Loving God, you sent to us the greatest gift of all - your Son, Jesus Christ.  Teach us this day to know the value of what we have received from your hand, and to make your priorities our priorities; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Every day, most of us are called upon to set priorities.  Some people have so many things scheduled that they constantly have to decide which thing is most important.  I have two or three things to be at, all at the same time, so which thing am I going to attend?  Every decision like this that we make shows what our priorities are.  In the same way, even those who may not be involved in very much make decisions every day about how they will spend their time and their money and their talents.  These decisions, too, reveal which things we deem to be most important.

    In the gospel that we heard today, Mary also makes some decisions.  First of all, she bought some extremely expensive perfume, imported from Nepal, and worth an entire year’s salary.  Obviously, Mary had some means in order to be able to do this!  So, she bought the perfume, and she decided to use it to anoint Jesus’ feet.

    Now, as Judas points out, there are other things that she could have done with it.  For example, she could have sold it and given the money to the poor.  However, Mary decides that it is more important for her to show her love for Jesus at that time, and perhaps even keep some of the perfume for his burial.  Mary also decides that to do this for Jesus is more important than what other people might think.

    Now, while others may have decided, along with Judas, that Mary was being extremely foolish and wasteful by doing this, Jesus affirms her in her decision.  Jesus, too, could have said, “Stop that!  You’re making a scene!”  However, Jesus accepts Mary’s gift of love.  And while many might be disturbed by Jesus’ comment about the poor, Jesus is not saying that giving to the poor is unimportant.  Rather, Jesus is simply stating that to have him is more important.  

    At that particular moment in time, with Jesus still physically present with them, it was more important for Mary to show her love for Jesus than it was for her to give the same amount to the poor.  It is a matter of priorities, and Jesus always comes first.

    In fact, we hear the same message today in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, for Paul writes about all of the things that he had given up “because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus” his Lord (Phil. 3:8).  Before Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was a well-respected and well-educated member of the Pharisees.  He had the respect of the Jewish religious leaders, and he had the power to go and arrest followers of Jesus, imprison them, and even condemn them to death.

    Yet, once Paul encounters the risen Jesus on the road, the importance of everything else fades into the background.  Material possessions no longer matter.  Paul travels from place to place now instead of having a house.   The respect and the power that he previously enjoyed are no longer important to him.  Paul writes, “For [Jesus’] sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).  Once again, it is a matter of priorities.

    So, in today’s readings, we have Paul, who is willing to give up material things and power and the respect of his peers in order to know Jesus Christ as his Lord.  Then we have Mary, who is willing to spend an entire year’s wages in order to minister to Jesus and show her love for him.  It would seem that we are being led to ask how important Jesus is to us.  Do we see the same value in knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord?  Would we be willing to give extravagantly to honour Jesus if the opportunity presented itself?

    Mary and Paul, of course, both had their reasons.  In Mary’s case, she had gotten to know Jesus rather well, along with her siblings Martha and Lazarus.  They had shared meals together before, and Mary had sat at Jesus’ feet in order to listen to his teaching.  Above all, Mary would have been grateful to Jesus for raising her brother, Lazarus, from the dead.  Mary had seen the power of God at work through Jesus, and knew Jesus’ power to heal and to bring life.  Mary believed Jesus to be the Messiah, and had encountered God through Jesus’ life and teaching.

    In Paul’s case, he had encountered Jesus in a life changing experience on the road to Damascus.  Paul was blinded by the light and heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him.  Paul was convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah - the Son of God.  Paul was also convinced that Jesus had, indeed, risen from the dead.  And, once Paul was baptized and received the Holy Spirit, Paul also had the life of Jesus within him and the gifts of the Spirit, which enabled him to proclaim Jesus to others.  For Paul, having the Spirit of Jesus within him and the promise of resurrection and eternal life was far more important than anything else in this world.

    And so, has the importance of Jesus sunk in for us?  What value do we place on being reconciled with God?  What value do we place on resurrection and eternal life?  What value do we place on carrying the life of Christ within us?  We can ask these questions knowing what value God has placed on us, for God has said to each one of us through the Scriptures - “you are worth the death of my Son.”  Has God’s great love for us sunk in yet?

    Here’s another question to consider that comes from today’s gospel: If we had a year’s salary to spend (like Mary did), how would we spend it in a way that would glorify God and honour Jesus Christ?  Going by the figures for this part of Winnipeg from 2006, an average income is about $30,000.  (We’ll use that figure just for argument’s sake, as nothing more recent seems to be readily available.)  Could you even imagine spending $30,000 on a bottle of perfume?  So what would we do with it that would give glory to God?

    Would you start a “ministry of transportation” and bring people to church?  Would you paint a ceiling mural, something like Michelangelo, and beautify the sanctuary?  Would you give food to the hungry and shelter to the homeless?  Would you send out a missionary for a year, or support a whole bunch of national missionaries in Asia for a year?  Would you do some development work in a third world country?  Would you go out and give $1000 to 30 different people and tell them to “pay it forward”?  Which of these things would glorify God and give honour to Jesus Christ?

    Once again, it’s a matter of priorities.  For Paul, the most important thing was to proclaim the good news about Jesus to as many people as possible.  For Mary, the most important thing was to minister to Jesus and show her love and gratitude.  For Jesus, and for his apostles after him, the most important thing was to teach people about the kingdom of God and to bring healing wherever he went.

    I’m not convinced that there is only one answer as to what would glorify God and honour Jesus Christ.  Yet, when we take into consideration what Jesus identified as most important, whatever we do needs to come out of whole-hearted love for God and for the people around us.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Mt. 22:37-40).

Once again, priorities – and what is most important to us?  Amen.

Lent 5(C)                                    John 12:1-8
March 17, 2013                                Philippians 3:4b-14
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2013 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved