5th Sunday in Lent, April 6th, 2025

Texts: John 12:1-8

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s gospel text we have, but we could call a tale of two disciples or forms of discipleship. On the one hand, we have Mary Bethany and the other we have Judas Iscariot one is the model disciple that the author of John’s gospel wants to present to us, and the other is the self interested and wayward disciple, the one who travels along with Jesus, but whose heart is far away from him. But before we get to this tale, first we must see what is happening in this tender moment. Let us close in to this text. Jesus is fast approaching, getting closer and closer to the critical moment of His mission, which means, to the hour of his death. He’s heading towards Jerusalem, but before he makes a stop at this town at the outskirts of Jerusalem called Bethany, where he meets up with some of his beloved friends he had recently visited and with a miracle to boot: the household of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. This text captures the moment between Jesus and Mary of Bethany which happens after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, and therefore we have this contrast that will emerge from that intervention. There is a powerful motif that is common between Lazarus’ death and this text, and that is the smell of death. A chapter ago, people were taken aback, they were repulsed by the stench of death coming from Lazarus’ corpse. Understandably so, we know as ancient people knew, death and decay are not pleasant to our senses. But as we know from that story, Jesus is not repulsed by that stench of death, but

goes into where Lazarus is buried, calls him out, and raises him from the dead. The sign of Christ’s authority over the power of death, whose defeat is now being revealed. Death’s tight grip on human lives is now being loosened, so the Gospel writer is letting us know through this motif that reality is going to change as we know it. Now in this scene, interesting enough, there is another scent that is being presented. It is the costly perfume of pure nard (it was probably worth a year’s salary) that Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus with. She pours it over his feet with such devotion and gratitude, and with great reason, for reclining next to Jesus is the resurrected Lazarus. The perfume is so fragrant and pleasant, it fills the whole house. It’s an extravagant act, (once again, we have the theme of extravagance; God’s grace always goes the extra mile). But this sweet perfume also is signifying a death. It is pointing towards Jesus’ death, a foreshadowing of what will happen to Jesus’ body. It was Jewish burial custom to anoint the body with perfumed oils. But the scent from this death will not turn people away. This death will not stench. Instead, it will be aromatic. It will draw people to it. Because this death is not a sign of decay, instead this is a death that will bring life. The anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany is a foreshadowing of the sweetness of the grace that will be received by the death, life, and resurrection of Jesus; it is a sign of the newness of life. The gospel writer doesn’t want you to lose this change that is taking place, that in Jesus we are no longer sent back by the stench of death, but rather we are drawn in into new life. The Gospel writer desires for us to see this subversion of our expectations, to make us see that

God is making all things new. It is appropriate for us to compare what we see in this text with the signs of spring that we are currently witnessing outside, as the bare winter trees are getting ready to sprout their splendor and delight us with their fragrance.

So once we understand this dynamic, then we can comprehend the tragedy of Judas and the delight and gratitude and devotion of Mary. These two discipleships have two very different outcomes. In the case of Judas, we know from this text that he is aware of what Jesus’ ministry is about. He has witnessed Jesus at work. He knows the biblical imperative of caring for the poor. He understands that this is what Jesus’ life is about. Unfortunately, Judas has made space for a very pernicious thought to take root in his life. In this text, it says that Judas thought that maybe taking a little bit of interest from the common fund that was given for the poor, that nobody would miss the cut that he was taking for himself. Judas had been developing a double mind, or a heart of divided devotions. It is no longer Christ who is at the helm of his heart. But rather it is using the ministry of Christ for his own self gain and interest. So when Judas sees the supposed wastefulness, the extravagance of Mary’s devotion, he sees the value of it from a different self-serving angle, saying that the perfume could’ve been sold for so much money that they could’ve given to the poor. But his heart was already hijacked by his own self-interest. This distortion of Christian discipleship, where Christ is not the center of our life, rather, we only serve ourselves, so much so that even our good intentions and charitable ideas become ways by which we

aggrandize ourselves. It is the opposite of another disposition within John’s Gospel, where John the Baptist declares that Christ must increase, while he must decrease. Judas is the opposite of that, for Judas has made it so that Christ must decrease so he could increase. We can see how the discipleship of Judas is wastefulness in a negative sense. Because his heart goes only in the barren direction of his own ego rather than the Christ that leads to the universal love of others. And we see this tragic disposition today. How many people we see in the public sphere of society, where they use the name of Jesus, they use the language, and the symbols of our faith only to put themselves in power, so they might get the cut and serve themselves, but not the ones that Jesus asked us to serve. This position clearly does not honor God. By their fruits, they shall be known. This is in part why Jesus rebukes Judas, “Leave her alone”.

But Mary, we know from the previous chapters that she knows where the best part is. She knows where honor, devotion and attention should go to. Many readers of the text have observed that Mary’s wasteful act of pouring this expensive perfume to anoint Jesus, without Jesus even commanding it, from a heart overflowing with love, she becomes the example by which Jesus will show what Christian service looks like. Mary does the right thing, because Mary is so focused on the love and gratitude towards the God revealed in Jesus Christ, by which her act becomes a sign of true discipleship. Her attention is focused only on one thing, and that is the Christ by which she received life, forgiveness, resurrection. Jesus will do exactly the same things that Mary is doing in this text. When Jesus is approaching His death, what does He

do? He washes the feet of his disciples, as Mary wipes His feet with the perfume. He also does a very extravagant and positively wasteful act by which we all benefit. He goes the extra length, He gives everything away, His own life, His own comfort, His own security, so that we might have life. He gives everything away for us, even when we don’t deserve it. All because God is a God of boundless compassion. On the cross, He will pour Himself out like the perfume Mary poured.

So Mary becomes the figure of true discipleship. Her humility, her devotion, her attention, her extravagance they become paradigms for us by which we can live the life that Jesus calls us to live. By following this extravagant discipleship, giving it all, counting Christ to be our portion, we can sense the fragrance, the aroma of God’s kingdom blooming in our midst. That is why Paul in his letter to the Philippians, he makes stock of all his accomplishments, his own righteousness under the law, all his efforts by which any person would take pride in, like a like a hall full of trophies. And yet, for the sake of gaining Christ, Paul says all that is rubbish, all that he takes as a loss in comparison with the grace and the life and love received through Christ Jesus. For the sake of Christ, he would give it all away, because Christ’s love is the essence of true human living. So much so that even the present suffering that he was undergoing, meant only to fuel the flame of love for Christ that made him press forward towards the goal of God’s Kingdom life, like an athlete training and striving in the race towards faithfulness to Christ.

Now, I don’t want you to think that this is a black white reality. Some days we behave like Judas, and I’m sure many other days we serve like Mary. Which is why it is ever so much more important that we do not lose our sight of Christ, and to daily remind ourselves of who Christ is. If we contemplate Him, we won’t lose sight of what He desires for us. Because when we look at Christ, we see the poor, we see the marginalized, we see the little ones, we see love, mercy, thirst for justice; these things spring from him. That is the aroma, the fragrance that His life has perfumed over our lives. When our attention is focused on Him, we always have the chance, like the prodigal son, to go back to the Fathers house, to be embraced by the Loving Father; to reclaim our sonship, to be uplifted by streams of God’s lovingkindness. So beloved, there is no reason by which we have to carry that stench of death anymore! Because we are walking by the blooming paths of God’s Kingdom growing day by day. In the same way by which God is extravagant and graceful, in the same extravagance of Mary’s passionate devotion, let us all be extravagant with love, mercy, and peace. Let us pray.