John 12:1-8 Mary Anoints Jesus and The Plot to Kill Lazarus

Lent is both a season for repentance and a season for renewal. It is a time for letting go of the past and embracing the possibility of a new future. It’s a time for making plans. It is a time for figuring out how we as a church are going to proclaim God’s glory. How are we going to bring honor to God in our future? In order to bring honor to God, we must examine what we are doing and honestly ask ourselves some serious questions we might not like the answer to.

“Is what I am doing bringing honor to God?” or… is it more about bringing honor to me? Am I doing it because God wants me to do it or because I want to? Who am I including and who am I inadvertently excluding in what I am doing?

If you are asking these questions thoughtfully and honestly of yourself, and you aren’t sure of the answer, I can give you a big clue as to whether the answer is about bringing honor to an individual, a few people, or to God. There is ONE word that often stands out screaming that the honor is not God’s. That word is ALWAYS.

Jesus tells his disciples, “You will not always have me.” In this life, in this season of remembrance of life and death, the one thing for certain is that there is no “always.” The only thing permanent in this world is God. The world was created and remains in a permanent state of change. To say anything “always” happens or is, is a lie.

Jesus was training his disciples to be able to live without him. He was fighting to teach them so that when he moved on to another purpose, his ministry did not die with Him. He did everything he could to try and ensure that when he left, things continued just as if he were there. He reminded them with love and affection, not because he wanted to scare them, “you will not always have me.”

I say this because I have heard the words always come off a great many people’s lips. “I always do…” or “They always do…” This word “ALWAYS” is a sure sign of a disaster just waiting to happen. It is a sign of self-focus not future focus on God and kingdom or love. Always is a sign of a ministry that will die when its leader is not there. It’s a sign we are not trying to include new people. It’s a sign someone thinks they are the greatest and has failed to create room for a new thing. When we live in a world where “always” exists, we are not living in God’s world, we’re living in one we created. God’s world has no “always.”

Isaiah tells us to “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” It is hard to forget the former things when you dwell on them, remember the hole? It is hard to see what new things God is doing when you are still focused on what they used to do. It’s hard to get anything done in God’s kingdom when everyone thinks someone else is doing it, someone else should do it, and no one is willing to step out of their assumptions to see if anyone is actually doing it. Or heaven forbid, someone new, a nobody, is invited to become a new someone who does something different than the way it was done before.

But Jane always does that. Harry used to always do that. We have always done it this way, you can’t do it that way.

It’s okay, I get it, we like things we can count on. We like people we can count on to do things. We hold grudges against those who have failed to live up to our expectations. We harass, stalk, degrade, demoralize, and taunt people who try new things. Especially is they fail.

A large crowd of Jews found Jesus, not just to bear witness to Him, but to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. The chief priests did not like this new thing. This new ministry of people being raised from the dead threatened the way they had always done things. It involved a skill they did not possess. Doing things in a way they had never done them before. It raised so many annoying questions about their way of life and authority. And so, they made plans, I prefer the word plotted, to kill Lazarus. Lazarus was bringing new people to Christ.

Isaiah speaks of the wild animals honoring God. Both the jackals and the owls. Owls generally represent wisdom. Jackals, however represent cunning thieves that gather together in groups and are indifferent to the plight of others. They are concerned with their own survival and do not care how their actions to better themselves might cause detriment to others. Hence, it is intriguing that Isaiah would use this imagery.

Jackals, you see, are social creatures. They hang out in distinct packs, communicating with high-pitched yips. They are opportunistic animals preying on the weak and the lonely. Protective of their territory and inhabit pleasant places. Being called a jackal is not a compliment. And yet, this sounds like many a church kitchen I have walked into. Jack always makes the pancakes, and Jill always makes Biscuits. Martha makes the best casseroles and Jamie the best pies, so how dare Mary try to bring pistachio pudding, which we’ve never had before! Just out of tradition, we will refuse to even try it.

Lent is a season of starting anew. Letting go of where we were in the past and deciding on a future filled with new things or maybe even old things done by a new person, in a new way, singing a new song. Do you not perceive it? Can you not feel it? There’s an energy in the air crying out for change. Breaking free from excuses. Getting excited about a project one that has never been done before or is being done in a new way by different people who have done it in the past.

Try something so bizarre and counterintuitive that the only way it could possibly succeed is by the grace of God.

We are not meant to have “always” as part of our vocabulary. There are not supposed to be missions or projects or things that we “always” do. There aren’t that many of us and we do not have unlimited resources. We are meant to fail at some things because not everything is the ministry God wants us to do.

Mary took an incredibly expensive pint of nard, went beyond logic and rational reasoning, and poured it on Jesus’ feet. It was considered to be a waste by Judas, but to God and to Jesus, it was a huge success. In case you’re wondering, a pound of nard would have cost the equivalent of a year’s wages for a day laborer. Mary essentially dumped a year’s wages on Jesus’ feet. No wonder Judas gasped like she had spilled a gallon of paint on the brand-new carpeting.

Mary did something that others thought was wasteful and pointless, but to God, perfect! So, all those naysayers in the congregation who boo your idea when you voice it, they are wrong! I want to see your passion and your talent. God wants to see your passion and your talent, no matter how much you think it doesn’t “fit” into the church. God gave you that talent, so God says it fits no matter what other people say.

Try something wild and crazy because your heart feels moved to do it. I will give you the space, and if you haven’t figured this out yet, I may be small, but I am a force to be reckoned with. Space will be created for you to try something new.

There is no “always” outside of change. This life is not permanent. Things are constantly changing. You will always have junk in your attic or basement, but you will not always have small children. You will not always have your mobility. You will not always have the opportunities you have right now. Sometimes in life, we need to live in the present and take advantage of a current opportunity. It’s okay to live in the moment. It is not okay to live in the past and the way things used to be. Time is one-directional, and that direction is forward. We cannot reverse aging. Putting off things that bring us joy and God’s glory means they might never happen.

Martha was more focused on taking care of her house than she was on learning from Jesus. Mary seized a moment to give him her undivided attention. She knew she would not always have Jesus by her side.

Jesus knew he would not always be with his disciples. We can’t just sit around and remember the good old days. We do not live in an always kind of world.

People who once served here are now only with us in spirit. We are not honoring their spirits by saying “Jane always did that.” We honor their spirits by making sure this church they worked so hard for stays alive for the future. We honor their spirits by beginning new ministries that we have bodies and passions for, not by trying to recreate what once was. We honor those who will not always be with us by working beside them, even when they say they want to do it themselves, because we are INCLUSIVE people. We honor humanity by acknowledging its lack of permanence.

Jesus told his disciples “You will not always have me.” We need to start acting more on this philosophy and treating it as a good thing as opposed to a “What are we going to do when that the person who “always” did that cannot?” scenario. It takes yielding from both sides. It takes allowing people to work beside us and with us, even though it slows us down, or something doesn’t get done exactly the way we want it to.

Change is “always” with us. It’s how we know God loves us. We are not stuck. God created us so we can change and adapt to new circumstances and a new world. Let us bring honor to God and those who walked this earth before us by letting go of the past and doing something new, something different, something in a way that we have never done before. Stop living in the past with “we used to do this.” Start living in God’s present by focusing on what we are doing rather than what we’re not doing. We will not always have those who are here with us today so let us enjoy them while they are here.