First Presbyterian Church
Passionate Reasons
Sermon for April 9, 2009
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's Time: Crowds, Audiences, and Parades

“Have you ever been to a game where the fans have souvenirs or painted faces? What do they hold?” I held up a large foam finger. What do you think this means?

In Jesus' time, they didn't have these foam fingers. What do you think they used? Yes, sometimes they used palms.

Our unison reading is on page 565. Psalm 118 celebrates deliverance from “a crisis of national proportions.” 1 It begins by saying four times that God's steadfast love endures forever. Steadfast love can also be translated as “covenantal kindness.” It is “the very essence of God's character.” 2Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Psalm 118:19-29.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.

20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.

21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

23 This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success!

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the house of the LORD.

27 The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.

29 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

This ends our reading of the psalm.

In the Palm Sunday scripture at the beginning of worship, the crowd chanted “Save us! Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” It comes from verse 25 and 26 of psalm 118. Later on in the epistles, Jesus is referred to as the “chief cornerstone” which also comes from the psalm. Let's listen to the choir.

Our gospel reading begins on page 51 of your new testaments, in Mark 14. In chapter 8 of Mark, Jesus tells the disciples that he would undergo great suffering, be rejected by the authorities, executed, and rise again after three days. Peter rebuked him. In chapter 9, Jesus tells the disciples that he will be betrayed, killed, and rise again after 3 days. But they didn't understand, and they were afraid to ask him about it. In chapter ten of Mark, Jesus tells the disciples that they are on the way to Jerusalem, where he will be handed over to the authorities, condemned to death, and executed, and rise again. In response, James and John ask to sit at his right and left hand.

As Jesus comes into Jerusalem, the crowds shout “Hosanna.” Jesus goes to the temple, where he says the temple has become a breeding-ground for robbers. He teaches in the temple for several chapters, and then comes our reading. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Mark 14:1-11.

1 It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; 2 for they said, "Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people."

3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, "Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor." And they scolded her.

6 But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."

10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

This ends our reading from Mark 14.

The story of Christ's passion, his torture and crucifixion is a hard one for us to hear. Some people don't come to church during Lent because they think Christianity should be about goodness and light and love and peace and nothing else. But most of us have experienced the pain and suffering of the world. Christians have asked why there is suffering. We look to the Bible, but it does not directly answer our questions about evil. It just says God intervenes on our behalf. Professor Wendy Farley said that the chosen people didn't follow God's law and practice justice and mercy; “they succumbed to the temptations to cherish wealth over justice and tradition over compassion, just as we do.” The Bible doesn't offer us “a theory about evil, but a response to evil.” 3

When we learn of someone suffering, we don't offer theology but a tuna casserole or lasagna or potato soup. The woman with the alabaster jar brought nard. She poured it on him like prophets poured oil on a new king in the ancient stories in the Hebrew Bible. Or perhaps it was more like how women care for the bodies of family members who have died. That's how Jesus took it.

When Jesus spoke of his suffering in the previous year, not only did the disciples not honor it, but they denied it, or were too afraid to speak of it, or tried to use it for their own benefit.

In contrast, the woman with the alabaster jar recognized it. How did she know? She wasn't there to hear Jesus as the disciples traveled around with him. She was in Simon's household. Simon the leper. She knew that Jesus stayed at Simon's house in Bethany and ate at his table. Anyone, even a woman restricted to her home, would know that eating with a leper was a risky thing for a Jewish man to do. 4Lepers were supposed to live alone 5 because their uncleanness was contagious. Touching a leper meant you must sacrifice a sin offering 6 and wash and remain unclean until the evening.

So the woman with the alabaster jar knew that Jesus was doing something unusual because he came to Simon's house. She may have overheard Jesus' teaching there; we don't know. We do know that Jesus understood her action as anointing for burial. He appreciated her acknowledgement of what was happening to him.

Some of the people there said she wasted the nard, the luxurious fragrant oil in the alabaster jar. They thought it was too much. These probably included at least some of the disciples, who had not understood what Jesus said about his suffering, death, and resurrection. They continued not to understand, and also complained she wasted that expensive oil. Perhaps they thought she was being ostentatious, or that she should have shared some of that oil with them instead.

Some of you grew up during the depression between the world wars, or have parents who did. You didn't waste anything; you reused everything you could—it was being a good citizen. I was taught in school the importance of ecology. Now we speak of being “green.”

But recycling and using sustainable materials doesn't have to mean saving money. There's a designer, Franz Grabe, who makes completely sustainable clothing. A fashion reporter wrote about the designer's dresses and suits made out of “natural materials like twigs, leaves, flowers and reeds …. No chance that these frocks will sit unworn for years in your closet; within hours the blossoms begin to wilt, and by the following day your dress is literally dead. As they say, in fashion, what's in one day is out the next.” 7 One dress costs thousands of dollars. 8And no one can wear it again; the best you can hope for is that it goes in the compost heap.

It's easy for us to judge other people for spending money frivolously. I think that's what the disciples were doing.

We do wonder though, about Jesus' remark “you always have the poor with you.” To understand what Jesus is saying, we can look at Deuteronomy 15, a chapter about banking, lending, and borrowing. It says “There will, however, be no one in need among you … if only you will obey the LORD your God by diligently observing this entire commandment …If there is among you anyone in need, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be… Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.'”

The disciples knew this law. Jesus accused them of having the poor with them; which meant they didn't obey this law and give liberally; if they had, the poor with them would not be poor.

The woman with the alabaster jar recognized the moment's importance. Using the nard was a little like us using our good china and silver. It marks the moment. And even though it says she broke open the jar, it meant that she broke the wax and linen seal on the jar. We say we “broke open the wine” and it doesn't mean we smashed the bottle, just that we opened it.

The woman knew something important was happening. It could be that the disciples knew the moment was important, and that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to die, and it made the disciples a little cranky. They didn't want to believe Jesus would be executed. That was not part of the good news they wanted.

It's much easier to deny suffering happens. When we do that, we can comfort ourselves that the world makes sense and that people get what they deserve; the good people have good things happen to them, and the bad people have bad things happen to them.

But most of us know that isn't the case; suffering happens sometimes for no reason at all. Some of us find comfort in know that God understands our grief firsthand.

In Jesus Christ, God knows suffering and injustice. Recognizing that, and marking it, is important. The power of Rome was brought to bear on Jesus the troublemaker; for Rome it was business as usual, except that it was during Passover, so the authorities had to be politically careful, and avoid any cause for riot.

So after the woman with the alabaster jar anointed Jesus, Judas betrayed Jesus to the authorities and the disciples deserted him. A crowd from the priests, scribes and elders, armed with swords and clubs, took Jesus away. In the high priest's courtyard, he was condemned. Our next gospel reading is on page 53. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Mark 15:16-57.

16 Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. 18 And they began saluting him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 19 They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.

20 After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. 21 They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

22 Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it.

24 And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. 25 It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." 27 And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.

(28 no verse)
29 Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,

30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!"

31 In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

34 At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah."

36 And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down."

37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!"

40 There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

42 When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

44 Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. 45 When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.

47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

This ends our reading of God's word.

Joseph of Arimathea had done what was necessary, taking down the body before the Sabbath, according to Jewish law. As was the Roman imperial custom there were tombs for executed criminals. That's probably where Joseph put Jesus' body. Mary Magdalene and Joses' mother Mary made note where the body was laid, so they could come back, and care for the body as was the custom of the Jewish people. They would wash it, put spices on it, and wrap it up. Then wait for a year, gather his bones from the executed tomb, and put them in a place of honor, with his ancestors. That was their plan. God had a different one.

Amen.

1New Interpreter's Bible, IV, p. 1153.
2New Interpreter's Bible, IV, p. 1154.
3 I am indebted to Wendy Farley's article, “Over coming Theodicy,” in Insights, God and Suffering, Fall 2005, Austin Seminary, p. 17.
4Leviticus 14:32.
5 Leviticus 13:46.
6 Leviticus 5:3-6.
7 Reddy, Sameer, “Spending More to Save More” Newsweek 10-6-08.
8 www.humanflowerproject.com.