Theme: Extravagant Love
Readings:
Isaiah 43:16-21 Philippians 3:4b-14 John
12:1-8Ps 126
Collect:
Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour's blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
Both readings today demonstrate extravagant love, in very different ways. Mary sacrificed the most valuable things she had – her perfume and her reputation – to express her love for Jesus. Paul also sacrificed everything for love of Jesus, in obedient service. Did they love Jesus too much? Should we imitate them?
Let’s look at Paul first. His sacrifice was not so much possessions as his pride. He had much to be proud about – his ancestry, his upbringing, his work for God (persecuting the church!). But now that he had met Jesus, all that counted for nothing. Indeed, anything worth taking pride in was now worse than useless – ‘rubbish’, or better, ‘excrement’ – because it detracted from what was of greatest value, Jesus Christ himself. Paul had discovered that when he put his trust and his hope in Jesus, when he abandoned his previous plans and ambitions and joined Jesus’ followers, he gained the same standing with God that Jesus had.
He was already fully accepted by God, not because of his own efforts, but because of Jesus.
All that Paul wanted now was to become more and more at one with Jesus.
He wanted to get to know him better and better, to become more like him in character and to identify with his purposes and mission. He wanted his future to be bound up with Christ’s, ending up with him in that glorious new age where Christ would reign as king of the new creation.
That would be resurrection life; but Paul knew that unity with Christ in his resurrection involved unity with him in his suffering and death. He was writing from prison, knowing that he would soon be on trial for his life; but he did not complain, for he knew that Jesus was with him, and that his suffering would not be in vain. So he pressed on towards the destiny Christ had planned for him.
Mary knew nothing of this. All she knew was that Jesus was worth giving everything she had for. What could she give? Probably the only thing of value she had was that perfume. She also had her reputation. She decided to sacrifice both – no decent woman would let down her hair in public, that activity was reserved for the bedroom. Perhaps her expression of love was over the top – too extravagant, too sensuous, too outrageous.
But Jesus saw the motive. He could also see a future that no-one else could see, and he accepted Mary’s sacrifice for the beautiful thing it was.
Judas knew as much about Jesus as Mary – if not more. Yet he did not really know Jesus, and did not want to identify with him or become like him. Mary’s action was too extravagant for words.
Is that how we see it? Is it possible to love Jesus too extravagantly?
Jesus’ love for us brought him from the glories of heaven and nailed him to the cross. His love for us lets us make up our own minds about him, despite the risk that we might not appreciate his love, that we might reject him and all he has done for us. But if we believe in his love, can our love for him ever be too extravagant? Isn’t the danger more in the other direction - that we might be embarrassed by such a show?
Questions
1) If you were in that room with Jesus, with whom would you identify? Why?
2) How do you react when people show extravagant love for Jesus?