THY WORD IS TRUTH
John 17:17
"For What Would We Give A Years Wages?”
And lent is the season of reflection and repentance where we reflect on what Christ has done for us on the cross.
Last week’s sermon was on how the prophet Jonah was resentful for having to preach repentance to gentiles and how the older son also was resentful of the lost son’s repentance and the celebration that followed.
Today we will see some more resentment upon a celebration and the supposed extravagance of the celebration of the anointing of the Messiah by his own disciple.
The scene is at Bethany and the woman involved is Mary if Bethany and sister of Lazarus and Martha.
We hear this morning of how Mary took a pint of perfume and anointed Jesus feet with it and the smell of perfume filled the whole house with its sweet aroma.
And this happened after Jesus had raised Mary’s brother Lazarus from the dead.
And part of what Mary did for Jesus was motivated by the raising of her brother Lazarus after he had been dead for 4 days and both sisters were afraid that the horrible smell of decaying flesh would be experienced by all their friends as they visited her bother Lazarus at his tomb but Jesus called Lazarus out of that tomb and told them to take his grave clothes off.
And Mary in her joy and gratitude took to a pint of pure Nard that was worth a years wages and anointed Jesus feet and wiped the rest away with her hair.
And those present were shock that she would do such an extravagant thing for Jesus.
And there was a lot of attention cause by the raising of Lazarus for the Jews were plotting to kill Lazarus because many believed I Jesus because of his raising him from the dead.
And Judas was resentful and pointed out just how extravagant and foolish Mary was for in his words about this pint of perfume and it could have been sold and the money given to the poor.
But Judas had a private motive didn’t he.
What Judas wanted was the cash so he could get his cut of the cash for he was the keeper of the money bag for the band of disciples. Judas was a thief.
Jesus was not a perfect evangelist for Judas would betray him again for a price, thirty pieces of silver.
And the point of the story is what price are we put on our salvation?
Would we sell something as valuable as a year’s wages to give to someone who has brought back one of our loved ones from the grave as Mary did?
How valuable is our salvation and the certain hope our resurrection from the dead?
As Jesus says, “Do not bother her for she is preparing my body for my burial.” “You will always have the poor with you but you will not always have me with you.”
Mary had a very loving and personal relationship with Jesus.
When her sister Martha was so busy taking care of the house, Mary sat adoringly at Jesus feet and here she was again at Jesus feet again.
Mary knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed one and she pointed this out to all in attendance in her house by her actions of anointing Jesus feet.
She was telling everyone that Jesus was the long awaited anointed one.
She knew that He was the long awaited Messiah promised to Moses and the eternal king promised to David.
And the object lesson for us all is “what is it in our own lives that is most important?”
Are we so busy with our daily needs and wants or our material gain that we miss the most important thing in life?
Do the cares of this world choke out the best thing that life can bring us?
Is this not an appropriate thought in the season of lent?
For God made this world for a purpose did he not.
And did we not hear of his purpose in the Old Testament reading today for the prophet Isaiah.
Did you notice what God said through the mouth of this prophet Isaiah in the last line of this mornings reading.
Gods said, “I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”
And this is what God tells us over and over in Isaiah that, "I formed my people from the womb to be my people".
But that is what Mary is doing in that house in that she is honoring Jesus as the anointed one and she is willing to sacrifice something of extreme value for Him.
Yet to many this is foolishness to many present in that room!
What is important?
Remember Jesus rebuke about the prophet Jonah last week!
That one greater than the prophet Jonah was there meaning himself.
And what value do we place on the one who was greater than all the prophets.
Does Jesus have first place in our hearts and minds?
Do we love the Lord our God with all our heats and minds and strength as Jesus commands or are we on our own agenda rather than his. Is something else more important to us?
Is he first in our hearts?
And does not Christ in his whole ministry tell us repeatedly that he is the way, the truth and the life.
That he is to be the focus of our life and not material things.
We are store up our treasures in heaven rather than on earth where rust and moth can destroy but not in heaven where there is no such destruction but where there are true and lasting riches.
But Judas’s focus was on earthly wealth and how he could get his.
And the result for him was destruction and for his greed he got his reward, the blood money.
The wages of sin is death!
And when he finally realized what he tossed away his thirty pieces of silver as if they were worthless into a potters field and then he hung himself.
Jesus taught parables repeatedly time after time to his disciples on just this same theme.
What is important to you in this life?
And what is really important in life?
What were Jesus words about our treasures?
For where your treasure is there you heart will be also.
Is our heart on earthly thing or heavenly things?
How often did Christ teach on this theme?
The answer is many times.
There is a whole list of parables in which Jesus of Nazareth talked about treasure.
He taught his disciples the parable that the kingdom of heaven is like a field that contained and treasure.
And when a man found the treasure in a field he sold everything he had to buy the field and get the treasure.
And Jesus followed that parable with the parable of the rich young fool who was told to sell everything he had and give it to the poor and follow Jesus but the man walked away for he was very rich and could not do what Christ asked him.
There is a monetary system in Christ’s kingdom and it is based upon capitalism and wise investment.
You see investment and profit are dirty words in a socialist system.
But Christ taught that both were good.
Many here may recall the Jesus parable of the talents found both in the gospel of Matthew chapter 25 and the gospel of Luke chapter 19.
A talent was worth about 2 to 3 years of a laborers wages.
In this parable a man gave his servants different amounts of money to take care of while he went on a long journey and then asked each of them how they took care of his money when he returned.
He gave one of them five talents and another just two talent and another only one talents.
And each of these servants reported to the man after he returned home how they had invested the money.
And the one who had been given 5 talents double the money returning to the man 10 talents and the servant who was given 2 talents also double the money returning to the man 4 talents and they received this praise from his master. “Well done good and faithful servant your have been faithful with little things but I will put you in charge with many things come and share your master’s happiness.
But the man who was given one talent buried it and returns nothing in gain for the money he was entrusted with.
And what was his master’s reply to his report. “You wicked and lazy servant”, you should have put my money on deposit with the banks so that when I returned I could have received it back with interest!
By this parable Christ is a capitalist.
Did he not expect and fair return on his money with interest by his teaching in the parable of the talents?
Clearly Jesus did!
But this is the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth who had a human mind with all it limitations and Jesus had to go a pray in the desert to get the will of His father for his life and his teachings to his disciples.
We must remember that when Jesus walked the earth and taught his disciples the church was not in existence yet.
But when the Holy Spirit was given to the church on the day of Pentecost they were guided by that Holy Spirit.
And that Spirit was by the Spirit of Jesus as it so clearly is stated in the book of Acts Chapter 16 verse 7.
"The spirit of Jesus prevented the Apostles from going into the region of Mysia in Asia Minor".
So what does the Apostle Paul say about what is valuable in this world compared to what is valuable in heaven as he was guided by the Holy Spirit?
Remember Paul confesses that he and the apostles that went with him planting churches all over the Roman Empire on those three missionary journeys that they had the mind of Christ.
The Apostle Paul says in 1st Corinthians 2:16, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? "But we have the mind of Christ!
Who is included in the “we” that Paul is talking about?
Paul is talking about himself and the other Apostle who plants all those churches with him.
So what does Paul say about what is valuable on this earth and what it can do for us and what is given to us that is valuable in heaven?
And this was the other NT reading in the lectionary for this Sunday and it was taken from Philippians chapter 3 starting at verse 4 and here is what Paul says about the things of this world and its value to him and a very revealing confession about Paul’s life.
Paul says, “ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Was Paul after worldly riches? I think not! I know not by these words.
Let me close in prayer:
Eternal God we are into the fifth week of this season of lent. Helps us to examine our lives to see what needs to be let go of for it distracts us from what is important in life, those things that take of time and our energies from your purpose for our lives. Help us to stay on the way of Christ and his kingdom and to store up treasure that will last for eternity. Give the leaders of the United State the wisdom to preserver the wealth of this country for this is the reward that your have given this great land for the faith of our founding fathers. We pray that your will continue to provide us with prosperity if we will be good stewards of your provision.
Amen.
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