The Peace of Jesus Christ

Martha M. Shiverick
May 5, 2013

Scripture: Psalm 67 and John 14: 23-19
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John 14:23-19

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make out home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.”

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of everything that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you love me, you will rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks Be To God.

Just when I had finally come down from my news media addiction after the bombings at the Boston Marathon, I received a post on Wednesday that three more individuals had been taken under custody. On went my feed into the New York Times on line news service. I have been following it again ever since.

However important these news blasts are to us, one of the things that makes me sad is the stories about the marathon that were to be the headline news and will not make our news media this year. One was about a father and son who did not finish the race. They were about a mile from the finish line when the bombs went off and they had run the marathon together for the past 30 years. They call themselves Team Hoyt and a bronze statue of them was dedicated in their honor and the start of the Boston Marathon a few days before the marathon. I am sure that their story would have been in all the news stories around the world in the bombings had not occurred.

The father and son team is made up of Rick and Dick Hoyt who are now 51 and 73 years old. They began running when Rick was 13 and was inspired by an article about running that he saw in a magazine and he asked his father if they could do a race together. Although the father, Dick, had never run a race in his life he signed them up. Since 1977 they have competed in 1077 endurance events including 70 marathons, 6 ironman triathlons, and they have run and biked across the whole United States completing the full 3,735 miles in 45 days.

The video you are about to see shows them competing in an ironman triathlon. These are the toughest of the competitions involving elite athletes. The participants swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then complete and full 26.2 mile run.

What I have not told you about Rick and Dick is that their faith has carried them through these events. They have a strong belief that with the power of God you can do anything. They are what we call an ‘Easter People’ with a faith that Christ is alive in their lives. They believe in God’s blessings! This is a video depicting love, dedication, and God’s power. You see, Rick was born with MS and has never walked, run, swam, or spoken on his own. His method of communicating is through a computer which he controls with his eye movement. Watch now as you witness love and dedication of this father and son triathlon team (and so much more of a team) that can only come from our God.

Please watch what should have been the big news at the Boston Marathon this year!

 

 

The Scripture passages we read this morning, the Psalm in the Call to Worship and the Passage from John are both are from the lectionary readings assigned this sixth Sunday in Eastertide. At first glance they might not seem to have much in common with each other but if you think about what is in them, they both contain blessings that tell a lot about our relationship with God…. Our relationship with a living close God.

Psalm 67, which was our Call to Worship, is an expression of Joy. It opens with echoes of what is called the ‘Priestly Benediction’ which is found in Numbers 6: 24 -26. It is thought to be the oldest prayer in the Bible.

The message of the Psalm is that we are blessed. These blessings are a gift from God. They are not just meant for us, not restricted to one type of people, one nation, or one socio-economic bracket; but are meant for God’s whole creation. There is a wideness in God’s sovereignty and love which tell us that God’s blessings are for everyone.

It’s easy to sing this Psalm on weeks like the one we have just had. The blue skies, the warm weather, the beautiful trees in bloom, and the colorful spring flowers sing to how the earth has yielded its increase and God has indeed blessed us. Weeks like these make you feel upbeat, hopeful, and faith-filled! The Psalmist too must have had a week in which all the earth sparked in God’s creative power. The line in the Psalm which commentaries all point to as the important one is that these wonderful blessings are not just for us but for all the peoples. We are ALL meant to praise God because of the blessings we have received. One commentator on the Psalm says that the intension to the Psalmist is for us to see the large vision of God. We are to ask the question, ‘How big is your God?’

Can we believe in a God who blesses all the earth? Can we believe in a God who shares no favorites but is for the nations? Belief in a God like that means God shines on all the earth like the rays of the sun. God’s sun-like radiance is for everyone. Belief in a God who cares for all is hard. Part of us wants God to have favorites. We want God to be in covenant with us and perhaps not with them. But the Psalm says that God blesses us all, even us at the ends of the earth.

The Passage from John is familiar to many because it is often read at memorial services. The context in the Bible is towards the end of Jesus’ ministry. Judas has just asked him, ‘How is it Lord that you will reveal yourself to us?’ Jesus tells him in the answer about the Holy Spirit, or the Advocate, who will come when he has gone.

But the message that Jesus tells him is not really an answer to his question. Like any good communicator, he gets his message across, no matter what the question is that is thrown at him. His message here is about the Peace that Jesus gives that is a kind of Peace that cannot be taken away from you. Jesus is confronted with anxious and fearful people and he offers them peace. He offers the antidote to fear, the peace that he gives, which is the consequence of being in the presence of God.

And Jesus describes that as love. And, in the absence of a physically present Jesus, we must experience God through the Holy Spirit. We must make real the living presence and love of God our ministry and work. And we will experience the peace that God gives when we experience love in action. Through our passionate loving we come closest to our experiencing the peace of God.

This brings me back to the story about Dick and Rick Hoyt. Theirs is a love story and a story where God is physically present. You see, after that first race in 1977 when Rick was 13 and his dad was 37, Rick told his father that he wanted to keep on running in races. The race was the first time in his life that he did not feel handicapped. Racing became the blessing they needed to experience the joy in life and the peace that is meant for all. They are faithful people that tell an Easter message in their daily life. They experience the power of a resurrected God. They don’t let Rick’s handicap be the final message. If you go on their web page you find out that their slogan is “Yes! You Can!”

And many people have given testimonials how Team Hoyt has helped them in their trials. Their story is an illustration that the blessings of God are meant for all. Rick did not let what we see as his severe handicaps prevent him from starting a ministry which helps others. The love that they share and the joy that they get from working together have inspired many people who have faced terrible situations. To me the stories are all Easter Stories. From the testimonials of veterans who are living to live with handicaps due to war injuries to small children who understand the sacrificial love between the father and the son, many have learned of blessings that they could not have otherwise seen. If they CAN, so CAN others. As we live out the blessings that we have been given, the blessings and promise of God’s peace and love, let us do it knowing that in the ways in which we model that peace and love we too are illustrating God’s relationship with us. Sometimes real life stories are the best illustrations we have of all that God has given us. Amen!

 

Having My Own Shepherd

Martha M. Shiverick
April 21, 2013

Scripture: Psalm 23
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(Start with Unison Reading of Psalm 23)

Several years ago one of my sisters was totally devastated when her husband left her for another woman. She was utterly flattened at the time. I remember getting in the car and driving to Baltimore several times a month just to make sure that she and her kids were OK. She lost weight, was depressed, and needed something to get her out of her funk and back among the living again. She found all that in running. The sport empowered her and she regained a sense of herself through it and through the good friends she ran and with whom she trained. When she ran her first race, I went to watch her and to cheer her on. Then I traveled to Philadelphia to support her as she did her first half marathon. Finally I met her and her four then young children in Chicago to support her as she ran the full marathon in the windy city. What an event! It was a great day. All over the city, it was all about the race. As her support team, we knew her running pace and were able to find her and cheer and yell encouragement and support to her half way through the race. Then we went to the finish line and waited for her to come in. The finish line was like a huge party. Music blared. Street entertainers were everywhere. It was a mardi gras of chaos and celebration as everyone was applauded each person as they crossed the finish line, were given their blankets for warmth, and found their families and loved ones. And that day, although she was extremely sweaty and stinky, we all hugged and kissed my sister and took plenty of photos. We were proud of her! She had really accomplished something both physically and emotionally.

I think about that wonderful day every time I hear about a marathon. I know that somewhere in the thousands and thousands of participants in every race are women and men like my sister who are finding security, confidence, and peace through the sport. And they are hopefully being supported by a family waiting at the finish line that love them and are proud of them. And the Boston Marathon this week would have been no different. There were thousands of runners and thousands and thousands of their supporters and loved ones eagerly standing at the finish line to hug and welcome someone who was to finish. It was a beautiful day and a holiday in Boston where the city celebrated Patriots Day with the marathon as part of the festivities. Young 8 year old Martin Richard was one of those there at the finish line to hug his dad as he crossed over the line. He and his mom and sister were there to support someone they loved.

And then the bombs went off. First one explosion and then another blast went off several seconds later. Chaos ensued as people figured out what had indeed taken place. Runners were told to run away from the finish line. Runners who had finished helped others as the reality of the terror became apparent. Stories have filled the news the past few days of the heroic efforts of individuals who saved lives by getting to the injured quickly and getting them to the help they needed. Heroes were born and people rallied to help organize and do what they can. Rescue teams of firefighters and police again proved that they were indeed made of the right stuff.

We lost three people and many more will have to learn to live with loss of limbs and life altering injuries. People will have to deal with their anger, their grief, and their post-traumatic psychological pains. We once again have to talk to our children about violence. We are once again talking to them about the scary things they see on television. Face book was filled again this week as it was this past December after the shootings in Connecticut with quotes from Presbyterian minister and children’s television show host Mister Rogers about threatening times. He said that when he was a little boy and he saw scary things on the news, he asked his mother who told him to always look for helpers. You will always find helpers. And as we saw again this week, there are so many helpful and caring people in the world. So many many people are there to help.

And as community of faith we live with the knowledge that we are not alone. We live with the knowledge that God is with us even in the darkest of our hours. God is our Shepherd. The Judeo-Christian tradition uses this metaphor for our relationship with God throughout the Bible. It is used in many psalms and then Jesus is seen as our Shepherd in the New Testament. Shepherds provide provision for their flock. They lead their flock in the right direction and are accountable for their welfare and their safety. They are always there, caring and watching their flock and care for each one individually.

No wonder this metaphor is so powerful. But the 23rd Psalm is the one that we were to memorize as children. It is the one that our Christian Educators thought we should have in our stash of prayers and statements to pull out at times in our lives when we need to center on God and feel God’s arms surrounding us. In fact I remember reciting it with my Sunday School class in front of the Fairmount Congregation as a small child. It is the Psalm I use most often when I visit the hospital or a home when a person is gravely ill and the one we say in our memorial services to comfort the bereaved. They reason for its power is that although there are many references to God being a Shepherd throughout the Bible, this is the only place in the Bible where it states that God is MY Shepherd. The other references tell of God being our Shepherd… BUT here it is personal. It is not in the first person plural but the first person singular! When we recite the 23rd Psalm we don’t say that God is our Shepherd but that God is MINE. God is MY Shepherd. God is my Shepherd leading me to God.

The 23rd Psalm is a confession of faith. It confesses God’s working in our lives not in the past or in the future but in the here and now. The Lord leads, the Lord restores, the Lord comforts, and the Lord prepares and anoints. This is not a statement about what God has done in the past but what God is doing right now! This is about the goodness of God’s love and it is really intimate!

The 23rd Psalm says that we will not want. That God is trustworthy with our lives. God is bringing us safely to our enemies as God is our true safety. The Psalm gives us a metaphor of abundance. God prepares our table, fills our glass and it overflows. God fills our lives in the midst of all our ups and downs. God fills us when we are frightened and when we feel safe; when we feel loved and when we feel all alone; when we are healthy and when we are sick; when we are financially sound and when we are frightened for the future. God is there when things are great, when we have finished our race and the marathon and are wallowing in the glory, and God is there when the terrorist attacks us as well. God is our Shepherd. God blesses us all of our life.

The last verse in the Psalm even gives us comfort in death. We are promised that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This loving and caring relationship we have with God will not stop at death. God will be our Shepherd even in our death, in fact forever.

John Calvin wrote that this Psalm shows us how faith in God is indeed a gift. We can’t take credit for our faith in a God like this. We experience the love and grace of a God whose nature is to care for us. We are blessed to have the faith in a God who loves us in this manner. It is indeed the Good News we people of faith are called to tell the world.

The sad part of the terrorists attacks over the past decade as we have come to realize that they do indeed happen. Our innocence was shattered that sunny September morning 11 and a half years ago. We have learned to live in a world where truly evil actions occur. We have learned to live where random acts of violence are out of our control. But most importantly, in all the violent terrorist activities, we have learned that they are not the final statement. People care for others. People risk their safety for others. People tend and protect and mend each other. Love always wins. God always wins. The shepherd is always there. God is indeed your Shepherd. God is indeed their shepherd. God is my Shepherd and I shall not want.

We who have faith in a God who has power over all things, know that in the end, God’s will, will indeed be done. Evil does not win. God does. And when we are in situations that are fearful we know that we do not walk alone. God is our Shepherd so we shall not want. The Lord is MY Shepherd and the Lord is YOUR Shepherd too. In the end, we are all with God and are cradled in God’s arms at all times. The Lord is MY Shepherd. Amen!

 

Feed. Tend. Feed. Follow.

Rev. Eric R. Dillenbeck
April 14, 2013

Scripture: John 21:1-19
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John 21:1-19

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.”

They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.

8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.

12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

“Feed. Tend. Feed. Follow”

I have Three scenes to describe for you.

The first scene: It was noon on a hot day in the Dominican Republic. Teenagers and adults are resting; sprawled out on pews in a tiny church in a small batey. The remnants of lunch carefully placed in trash bags, but a few members of the group are outside with the extra sandwiches, handing them out to hungry children who are patiently waiting for a bite to eat.

The second scene: it’s a Friday night and youth and adults have piled into a van and driven over to Bethany Presbyterian Church to serve a warm meal. Some are on the line, dishing up piping hot food so that it is pleasing to the eye. Others are carrying plates to tables to serve hungry guests; doubling checking with them that they have all they need and then serving up containers full of leftovers to bring home for the weekend. Together they are creating safe space for brothers and sisters to rest and be nourished.

And the Third Scene: It’s 5:00 in the afternoon and a few members are in the Dining Room preparing a meal to be served to some new guests coming to stay with us for a week. A few other members are attending to final details, making sure the beds are made and are comfortable, that each family will have enough privacy, that the bathrooms are well marked and that the security alarm is off. The dinner table is set and ready, with plenty of healthy options for hungry mouths and empty stomachs. The guests are almost here and we want everything to be warm and welcoming, we want our guests to know they are safe and loved.

Three examples of how Fairmounters are living Jesus’ challenge from this text.

Feeding the lambs. Tending the sheep. Feeding the sheep.

Our text shows us how Christ appeared to the disciples once again in the early morning on a lonely little beach by the sea of Tiberias. He came to feed them, his devoted disciples, and to remind them, to remind Peter to follow him and that following him means feeding his flock.

Our story opens with a handful of the disciples gathered together in the darkness trying to decide what to do next. Some time before they had been gathered together behind locked doors when Jesus, their teacher, their friend, their resurrected Lord, appeared to them. They had watched as their fellow disciple, Thomas, reached out and touched the Resurrected Jesus and they had been witnesses to many other signs of Jesus’ presence. But Jesus had left them once again and they were unsure of what to do next. They could not stay locked in that Upper Room one more day; they had to begin to do something.

So, Simon Peter decides to venture out into the dark night to do what comes natural; to do what he always did before meeting Jesus. He goes fishing. Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee and a few others love the idea too and decide to join him. They get in someone’s boat and push off from the shore. They spend the night throwing their nets into the sea. Over and over again they toss those nets, somehow managing to miss every school of fish in the sea.

The sun rises and they can just see, by its light, someone on the shore watching them. They don’t know who it is, but he apparently knows them. “Children,” he says, “you have no fish, have you?” “Thank you very much for pointing out that sad fact,” I imagine they think to themselves. “Cast your net to the right side of the boat” he tells them. And to their surprise their haul of fish is so great they can’t pull it back into the boat.

It is at this moment of abundance that the disciple Jesus loved recognizes the man on the beach and tells Peter who it is. Simon Peter puts on his clothes and jumps into the sea. That’s right my friends. At some point Simon Peter had taken off his clothes to fish. And instead of swimming to shore and then getting dressed, Simon Peter gets dressed and then jumps into the water to swim toward Jesus.

Soaking wet, Simon Peter approaches Jesus who sits at a campfire waiting. Knowing the disciples would be hungry from a night on the sea Jesus had some fish already on the fire, but invites them to bring what they have to add to the meal. And then they ate together, they shared a meal together very much like they had on a night not long before; a meal where Jesus predicted Simon Peter would deny him three times.

But at this meal, Jesus does not give Peter the option of denying him. Three times he calls Simon Peter by name and asks him if loves him. “Simon Son of John, do you love me?”

Feed my lambs. Tend my Sheep. Feed my sheep. These are Jesus’ responses to Simon Peter’s admissions of love; these are Jesus’ commands to Peter, to the disciples and to all who hear this story.

Brian, Do you love me? Jesus asks. If so, then feed my lambs.

Stephanie, Are you sure you love me? Jesus asks. If so, tend my sheep.

Kevin, Are you really sure you love me? Jesus asks. If so, feed my sheep.

Jesus keeps pushing Simon Peter. He knows he loves him, but by asking him three times, Jesus is trying to make a point.

Following Christ has to be about more than just loving him.

Loving Christ, means embodying that love for every member of the Good Shepherd’s flock. It means, feeding his Lambs, tending his sheep and making sure everyone has what they need.

• It means volunteering to serve at Bethany or Calvary.

• It means making brail books for the blind.

• It means caring for other members and friends who are in the hospital.

• It means advocating for social programs that will ensure the poorest among us are not forgotten and left behind.

• It means preparing a meal, or eating with our guests in Family Promise. It means washing the laundry after they leave so it will be clean and ready for our next guests. It means spending the night so our guests can rest comfortably knowing they are being taken care of.

• It means giving joyfully of our resources so they can be used for God’s purposes here and throughout the world.

• It means making the things we do from Monday to Saturday be filled with and reflect our Sunday faith.

Following Christ has to be about more than just loving him.

Christ looks into Simon Peter’s heart and sees the love he feels for him. He looks into our hearts, sees the love we have for him and says, “Follow me!”

How do you feed the lambs? How will you tend the sheep? How will we feed the sheep?

“Fairmount, Do you love me?” Christ asks us. If so, “Follow me.”

Amen.

 

The Proof is in the Pudding

Martha M. Shiverick
April 7, 2013 – Doubting Thomas Sunday

Scripture: John 20:19-31

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John Buchanan, the now retired minister of Fourth Presbyterian Church and editor of Christian Century magazine wrote in his editorial this week that he felt that these days and weeks after Easter are the most important in the church year. Sure, we packed the crowds in last Sunday at the 11:00 worship service with an attendance we have not seen since Christmas Eve and last Easter, but these Sundays are really important as you, the people who attend worship this morning, represent the deeply faithful, the steady, loyal heart of our congregation. Buchanan writes that the issues in the days and weeks after Easter are ‘now what?’ and ‘so what?’ and that these are the issues and questions that you all have on your minds.

This morning’s scripture passage begins to deal with these weighty issues. The passage begins where we left off last week. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw it empty. She ran to Peter and the other disciple and told them and they went, or rather ran, to see what had happened. Indeed the tomb was empty and Peter and the other disciple saw and believed. We don’t know what they believed but they then left. Mary encounters the risen Christ and after speaking with him recognizes him. She knows that Jesus lives.

Here we are a week later and the scripture passage for this week is the same one we deal with year after year on the Sunday after Easter. Some call it ‘Doubting Thomas Sunday” but it is really much more than that. Listen now to God’s word as it is told to us in the Gospel of John verses 19-31.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

This scripture passage is great on so many levels. First, even before we get to the Doubting Thomas part, the first part of story with the other disciples is so rich. Here it is right after Jesus has risen from the dead. No doubt the disciples in this locked room have heard from Peter and the other disciple about the disappearance of Jesus’ body from the tomb. Although the Easter scripture says that they believed, we are not told what they believed so we are not sure it was that knew that Jesus had risen from the grave. However, we do know that Mary Magdalene experienced the risen Christ and knew it was her risen Lord. No doubt all three of them have come and told their stories to the disciples. Perhaps they were even hiding with them in the locked room.

And we don’t know how many disciples were there but we do know they were frightened, had locked themselves into a room out of fear. The passage says their fear was of the Jews but my guess is that their fear grew out of confusion. They man they had left their former lives to follow had just died an ugly and agonizing death. The crowds were blood thirsty. They had buries Jesus who they loved so and went to that room and stayed together much like a family retreats back to their home after a memorial service. They needed to grieve. They needed to lick their own emotional wounds and decide where they went next. Would they return to their former home towns and lives? There was a lot to contemplate. And then Peter and the other disciple came back and told them that Jesus’ body was missing. How awful. And then Mary Magdalene came and told them that their Jesus was not dead at all but was alive and she had spoken with him. Of course the door was locked. If I had been a disciple, all this would be too much to take in. I would have silently gone over and locked the door myself!

Obviously a locked door was not deterrence to the Risen Lord. He comes into the room and states his reason for his appearance. He fills them with the Holy Spirit and then commissions them to do his work. He breathes on them. And they believed. Seeing and being filled with God’s Spirit, and commissioned to do God’s work is all they need to believe that indeed Jesus is the Risen Christ. It is wonderful. Imagine their joy that death was not the final word. Jesus was alive. How wonderful… And after commissioning the group, Jesus departs.

It is all wonderful until poor Thomas comes in and finds out that he is the only one that has not experienced the Risen Lord. I am sure he wants to believe. Look at how joyous they all are. But Thomas must have a scientific mind and although he wants to believe, he needs the empirical data himself. We must assume he heard the previous reports from Peter and Mary, and the other disciple and now everyone else had experienced Jesus alive again. But he just can’t bring himself to take that leap of faith. He wants proof. He wants his own evidence. He wants to see and touch Jesus himself.

And so Jesus makes another trip to see the disciples in order that Thomas might get the data he needs to believe. And this little part in the story is just great. Jesus returns a whole week later after making that first appearance in the room, after commissioning the disciples and filling them with the Holy Spirit. And what have they done. It seems that they are still locked up in that same room unable to begin the ministry to which they have been called. Jesus said that he was sending them out as God had sent him and well they were not super heroes…. They stayed in their room with the door locked! They might even have been a total disappointment.

And Jesus comes back. He allows Thomas to gather all the empirical data he needed to believe, and he does. He touches, he smells, he listens, he sees. Thomas then makes a faith statement stating that Jesus is his Lord and his God. This early Christological statement stating that Christ is God comes from the man who seconds before could not believe. He needed to gather all the data. And Jesus says, blessed are those who do not see, but believe.

Jesus is addressing this to us. We are the people who must believe without seeing. We must gather our faith data as post resurrection people in a new way. One of my very favorite novels is John Irving’s book, “A Prayer for Owen Meany”. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good book this spring. In the book, Owen Meany answers his friend’s questions about faith. They are two young boys and the narrator John has a number of conversations with his friend Own about his faith and beliefs. In one instance, Owen illustrates his faith in God by pointing to a gray granite statue of Mary Magdalene in the graveyard as twilight falls. When it has become so dark that the statue is no `longer visible, Own asks John if he knows if the statue is still there. John says that yes, of course the statue is still there. Owen asks him if he is sure even though he can see her and he says yes. And Owen says that that is how his faith is. He can’t see God, but he absolutely knows he is there too.

Some things are just like that. A lot of what we experience at church and through our faith in Christ is really just like that. We can’t see love. But we know when it is there and when it is absent. We can’t see compassion but we can feel when it is there. We can’t touch friendship, but we know when we have it. And we believe absolutely in peace and equality but it is often only defined by what it is not.

And the message for our “Doubting Thomas Sunday” is that we who believe are indeed blessed. We are the ones whose faith allows us to experience God. We are the ones who feel God’s love. We are the ones that know true compassion and forgiveness that comes with the love of God. We are the ones that can see God in the beauty of nature. We are the ones who are religious, are close to God and not just “spiritual”. We are the ones that have found that fellowship within a community of faith, within our community of faith we call Fairmount, brings us a peace and a sense of purpose in our lives. Yes, blessed are we who have faith in our living God.

John Buchanan said in his editorial that these are the weeks that we, the faithful ask the same thing Jesus’ disciples asked: ‘so what?’ and ‘now what?’ The answer is obvious to me. We who Jesus names ‘blessed’ because we know God in our lives also know they joy and comfort our belief and our community of believers brings. And because we have indeed experienced the risen Christ in our lives, we have the same charge and commission that those first disciples had. Just as Christ told them to spread the news, it is indeed our job to share the love we know with others so that they too can hear of Christ’s good news.

Amen!

 

Why Are You Weeping?

Rev. Eric Dillenbeck
March 31, 2013 – Easter Sunday

Scripture: John 20:1-18

JOHN 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God

“Why Are You Weeping?”

“Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia! Our Triumphant Holy Day, Alleluia!…”

“Thine is the glory, Risen, conquering Son; Endless is the victory Thou o’er death has won….”

Ok, I will stop singing there. Heaven knows I have tortured you enough on this fine Easter morning. But that is the best part of Easter; singing these powerful hymns that speak so eloquently about the triumph of Jesus; singing these hymns that express our faith and belief about the power of God’s love for each and every last one of us.

Words like “Triumphant,” “Conquering,” and “victory” hanging in the air as the amazing sounds of brass and drums and organ fill this space along with the smells of spring. What a triumphant morning. Just what Easter should be. When Missy, Shawn and I were discussing which stained glass window should appear on the cover of the bulletin, we knew there was only one choice. It had to be the Resurrection window, the big reveal, the moment when the women were greeted by an angel and then see and recognize Jesus alive again as he foretold.

But as our scripture passage today tells the story, that first Easter was not so glorious. There were no trumpets, there weren’t any drums, there were no hymns and the followers of Jesus certainly did not feel triumphant, victorious or like conquerors.

Early on the first day of that week, three days after Jesus had been crucified and died, there was darkness, there was grief, there was fear. In the Gospel of John, it is Mary Magdalene alone who braves the darkness of the early morning to journey to the tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea. In the other Gospels she is accompanied by other women, but here, we see Mary Magdalene, carried by her grief, come to the place where Christ was buried. As she enters the garden surrounding the tomb she stops dead in her tracks. She thinks the darkness must be playing tricks on her eyes. “Why is it open? Where is the stone covering the entrance?”

She is horrified. You can feel it in the text. She doesn’t take another step toward the tomb. She does not look inside; she does not confirm her assumptions. She turns and she runs! She runs straight to Simon Peter and the other disciple. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

We do not see any conversation about the merits of Mary’s observation. Like Mary, they simply run.

There is a lot of running in this text. Running to discover the truth about their teacher and Lord, but I also imagine their minds are running as well. How can this be? What is going on? All those comments Jesus made about dying and rising again, but that isn’t possible… He did raise Lazarus…But he can’t raise himself… Minds running faster than their feet can carry them.

At first they are running together, side by side toward the garden and tomb, but slowly the unnamed disciple pulls ahead and gets there first. But this disciple just can’t go inside quite yet. He bends down, looks inside and sees nothing but the linen wrappings used to cover Jesus’ body lying in piles on the ground.

About that time Simon Peter, totally out of breath, pushes him aside and without hesitation walks right into the tomb to search for Jesus. He finds the linen grave clothes used to cover Jesus body together on the ground and then in another part of the tomb the head-dressing rolled up and discarded. At that point the other disciple enters and after seeing the full picture begins to believe. What he believes we can’t be sure. He and Simon Peter leave, they walk out of the tomb without another word.

Whatever they believe can’t be too dramatic because the story tells us they return to their homes. We know they gather later that same night behind locked doors with the other disciples, but there is little conversation about what they have discovered. Mary, on the other hand, doesn’t leave. Having run one leg of this trip already she trails the other two disciples back to garden and empty tomb. She arrives, just where she was earlier and approaches the mouth of the cave.

Every step toward the tomb brings waves of grief and tears. In the span of three verses the text tells us three times that Mary is weeping. She must have been inconsolable. She never enters into the tomb; she bends down and peers in, where she sees two angels in white sitting where Jesus had once been laid, but even this sight doesn’t entice her into the emptiness of that space. “Why are you weeping?” they ask her. She barely hears them through her tears, and only gives them a passing response. So focused on missing Jesus, she doesn’t have time for angels in white. Living in the land of grief, she has no time for signs of hope; she has no time for the harbingers of new life; she has no patience for the heralds of grace.

She, like so many of us, never enters into the empty tomb. She never picks up those grave clothes or is able to listen to the Good News echoing from its depths. Grief, anger despair and disappointment hold her back, hold her on the edge, safely away from a real encounter.

We know something about that grief and anger that holds Mary back, those same feelings keep us sitting in the darkness looking at the empty tomb and wondering, “What’s next!” Some of you have been called into a supervisor’s office to be told that your job no longer exists; some of you have received terrible news from doctors; some of you have been or know someone else who has been a victim of violence; some of you struggle or know someone who struggles with addiction; some of you struggle with estranged relationships with children or parents; some of you are overwhelmed by the news about the Syrian refugees; some of you distraught about the tones of wars sounding from North Korea…

Some of you, most of you, probably all of you know something about the grief and the weeping that keeps Mary from entering that tomb.

That place in the darkness in the garden, filled with anger and grief and disbelief is familiar to us, but the empty tomb just does not make sense. We don’t seem to mind walking the tough days of Lent because the way of the cross, the way of suffering and despair is at least familiar. It is easier to accept because we know what it looks like and what it feels like. But when it comes to that empty tomb, we keep ourselves outside in the darkness of the garden because resurrection, because abundant life isn’t so easy to grasp; it isn’t so familiar.

That’s what Mary was doing. She kept herself away from the signs of new life because it just did not fit into her understandings. She was there when Jesus was put into that tomb. She was there when the stone was put in place. She was there. But Jesus isn’t THERE anymore.

So there she stands, on the edge of walking into the emptiness, on the edge of understanding, but unable to take the next steps because her grief has immobilized her. But the story does not end there, my friends. Mary turns to go and practically knocks the resurrected Jesus off his feet. She doesn’t recognize him through the mist of her tears, but he recognizes her. Jesus meets her on the edge of the emptiness, he comes to where she is and calls her by name and in that moment Mary recognizes him.

In the same way the risen Christ comes to us. If we, like Simon Peter, charge right into the tomb to sing the glorious choruses or if we sit in the darkness of the garden in our grief and doubt, the Risen Christ comes to meet us, he comes to call us by name and to send us out so that we may tell the world that “we have seen the Lord.” The Risen Christ does not leave us to dwell in fear and grief. The Risen Christ does not abandon us, he comes to us, wherever we are and calls us by name.

A light shines in the DARKNESS.

And the DARKNESS did not overcome it.

Christ is Risen.

CHRIST HAS RISEN INDEED!

Alleluia! Amen.

 

Reflections in the Windows: Entering Jerusalem

Martha M. Shiverick
Palm Sunday – March 24, 2013

Scripture: Luke 19: 28-40
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Luke 19: 28-40

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Since Pope Benedict XVI announced on February 11th of this year that he was planning on retiring and stepping down as Pope, the Catholic Church has been in the news and our minds! After he retired on February 28th the world listened to commentators and Vatican insiders ponder who would be the next Pope and head of the Catholic Church. One commentator would say that ‘Certainly it would be an Italian as the past two Popes have not been Italian’. Others would discuss the characteristics needed of the next leader and how strength and a lack of fear of the insider politics and power base would be crucial. Never once did anyone suggest a Jesuit. Never once did anyone suggest a person from the Americas. Never once did anyone suggest someone from the Southern hemisphere.

And to every commentator’s surprise the new pope was all these things and he even shocked the world greater when he took on the name of St Francis, a man whose humble nature and grassroots ministry was nothing like life in Vatican City. There is no coincidence that the pope chose the name Francis. St. Francis as a young man wanted to be a warrior. And even though he wanted a career in the military, he did not prove to have the skills for it. He was wounded in his first battle and sent home to heal. While home, he went to pray at his home church which was in disrepair and ruin. Walls were cracked and not cared for. And while there, he heard God’s voice. It told him that he was to rebuild God’s church. My guess is that Pope Francis is called to the same ministry. He too is called to build up his church which is in need of repair. And Pope Francis has continued to shock, surprise, and electrify people this past week and a half since he was elected on March 13th. He is not what anyone anticipated but people are feeling that in spite of and because of that fact; God’s work was indeed in the selection process. Perhaps Pope Francis is indeed just what the Catholic Church needs.

And he is different. He won’t dress like the other Popes. The Papal ring he chose was simplistic. He wants to be with the people on the streets instead of sequestered in Vatican City or protected in the Pope-mobile. He jumps out of his car to bless a handicapped person. He shakes hands, he talks to common people, and he approached his new role and title role with a humility and honor that has not been seen. His theology is different. He believes in an evolving church and people have pondered that this pope might be open to ideas other popes would not ponder such as gay marriage, priests getting married, and ordination of women. And people applaud and are so grateful for his absolute condemnation of pedophilia.

And the crowds…. Well they have been going wild! He is on the news every night. My catholic friends are talking with hope about their church. And perhaps a new day has arrived for our Catholic brothers and sisters who have been so disappointed by their church governance these past decades. I don’t know about you, but I feel their spiritual energy growing. I feel their hope and their belief. I definitely feel that a new life has entered the Roman Catholic Church. God’s Holy Spirit is at work!

I look at the pictures of the new pope riding in his pope-mobile which the crowds going wild and I can’t help but draw a comparison between this pope and Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. A change has been needed. People have recognized God’s messenger in an unlikely source. The crowds are wild with expectation…. Something is going to happen!

The account of Palm Sunday that we heard this morning from the Gospel of Luke is told in all four Gospels. The stories are quite similar with the exception of the omission of palms or leafy branches being waved and placed on the ground before Jesus in this Gospel. But the message is clear. Jesus was in control of this entry into Jerusalem and was doing this last journey on the terms he has set. One commentator I read said that through this story we learn that Jesus does not only proclaim God’s word; Jesus IS God’s word.

Jesus tells a couple of his followers to go into the next town where they will find a colt that has never been ridden and bring it to him. And, just as he told them, they found this donkey or colt tied up and brought it to him. The fact that it had never been ridden was important. If you think about all the stories where animals take on sacred tasks in the Bible, they are always young and have never been employed in other services. Could the fact that Jesus wants this colt instead of a horse signify that he sees the colt as a sacrificial object? Is it meant to be another foretelling of what lies ahead? All we know for sure is that Jesus knew what was going to happen and was indeed in charge.

So, his disciples placed some cloaks on the colt and then helped Jesus up on top of the animal. This procession into Jerusalem is about to take place. If there had been news commentators and reporters at hand, they most likely would have commented on the difference of this procession than the one that people had envisioned for their Messiah. Where were the warriors? Where were the beautiful horses dressed in finery? Shouldn’t the Messiah come in with an entourage like Herod did when he came that same time to visit Jerusalem? But Jesus knew what he was doing. He had divine knowledge about what was happening and had a message to us even in his arrival on that day. His parade was going to be a lesson from God.

So, Jesus started on his final trek into Jerusalem on a colt. And the unexpected happened. The people took off their cloaks and laid them on the ground for the colt to walk over. And what started as a small group became a multitude of disciples singing songs of peace. They praise him as the King of Peace. Where at His birth angels welcomed the Prince of Peace, here as he entered Jerusalem his followers do as well. And they welcome the King of Peace as they sing the words from Psalm 118 as we did this morning.

The crowd must have gotten pretty wild and loud with all that ecstatic praise and singing when the Pharisees came forward to rebuke Jesus and to tell him to calm down the crowds. We are not exactly sure why they did this. Were they embarrassed by people’s demonstrations of love and faith? Did they perceive the parade to be in bad taste like David dancing wildly wearing nothing but his loin cloth as the Ark of the Lord was brought into Jerusalem so many years before? Was it their own disbelief in Jesus as the Messiah that made them request that the parade quiet down? Or was it that they perceived the danger ahead that would come with a crowd singing allegiance to another power besides those of the civil authorities?

We don’t know why they complained but we do know the answer that Jesus gave. He said that even if the disciples quieted down, the stones along the path would shout out! What a beautiful statement of the fact that the whole earth is God’s creation. Fred Craddock, professor emeritus at Emory University, wrote a commentary on the passage. His understanding of this response by Jesus is a call for Christians to become earth-keepers, to feel the connection we have with all of God’s creation.

Craddock feels that throughout the Bible there is an innate understanding which modern society has lost that we are a part of God’s universe and not over and above it. The lion lies down with the lamb as a sign of peace in Isaiah. Matthew talks about a special star in the sky which witnessed to the birth of our Messiah. Even at Jesus’s death the earth responded to his being crucified with an eclipse of the sun that lasted three hours. All of creation is from God and everything shares in the final reign of God. With that understanding, why wouldn’t the stones cry out Hosanna if the people were to stop?

Of course the parade is also a day of contrasts as well. Today we celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem in triumph with the knowledge of the inevitable crucifixion. We celebrate Christ, the Ruler of the Universe who rides into town on a borrowed colt. Clearly the city comes out to welcome him, but we know that in just a few days they will cry out for his punishment by death.

But the crowds got it right for this day. Jesus’s disciples and followers might really mess up later on in the week but for now they understood. They recognize that even though Jesus was not what they had envisioned or what they thought they needed, Jesus was God’s chosen One and that God’s vision was far greater than theirs. So, for now they recognize that Jesus is their Messiah and are not frightened to scream the news out to the world. This is the point in Christ’s ministry where we can say the people got it right.

Sometimes we get it right too. Sometimes we recognize when God is working in our world and sending us people to do the will of God. Sometimes we recognize this even when they do not look, act, or even sound like the people we envisioned that we need and that God would send. Although sometimes we get it right, there are many other times when we fail to see God at work in our lives or we fail to recognize why God has sent that person. But the good news is that even when we get it wrong, God rules. Even when we mess everything up like we know happens later in this Holy Week, God is always in charge.

Look again at our stained glass window depicting the entry into Jerusalem. The crowds are there waving their palm branches. They are singing and shouting for joy. As they cry out that he is the King of peace, he offers the sign of God’s peace to them. He is in control. He knows where this road will lead even though the crowds do not. He knows what the price is for their salvation and grace.

So let us too rejoice today, knowing that we are entering a rollercoaster of emotions throughout this week. We join together during this Holy Week, knowing that soon we will despair but that on the other side of this is the promise of Easter. And through it all, God is there and as it is with everything; God’s will be done. Amen.

 

Reflections in the Window: Honoring Christ

Rev. Eric Dillenbeck
March 17, 2013, Lent 5

Scripture: John 12:1-11
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John 12:1-11

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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.

4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6(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.)

7Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.

8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

9When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God

“Reflections in the Window: Honoring Christ”

Who doesn’t love a good dinner party? The chance to gather with friends, enjoy delicious food and tell stories should not be missed.

When I was in high school my friends and I used to have dinner parties. Every couple of months one of us would host a dinner party. They started as potluck dinners with board games afterwards, but they quickly evolved into formal affairs. Invitations were passed out secretly in the school cafeteria during lunch and the preparations began. The host family provided the entire meal. The meal was served on the good china with the fancy silver in the formal dining room. The teenage guests all came dressed up in our best outfits to fit the theme suggested on the invitation. It was fun to dress up and eat exquisite food prepared by our friends and their parents. And the parents really enjoyed the experience too. While they didn’t dine with us, they loved helping to serve us and listen to our conversations from the kitchen; probably laughing at our clumsy dinner conversations. I remember everyone was so anxious about those first dinner parties. We worried about using the right forks and spoons; the hosts stressed if the salt and pepper shakers weren’t on the table, or if they forgot something.

As I have grown and matured, and especially since I have had children, I have relaxed my need to have everything absolutely perfect when we host a dinner party. While we want things to be nice and comfortable for our guests I am firm believer that grace abounds. But having said that, if someone walked in, broke open a bottle of aromatic ointment and started rubbing another guest’s feet I am pretty sure I would be startled.

This is exactly what happened at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Mary, moved by love for Christ, interrupts the dinner party by breaking open a jar of perfume made from nard and anointing Jesus’ feet. I want to cut Mary a bit of slack for this social faux pas because she and her sister had just been wrapped up in the depths of despair. Their brother, Lazarus, had been dead and in the tomb for FOUR days.

Before he died, they had tried to get Jesus to come, but he just couldn’t make it. So Mary and Martha buried their brother and were in deep grief for him. But then Jesus showed up and called Lazarus out of the clutches of death. With the stench of death still around him, Lazarus walks out of the cave in which they had laid him to rest back into relationship with his sisters. Overjoyed by his presence, but also very aware of the huge crowd grumbling around them, Mary and Martha take Jesus and his disciples back to their home in Bethany.

This is the scene depicted in our window. A dinner party thrown to celebrate the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection, a dinner party to remove Jesus from the angry eyes of the Pharisees who had begun to plot Jesus’ death.

If you survey the window from the top down, you can take in the whole scene. We have Martha serving, as she always does. There she is, top left hand side of the window, bringing food to the table in the basket on top of her head. And there are two of the disciples at the table, probably trying to find out from Lazarus what it was like to be dead. “Was there a bright light? What did the Holy Throne look like?” And there on the left behind Jesus is the newly resurrected Lazarus, the one with the blue shirt to match his sister Mary’s. And then we have Jesus with his feet extended to Mary. This is where, in my opinion, our artist got the details a bit wrong.

The text tells us “Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.”

But in our window we see Mary’s hair is still safely covered and appropriate. In the text we see that Mary’s gratitude and love for Christ have led her to forget the acceptable social conventions of the day. It would have been highly inappropriate for a respectable woman to let her hair down in the company of a roomful of men, but that doesn’t stop Mary. Jesus has just brought her brother back to life, he has just pulled Lazarus from the clutches of death. In light of this extravagant act of grace Mary is moved to care for Jesus. Like everyone else in the house, she is aware that this miracle has caused quite a stir among the Jewish leadership, it has focused attention on Christ in ways that will lead to serious repercussions.

In this act of resurrection she recognizes in Christ, what she has known all along, that he is the Messiah, the Son of God who has come to extend God’s justice and reconciliation. Moved by this truth, Mary needs to respond with her own act of extravagance, so she goes to fetch the finest ointment to anoint him, to set him apart, to mark him for God’s work in the world.

Susan Hylen, a Professor of New Testament at Emory University tells us that “anointing with oil or perfume had many purposes in antiquity. For kings and priests, anointing meant consecration for a specific purpose. The sick were anointed as a ritual of healing and the dead were anointed for burial.”

So Mary enters the room with a pound of costly perfume, she unwraps her hair and stands before Jesus. In that moment she could have moved around the back of Jesus to anoint his head, a prophetic act signifying him as King. But instead, in the Gospel of John, Mary sits on the floor and anoints his feet, a part of the ritual of preparation for death and burial, and then wipes his feet with her hair.

Nothing about this act fits the social norms. It is an extravagant act of devotion in response to a gift of life that is too big for words. It is an extravagant act of gratitude that highlights the hidden priorities and intentions of everyone else in the room, especially Judas.

He wants to know why Mary is allowed to waste this expensive gift on Jesus’ feet when it could have been sold and used for the poor. The text tells us that this is not really why Judas wants to sell the perfume, but Jesus doesn’t allow the conversation to go any further. “Leave her alone,” Jesus says to him. “She is preparing me for the day of my burial.”

But in our window, this portion of the story is ignored. The artist has Mary’s hair safely tucked away, safely tied back and covered and Lazarus, if present at all, plays no significant part of the rendering of this story. My interpretation: the artist was uncomfortable with the extravagance and intimacy of Mary’s gift so he downplayed the awkwardness of that moment.

Anointing Jesus feet and drying them with her hair. Imagine the posture needed for such an act. Mary would have needed to be bent over the feet of the Messiah; crouched close enough to wrap her hair around his feet to absorb the excess ointment.

What would it have been like to be the other disciples around the table that day? What would it have been like to be Martha or Lazarus, to see their sister in such a position before Christ? What would it have been like to witness such extravagant gratitude?

Our window sums up our reaction pretty well. Not one person other than Christ is actually looking at the blessing taking place on the floor. We don’t know what to do with such expressions. When we are confronted with such exuberance we usually ignore it like the other disciples or attack it like Judas. When Jesus addresses Judas, I wonder if he is also addressing those of us who are pulling back from such unconventional and excessive outpourings of faith, love and service?

Like Mary and Martha we too have received an amazing gift of restored life, of resurrection and new beginnings. We too have been recipients of the extravagant grace of God working in our lives. How do we respond? How do we honor Christ among us? Are we like Martha, busy trying to get the table set and the people fed? Are we like Lazarus, simply sitting at the table with Christ? Are we like the other disciples, unsure of what to say or do? Are we like Judas, trying to find ways to keep what has been given for ourselves? Or are we like Mary? At the feet of Jesus, trying to honor the gift in our midst by extravagantly pouring out all that we have at our disposal?

We have come to that time of the church year. The talk of crucifixion is in the air. The Pharisees are plotting and Judas has a plan in mind. The crowds are gathering for the Passover feast. As we look forward to the gift of resurrection we know is coming how do we respond? What posture do we take? What gifts are we pouring out for the sake of Christ?

Let us pour forth our gifts that they may be a bouquet of joy that honors Christ and helps the world know of the extravagant gift so freely given for you…

So freely given for me…

So freely given for all of God’s children everywhere.