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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Okay, think about what you just got through hearing sung by our younger children’s choir. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Every one of the figures that we’re going to look at through this season of Lent all take place in and around Christ’s death. This morning’s text, as you look at it, happened six days before Jesus died. So the night that this feast was held in the household of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, it was on the Saturday before he died the following Friday. Very close. In fact, the next morning after this feast, that would be the Sunday we call Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered in Jerusalem. And the children and all the adults were shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
So this feast was the night before that great entry into Jerusalem. Now you know Mary and Martha. They were sisters, weren’t they? And their brother Lazarus was the one who died and was in the tomb for four days. And Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth.” And Lazarus cried. So this family has a great love for their Lord, for Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Kind of a picture of when Jesus himself would be raised from the dead.
So Mary and Martha are there. Notice what it said about Martha. Just like the last time we heard about Martha and Mary and Jesus, Martha was serving. Lazarus was at Jesus’ feet listening to what Jesus had to say. This morning’s text, again, it says, “Martha served.” She was busy doing the things that she was very gifted at doing. Mary, on the other hand, was doing more than just listening to the Word. She was showing what would happen to her Lord and your Lord and my Lord in a matter of six days, where he would die.
When someone dies, like in today’s world, they’re embalmed. At that time, what they ended up doing was putting spices on the body and wrapping the body up and cleaning the body and making it look as beautiful as it could because that body would be raised from the dead. Just like your and my body will be raised from the dead. But Jesus hasn’t died yet. So six days before Jesus actually dies, Mary is showing the world, you and me, she knows what Jesus is going to do. And she’s anointing him with an ointment that would be normally used for those who are dead. And he’s not dead yet.
That’s why I said at the very beginning, remember the song that you heard our children sing. That was the night he was betrayed. That was the night, the last night that he lived before he died the next day on Good Friday. I wonder if he still smelled of this anointment. I wonder if his body still had the smell of the perfume that was placed upon him, because it was only six days prior. Hard to know. But what she did was show you and me, and her sister Martha, and her brother Lazarus, this Jesus whom she loves will die. But you and I know this same Mary died. This same Mary also was used by Jesus after he rose from the dead to tell other people that he is not dead, but alive.
Sometimes in your and my life, we kind of wonder about the things we do. Is what we do really serving God or not? You and I want to have these big kind of service opportunities when we’re not. We put an ointment on somebody’s feet and everybody takes notice of what we did. Because in that household, everybody took notice of what Mary did. In fact, Jesus even said, “Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what Mary has done will be told in memory of her.”
Now you and I, we want to do that kind of a thing, don’t we? But that may not be what we’re supposed to do. Maybe we’re supposed to be like Martha. Martha served. Jesus never said anything negative or bad about what Martha was doing. In fact, had Martha not done what she did, everybody would be hungry. They wouldn’t have anything to eat had she not served them. God places people in your lives for you to serve. Sometimes it’s a very exciting thing to serve those people. And sometimes it’s like Martha, where it’s not noticed as much. God places people in your life to serve.
Now Judas, he didn’t want that service to be done because he thought, “You know what? This is crazy. This is a waste of money. That money could be used for something else.” Sometimes what we do is seen as silly. Sometimes what we’re doing as Jesus’ hands and feet is seen as not being, it’s being wasteful and not being important. It is important. Everything you do to your mom and dad, everything you do for your teachers, everything you do for your family, everything you do as teachers to your students, no matter how mundane it may seem, is pouring oil upon them and having it poured upon you. It’s serving and being served. That’s exactly what Mary did.
Who served her first? Jesus. How? He served her with his forgiveness and his mercy and his grace. Having been served, now she serves Jesus. When were you first served? Thank you. Sometimes it is flashy and flamboyant like the anointing on Jesus’ feet, and sometimes it’s like Martha, just serving. Either way, it is still what God has placed you and they in each other’s lives for that time and place.
We’re gathered around and looking at these people who were very close to the crucifixion. Mary was one of them. We’re looking at this because the crucifixion is the ultimate service for you and me. It’s where he served us with himself and gave everything. But it doesn’t look real flashy, does it? It doesn’t look real bright and amazing. It looks kind of sad, and it looks like a loss. He’s dying. But it’s your and my victory. It’s your and my service done to us. Because he died, we will never die. We will live forever with him and continue to serve as he gives us the opportunities to do in our family’s life, in our school’s life, in our home and in our friends’ and other people’s lives that he places in our lives.
Mary’s a beautiful example of loving and believing service. In the name of Jesus, amen.
