Extravagant Passion
John 12:1-8, Lent 5c, March 21, 2010
I first met Eva at church. Her eyes flashed. Her smile illumined the room. Eva was short of stature, a seemingly slight woman. At least that's what I thought before I began to know her. Eva came to Canada from El Salvador. At first she didn't tell me how. But she did tell me why –even in those early days. El Salvador was not a safe place for her children – her 6 babies now in their teens and early 20's, her 5 daughters and 1 son. The conflict in El Salvador, the warring guerillas, the sometimes out of control army roamed over her homeland and left no one safe. That conflict had already claimed the life of Eva's husband. So it was that Eva had taken took one of her daughters and fled. She had left all of her other children temporarily in the care of their extended family. Eva promised: she would soon get them all.
So, Eva had traveled with her very young daughter Somehow she traveled over dangerous lands for two solitary people. When they reached the Rio Grande River, they swam across entering Texas. There Eva found a family for whom she could work. How she always worked. In the few hours that she wasn't working she applied for immigration status in Canada – again and again and again. She would not give up. And when she succeeded eventually coming with her daughter to Canada in the late 1980's, she immediately began to apply for immigration status for all of her other children. Of course, she had to prove to our government that she was trustworthy, that she could support them all. Eva did this by working day and often night as a seamstress for a reputable company. She also worked out of her own home sewing clothes for people who wanted hand made, unique goods, that she designed and created. Eva's life was aflame with energy and passion for the lives of her children fuelled by the love of God for all. Eva would not rest until all of her children were given the opportunity to come to Canada and live. How often Eva told me: God is good Pastor! God will provide a way.
Needles to say - a lot of that way had to do with Eva: her hard work, her indomitable spirit, her trust in God and her great passion to rescue her children.
This morning in this time and place, we are encountered by another woman's passion. Dare to hear and see what she is doing, even to smell it, for the aroma is sweet. But also be careful. The aroma of her activity could cause us to stop in our tracks, to seriously wrestle with whatever our passions are.
The pace of Jesus' life and his approaching death are escalating. I don't know if many around him could sense this or not. Certainly he does. Only a few days before, Jesus had done something amazing. His friend Lazarus had died and was buried. Jesus had been summoned to come. But Jesus didn't arrive until death had already claimed Lazarus. Nevertheless Jesus moves to Lazarus' grave. Once there Jesus shouts at death. Miraculously death flees! Then Lazarus stumbles out of the grave. There may have been a stench but it gives way to new life.
Yet not everyone is pleased. The religious leaders are upset. If this fellow Jesus keeps growing in popularity and stirring up the common people, well the Roman powerbrokers will not be pleased. In fact if Jesus' popularity continues to grow the Romans may well step in to alter the present power sharing arrangement. Then the religious leaders status even their income could be lessened. So, Jesus must be stopped. JESUS MUST GO!
This shouldn't be unfamiliar to us. It's a human reality. I mean if there's a choice between you and me, between my family and your family, between my country and your country – well what's one to do? Such choices seem to arise quite often.
So it was. The religious leaders began to plot. How will they get rid of Jesus?
But this particular evening Jesus is among friends. They are having supper. What friends these are: Lazarus whom Jesus loves and has raised from the dead. Beside Lazarus are his sisters: Martha who is ever busy but so kind. Then there is Mary. She loves Jesus deeply. Tonight Mary's unbridled Passion for Jesus erupts. Mary could be sensing that Jesus' life is quickly coming to an end. So she acts! She does unthinkable things for a woman of her time and place. She lets down her hair. This is an action that no single self respecting woman would do. Mary does it anyway. We need to know that a woman's hair then was even more important to her status than a woman's hair is now.
Yet that's only the beginning of Mary's actions. She brings with her very expensive, aromatic nard, a kind of ointment in a jar. How expensive you ask? John tells us: 300 denarii! But how much is that? Well, a denarii was about what a worker would be paid for one day of labour. So the aromatic oil that Mary brings is worth about a year's wages. In our terms an average annual wage in Vancouver is between $60 – 70,000. Some perfume Mary has! But she doesn't care about that even though her family is far from wealthy. So she acts boldly. She breaks the neck of the flask that holds this aromatic oil. Then Mary POURS IT ALL OVER Jesus' feet, rubbing it into the pores of his feet, in between the toes, into the very bottoms of his soles. Such washing of feet was done then only by slaves. And, the anointing of a person's feet was NEVER DONE unless the person had first died, was a corpse. Mary may well have had an intuitive sense about what is about to occur to Jesus. Then, after all this, she then begins to dry his feet with her own hair. Hers is an act of extravagant love!
People are upset about Mary's wild, extravagant passion. Judas Iscariot protests. Couldn't we, shouldn't we have spent all this money on the poor?
But also know this. Mary loves Jesus for many reasons. Jesus has given new life to her brother. Who else could have done anything like that? And Mary has been at Jesus' feet before. She knows him. She may well realize that he is soon going to die. How could she possibly respond to all that he has done for her? Nothing but the very best will do! So, she gives her all – no holds barred, no concern about what others may say or think. None of that matters to Mary. Her passion is extravagant because her love is extravagant. And all of that is merely her humble response to the enormity and power of Jesus' love for her, her family, and ultimately the WORLD.
What/who are we passionate about: The Toronto Maple Leafs? No? Well then, the Vancouver Canucks or Canada's gold medals or your kids, your grandkids, your family or someone else you care about? All of that may be good. That may even be some of God's intention for you. But what are we modeling for these others? Are our lives reflecting a passion for the One who gives His all for us and for this world? This One meets violence with love, hatred with forgiveness, apathy with his own passion. This One who has been steadfast in His love for us, regardless of whether we sleep in or not, forget or deny him by giving him nothing or little of ourselves or only the left-overs of time, talents or possessions.
Don't we see? God is ever doing a new thing in this world, in the lives of others in the very face of the power of death and evil. Make no mistake. Death and evil are very powerful, very strong. They seek to claim us, others, everything, all of the time. There is an ongoing stench of death around not only in nursing homes, hospitals or the East Side – but also in our own homes, hovering in and around our own lives.
But then people like Eva and Mary approach us. Their very lives offer a reflection of the One who is deeply passionate about all of us. They point us towards that One who is so passionate that he gives His all over to the powers of death and evil so that they will not own or control us.
So, I challenge you. Dare to see him today, this Palm Sunday, this Maundy Thursday, this Good Friday and yes, by the grace of God, this Easter. For in such seeing, even trusting we join others: those who have gone before us in death - to lions, to cancer, to broken relationships. We also join those who have been touched, opened to the grace of God in their deepest struggles. Some such people were enabled to shout even as death sought to claim them, "Oh, death where is your sting?"
Jesus, this suffering, crucified, dying and rising One is the One who is most extravagantly passionate about us and this whole world! Can we, will we be passionate about Him in the living of our lives? Amen.