Scandalous Waste!

Text:  John 12:1-8

            “It’s totally disgusting!  What a waste of public money!”  Such was the public outcry when the original estimate of £109 million escalated to £431 million.  Not only had the building cost a packet but many felt it was ugly.  The Scottish Parliament is not unique in being costly and criticised.  Who could forget the Millennium Dome which came with a price tag of £800 million?  Yet I expect that in one hundred years time - if not sooner - these structures will be held up as a fine example of early 21^stcentury architecture. 

            Just think:  a tourist attraction of today was yesterday’s extravagance.  A walk through South Kensington Park brings you to the Albert Memorial and the Albert Hall.  It’s hard to imagine the financial cost of building the Palace of Westminster or, closer to home, of Blenheim Palace.  Why should such vast sums of money be spent when there are so many poor?  Wouldn’t the money be better spent on alleviating the plight of those who find it hard to keep body and soul together?

            Harder to accept are the vast sums of money spent on cathedrals and churches.  Vast edifices rise up in grandeur supposedly for the glory of God.  Wouldn’t it have been better for the money used to erect St. Paul’s Cathedral to have been given to the poor?  How can opulent places of worship claim to have been built in the name of God whilst so many lived in squalor? 

            Have you ever been in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome?  Vast sums of money were raised through selling indulgences.  People in Medieval times were afraid of purgatory and would do anything to shorten their time there.  A Dominican monk and seller of indulgences named Tetzel preached, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”[1]  Monies raised from indulgences not only created revenue for the Pope, it also kept local churches and universities going.  Luther, who was a doctor of theology in Wittenburg’s University, nailed his 95 theses to the door of Castle Church on 31 October 1517, because he was outraged at the way the church played on the fears of common people to empty their pockets.  If the Pope could forgive people of their sins why then, did he not do it for free?

            The millions spent on civic buildings, cathedrals and Olympic Games should be spent on eradicating poverty.  Right?

            “What a waste!”  Judas exclaimed.  The whole house was filled with the fragrance of nard, a perfume which came from a plant in the Himalayas in India.  Can you imagine the danger and distance involved in obtaining this luxury?  No planes.  No trains.  No cars.  One pound of pure nard worth a year’s wage.  What a waste!

            How much money comes into your household in one year?  Hold that figure firmly in your mind.  Now imagine you have that amount of money sitting in a savings account.  You’ve been on e-bay and Victoria Beckham has put up a bottle of Chanel 5 for sale.  She’s only had a couple of squirts out of it.  Your bid is the total of your savings and your bid is the highest.  It arrives in the post.  You have a friend who works in the supermarket.  She helped you to care for your mother during the final days of her illness.  You have become closest of friends.  She’s on her feet all day.  You have a knack for foot massage.  You go round to their house to give them a massage using up the whole bottle.  What a waste!  Surely you should have given the money to a local charity or to the disaster appeal for Haiti? 

            “What a waste!  Why wasn’t this perfume sold?  The money from the sale could have been given to help the poor.”  Isn’t Judas right to be offended by this extravagance?

            Everything we know about Jesus shows that he cared for the poor.  So how can he so callously remark that “You always have the poor with you”?  I suppose we need to go back to the beginning. 

            The die is cast against Jesus.  Caiaphas the High Priest leads the council.  Jesus must die to save the temple and the Jewish nation from being destroyed by the Romans.  Caiaphas does not realise that his words about one man dying for the nation are prophetic. 

            With the council actively seeking his death, Jesus withdraws to the edge of the wilderness.  The time for him to die is not yet.  The danger is so great that he doesn’t circulate amongst those ‘Jews’ who want him dead. 

            The pilgrims gather in Jerusalem to purify themselves.  They are discussing in the temple whether Jesus will come to the festival or not.  Orders have been given that no one should harbour Jesus.  He must be turned in for arrest.

            There must have been considerable risk then, for Martha, Lazarus and Mary to host Jesus.  Any thought that Jesus might not turn up for the Passover is removed.  Six days before the feast he makes his move towards Jerusalem.  The sixth day before Passover began at sunset on Saturday and so these events would have taken place at some time prior to sunset on Sunday.  He stops in Bethany and is welcomed into the home of Lazarus.  It was the same Lazarus who had been raised from the dead.  It was this incident that had convinced the chief priests and Pharisees people were going to be drawn into believing in Jesus. 

            It was risky for Jesus to return to the scene of the ‘crime’.  It was dangerous for Lazarus to open his door to Jesus.  Dinner is served by Martha and Lazarus shares the table with Jesus.  Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead is about to be prepared for death.

            Providing Jesus with the means to wash his feet before the meal would have been in order.  If foot washing was to be done by another person, it would be performed by slaves, most likely non-Jewish.  For Mary to wash Jesus’ feet was scandalous enough.  To do this with a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard made it even more outrageous.  The nard is expended and the aroma fills the house.  This act of love permeates the air.  Then she uses her hair as a towel to dry his feet.  His feet and her hair are drenched with the scent of death.  She intended this as an act of devotion and yet onlookers may have seen it as an erotic display.  Mary anoints Jesus’ feet rather than his head and in so doing foreshadows his humility in what he is about to do:  wash his disciples’ feet. 

            “What a waste!” Judas cries.  The others in the room probably agreed with him.  This precious perfume could have served the poor.  Jesus sees through Judas.  His spoken concern for the poor is a smokescreen for his greed.  Judas is the one who will betray Jesus.  Judas has already betrayed Jesus and the discipleship group as treasurer.  He has fiddled the books and lined his pockets.  It is Judas who identifies Jesus to his enemies with a kiss and seals Jesus’ death.  On the face of it, Judas’ concern for the poor is laudable and yet his true motives are quite different. 

            “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (Deut. 15:11).  This is not a justification for being stingy or not caring about the poor.  Rather, it asks us whether there is a place for lavish expressions of love for Jesus.  In one sense, Mary’s anointing Jesus for death is giving her all to the one who has become poor for the sake of the poor.  She worships God whose reckless, extravagant love in sending his Son to die for us could appear to be a waste.  Jesus is the Word made flesh and kneels and washes the disciples’ feet.  Mary is motivated by love.  Jesus interprets her extravagant, wasteful love as preparation for his death.  In his death he becomes poor and so gives life.  Mary’s lavish gift of anointing and her drying of Jesus’ feet is a gift to the one who became poor - who takes the role of a slave and washes the feet of the world.

            Is there a place for scandalous waste in the love of Jesus?  Is it OK to make music, write a poem, cook a meal, paint a picture, landscape a garden, shape a sculpture - all for the love of Jesus?  The issue is not ‘giving money’ to the poor.  The issue is whether we are at the centre of our lives or whether Jesus is the centre.  Is he the object of our adoration?  Jesus poured out his life for us.  Some saw it as a scandalous waste.  Will we scandalously be poured out for him?