to manage his image. He tries to come across as one who is concerned about money, but he is a thief.
Jesus is there on His way to His reason for being born. “For this reason I was born...”
The 5 People in the Story: Martha
Let’s look at Martha. What does she do? She serves.
She is tending to the needs of others, She is active, engaged, an eager participant in the story. Why? Well for at least 2 reasons.
Martha is the type who likes to be active. It comes naturally to her. We see her elsewhere, in another event recorded in the Gospel of Luke: Luke 10:38-42.
In that account Jesus and his disciples arrive a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
“She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I’ve heard Martha critiqued here as a kind of busy-body who misses the point of Jesus’ presence.
I’m not sure that’s fair. In this account, Martha welcomes Jesus, opens her home to him.
She creates opportunity, she excels in hospitality. She revels in the possibilities of the presence of Jesus, and she does what she knows. And what she knows and does is what everybody actually needs.
Now Martha is not happy that she’s on her own in the prep, and Jesus does call her by name and speaks to her of what’s going on inside of her.
She is worried and upset about many things.
Often those who enjoy caring for the needs of others put their hearts and souls into doing just that, so they might fret about getting things right.
I’m not sure I’d want to eat some place where they could care less about the presentation and ingredients of a meal.
And Jesus reminds her of the most important thing. Don’t miss out, Martha. You can have my Presence. I’m more interested in who you are than what you do. And Martha, like me and like many, need to be reminded of that.
Martha is active. It’s her nature. It’s not a bad thing. There are some in this church who pursue Jesus with great passion and at the same time love to care for the needs of others.
It’s all in the balance. Martha needed to add to her energy and her competence something important.
Just enjoy Jesus. Enjoy God’s presence. Don’t alter who you are. No one can do that.
But, you can grow. Just give to Jesus what He wants more than anything: your presence, your love, your friendship, your worship.
The 5 People in the Story: Lazarus
But in our main passage today, Martha has another reason to be pretty pumped.
Just a bit earlier, as recorded in chapter 11 of John, she and many others who were mourning the death of her brother Lazarus, got the surprise of their life when Lazarus who was quite dead, and buried, for 4 days, was brought back to life by Jesus.
They were in high celebration mode. Perhaps a strong element of shock and disbelief filled their hearts as their dead brother, dead no longer, sat and dined with them.
Early in the period of mourning, it’s common to not be able to accept what has happened in the death of a loved one.
It’s not uncommon to struggle with the most basic things.
The sting of death is working its way through the shock, and one might just be starting to assess what life must become now that the beloved one is no more.
To then have the tables turned and to have the deceased back. Well, that is a trip. That is another state of shock. So there’s a lot going on in this story, when you consider the people present.
Lazarus. Born maybe 25 years ago. Died a short time ago. Wrapped in linens. Eulogized at his funeral.
Wrapped in linens. Buried. Quite dead as I said. We know he had been sick. We know it became very serious. Grave, as they say.
His body would have shut down gradually. His hearing, the last thing to go, would have caught the cries and disbelief of his sisters and friends.
Unable to move, that sound would have slowly gotten quieter.
We’re not told of Lazarus’ experience of death or even his ability to remember what had happened to him once dead. That’s not in this story. But Lazarus was decaying in death in the grave.
Had he faced God in the judgment? Had he witnessed the glory of heaven? Had he seen with his own being the reality of eternity?
We don’t know. Likely, yes, but the story just doesn’t say.
We do know that then he heard the voice of Jesus...or maybe he didn’t first hear. Maybe when Jesus cried: “Lazarus, Come Forth!”, his body jolted to life, his rigor mortis reversing.
His blood returning to its usual function in his veins and arteries. His heart pumping again. His senses returning.
His first inhaled breath refilling his lungs. His brain’s autonomic functions are restored.
Lazarus, eyes and body covered in clothes gets up from the place he was laid. He walks out of the tomb. He who was dead yet lives.
The argument about whether miracles happen or not is as old as the hills.
Back then it was the Sadducees who were convinced that the dead could not be and were not raised.
It was an academic argument. Lazarus blew away their academic argument.
You can’t argue against the possibility of miracles when a miracle is happening right in front of your eyes.
You can’t say: “For this reason and that reason it cannot happen” when the proof is standing in front of you.
Lazarus was dead. Now he’s alive because Jesus called him back from the dead and gave him life.
And in our story he is mentioned as being among those reclining at the table with Jesus.
Even the formerly dead need to eat. Need to socialize. And so Lazarus did.
The 5 People in the Story: Mary
Also in the story we have Mary. In Luke’s gospel that we’ve already considered, we’ve encountered Mary.
We’ve familiar with Mary as a woman who plain and simple just gets Jesus.
At a deep level she understands Him, and so she responds to him for Who He is.
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations...” Luke 10:38-41
Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to what He said. This little fact is mildly interesting in you already believe that men and women are equal in God’s eyes.
If you don’t believe that, if you think that women are lesser or shouldn’t be considered along with the male disciples, this should bother you. Why?
Because to sit at the feet of a Rabbi - that is the posture and privileged position of a disciple, of a student of a master. She sits there and, despite her sister’s protests, she stays there.
A disciple is a disciple no matter what. A follower of Jesus, another way of saying ‘disciple’ is a follower of Jesus all the time and all through their lives.
There isn’t a spot or a hidden corner of their lives that there are not a disciple.
So Mary here is here as a disciple of Jesus. Taking in what He had to say and taking in Who He is.
Again, it takes time for what we know in our minds to find its way to our hearts and then out through our fingers, through the work of our lives.
Mary is basking in the presence of Jesus in this encounter with Jesus. She is behaving as a disciple.
And in the later account that is our key Scripture for today, Mary is behaving nearly as a priest. Remember it says:
“Then Mary took about half a litre of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”.
William Barclay, the Bible scholar, is helpful here.
“Mary was the one who above all loved Jesus; and here in her action we see three things about love.
“We see love's extravagance. Mary took the most precious thing she possessed and spent it all on Jesus.
Love is not love if it nicely calculates the cost. It gives its all and its only regret is that it has not still more to give. Real love cannot think of any other way to give.
“We see love's humility. It was a sign of honour to anoint a person's head. "Thou anointest my head with oil," says the psalmist (Ps.23:5).
But Mary would not look so high as the head of Jesus; she anointed his feet.
The last thing Mary thought of was to confer an honour upon Jesus; she never dreamed she was good enough for that.
“We see love's unselfconsciousness. Mary wiped Jesus' feet with the hair of her head.
In Palestine no respectable woman would ever appear in public with her hair unbound.
On the day a girl was married her hair was bound up, and never again would she be seen in public with her long tresses flowing loose. Back then that was actually viewed as the sign of an immoral woman. But Mary never even thought of that.
“When two people really love each other they live in a world of their own.
They will wander slowly down a crowded street hand in hand without thinking or caring what other people think. Mary loved Jesus so much that it was nothing to her what others thought.
“But there is something else about love here. John has the sentence: "The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment." Many have seen a double meaning here. They have taken it to mean that the whole Church would filled with the sweet memory of Mary's action.
A lovely deed becomes the possession of the whole world and adds to the beauty of life in general, something which time cannot ever take away.
The 5 People in the Story: Judas
Judas was a disciple. He followed Jesus. He followed Jesus, but not for Who Jesus is. He followed Jesus for what he thought he could get from him.
Throughout the gospel narratives we see Judas slowly drifting from being really just one of the 12 that Jesus called to Himself, to being a person who ended up disappointed with Jesus. Judas became the poster child for treachery and cowardice.
There’s an interesting article on Judas on the gospel coalition website. It says that “Judas had directly witnessed the miracles.
When Jesus fed the 5,000, Judas was there. He took the bread and distributed it along with the other disciples.
When Jesus calmed the storm, Judas was there. And he was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. You can’t have better evidence for faith than Judas had.
“Judas heard all the teaching of Jesus, too. He heard the Sermon on the Mount, so he knew there is a narrow road that leads to life and a broad road that leads to destruction.
He heard the warnings Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, so he knew there is a hell to shun and a heaven to gain.
“He heard the parable of the prodigal son, so he knew God is ready to welcome and forgive those who have wasted themselves in many sins.
“With Judas’s own eyes, he saw the clearest evidence. With his own ears, he heard the finest teaching.
With his own feet, he followed the greatest example. And yet this man still betrayed Jesus.
Judas had been stealing from the collective money bag, and when he kept this sin secret, Satan entered into him.
In a short time Judas would make a deal with the chief priests and then sit down at our Lord’s table with known sins he would not confess, and Satan entered even further into his life.
Unconfessed sin always opens the door to Satan’s power”.
So Judas in this story criticizes Mary. Have you ever being doing something good and another person has questioned you, criticized you?
It happens. You really have to believe what you are doing and learn to hold your ground.
So the account reads: “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”.
Judas tries to come across all righteous, but his real reason is that, as a thief, he is concerned that there will be less money in their common purse for him to pilfer.
At one time Judas followed Jesus because he thought Jesus could be of use to him.
Perhaps Jesus would be that leader who would enable the Jews to throw off the shackles of the Romans.
As a part of Jesus group of disciples maybe he would stand to gain power, power over others, if Jesus had been that political leader who would throw off the shackles of Roman authority.
Now, not so much. Jesus’ value was diminishing in his mind. At one time Jesus held great importance to him.
Worth much more than was in the common purse. Now Jesus’ usefulness has declined.
He was content to turn Jesus in for 30 shekels of silver, worth about about $600 in modern wages.
Before we look at the fifth person in the story, let’s review the others we’ve looked at. We have a glimpse in this story of all types of people and how they would respond.
In Martha we have the doer. Though she needs to put less focus on doing and more on being in the presence of Jesus, She is how the Word gets out.
She is the type of person that God has used in the history of the church to proclaim the gospel in action. She is the one who expresses her devotion in service.
In Mary we have the worshipper. The contemplative who wants nothing more than to be in the presence of Jesus and listen.
She is the type of person who reminds the rest of us to pause the doing in order to behold the majestic beauty of the risen Christ.
And to do this often and with passion and purpose.
Mary reminds us to submit to His Lordship.
To simply Be in His presence, and to know that God delights for us to be in His presence. To worship His majesty.
In Judas we have a warning. We need to search our hearts and ask God to root out of us any impure motive.
Any unclean behaviours. Unchecked, they can fester and destroy. Sin unconfessed and practiced in an ongoing way without the light of the Holy Spirit enlivening our conscience can rot out our core.
Unchecked and unsubmitted to God, sin will fester and destroy.
Examined, and submitted sincerely to God, repented of and left in our pasts, sin and offenses to God can be reminders of what we have fled, reminders of the darkness we have left behind in order to embrace and be embraced by the risen Jesus.
The story of Judas warns us to guard our hearts, lest we drift away.
The story of Judas also equips us to reach out to those who may be close to walking away from the faith.
Christ calls us to “be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude 22–23).
Finally, the story of Judas reminds us that nothing good can come from giving up on Jesus Christ. He is of supreme value, and following him is worth any cost.
In Lazarus we have the first to be called forth from death, born anew, as it were, from the grave.
For him it was literal, but keep in mind that Lazarus eventually died again. More important is that as one who continued to follow Jesus, Lazarus was made spiritually alive. Born again into new life.
And we have the fifth person in the story: Jesus
The 5 People in the Story: Jesus
Jesus is obviously another person present in this account. Actually, it is all about Jesus. There would be no story without Jesus. The gospels and in fact the entire Bible centres on Jesus.
And why is Jesus in Bethany, 6 days before the Passover in Jerusalem that would be His last? He is there to be anointed. Prepared for suffering.
To Judas who was falsely claiming concern for the poor, Jesus says: ‘Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial’.
Jesus is in preparation for what must come. The comfort of the home of Mary and Martha would be exchanged for the upper room, where Jesus would meet with His disciples to further prepare them for what was to come.
[Move to Communion Table]
As he finishes his last meal with them He takes the bread...
