A
Beautiful Thing
For the last month and a half we have taken a
little detour for Advent/Christmas as well as New Year/Epiphany. But today, we
are diving back into the gospel of Mark. When we left of with the gospel of
Mark, we were in the middle of the last week of Jesus’ life. In the next couple
weeks we read Mark until we get to the arrest of Jesus. From that point on, it
is best, in my opinion, to move on from the narrative until we get to Holy
Week.
Now, by the time we get to this point in the
life of Jesus, we know he does not have much time left. The people around Jesus
don’t realize that he only has a few more days to live, but Jesus certainly
does. It is Passover week. Jesus is staying with friends in the small town of
Bethany, which is really a suburb of Jerusalem. To get from Jerusalem you
really walk up, over the mount of Olives, and then head down the opposite side
of that hill.
While Jesus is dining with Simon the Leper (who
is probably someone who was healed of leprosy), the powers that be in Jerusalem
are planning Jesus’ demise. The rich and the powerful despise Jesus, but the
rugged, rejected and redeemed love Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees decide to
wait until after Passover week. Passover might cause too many problems at an
important time of year. There timetable will soon be moved up. Jesus will be
dead by the end of the week.
Bethany is a base of support for Jesus. It is
where Mary, her sister Martha, and their brother Lazerus live. The name of the
town means “house of the poor”. It is the place of the common people. Folks
that could not afford to live in Jerusalem.
Jesus is reclining at the table eating. This
means that he is the guest of honor of Simon the Leper. The folks seemed to be
having a good meal, a good conversation, and then THE WOMAN walked in.
At first the guests (who were probably all men
at this point) thought that this unnamed woman was probably entering the meal
with that fine alabaster jar to serve them. Or perhaps to offer some sort of
gift to Jesus. Nobody was prepared for what came next.
This woman walked over to Jesus. She broke her
alabaster jar. Out came oil. This was sometimes done with guests of honor with
some olive oil as a way to honor them. The perfume began to fill the room. This
oil was certainly not olive oil. What was it? It was…hmmm…it was…nard. Nard?
Wow that is expensive stuff. Imported from India where the flower grows that
produces this beautiful smelling odor. In today’s dollars, the bottle of
perfume would have went for between 30,000 and 50,000. And the woman poured it
ALL out. It flowed down his head, his
beard, onto his robe, and it wet his skin beneath his clothes. To show honor,
respect, love and worship for Jesus, this woman poured out her valuable perfume.
And it smelled WONDERFUL.
Well, this act of honor and worship met with
some pretty harsh reactions with the men that were in the room. Some of them
rolled their eyes. Others of them grumbled. Others of them began to scold the
woman like she was a little child. “What are you doing?” they asked, “Don’t you
realize how much that cost? Don’t you realize the good that could have been
done with that perfume if you would have sold it and used the funds to help
those in need? Why are you being so showy and wasteful?”
Jesus overheard this nagging and criticism. He
would have none of it. He said that what this woman had done was beautiful. And
after everyone one in that room had passed away. The story of her gift would be
told. We would, Jesus said, remember her. And we do. Even today, we remember
what she did.
You know, my friends, religion can be a good thing.
But, if we are not careful, we can take on a shell of religiosity, and mistake
it for authentic faith. We can think our religion is about looking good among
my neighbors, about doing a few pro-community activities, about creating good
standing in the community, and carrying on the tradition of our parents.
That is the kind of faith that some of the
people in the room with Jesus had. One of them, Judas, was one of the twelve.
He ended up leaving the room after this little episode and talking to the
leaders in Jerusalem and agreeing to turn Jesus over to them to be arrested for
30 pieces of silver. Judas was comfortable with a kind of religion that
appeared like faith, but when it really came down to it he wanted a religion
that was about what he could do and what he could control.
The woman that we see here helps us to see and
understand what true, authentic, passionate worship is all about. As we look at
her example, and pay attention to it, we can learn how to live and to worship
like her. Let’s take a brief look at some principles we can glean from her
actions, and apply to our lives.
1. Authentic, committed worship is
countercultural
Ultimately, if you are going to experience
worship in a faithful and powerful way, you are going to have to put the crowd
behind you. You are going to have to not think about what judgments other
people might have when you worship, and just open your heart, your mind, you
life, your actions to what God wants you to do.
I remember a friend of mine who was a church
leader, and moved out to Montana because of her husband’s job. Her background
was more charismatic that the tradition of the church that they were attending.
The church had blended worship, so when the praise songs were playing, her kids
decided to stand on their pews and raise their hands in prayer as they were
singing. Some people got upset the children were raising their hands, and being
so expressive in praise. The kids found out about it. It took them years before
they would worship this way again. Poor kids. Let the crowd get in the way of
their worship.
The movie Chariots of Fire describes the story
of Eric Liddell, who refused to compete in the Olympics on Sunday because that
was his day to worship. He ended up switching events with another one of the
competitors. And winning.
Worship does not just happen on Sunday morning.
It happens as we live our lives for an audience of one, namely the Lord Jesus
Christ. It happens when we chose to change the language we use, even when
everyone around us tends to be speaking more vulgar. It happens when we chose
to spend our lunch break doing our devotions. It happens when we serve others
in the name of Christ as we go through our day, maybe by helping someone who
cannot help themselves get something done, and then forget we ever did such a
thing.
Open yourself to passionate worship, and you
will find yourself crying at inconvenient times, you will find yourself moved
to come forward to pray in a worship service when you might look foolish, you
might find yourself moved to care more for people you might not otherwise care
for, and you might give your time to activities and efforts that other people
roll their eyes at. All because you have chosen to live in devotion to God, and
everyone else’s opinions are less important.
2. Authentic, committed worship is
sacrificial
This woman we read about in this text poured out
this expensive perfume on Jesus’ head. She could have sold it and given it
away, like her critics said. She also could have sold the perfume and put it
away somewhere for a rainy day. She did neither. She gave what she had that was
of value in adoration of Jesus, who had more value to her than any object that
she owned.
You see, often we miss this truth. Instead we
think worship is about us, getting what we want, and having our needs met. How
does this happen? We think that worship is about me getting to sing the songs
that I want to sing. Or perhaps we think worship is about hearing a really good
sermon. We approach worship like McDonalds. “What would I like to order? Yes. I
would like an hour long worship service with 3 hymns, no praise songs, a 20
minute sermon. Hold the responsive readings, and add in a second piece of
special music in addition to the choir please. Thank you!”
The truth is, Biblical worship is about offering
ourselves to God. It is about setting aside what we want, and taking time to
give ourselves completely to God and what he wants for us.
This is why we have an offering in our worship
service! To teach us that worship is about giving ourselves to God, and
sacrifice. And, trust me, if you chose to worship sacrificially, you will find
challenges. That tithe money you give will seem like a huge amount, until you
go out and get your hair done and pay about the same thing. The hour you are
here will seem like a huge commitment, even though you will spend at least 2
hours watching something you are not even paying attention to on television or
on the internet later in the day.
The opposite of sacrificial worship is worship
that is completely centered around me, and getting what I want when I want it. You
know, as we gather for worship, I hope you enjoy yourself. But more than that,
I hope you get outside of yourself. I hope you take time to be grateful for the
many blessings that the Lord has given you. I hope you take time to praise the
one in whom you live and move and have your being. I pray you take time to slow
down enough to listen to the music, the word, the sermon, and as you do I hope
you come seeking to know and understand a little more about who God wants you
to be, and what God wants you to do.
3. Authentic, committed worship is
total
If we are to honestly and completely worship the
Lord, we cannot have divided loyalties. We cannot truly be worshipping the
Lord, and at the same time have a number of other competing loyalties that vie
for our attention.
Worship is an “all-in” kind of thing.
You know, last week at our business meeting we
had a little bit of a discussion about worship times. Most of our church wants
to just have one morning service. A group of people want two. Some folks wish
we would start worship at 9am. Others like worshipping at 10. Another small
minority could use another hour to get ready in order to be here at 11. I
understand all of the concerns. I have heard all of the pros and cons for each
position. And, in this sense, I am at your service as your pastor. Whatever
decision that is made, I am going to be here. It is my job to be here, after
all.
I also understand that many of us have
commitments at different times on Sunday that precede the whole change in
worship times. And, some of the changes that have happened in the last 18
months have been difficult.
Having said that, there are times I have a hard
time dealing with the decision to not come to worship because it does not fit
that person’s preference. In the eternal scheme of things, we should care
enough about our faith to get our rear ends out of bed if the service is
earlier, or eat breakfast at another time if the service is a little bit later.
It seems to me, if one is committed to worship and committed to this church,
one is going to be here when worship is scheduled. Your social schedule, your
meal schedule, your tv watching schedule, or your sports schedule is not going
to get in the way of your worship if your worship really means something.
I also have a hard time dealing with the kind of
faith that compartmentalizes our commitment to worshipping the Lord to Sunday
for an hour. If we truly worship the Lord, that worship should bleed into every
aspect of our lives. It should affect the way we talk to people, the attitude
we approach life with, the way we structure our day, the way we go through our
lives. In each of these situations, we should live lives obedient to Christ and
his gospel. In all of life, the grace and the love of Christ should flow
through us. How we love and how we work, how we spend and how we play should
all be defined by who our Lord is.
We cannot worship God and money. We cannot
worship God and our friendships. We cannot worship God and our ego. We cannot
worship God and have room to worship anything else. Yet, in many ways, it is so
easy to divide our loyalties between God and this world. Worship has the same
root word as worth. When we chose to worship Christ, we chose to say he is
worth everything to us, and is our top priority.
The Lord Jesus lived a perfect life. We went to
a cross to save us from our sins and give us a new life, and make us a new
creation that will spend eternity with him. And because of that, he deserves
our total devotion and complete loyalty.
Because of that, he should be worth
everything to us. And that should define how we worship on Sunday, but it
should also make a different in how we live each and every moment as an act of
praise to the one who loves us, saves us, redeems us, and continues to fill us
with his love, hope and peace.
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