One of the things the gospel writers do as they present their accounts of the life and words of Jesus, is to describe the wide range of responses to Jesus. That’s very apparent in today’s reading from John 12. Here we see a range of responses to Jesus, ranging from Mary’s loving devotion to the chief priests’ and Pharisees’ fear and jealousy.
But before we look at these different responses, let’s think about the setting of this section. John presents 2 fairly unrelated episodes in Jesus life, yet you can’t help but feel that he wants to make a connection. First there’s the anointing of Jesus by Mary and then the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Now if that were all you knew about the 2 events, you might well think that the anointing is a sign of Jesus kingship. Mary is anointing Jesus because he’s about to become the King of the Jews. That would certainly fit with the response of the crowd when Jesus appears at the city gates riding a donkey. But it isn’t that simple. John doesn’t have Mary anointing Jesus’ head, as is the case in the parallel accounts of Matthew & Mark. Rather she anoints his feet. So there’s obviously more to it than just a king being anointed.
In fact Jesus himself points out that this anointing isn’t a coronation act. Rather it’s in preparation for his burial. So here we have an interesting thing. John has put these two events together in such a way that we immediately think of the anointed King, yet as we read the detail we discover that the anointing he receives isn’t at all what we might think of at first. But then as we think about it some more, we realise that perhaps that’s because Jesus Kingship is so different from what we would otherwise expect. Just look ahead a few verses to 12:32. Jesus is talking about his name being glorified, as you would expect of a King, but here is what he says: (John 12:32 NRSV) "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." And it goes on to say that he said this to indicate what sort of death he was going to die. Here is a King who when he’s anointed is anointed for death. Here is a King whose glorification comes about by him being crucified.
Well, let’s think about the various responses we find in this passage to Jesus, the anointed King. When you understand the nature of his kingship, and where his anointing is pointed, you can understand why there’s a variety of responses, can’t you?
The first person we encounter in the story is Mary. Jesus is reclining at table with Lazarus and Martha and Mary, when Mary goes and gets a jar of very expensive perfume. It’s such a rare perfume, in fact, we’re told a bit further on, that it would have cost a year’s wages: say, $35,000 in today’s terms. Who knows how she came by it. Perhaps it was a family heirloom. Perhaps it had formed part of her dowry. But in any case it’s an incredibly extravagant act on her part. I’m not sure we have an equivalent in our modern terms. I can’t imagine a bottle of perfume costing $35,000. Perhaps you could liken it to someone opening a bottle of 1951 Grange Hermitage to toast someone they admired. Well, that’s what she does. Her love and devotion for Jesus is so great that she ignores the cost and pours it over him, right down to his feet.
But it isn’t just the financial cost that she ignores. Again, jump forward to the next chapter of John, and you’ll read the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. There the disciples are dismayed that Jesus would lower himself to wash their feet. Such an undignified act just isn’t right for one of Jesus’ stature. Yet here’s Mary, ignoring the loss of dignity involved in washing Jesus feet, even to the extent of wiping his feet afterwards with her hair. Her devotion to him is so great that she’d do anything for him. And when she’s finished notice the little bit of detail that John throws in, in v3: (John 12:3-19 NRSV) "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." It’s as though John’s saying this act itself has filled the house with its fragrance. In the words of Phil 4, it’s "a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God."
But this act of devotion evokes a different response, this time from Judas. He wants to know "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" His response of course is motivated by greed. We’re told that he was used to dipping into the common funds. He reminds me a bit of Steve Martin’s character in the movie, Leap of Faith. You may remember he was an itinerant preacher who went around the countryside, pretending to heal people, but really just conning them. He was really just in it for a buck. Then one day a young boy really was healed and he was faced with a dilemma. Should he change his approach and start to believe that God could heal, or should he just keep on making money out of peoples’ gullibility? Well ,he chooses the easier and more lucrative alternative. Like Judas, he’s more interested in the possibility of financial gain than in the reality of God’s power being displayed.
But Judas isn’t alone in failing to respond to Jesus in faith. The next people we come across are the High Priests. Their response is one of jealousy. They can see that more and more people are going over to Jesus and believing in him, particularly following the raising of Lazarus. So their response is simple. "We’d better get rid of Lazarus. That at least will remove one of our problems."
This of course isn’t the first time they’ve contemplated murder in order to further their cause. In the previous chapter which we’ll actually look at next week, Caiaphas the High Priest suggests it would be better that Jesus die (be killed) than that the whole nation be wiped out and now their attitude is hardening. I guess once you’ve contemplated one act of murder a second is easy enough to add to it.
But then we move on to the next day, and as Jesus begins his final march to Jerusalem word spreads, until a great crowd is pouring out of the city to greet him. Now it’s hard to say just how big this crowd would have been, but one record in the history written by Josephus describes a crowd in Jerusalem for the passover festival around AD 65 as being of the order of 2.7 million people. Now there may be a bit of journalistic or nationalistic exaggeration in that number, but still, the crowds in Jerusalem for a festival like this would have been immense. So you can imagine the scene. People have heard of Jesus’ reputation. They’ve no doubt heard the recent stories of the raising of Lazarus, and rumours are spreading that this must be the promised Messiah, come to rescue his people. So they pour out of the city to welcome him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-- the King of Israel!" Jesus gets on a donkey which he rides into Jerusalem thus fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah. Note though that the disciples don’t actually understand the significance of the donkey until afterwards. I’m sure Jesus does, but they don’t until after he’s been glorified. That is, after his death and resurrection. Still, even if they don’t understand the full significance of this act of entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, the crowd hails him as the promised King of Israel, the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
What’s more the crowd don’t just respond to Jesus by hailing him as King. Look at v17. "So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify." That is they continued to spread the word about what Jesus had done, and who he was. They were so overwhelmed by what had happened that they just couldn’t keep quiet. I guess we should be like that shouldn’t we? Unable to stop ourselves talking about the things God has done for us.
Note by the way that this response of the crowd is only short-lived. By the end of the chapter John comments that the majority still didn’t believe in him, though some did.
The leaders of those who didn’t believe in him of course were the Pharisees. In v19 we see their attitude hardening towards him. Like the chief priests they think this has all gone far enough. Their observing of détente hasn’t achieved anything. In fact it’s just made matters worse. He seems to be getting more and more popular and their hold over the people is getting less and less. So something needs to be done.
But finally, in the statement by the Pharisees we find a further response. They say. "Look, the world has gone after him!" Now in John’s gospel that’s quite a significant statement. John uses the term world in his gospel to refer to people everywhere, without racial distinction, who are lost and in rebellion against God and who need to be saved. John 3:16 we all know don’t we? (John 3:16 NRSV) ""For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." So when the Pharisees comment that the whole world has gone after him, it’s an indicator that Jesus’ task on earth is coming to its conclusion. His mission is almost complete. In fact the next few verses reinforce that idea, as a group of Greek believers ask to see Jesus, and Jesus says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." (John 12:23 NRSV) The coming of these Greeks signals the final stage of his mission which is to bring salvation to all the world.
So here we have a range of responses to Jesus. Adoring love and devotion, willing to give up everything for him; greed and self-interest, looking only for what benefits can be found in being part of his team; jealousy and hatred, leading to plans of murder; honour and praise for the one who is seen as God’s promised Messiah, the King of Israel. Now I think you’ll find all of those responses in our world today. You’ll probably even find them in various parts of the church.
Jesus is the sort of person who demands a response isn’t he? Particularly when you read the account of his life as John presents it, you can’t just ignore him. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, he doesn’t leave us room for sitting on the fence. His claims are quite confronting. (John 10:7-9 NRSV) "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." (John 10:30 NRSV) "The Father and I are one." (John 11:25-26 NRSV) "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." (John 14:6 NRSV) "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
We can respond to Jesus claims by believing in him and receiving the eternal life he offers, or we can respond like the chief priests and Pharisees, by being offended at his exclusive claim to be the source of eternal life. Or we might respond like Judas and look for what we can get out of being one of Jesus’ followers in terms of material benefits. There are certainly some who have chosen that path.
But it doesn’t take much wisdom to see that the response of Mary is the preferred response does it? Sure she gave up a lot to show her love for Jesus. It can be costly to be a disciple. But what Jesus offers far outweighs any cost of following him. To come before God the Father without fear, with our sins removed, wiped clean, to live forever in his presence, far outweighs anything we might choose to give up out of our love for him.
So let’s be like Mary and like those in the crowd who chose to follow their King to the end. Let’s respond to God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, by giving him everything we have, our praise, our worldly goods, our lives. As Rom 12 says, let’s present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Let it be a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable to God.
