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Prelude
Welcome and Announcements *Call to Worship 1 Peter 1:3 By God’s great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. *Hymn 238 Thine Is the Glory Prayer Living God, for whom no door is closed, no heart is locked, draw us beyond our doubts, til we see your Christ and touch his wounds where they appear in others. This we ask through Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. *Hymn 698 Take, O Take Me As I Am Assurance of Forgiveness God’s mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. They are new every morning and sure as the sunrise. Know you are forgiven and be at peace. Amen. First Reading John 20:19-25 Time With Our Young Disciples Second Reading John 20:26-31 The Morning Message Today, just one week from Easter, we observe what is affectionately known as “Holy Humor Sunday.” The idea is that on this day we shake our fists in the devil’s face. What the forces of evil intended for Jesus’ death, God redeemed. God is greater than the Roman Empire. And God raised Jesus from the dead, making a way for all believers over time and space to follow him into paradise when our lives on earth end. Our Scripture today points us in the direction of surprise and victory and maybe some holy laughter. Let’s set the scene: the disciples had gathered in a familiar meeting place, very likely the upper room where they had observed the Passover meal and the room in which Jesus instituted the Last Supper. The room was locked up tight for fear of the Jewish authorities. Any footfall upon the stair, a knock, or command to open the door, could signal certain death for them. Then suddenly, Jesus is there with them. He gave them the customary eastern greeting, “Peace be to you.” A more accurate translation would be, “May God give you every good thing.” We can imagine both the shock and the profound peace that would wash over the disciples in that moment. Jesus must have anticipated their need to see for themselves that this man was truly their friend, the crucified one, Jesus. The things he had taught them about dying and being raised to new life were indeed true. He shows them his wounds, his hands and his side. He lets them touch his body. Note, this is the same gesture Jesus will make for Thomas, but we never call these disciples doubters. Just an observation. And then Jesus commissions them for their life’s work, their magnum opus. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Let’s place ourselves in that room: dark and stuffy, with the curtain covering the only window, everyone still as a stone, the snapping electricity of fear running through all of them. Rev. Marci Auld Glass writes that , “Jesus could have gone and sent other people, presumably people with more courage, people who weren’t hiding, or whomever. But, he’s sending his people. His friends. His disciples. The one who denied him three times in eight hours. The ones who loved him til the end. Even Thomas, who isn’t there at the moment, but who will get his chance in a bit.” This is great good news for us. These two thousand years later, we are called and sent, even with our human inadequacies and our brokenness. No research project, no finals, no certification test, no bar exam, no ordination exam required. Belief. Even shaky, “I’ll believe it when I see it” faith. That is qualification enough to bear the good news of the gospel into the world. Yes! And then we remember all the insults and abuse Jesus suffered. I don’t want to volunteer for that. But, hang on. Here comes help: After Jesus gives the faithful their instructions, he breathes on them. Nearly four years of life in the age of Covid has me concerned about someone breathing on me intentionally. But, that was the method. Jesus breathed. The Greek word for breath is “pneuma.” In Latin, it comes to us as “Spiritus.” You can see the relatedness of breath and spirit…without breath, we have no life, no spirit. What is the first thing every mother wants to hear the moment her baby enters the world? Her baby’s cry. That is the sign that air is filling the lungs, the heart is beating and blood is circulating through the newborn body as it should. “The risen Christ breathes, filling the disciples with his quickening, life-giving Spirit.” And what is the Spirit? We will hear more about that on Pentecost Sunday, but, here’s a start: “The Spirit is like wind, like fire, like a bird, like a breath-moving through every language and every culture of this world, bursting out of every category and defying every metaphor.” And it’s a good thing because the first task Jesus assigns is this: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, then they are retained.” I confess, it’s much easier to preach on the six verses at the end of this text- the ones about Doubting Thomas-than it is these curious words about forgiveness. But, let’s try. Let’s face it…it’s hard to forgive. I spent a great part of the past week trying to help some people find a way to tolerance, a cease-fire if you will upon the revelation of serious sin. Forgiveness is not expected now and this occasion of sin may well never be forgotten. When we witness the worst of human nature, we aren’t expected to immediately forgive and forget. In fact, righteous indignation may just energize us to commit ourselves to the relief of suffering for victims of wrongdoing. We can work to change systems that cause people harm. If we can’t do that ourselves, we can support the efforts of others. We forgive so that we are no longer holding onto the pain, the anger, the fear that can damage our lives. When I was almost one year old, I had an accident. I was learning to walk, and like all babies everywhere, I needed to pull up on things around me to stand and take those first tentative steps. Most days, I stayed with my grandmother. She heated her home with gas space heaters. You know where this is going…I am sure I had been told a hundred times not to touch the space heater. “No-no. Don’t touch. That will hurt baby.” A little smack on the hand may have accompanied the warning if I got too close. But, in spite of careful watching and grave warnings, one day I reached for the flaming heater in order to pull myself up to standing. Both hands. I don’t remember everything, but I do remember my grandmother holding me in the front seat of the car. My father was driving. There was a parade that day in downtown Huntington. My dad drove on the sidewalk to get through. I remember a police officer looking in the driver’s side window and speaking with my father. I remember a siren which I later learned came from the police escort we received. I remember arriving in the ER and the kind doctor who was first to see me. What I don’t remember is the pain. I don’t remember any details of being examined or treated. I don’t remember what my mother described as little boxing gloves that encased my hands with holes cut out for my thumbs because I was a thumb-sucker. And I don’t remember ever blaming my grandmother who was charged with my care. I do remember adults talking about it from time to time and looking intently at my little hands and showing them that I was alright. The outcome could have been worse. And as I have had my turn raising children, I became uber-aware of the millions of things that could harm them, and tried as best I could to keep them safe. I didn’t always succeed. Obsessing over our missteps is futile. And that’s when we have to consider the benefit of self-forgiveness. I have referenced Rachel Held Evans several times. Rachel was raised in an evangelical Christian family. Her father was a pastor and professor at a Christian college in Tennessee. Her whole life and education was bathed in the climate of evangelical Christianity. She was grateful for that foundation, but, as she moved into adulthood, experiencing life outside that sheltered environment, getting married, having children, she began to ask questions of her faith. She began raising questions about and to God. She wrote a blog. She wrote NYT best sellers. She was a much-sought-after preacher. She preached and taught at Montreat Conference Center. Rachel’s books and blogs are rich and humorous and insightful. She can make you laugh til you cry. She can be blunt. She can make the pages just sing with octaves of notes. But, as she pushed the margins of her more fundamentalist faith, particularly the beliefs about women’s roles in the church, she suffered terrible, hate-filled insults. Her church condemned her work. Friends fell away. But, she clearly felt the breath of God on her as she was making these changes. She was on that not-so-easy path many of us fear when saying yes to Jesus. A few years ago, during an especially difficult time, Rachel took up a new practice for Lent. She turned her hate mail into Origami. This is what she said about it: “As much as I try to ignore the most vile of these messages, they can still be quite painful, and I think that’s okay. It’s important to grow thick skin, but I also want to keep a tender, open heart…which means unclenching my fists and letting some of these words hurt every now and again.” At the end of her Lenten journey, Rachel wrote: “What I learned, turning my hate mail into origami, is that we’re meant to remake this world together. We’re meant to hurt together, heal together, forgive together, and create together. And, in a sense, even the people who continue to hate me and call me names are a part of this beautiful process. Their words, carelessly spoken, spent the last 40 days in my home- getting creased and folded, worked over…stepped on by a toddler, read by my sister, stained with coffee…blacked out, thrown away, turned into poems, and folded into sailboats and cranes and pigeons that now sit smiling at me from my office window.” Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” I doubt you and I have ever received the volume of hate mail Rachel Evans did. But, I’d bet we could all name someone or something that hurt us or made us miserable. And, this is saying the quiet part out loud… I have been known to hang onto nasty emails and memos and evaluations for a long time. I used to pull them out of file folders and stew over them, maybe shed a few tears and vow to get even one day…you get the drift. But, praise God from whom all blessings flow…it doesn’t last… the risen Christ throws open the locked door of the heart, or the memory locked into the mind, and says, “Blow. Blow. Blow all of that stale, grudging, judging, lifeless air out… …And breathe.” *Hymn 233 The Day of Resurrection! *Affirmation of Faith Apostles’ Creed p. 35 *Hymn 581 Gloria Patri Sharing Our Joys and Concerns Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings Offertory *Hymn 606 Doxology *Prayer of Dedication We are so filled with the joy of the resurrection that we offer these gifts of our time, abilities, and treasure to you, O God. May they be signs of hope, peace, life, and community to all in need of your gifts and grace. In Jesus’ name, who gave his life that we might live. Amen. *Hymn 268 Crown Him With Many Crowns *Blessing The risen Christ says: Peace be with you. May you be filled with all joy and hope in believing. We have seen the Lord! Alleluia! Amen. *Postlude Welcome and Announcements
Minute for Mission One Great Hour of Sharing *Call to Worship Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! *Hymn 232 Jesus Christ Is Risen Today Prayer for Easter O Christ, in your resurrection, The heavens and earth rejoice, Alleluia! By your resurrection you broke open the gates of hell and destroyed sin and death. Keep us victorious over sin. By your resurrection, you raised the dead, and brought us from death to life. Guide us in the way of eternal life. By your resurrection you confounded your guards and executioners, and filled your disciples with joy. Give us joy in your service. By your resurrection you proclaimed good news to the women and apostles, and brought salvation to the whole world. Direct our lives as your new creation. God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead. for he is alive and has become the Lord of life. From the waters of death, you raise us with him and renew the gift of life within us. Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ, and help us grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you. Where we have strayed from your example, forgive us and restore us to right relationship with you and those with whom we live, love, work, and play, through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. Hymn 698 Take, O Take Me as I Am Assurance of Forgiveness Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, our beginning and our ending, has come to save us from our sins and turn us toward the grace and mercy of God. Friends believe the good news of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. First Reading Luke 24:1-12 Choral Anthem Time for Young Disciples Gospel Reading John 20:1-18 The Morning Message * Hymn 240 Alleluia! Alleluia! Give Thanks *Affirmation of Faith The Apostles’ Creed p. 35 *Hymn 580 Gloria Patri Sharing Our Joys and Concerns Celebrating One Hundred Years of Faith and History Jack Dilley Dedicating the Chapel for the Future Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings including One Great Hour of Sharing *Hymn 606 Doxology *Hymn 250 Hymn of Promise *Blessing Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! *Postlude Prelude
Welcome and Announcements Lenten Reading Mark 11:1-11 When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he set two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found the colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said to them, and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around, at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Litany of Response Humble and riding on a donkey, we greet you. Acclaimed by crowds and caroled by children, we cheer you. Moving from the peace of the countryside to the corridors of power, we salute you, Christ, our Lord. You are giving the beasts of burden a new dignity; You are giving majesty a new face; You are giving those who long for redemption a new song to sing. With them, with heart and voice, we shout, “Hosanna! God save us!” *Hymn 197 Hosanna, Loud Hosanna Prayer of the Day We praise you, O God, for your redemption of the world through Jesus Christ. Today he entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph and was proclaimed Messiah and King by those who spread garments and branches along his way. Let these branches be signs of victory, and grant that we, who carry them, may follow him in the way of the cross, that dying and rising with him, we may enter into your kingdom, through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever. Amen. First Reading Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Prayer of Confession Holy and merciful God, in your presence we confess our failure to be what you created us to be. You alone know how often we have sinned in wandering from your ways, in wasting your gifts, in forgetting your love. By your mercy, help us to live in your light and walk in your ways, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Hymn 698 Take, O Take Me As I Am Assurance of Forgiveness The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and we may dwell in peace. Amen. Moments With Our Young Disciples Gospel Reading Luke 19:28-40 Morning Message “The Lord has need of it.” Years ago, on one of our trips to Ireland, our tour director took Ed aside to consult about a situation. The issue was the hotel had two guests, two older women traveling together, who were stranded in Dublin. Overnight, the country was ground to a halt due to a transportation strike. The women suddenly had no way to reach their destination. If they could ride with us to a particular town, a family member could meet them and drive them the rest of the way. Well, of course they were welcome to join us. The tour guide seated them up front and we treated them to both Irish and American hospitality. For me, what immediately came to mind was this text, of Jesus sending his disciples into town to retrieve a donkey. If they were questioned about it, they were to simply say, “The Lord has need of it.” What was needed on that brisk spring morning in Dublin appeared to be a ride to the next town. The Lord didn’t need a donkey that day. He needed a bus. Let’s take a closer look at the donkey in the story. We may think of donkeys as slow and stubborn, not particularly intelligent, homely, certainly not as impressive as a horse. A donkey was more affordable for the average family. It would not run away. Its lack of speed is a blessing. Donkeys are strong. They are loyal. They are protective. I have heard stories about donkeys intentionally placing themselves between a flock of sheep and a coyote, taking the attack upon themselves to save the other, more vulnerable creatures. . So, Jesus sits upon the humble donkey, the disciples and the crowd placing their cloaks along the road, waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna! God save us!” Now contrast this with what was happening on the other side of Jerusalem: New Testament scholars, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, write that the triumphal entry was less of a parade and more of a protest. They maintain it was political theatre. Jesus’ entry into the Holy City was to mock the obscene pomp and circumstance of Rome. They argue that there were two processions to enter Jerusalem that day. Every year, the Roman governor of Judea would ride up to Jerusalem from his coastal residence in the west, specifically to be present in the city for Passover-the Jewish festival that swelled Jerusalem’s population from its usual 50, 000 to at least 200, 000 people. The governor would come in all his imperial majesty to remind the Jews that Rome was in charge. “It would have been a visual display of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather, armor, helmets, weapons, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums, the swirling of dust. The eyes of the silent on-lookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.” According to Roman belief, the emperor was not simply the ruler of Rome, he was the Son of God. So, this entry of Pilate was both a potent military threat and the embodiment of a rival theology. Pilate clanged and crashed his way into Jerusalem from the west, Jesus approached from the east, looking pretty absurd. This was the procession of the powerless, the explicitly vulnerable. You can’t get more defenseless than to ride on a nursing mama donkey, with her colt walking along beside her. We’ve been back from that trip for three years. Sometimes it takes awhile to settle in and process it. There’s a lot to process. We were a group of 43. Each of us having expectations and some minor challenges. The word of the day was always ”adapt.” If you want to travel, you have to be flexible. On our trek across the country we came upon a rag-tag camp of sorts. The only thing I can compare it to is a homeless encampment along the riverbank here. A couple of broken down trailers. Windows boarded up, others with towels tacked up to the windowframes. Trash strewn everywhere, a few discarded toys, tattered clothing hanging on a rope between two trees. And a few hungry-looking dogs, a pig or two, chickens walking about, and a donkey. It was tied to a picnic table. I had seen places like this before on previous trips. But, it was still shocking and painful to know people lived in these desperate conditions. They are alternately called Roma, travelers, tinkers, and gypsies, although the word “gypsy” is not used in Ireland. It would be akin to using the “N” word here. The people who inhabit the camp are nomadic. They move from place to place looking for work. It is an impoverished lifestyle. Children are uneducated for the most part. We can imagine that access to health care is limited. One look at the camp told us that they were living in squalor, without adequate food, clothing, or shelter. Do they want to live this way? They can’t. Like some here in our country, these people are caught in generational dysfunction. I’ve done a little research since we’ve been back. There are public measures being undertaken to address the plight of these people. There is special concern for the children and the elderly, as you can imagine. But any attempt to rehabilitate a community requires cooperation and that is unpredictable. I wonder if that donkey will spend its life tethered to a picnic table. “The Lord has need of it.” It strikes me that this is the type of community and the circumstances of the men, women, and children for whom Jesus’ heart broke. Poor, needy, rejected. Their possessions few and the most valuable tied up so it can’t escape. Where is their hope? Where will they ever find relief? Do they want relief? We don’t yet know. And we don’t know whether anyone who lined the street that day in Jerusalem understood what Jesus was enacting by riding into the city mounted on a donkey. I doubt they grasped the ultimate meaning in it. They weren’t interested in the donkey. They were primed for revolution. They wanted and expected something world-changing, a revolution. But Jesus knew what it would cost him to spit in Rome’s face. Debie Thomas says that what he accomplished on that loud and chaotic day was to fulfill the will of God. He fulfilled the scriptures that prophesied that the Messiah would come riding on a donkey. He died because he exposed the ungracious sham at the heart of all human kingdoms, and ignited fury. Even when he knew his actions would send him to his death, Jesus set his face “like flint” towards Jerusalem. He mounted a donkey and took Rome for a ride. Blogger Andrew King describes that special day in poetry: Jerusalem’s past had been quite a blast when David was monarch and splendid. But centuries had gone since David passed on, and God’s blessing seemed to have ended. Jerusalem’s streets had seen happy feet taking people to great holy places. A place it was now of deep-furrowed brows, on saddened and wearisome faces. Rome, you recall, had control of it all, and its soldiers could be pretty scary. A grumbling noise might upset Caesar’s boys so the people had learned to be wary. How Jerusalem longed to sing happy songs that would celebrate their story; they dreamed and they prayed to give a parade for a new David marching in glory. Then came a year when they got some cheer; there was a man to whom people pointed. Of him it was said he could raise the dead- he just might be God’s anointed! A carpenter’s son, he became someone with words that could set hearts singing; his caring stand for woman and man had the title “Messiah” now ringing. “He’s coming straight to Jerusalem’s gate,” the folk were excitedly saying; “Let’s get out there in the open air and show the Romans what we’ve been praying.” They cut branches down and handed them ‘round, a symbol of of joy and praising And they lined the way for Jesus that day, palms and voices ready for raising. Jesus, meantime, had his followers find a young donkey on which he could ride. He’d come to that place to show God’s saving grace, that God’s on the sufferers’ side. Loving and meek, no power would he seek, as he sat on the donkey so humble. Soon enough on that road he’d be bearing a load; a cross that would cause him to stumble. So in Jesus came, and the strong and the lame tossed their palm leaves and shouted their praise, “Hosanna!” they cried. “The King has come by! Hosanna! God grant us new days!” Hosannas like “God save us!” and what Jesus gave was the way that God’s love makes that happen. So lift up your palms, get your happy smile on, and be ready for singin’ and clappin’; Because every day can be Palm Sunday when you know that Jesus is near you; Give praise to God, from the sky to the sod; shout “God saves!”so all folks can hear you! Untie that donkey! The Lord has need of it! The Lord has need of you. Hosanna! * Hymn *Affirmation of Faith The Apostles’ Creed p.35 *Hymn 580 Gloria Patri Sharing Our Joys and Concerns Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings * Hymn 606 Doxology *Prayer of Dedication Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts. Use us and what we have gathered, In feeding the world with your love, Through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. *Hymn 196 All Glory, Laud, and Honor *Blessing The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. *Postlude Prelude
Welcome and Announcements Lenten Reading Based on Ezekiel 34, John 11, and Romans 8 Reader 1: In the midst of life, we acknowledge death. In the face of death, God’s Spirit comes to bring us life. Can dry bones live? Can life emerge from death? Only God knows. And yet, Christ promises just such a miracle through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Reader 2: All who are dwindling and dying…come forth to new life. All who are lying in darkness and despair…come into the light. All who feel separated and alone…come to the presence of God, whose Spirit finds us here. Prayer Come, Holy Spirit, breathe new life into our lives and our worship. Create new possibilities, in our imaginations and in our dreams. Send the promise of your hope into our depression and despair. Expand our hearts and our minds, as we enter your presence this day. Amen. *Hymn 164 He Lives! Prayer of Confession God of mercy, you sent Jesus Christ to seek and to save the lost. We confess that we have strayed from you and turned aside from your way. We are misled by pride, for we see ourselves pure when we are stained, and great when we are small. We have failed in love, neglected justice, and ignored your truth. Have mercy on us and forgive our sin. Return us to paths of righteousness through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Hymn Take, O Take Me As I Am Assurance of Forgiveness Jesus Christ spoke peace to a sinful world and brought humanity the gift of reconciliation by his suffering and death. He will teach those who bear his name to follow the example he gave us. May our faith, hope, and charity turn hatred to love, conflict to peace, and death to eternal life. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel: know you are forgiven and be at peace. First Scripture Reading Isaiah 43: 16-21 Moments With Our Young Disciples Gospel Reading John 12:1-8 Morning Message Today we are headed to a home in the Jerusalem suburb of Bethany, where Jesus stopped in to see his old friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus before he entered the city for the last time. He loved them, John tells us, although he does not tell us why. Maybe there is no "why" to love. They called him Lord, so they knew who he was, and yet they were not his disciples, at least not in any formal sense. They were his friends, the three people in whose presence he could be a man as well as a Messiah. Just days before, Jesus had worked a miracle at their house. He had been across the river when the sisters' urgent message reached him. "Lord," it read, "he whom you love is ill." So he had come to them, knowing full well it was too late. Lazarus was so dead that he stank, so dead that Jesus stood in front of his tomb and wept. Then he roared so loud at death that he scared death away. While the sisters tried to decide whether to run away too, their brother Lazarus came stumbling from his tomb, trailing his shroud behind him like a used cocoon. Now Jesus has come back to Bethany with the temple posse hot on his trail. By raising Lazarus from the dead he has graduated from the category of "manageable nuisance" to "serious threat." News of the incident has sent his followers over the top. There is not a chance Pilate is going to ignore them during the Passover festival. It is time for Jesus to be disappeared before he leads hundreds to their deaths. So his days are numbered and he knows it. When he arrives at his friends' house in Bethany, they can see it on his face. So they take him in and care for him, shutting the world out for this one night at least. Lazarus is still clumsy from his four days in the tomb. He sits and stares while Martha makes a stew. Mary, meanwhile, has slipped away, gone to find something in her room. Martha is used to this. Mary is always disappearing, even when she is sitting right there with everyone else. She gets this look on her face, like she's listening to music no one else can hear. Martha knows there is nothing to be done but to work around her, being careful to reel Mary in when she drifts too far. Finally, supper is on the table and they all sit down to eat, saying what they hope and hiding what they fear. Lazarus sits near his friend Jesus, unaware of the trade that has occurred. Jesus was safe across the river, beyond the reach of his enemies. By returning to Bethany, he has traded his life for the life of his friend. Funny, huh? The recently deceased Lazarus of Bethany will outlive the savior Jesus of Nazareth. No one notices that Mary has gone again until she comes back holding a clay jar in her hands. Wordless, she kneels at Jesus' feet and breaks the jar's neck. The smell of spikenard fills the room--sharp scent halfway between mint and ginseng. Then, as everyone in the room watches her, she does four remarkable things in a row. First she loosens her hair in a room full of men, which an honorable woman never does. Then she pours perfume on Jesus' feet, which is also not done. The head, maybe--people do that to kings--but not the feet. Then she touches him--a single woman rubbing a single man's feet--also not done, not even among friends. Then she wipes the perfume off with her hair--totally inexplicable--the bizarre end to an all around bizarre act. Most of us are so moved by the scene that we overlook its eccentricities, or else we don't care. The point is that she loved him, right? Right. But we also confuse this account with three others in the Bible--one each from Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the first two, an unnamed woman anoints Jesus' head at the house of Simon the Leper during the last week of his life. In the third story, the scene happens at Simon the Pharisee's house, much earlier in Jesus' ministry. There Jesus is eating supper when a notorious sinner slips into the room and stands weeping over his feet, then drops to the ground to cover them with kisses before rubbing them with oil of myrrh. Only in John's version of the story does the woman have a name-Mary--and a relationship with Jesus--not a stranger, not a notorious sinner, but his long-time friend--which makes her act all the more peculiar. He knows she loves him. He loves her too. So why this public demonstration, this odd pantomime in front of all their friends? It's extravagant. It's excessive. She's gone overboard, as Judas is quick to note. "Why wasn't this perfume sold for a whole lot of money and given to the poor?" That's what Judas wants to know, but Jesus brushes him aside. "Leave her alone," he says. "She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me"--which is about as odd a thing for him to say as what Mary did. Here is the champion of the poor, always putting their needs ahead of his, suddenly reversing course. Leave her alone. Leave me alone. Just this once, let her look after me, because my time is running out. Whatever Mary thought about what she did, and whatever anyone else in the room thought about it, Jesus took it as a message from God--not the hysteric ministrations of an old maid gone sweetly mad but the carefully performed act of a prophet. Everything around Mary smacked of significance--Judas, the betrayer, challenging her act; the flask of nard--wasn't it left over from Lazarus' funeral?--and out in the yard, a freshly vacated tomb that still smelled of burial spices, waiting for a new occupant. The air was dense with death, and while there may at first have been some doubt about whose death it was, Mary's prophetic act revealed the truth. She was anointing Jesus for his burial, and while her behavior may have seemed strange to those standing around, it was no more strange than that of the prophets who went before her--Ezekiel eating the scroll of the Lord as a sign that he carried the word of God around inside of him (Ezekiel 2), or Jeremiah smashing the clay jar to show God's judgment on Judah and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 19), or Isaiah walking around naked and barefoot as an oracle against the nations (Isaiah 20). Prophets do things like that. They act out. They act out the truth that no one else can see, and those standing around either write them off as nuts or fall silent before the disturbing news they bring from God. When Mary stood before Jesus with that pound of pure nard in her hand, it could have gone either way. She could have anointed his head and everyone there could have proclaimed him a king. But she did not do that. When she moved toward him, she dropped to her knees instead and poured the perfume on his feet, which could only mean one thing. The only man who got his feet anointed was a dead man, and Jesus knew it. "Leave her alone," he said to those who would have prevented her. Let her finish delivering the message. So Mary rubbed his feet with perfume so precious that its sale might have fed a poor family for a year, an act so lavish that it suggests another layer to her prophecy. There will be nothing economical about this man's death, just as there has been nothing economical about his life. In him, the extravagance of God's love is made flesh. In him, the excessiveness of God's mercy is made manifest. This bottle will not be held back to be kept and admired. This precious substance will not be saved. It will be opened, offered and used, at great price. It will be raised up and poured out for the life of the world, emptied to the last drop. Before that happens, Jesus will gather his friends together one last time. At another banquet, around another supper table, with most of the same people present, Jesus will strip, tie a towel around his waist, and wash his disciples' feet. Then he will give them a new commandment: Love one another, as I have loved you. At least one of the disciples will argue with him, while others will wonder if he has lost his mind. But a few will watch him working on their feet and remember Mary bending over his feet like that--the prophet Mary--who knew how to respond to Jesus without being told, the one who acted out his last, new commandment before he ever said it. Remembering her may help them leave him alone while he finishes delivering his message. At home in Bethany, the storm clouds are still piling up against the door when Mary gives the forecast: it will be bad, very bad, but that's no reason for Jesus' friends to lock their hearts and head to the cellar. Whatever they need, there will be enough to go around. Whatever they spend, there will be plenty left over. There is no reason to fear running out--of nard or of life either one--for where God is concerned, there is always more than we can ask or imagine--gifts from our lavish, lavish Lord. Amen. *Hymn 279 There Shall Be Showers of Blessing *Affirmation of Faith The Apostles’ Creed *Hymn Gloria Patri Sharing the Congregations Joys and Concerns Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting Our Gifts of Tithe and Offering Offertory *Doxology *Prayer of Dedication *Hymn 177 God Be With You *Blessing As you go out, may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and keep your whole being- spirit, soul, and body- free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. *Postlude |
PastorCinda Harkless Archives
April 2025
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