JOHN 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. 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.’
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1953 was the year of the coronation of Her Majesty the Queen. At that time a discussion was had as to whether the event should be televised, and cameras allowed into Westminster Abby. Winston Churchill was apparently horrified at the idea. But the Queen and her advisers eventually decided to allow the cameras to broadcast the ceremony to the entire world. And so it was, a great state occasion, in which the young Elizabeth was crowned Queen for all the world to see. That is, except for one moment, a moment that was conducted in absolute secrecy with the cameras turned away. The act of Consecration, the moment when she was anointed Queen.
During that moment in the ceremony, Her Majesty was hidden from view by a great golden canopy, she was disrobed of her royal cloak, here jewellery was removed and there she was sat in Saint Edward’s chair wearing a robe of the purest white.
The archbishop of canterbury said the following words to her, as he took some of the anointing oil and signed her forehead with the cross; he said:
"Be thy head anointed with holy oil: as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed. And as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, so be you anointed, blessed and consecrated Queen over the Peoples, whom the Lord thy God hath given thee to rule and govern."
At that moment Elizabeth the Second was anointed as Queen.
In our reading today we have a very different kind of anointing.
As we’ve just seen, these days anointing is something that you do to kings and queens, in formal occasions with lots of pomp and circumstance. But here we have such a simple story; there is, no pomp, no ceremony, this is a dinner amongst friends, and a woman overcome by love of her master.
Mart gets a bottle of perfume that would have cost over a year’s wages and pours it over Jesus’ feet. This is an anointing of a king; but is it not the anointing of a King so that he will enter his palace and rule his nation, as Queen Elizabeth’s was. It is, rather the anointing of a King for his death, for his burial, for the tomb. As Jesus says, ‘She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial’
Was Mary aware of what she was doing when she anointed Jesus' feet? did she know that she was preparing Jesus for his death and burial? Mary probably wasn't aware of the significance of her act, and Jesus gave it that significance himself. In verse 7 Jesus said “Leave her alone,” “it was intended that she should save the perfume for the day of my burial.” This anointing is just before Jesus makes his final journey into Jerusalem, it prepares Jesus for the work that is to come, the work of the cross.
Jesus is anointed because there is a task to be done; he is anointed so that he will die, he is anointed for his burial, his suffering and death. So that we, his servants may be free. This is the Good news of the gospel. The King prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for his people so that we are no longer cut off from our Heavenly Father.
Judas is by all accounts a bit miffed by all of this. He says, that perfume could have been sold for a years wages! Surely it could have been sold and given to the poor!
Now although the story doesn’t paint him in a pleasant light in saying that he didn’t actually care for the poor, isn’t he technically correct? Couldn’t that perfume have been sold and given to the poor? If the adage is true that our where our money is spent, that’s where our heart is then perhaps he really does have a point. This is felt even more sharply when we consider that the word Bethany literally means ‘house of the poor’ and Bethany itself was possibly the sight of an Alms house. Perhaps the modern equivalent of what Mary did would be turning up at an orphanage with a lot of money, show it to the people there, letting them think of all of the things they could do with it, then taking out a match and sets fire to it before their eyes.
So what on earth are we to make of all that? What on earth are we to make of Jesus' last statement, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
This is a verse which I think has been used by many to ignore the needs of the poor. it seems to fly in the fact of what the teaching elsewhere in the Bible, in particularly and the prophets and very significantly in Luke's gospel which has a huge focus on it (Jesus even says that he is Good news to the poor in Luke chapter 4). what are we to make of it? If we think that it means that Jesus does not care about the poor then we are mistaken.
This is a unique act for a specific occasion and only this one occasion. Here, now, at this specific time when Jesus is amongst the people, and it is through his saving death and resurrection, that all people, including the poor would have salvation and entrance into the kingdom of God.
This coming Sunday we will be remembering Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, palm leaves are spread at his feet and the people shout Hosanna! ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Blessed is the King of Israel. (He is anointed as King of the people) The following Friday we will remember his crucifixion and burial (He is anointed to die), and on the following Sunday, the glorious resurrection, through which all can receive salvation (He is anointed to rise again).
He is the Christ, the anointed one, that’s what the word Christ means. The one anointed and ordained by God with the task of saving us all, nothing could be more glorious
But he’s also anointed around a dinner table, with his friends, by a woman who loves him, who breaks a jar of perfume, and wipes his feet with her hair. What could be more mundane?
Glorious and yet normal, that is Jesus. That’s the paradox of Christianity, the one with al the power becoming powerless, so that all will be saved.
We are approaching the endgame, and there in the distance we see a man crowned, not with a crown of Gold and jewels but with a crown of thorns, in a robe covered in his own blood. We see a silhouette of a cross on a hill, Jesus’ destiny is to hang from a tree on that hill, and save us all.
Amen.