John 12:1-18 2017/04/9 Osaka Church
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Today, this service is decorated with palm branches and flowers. The church is filled with the scent of fragrant incense. Beautiful voices echo throughout the church. Earlier this week, a special balm was opened and placed on our foreheads.
What would Judas have said if he were here?
The day before Jesus was to enter Jerusalem for the Passover and to accomplish the salvation of the people, he was having dinner at Lazarus’ house. Mary, the sister of Lazarus, generously anointed the feet of her Lord with the best and most expensive ointment, and she loosened her own hair and wiped the feet of her Lord. She “filled the house with the scent of balm.” That’s what the gospel tells us. At that time, Judas accused Mary.
He said, “Why didn’t you sell this perfume for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor?”
If this Judas had seen this worship of ours, he would have said the same thing. “If we live the teachings of love of the Lord, shouldn’t we use the money we spend on worship services, no matter how small, to help others? “Shouldn’t it also be used for peace rallies and demonstrations?”
Jesus said to Judas who criticized Mary.
“Let this woman have her way, for she has kept it for the day of my burial.”
Jesus blessed her for the love that she gave for her beloved. Jesus is also a man who gave up everything, even being God, for the sake of his beloved. Moreover, Mary’s love, which was completely free from calculations to “help others,” and her passionate feelings for the Lord unexpectedly led her to see what the Lord was about to do. That the Lord is trying to overturn “human death” by His own death. Mary poured her perfume for His death.
Of course, I don’t think Mary knew that based on her own words. She would have been with a company other female disciples as they hurried to the tomb of their Lord on the third morning after His burial, carrying her funeral spices. However, this was for proper burial of Jesus, not because she believed in the Lord’s foretold resurrection.
But when Mary poured the costly ointment on the feet of her Lord and filled her “house of the Lord” with sweet scent of the oil, she knew. Her indescribable conviction, foresighted by her love, she expressed in acts of love for her dear Lord. She realized that the joy that would fill “the house where the Lord is,” that is, the soon-to-be-born church, and the world in which the church would be placed, with a sweet fragrance, would overflow through the Lord’s death. She had no choice but to pour out this best oil in order to share her gospel, her glad tidings. We also know that in preparation for a week of commemoration of the Lord’s Passion and Death, we decorated our church beautifully. What the Lord has brought about, and what He is trying to bring about, is not social justice, equity, economic prosperity, or limitless progress in human civilization; We know, along with Mary, who poured perfume on the Lord’s feet, that it is the “life” that keeps people alive and joyful even in times of setbacks. It is this “life” that we are trying to welcome today by waving branches and holding flowers. It is the “life” that the Lord brought by His death. And this is the One who is that “life” itself.
Like Judas, the people of Jerusalem understood Jesus only as a liberator who would bring about social justice for them, and they greeted him with waving branches as he entered the city riding on a donkey. As a political leader, of course. But when it finally became clear that Jesus had done nothing for it, that he had no intention of doing anything, the people turned around, just as Judas had sold their Lord a little earlier when they realized this. They were filled with hatred and cried out, “Crucify Him!”
However, when Christ was condemned to die because of that cry, what the Lord had really intended to do was accomplished. Through His own death, the salvation of Jesus Christ, was fulfilled to destroy death and make us alive to “eternal life.”