April 28, 2024
John 12:1-8
Introduction
Have you ever thought about living without a why? Have you ever considered the idea of giving and doing unconditionally. I think that’s often how we see ourselves and how we want to be and live, to live unconditionally and without strings attached, but it’s hard.
We live in a world of economies—a world of exchanges and transactions. You scratch my back; I’ll scratch your back. We live in a world where you pay for what you want, because, as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. We’re expected to return favors for a favor; we are expected to reciprocate in some way the beneficial acts and deeds that come to us. These are all economies.
It’s not hard to think about all the ways this happens and how commonplace and acceptable it is. We exchange our time for money, sacrifice our families for success, and trade our dreams for the practicalities of making ends meet.
Have you ever received a gift and felt indebted, obligated to then gift the giver sometime in the not too distant future? But long before that you must first make sure you send a humble, but slightly gushing, “thank you” note because even the best-intentioned gifts still leave the recipient with an unspoken, yet known, debt of gratitude. After all, how did you feel when you the gift giver didn’t receive a thank-you note or other acknowledgment after giving a best-intentioned gift? How did you feel when you didn’t receive an invitation to dinner to the house of those who you had to dinner at your house.
Have you ever sent flowers after an argument? Were you giving a gift or were you “negotiating” a deal? Have you ever tussled over a lunch bill? “No, no. You paid the last time, it’s my turn” or “I’ll get it today, you can get it next time.”
Regardless of what side of the campaign finance issue you’re on, everyone knows big-time donors expect big-time returns. And it’s not just in politics, sometimes it’s in colleges, universities, businesses, even non-profits of all kinds. Charitable gifts are charitably rewarded with tax deductions. Have you ever said or done something as a means to an end? Have you ever wondered why somebody was doing something for you, wondering what was in it for them?
And yes, of course, this is all even in church. Theologians call it “the economy of salvation.” Believe in Jesus, follow his way, and you too can have salvation and the favor of God. Sometimes we believe our church attendance and good behavior is the currency that pays for God’s favor.
*******
I say none of this as a criticism or judgment. This is all simply an observation that there are thousands of ways in which we daily transact the business of life. We can’t escape it. It’s hard, possibly impossible, to give a pure, transactional free, gift. Economies are simply a part of our world and our lives. As much as I love being a pastor and say I am not in it for the money, I still want and need to be paid.
So no, I am not suggesting economies are inherently wrong or that we need to rid ourselves of economies. But in light of our text for today, I can’t help but wonder if maybe we need to be more aware of the economies of our lives; be more aware of the daily transactions that come with the business of life; be more aware of the power and influence we have within them—and then, by being more aware of the power and influence we have, maybe we consider loosening the stranglehold we tend to let the business of life have on us and others.
Move 1
We cannot always do everything for the payoff, right? But we know this, right? Because yes, sometimes we don’t do something for any kind of payoff. There are times when we do something simply for the sake of doing it—actions and efforts of love, forgiveness, truth, hospitality, justice, compassion. In those times something is being affirmed for itself not for what it might achieve or accomplish. And when that happens there is no why.
There being no why is what is going on with Mary in today’s Gospel. She loves because she loves. She anoints because she anoints. She fragrances because she fragrances. There is no why. It is gift, it is “grace upon grace.” There is nothing in it for her. It is unconditional. It is without measure or calculation. She is not invested in a result or seeking a particular outcome. She’s just doing what she’s doing because that’s what she’s doing. She breaks the chains of means and ends. It is beautifully reckless and faithfully irresponsible.
Which is why none of it makes any sense to Judas… or any other economist. What Mary has done does not align with the business of life. Gifts that have no why stand in contrast to economy, even as Mary stands in contrast to Judas. “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
Now there are multiple ways of interpreting what Judas says. I for one, am willing to give Judas the benefit of the doubt, and believe he really did care about the poor and wanted to help. After all, maybe our Gospel writer was seeking a little revenge, a bit of payback to the betrayer (another economy) by calling him a thief and portraying him in a negative light (which is another economy.)
Regardless, Judas is calculating and practical. He knows the market. He’s an investor looking for a return. He wants to turn Mary’s gift into a profit that will have benefits. Judas has a why. He’s aligned himself with a means and an end. In the economies of our life everything has a why, the business of life is calculable, which systematically makes us into calculating people who expect a return on our investment whether that investment is money, time, good deeds, compassion, hope, love.
Economies… Businesses… the business of life… all of it has a why. And that is ok. Necessary we can argue. But here’s another truth we need to start wrapping on minds around… Mary shows us that time… good deeds… compassion… hope…. love… never need a why.
Move 2
Now, having said that, be assured, I am not trying to draw any conclusions about Mary or Judas. It would be easy to oppose them—Mary is good, Judas is bad. Mary is right, Judas is wrong. And I will tell you why we shouldn’t do this… I know times when I have lived as Judas and times when I have lived as Mary, and I bet the same is true for you.
And because this is a likely truth, we need to ask: What if Mary and Judas are not two opposite lives or people, but rather two aspects of our lives, two ways of living and relating? What if we hold both Mary and Judas within ourselves? What if they are images of ourselves; images of our charitable self and our economic self; images of our unconditioned life and our conditioned life?
We should ask ourselves, when have we been Mary and when have we been Judas? What’s our experience of the two? In what ways have they shaped or misshaped your life? But again, these are not questions about choosing one over the other—gift or economy, Mary or Judas. Rather these questions help us understand that we are so often living in the tension of the two.
And that tension is what keeps us up at night, calls us into question, and ultimately awakens and guides us to how we truly want to live. That tension is the call to be discerning and thoughtful about how we respond to others and engage in life. That tension pushes us to look within ourselves at our motives and desires. That tension reveals that Mary and Judas—gift and economy— are interwoven, and each hold possibilities, opportunities, reason, and vision for what can be. That tension reminds us that time… good deeds… compassion… hope…. love can neither be bought nor sold—for they are all precious and priceless.
Conclusion
When was the last time you did something for someone else without any expectations? When was the last time you did something for someone else with no strings attached, without any conditions or preconditions? When was the last time you did something for someone and there was no why to what you were doing. You were just doing what you were doing because that’s what you were doing.
Angelus Silesius, a seventeenth century German priest, wrote: “The rose has no why; it blossoms because it blossoms. It pays no attention to itself, nor does it ask whether anyone sees it.”
We all live like Judas for much of our lives—and that is ok. Judas lived with a why, he tended to the business of life. But Mary… she lived like the rose, and she blossomed. So what if, from time to time, we lived like Mary? What if we lived like the rose… without a why? What if we blossomed simply because we blossomed. What if there was no motive or seeking to our blossoming; no need to be noticed, no need to be praised, no need to be accomplished? What if we fragranced the world because we couldn’t do anything but fragrance the world? The rose is going to do what it’s going to do regardless of whether anyone sees or smells it. Its beauty and fragrance are not a means to an end. The rose has no why. And yet the rose impacts the world.
*******
I don’t know if we ever truly live and tend to the business of life without a why. I don’t know if we can always live life like Mary, and the rose. But I do know this… It’s the direction I want to go. It’s the way I want to one day tend to the business of my life. What about you? Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, April 28, 2024
Gracious God, you are ever the same in Your truth, love, and grace. Yet you always challenge us to grow, change, and become more like Jesus. We’re not yet what we want to be, what we hope to be, and what we will be—but thanks be to you, we are also no longer what we used to be.
Thank you for the hope of change—for without it, we would never have the chance to grow and become like Jesus. It’s that hope which inspires us to pray for those who are sick or injured, those challenged physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually—and to ask you to heal them, to restore them, to make them whole.
It’s that hope which beckons us to pray on behalf of those who mourn, whose grief is deep and real, whether that grief is new or long-lived—and ask you to comfort them, to give them hope, and to walk with them day-by-day.
It’s that hope which dares us to pray for peace in a world dominated by war and greed and hungry for power; to pray for safe places and safe people on life’s way through a dangerous world; to pray for food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, water for the thirsty, justice for the oppressed, companionship for the lonely, and your love to be shared with all for whom you died and rose.
It’s that hope of transformation that also invites us to pray that we might one day soon, become more like Mary who put all her hope and trust and faith in you, and then lived her entire being from that core, fully aware that to live in such a way was to live as Christ calls.
So guide us in challenging times to live like Mary, and willingly risk being misunderstood. Enable us to stay faithful in the midst of the tension that arises between the business of life and when life is lived like Jesus.
Please listen now to the prayers we need to lift to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”