First Love Church
These podcasts are messages that were preached at First Love Church in Ocala, Florida. We hope that you are encouraged and inspired by what you hear. We are a non denominational, egalitarian church that practices a generous orthodoxy. Find out more about our local congregation online at firstlovechurch.org.
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First Love Church
Extravagant Devotion- Make What's Beautiful The Story
What story are you telling yourself? In this powerful exploration of Mary's extravagant worship, we discover the transformative practice of "making the beautiful the story" in our lives and relationships.
When Mary broke open her alabaster jar containing perfume worth an entire year's wages to anoint Jesus' feet, she was immediately criticized. Judas questioned her extravagance, suggesting the money should have helped the poor instead. But Jesus defended her, recognizing something profound in her gesture that others missed - she was preparing him for burial, responding to a sacred moment with complete abandonment.
This contrast between Mary's devotion and Judas' criticism reveals two very different approaches to life and faith. While Judas could quote scripture about caring for the poor, his heart remained unchanged by those words. Mary, however, followed her spiritual intuition, responding from a place of profound gratitude despite cultural taboos and financial cost.
The invitation for us today is clear: develop spiritual sensitivity that allows us to see beauty where others see waste, to respond appropriately to holy moments, and to shift our focus from rehearsing sorrows to celebrating God's goodness. This doesn't mean denying difficulties - as one pastor notes, "hope smells like compost" - but rather recognizing that transformation often begins in messy, painful places.
As we approach Easter, let's embrace the "way of Mary" through practical acts of compassion, presence with those who suffer, and willingness to sacrifice for love. When we make beauty the central narrative of our lives rather than bitterness or regret, we participate in God's ongoing work of making all things new.
What story are you telling about your life? What would change if you began focusing on gratitude instead of grievances? Join us in this journey of transformation, and discover how shifting your perspective can change everything.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
Welcome to the First Love Church podcast. This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala Florida.
Speaker 2:Good morning. I'm going to be reading from the New American Standard Cry loudly, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me day by day and delight to know my ways as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for just decisions. They delight in the newness of God.
Speaker 2:Why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast, you find your desire and drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with the wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
Speaker 2:It is a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself. Is it for the bowing of one's head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast which I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke. Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring forth and your righteousness will go before you. The glory of the lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry and he will say here I am.
Speaker 2:If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the devourer of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.
Speaker 2:And the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones. And you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those who are among you will rebuild the ancient ruins, you will raise up the age-old foundations and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell. If, because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word. Then you will take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Speaker 1:Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Thank you Again. We're so grateful for your presence here this morning.
Speaker 1:I was in a conversation with Lori Beth Jones, and what an honor it is to be in a conversation with her, but also she's an incredible author. If you don't know her books, I would recommend them, and one of the books that she has is Jesus CEO. And one of the things that she said in this recent conversation was make the beautiful the story. Sometimes, when we're describing our own life, we forget to make the beautiful the story. Sometimes we make the heartache the story. Sometimes we make the betrayal the story, and the invitation into this beautiful practice is for all of us make the beautiful the story.
Speaker 1:What you are retelling yourself is one of the reasons why we worship together is we retell the good story.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's sweet to trust in Jesus.
Speaker 1:Oh for grace, to trust him more.
Speaker 1:We are telling the beautiful story, and so this is an invitation to us in the way that we are even going to read the scriptures this morning for this part of Lent, I remind you, in the past few weeks we have such beautiful imagery that we are asked to join in and to remember where we are asked to remember the father who has two sons and one of the sons runs and does whatever he pleases, and the image that we have is a father who, elbows flapping, is running to get this son who is lost.
Speaker 1:And this father who, elbows flapping, is running to get this son who is lost. And this father who, with joy, goes out and says to the older brother who's there, please come into the joy, come into the party. Your brother, my son that was lost is now found and we see these images of joy, we see these images of hope and we're hearing this beautiful story as we head into Holy Week and into the practice of resurrection. This is, for us, a actual practice. How do we become a people who make the beautiful the story?
Speaker 3:You know. I just wanted to comment on that because I've been in church a long time and people have their opportunities for their testimonies and if you've ever been to a testimony service, many times it gets to this really long story about all the things that the devil did, and 20 minutes of this big, long story and then at the end they go and God healed me and God gets like the cliff notes at the end of it, you know, and God gets like the cliff notes at the end of it, you know. And I wonder how much of our life we rehearse the negative and forget to rejoice in the beautiful, to really make that the main part of the story. Amen. And recently I was listening to a statistic and it was so powerful I shared it with the family as soon as I heard it because, you know it brought up the question what do you think is more effective Less negativity spoken or more positivity spoken over you?
Speaker 3:What would be more powerful? Yeah, it's not a trick, it's just what I mean. Okay, well, I would think that too. What would be more powerful? It's not a trick, it's just whatever you need, okay.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 3:I would think that too, but it's absolutely not the case. It's not that you can dump more positive, it's you have to, and this is it's not even like close. It's the thing. If you could have learned something, because coming to church isn't just some cute thing we do and all you just do it so you can get a little merit from God. God intends for us to get together as a family and learn and grow and be transformed Amen. We've been given these talents and one day we're going to return them to Him and we're like oh, I buried them or no, I did something with them. And you've been given this life and what do we do with it?
Speaker 3:Sometimes we just set in negativity or we rehearse what happened. You know, I found myself doing it, in fact, right here in this church building a couple weeks ago. I was talking to somebody how are you doing? And I started to tell a story Because I'm so used to telling negative things. And now I just what was my benefit? Maybe I want you to feel bad for me or join my misery, or do I want to share or dump on you? Why do we do that? I think we're trained to rehearse our sorrows. We're trained to just lead with that and I'm telling you, make the beautiful thing Our sorrows. We're trained to just lead with that and I'm telling you, make the beautiful thing. It so resonated with Heather and I this week and it's a way that we could find something, because I mean, it happened this morning in our dressing room. Heather and I are in there and we got a ceiling fan in there and it's way too big of a ceiling fan for that room system, but if your wife is?
Speaker 3:in menopause. It's not big enough fan, and so this giant airplane thing is flying over our heads in the dressing room, oh whoa, and it makes this engine noise. It's's just an electric ceiling fan, but it's grinding over here and I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, that fan drives me crazy. And Heather said or, we can be thankful that we have air blowing on us and that we have electricity and that we have a fan. And she started and all of a sudden, you're right. Sometimes we get mad at the other person because they're right, instead of going thank you for making the beautiful thing, the story. Now, I know I'm the only one that does this, and so the whole church service is an intervention that you're all here to fix me. Thank you, or maybe could all of us really recognize how much, and Lord, are you willing to go down this rabbit hole? Lord, show me where I'm making the negative thing, my badge and my story and my glory, instead of the beautiful things that God is doing and has done.
Speaker 1:When you read that statistic or heard that statistic, one of the things that they said was, in describing it, what has the most impact on your body? What has the most impact in your life? Is it enough good things or is it limiting or not saying any part of the negativity? And it is, in fact, I think, an evidence of the spirit of God Self-control, do not? We have the power not to rehearse the things that are from before. We even heard this in the scriptures this morning, but God is doing a new thing. So our endeavor today and we'll hear this in the words of Jesus, as given to us also in the words of Flory Beth for this part make the beautiful, the story. This is what Jesus has done, even in coming. For us, jesus is beauty, all-encompassing beauty, the thoughts of love that you are reminded of, that you are welcomed in the house of God, that you are welcomed in the family of God, and this is a good news for us this morning, that we would honor the presence of love with us and the hope that God is making all things new.
Speaker 1:I was standing outside in the backyard and I was David was helping me replant something and I was remembering a gardening book that I was reading and my hands were deep in the dirt, which I think is a type of therapy, and you might want to consider it. Go outside without your shoes on. Don't stand in the anth, which I think is a type of therapy, and you might want to consider it. Go outside without your shoes on. Don't stand in the ant hills. That's a type of hell. But you, to stand in the dirt to look up. Maybe go at nighttime when you know that there's no ants and it's not so blazing hot, but to be able to look at the stars, to be able to listen to the witness of nature, to be able to listen to the birds sing and lift us up and remember that we're part of something so incredibly beautiful.
Speaker 1:But as my hands were deep in this dirt, I was reminded that hope smells like compost A lot of dead things, a lot of things that were but is not anymore. But that beloved is the smell of hope. It is the smell of something being reborn. It is the smell of the promise of something coming again. And in this story, when we approach it this morning, there is for us. A big player in the story is actually fragrance. A big player is how it makes us feel and what it requires from us. So this morning, I remind you that sometimes, if you feel like your life is stinky, it's okay, it's just compost, and there is a time when you plant the right seeds that God will bring something incredible and beautiful.
Speaker 1:So we go this morning to the book of John, chapter 12. I'll remind you that this particular story you've probably heard it before is mentioned in all of the Gospels and I want to remind you, as you already know, that there are many times in the life of Jesus where he is anointed. This is not all the same anointing. There is a specificity about this particular anointing and there's something really incredible I want to read from. We're going to be in John, but I want to read from Matthew, as if to tailor or produce this for you.
Speaker 1:This is what Jesus said in Matthew's version of the same thing. This is what Jesus said in Matthew's version of the same thing In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial and truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. This is an essential story. In fact, jesus said that as often as the good news is produced anywhere is spoken anywhere, this story also should be told, and should be told as a memorial to Mary. This language reminded me of just a week later in the story, jesus is having dinner with his friends and he says I have so wanted to have this meal with you, and every time you do this, do this in memorial of me. But he had first given them the the charge to. When you're together and when you tell the stories, make the story beautiful. Make the beautiful the story. But there is hope for us when he also says what she has done will be given as a memorial for her.
Speaker 3:And I think that, without being a total spoiler to this whole thing, we're going to talk about what she did.
Speaker 3:But I also want you to realize, in that culture and in that time, what she did was wrong, it was illegal, it was frowned upon, it was inappropriate. And you know, I think that something is to be said about our rules and our plans and our way of doing things. That seems right to a man, but it's not right at all. What she did was so right in God's eyes that it's commemorated, that all of us know about her and what she did. It's not forgotten in time, it's not lost, it's in every Gospel, because she decided to serve and do what was in her heart, to do what she was drawn to do, despite what other people are saying around her and despite the potential consequences. I wonder if sometimes we're held back because of sometimes religious notion or sometimes just maybe a fear of what other people might think and I'm challenged by that because I'm drawn to the desire to please God and for obedience and so it's going to sometimes butt up against our culture and our society or our religious misnomers. Amen.
Speaker 1:Six days before the Passover celebration began. You understand, this is right before the Passion Week, this is right before. And so Jesus is fully aware that his end is coming, that the tide has turned against him and that he will be killed. And so this is six days before he goes back to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, coming, that the tide has turned against him and that he will be killed. And so this is six days before he goes back to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, a man he raised from the dead. So I remind you not to let these words fall flat, because this would have been a party. I mean, we're going back to the house he raised him from the dead and now he's like and then you know, come back right before the Passover and we'll celebrate this. So I just want to tell you this would have been a celebration. They would have told their friends oh, you know what, this Lazarus that you see, that we all mourned and buried and put away, and now is back. Well, the man who raised him from the dead is coming. And so this would have not been a discreet meal for four or four, six. This would have been an event. We would have done what we could, not only because it was Passover it's part of their religious tradition, it's part of the thing but the invitation was into this joy, into this celebration. You have restored the family. This was a big deal in many ways, not just in the family, just in that unit, but the hope that it restores to people, that the family unit is restored, that God is coming and he's bringing us back. And so this is where we enter the story.
Speaker 1:A dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor. I just want you to imagine what that would have looked like. Your brother, who was dead, is now brought back to life. What would you have put out? How would you have served this? How you would have washed the lentils with so much care, how you would have prepared that. What wine you would have served. There would have been beauty and intention in every part of this meal that was served.
Speaker 1:Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with them. This particular portion is important. He was among those who ate with them because many times in the way people told stories back in this particular time, they would mention people that were around, but it was almost just a memory of them. It was considered like a ghost of them, except for when you say a person ate with them. Ghosts do not eat food, and so at least this is what I know and the people that are around you they may look like they've seen a ghost, but the very fact that he's eating is this retelling in this story that he is a person, flesh breathing. It's not just a memory of him, he is here with us. In fact, a little bit later, jesus himself is raised from the dead and the people are looking at him like he was a ghost and he said do you have anything to eat? Because again he wants to show them. Because again he wants to show them I am a real being here. This matter matters to God, and so Martha is served, lazarus is among those who ate with him, and Mary took a 12-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from the essence of nard. In the other verse, not in translation, in the other gospel, it says that it took a year's salary, that whatever your salary was from the year. This is how expensive this was, and she anointed Jesus's feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance. So I want to tell you that you also would have experienced it. I mean what the scene is setting here, and I think sometimes the way that we read things is a little tame. I would like to invite you to rewild the story with me. I would like to use your holy imagination and my holy imagination to remember what would have always been in our mind was I was there when they buried that man. I was there when Lazarus was in the tomb. I was there when Mary was weeping.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to see Mary here at many points in this particular story because this is a memorial to her. But she is at the feet of Jesus a lot. She's at the feet of Jesus as a student. She listens and calls him her rabbi and in fact Jesus commends her and says what she is doing will never be taken from her. She is to be the student. Here we see Mary crying when her brother has died and her beloved Jesus has not come to rescue her. I mean, she is outside when she sees him on her knees weeping.
Speaker 1:If you would have come, I just think this would have been a different story. And she's there weeping and Jesus bows next to her and weeps with her Beloved. We have a God who weeps with us. We have a beautiful Savior who reminds us that pain is a part of living, but it does not mean that you are alone. It does not mean that you are alone. It does not mean that you are abandoned. It does not mean that there won't be something beautiful that comes from this story. But in this house, you would have not been able to look away from the wildness that was was happening, with Mary touching Jesus, just weeping and touching, and weeping and touching. And maybe you went to look away because you're like, oh, I don't want to look at her. This is embarrassing her extravagance. But you would have been smelling this nard you know, and and it's not.
Speaker 3:You know, the idea of anointing is not unusual, but but what?
Speaker 3:is is being anointed at your feet, because kings who are anointed, they're on their head. You know and there's a kind of a pride thing in that that you don't see here that you know that jesus was anointed differently, because this is a different kind of king, this is not a king that lords over you, but this is a king that serves you. You know, and and uh, and then kings were anointed by the high priest or other kings, and so for this servant, uh, to to anoint, uh, was something that some people would want to look away or consider a shame, but in it it's for us so many lessons. You know the lesson of obedience, the less. The lesson of sacrifice, of giving everything. Imagine a year's salary given towards that. But where is your gratitude? For?
Speaker 3:You know, in that culture who would have really been the? You know the breadwinner in the house, but the brother. You know Lazarus, and so he's been returned, and so of course, we can see the generosity, but do we allow our hearts to be open in such a way that we realize what we have been given and what we've been set free of? And so there is for us this example of how and where we would bring our anointing.
Speaker 1:Like you, if you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg, reminding you to like, follow and subscribe. Mary took the 12-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from the essence of nard and she anointed Jesus's feet with it, and then she wiped his feet with her hair, and then she wiped his feet with her hair. You have to get really up close and personal with someone to dry their feet with the tears that you have already put in it. Thank you. I'm sure that word was used a million times. I'm sure there were other words too. She was a friend of Jesus. She saw him as a teacher. But thank you. Thank you for not leaving me to cry alone when my brother dies. Thank you for standing by the tomb and petitioning heaven. Thank you for being angry with me that this is not right. Thank you for letting me hear the words another way, thank you, thank you. And with her own sorrow, she washes the feet of the Christ because she sees him for who he is. I can't imagine how beautiful he looked through that wild hair that she had and through her own tears and through this incredible oil. But thank you, thank you for coming. Thank you.
Speaker 1:This is one of my favorite stories has been since I was a tiny little girl. I just felt like the extravagance of the story really drew me in. Like if you're going to go on and say I see you, I love you, thank you, I mean get on your knees and weep this act of devotion that calls us into something greater. I have loved this story and I want to remind all of us when anyone is worshiping out of devotion, it would behoove us never to judge them. You do not know the cost of what happened, you do not know what they are being thankful for unless they share it with you.
Speaker 1:But people's extravagance here, and I want to show you in just a moment, a good disciple is going to criticize her for her extravagance. He is going to start doing churchy things and start looking at what she's doing and going. Oh, that's just too much. That extravagance is too much. And maybe this story seems far away from you, but for years in my own life my brother was trapped in addiction and for all purposes he was dead. And one day Jesus met up with him and my brother is healed and sober, and my brother has been brought back. So when I sing loudly here and when I sing loudly everywhere else, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for not just my brother, but for all brothers, for every person who suffers and someone weeps for them. There is a god who we are seeing, and together we offer extravagant worship, hopeful worship tell the beautiful story.
Speaker 3:You know, this is, this is her opportunity, and the spirit of gratitude is what she chose. And it's expensive. It's expensive, it costs you something to find gratitude in the noisy ceiling fan, but it's always there and there's always an opportunity to tell the beautiful story, but we miss it in our. You know, sometimes it's just to have a topic. What do you want to talk about, noisy ceiling fans? Or can we stir up gratitude and find the beauty in what we've been given? Because when you do that, what do I? What are you thankful for?
Speaker 3:What if we went around the room? You'd begin oh, that was mine, it was taken, I better think of another one. And you'd begin to press in and start to, and all of a sudden there was things that you had not even thought of. Or someone says something that you're like oh, I have that in common with them and I didn't even realize that I should be grateful for that. I could be grateful for that. What if we told that story and that became our habit as a church, as people? We were the kind of people that celebrated God like that on a regular basis. Let's don't dream about that like it's a fantasy, but let's begin to implement that as a reality.
Speaker 1:I hear in the words that Laurie Beth Jones offered us make the beautiful the story. There is an invitation to actually change things. There's an invitation to transform it In fact, what Sue read this morning in Isaiah 58, where there are hungry people, feed them. Now you have made that the beautiful the story. The hunger is no longer the story. You have made the beautiful when you are the person giving out the goodness of God Judas, iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him.
Speaker 1:I remind you that this text is written about 400 years after the actual event, so there's a lot in the story. This is not like a first-hand event, this is not an eyewitness, and I am distressed at how we just remind people over and over again. This is the guy who really messes up. I mean, this is the guy who, when it came down to it, is responsible for this, and we keep rehearsing this part of this. Mean. This is the guy who, when it came down to it, is responsible for this, and we keep rehearsing this part of this is judas, the one who would soon betray him I would like to interject to here, though, that we're not suggesting that you pretend like there was no judas in your story oh no, absolutely, thank you it's just, you know, we're not going to go on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, judas, you know that guy, he was always pulling stuff around you. You know we're not going to go on. Yeah, judas, you know that guy, he was always pulling stuff around. You know what else he did? Oh, yeah, and I saw him do this and I bet he was probably doing that. It's like the older brother. Last week he goes. You know, he wasted all the money, you know, with the hookers. You know the Bible never said that he is interjecting. What he probably would have did, had the money.
Speaker 3:It was like take care of it easy, with your heart there. You exposed it, uh, with your own accusations, you know. And so better to pull back on this kind of stuff, you know. But but it's not to say that there's not a sorrow in in my story and that we would pretend and I think that's the thing that god's never asking us to pretend like something never happened. But it's just, to where is your focus going to be? You see, and my focus, and I'm telling you this, is transformative. Even if you don't get your stuff back right away, you still get to live in joy and it doesn't get to rob from you further, or every time I read to you, every time you tell a story again and all sudden you're retroubled, you're re angered, and all sudden you're you're. You know what's happening in your body. You're really inventing it again.
Speaker 1:So this is Judas, our beloved brother. Let's call him that because that is who he is, and let us practice his innocence. He was picked by Judas, by Jesus, to follow him, and he was a friend. And sometimes friends treat us poorly, but that doesn't mean that they're not a friend. And sometimes friends get us in trouble and betray us. But we can choose another way and make the beautiful the story.
Speaker 1:So Mary is in her extravagance, weeping, wiping his feet with her hair, and Judas's response to her extravagant devotion is that perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor. I remind you, this is part of their tradition. In fact, all the way back in Deuteronomy, god said the poor that are around you are your responsibility and in fact, they will always be here unless you set up systems that will allow them an equity.
Speaker 1:You are responsible for the poor among you. You are responsible for the foreigner among you. In fact, it matters how you farm, because the edges were to be left for someone who didn't have the land and didn't have the tools and didn't have the strength that they could come in and just take what they needed. This was the plan from God since the beginning of these people, and so Judas is referencing this very ancient rule. He's referencing yeah, we know this is how God wants it and she should have done what God wanted her to do. Now he's sitting there, beloved, beloved child of God, beloved brother, and all he is doing is criticizing how she is living her life in extravagant devotion.
Speaker 3:It's so easy to tell someone else or to decide how someone else should handle their resources, and really the responsibility is for us, with ours. And I just want you to look at that, because what he's referring to is the law that everybody else understood and knew, and so in that way she's breaking it by being the woman who's ministering and all of these things that that culture was looking at negative. But I want to ask you a question have you ever heard something and you just know, it's right, you ever.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm talking about, that that inside, whatever you want to call it, intuition or just a knowing or or a sense, I want, I want you to recall a time where, where you had that happen. And then now we've also had other things where people give us information and that information lines up with other information. But that knowing, that knowing, is when my heart is in, tuned with the spirit and my brain stops becoming a hard drive for information and now becomes a receptor for the Holy Spirit. And so I want to describe what has happened to you many times in your life, but you just didn't know that all of a sudden, my mind, I quit using it just to gather facts, and all of a sudden now it becomes this antenna and then my heart is the radio dial and so I keep my heart connected. And then when you get together with somebody with like spirit and they say something, like Gloria Beth Jones said there, and it just rings, how do you know that's true? Do I have any information to back that up? No, but I know that I know. And so I want to challenge you that because the know, that you know, is the ultimate confidence. Because imagine you were mary in the room and the guys are speaking now and they're the ones who rule the show in this culture. Huh, I can't imagine what that would be like.
Speaker 3:And all of a sudden he calls her out and so everybody it's a record scratch. And she's in the middle of Looks at Jesus. What's he going to do? You know, because there is that place where I've stepped out. I believe in my heart this is what I should do. You know, we're going to read on what Jesus says, but to see that, imagine what it would feel like to be confirmed, to be affirmed, that you stepping out, even going against the norm. I've had situations like that happen for me and it is so thrilling to finally hear you know that, son, daughter, you're doing right, you're being obedient. Yeah, you might be kicking against the goes. I was talking to my son yesterday about how frustrating it is at times to do what's right and still not see that benefit come back in. But there's times where God will confirm that. And look what happens here.
Speaker 1:So Judas says the perfume was worth a year's wages. That should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Not that he cared for the poor. So the truth was, the rule was there, but the rule did not transform him. The rule did not inform even the way that he lived his life. He was a thief and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself. We see later in the story that he has ideas that money and power go very much together and he goes to power and he receives money from that power and he betrays Jesus. And then it is that money that he throws back when he realizes that is not the way. It is that money that causes him to make choices for his own death. But Jesus replies to someone looking at this extravagant life and going no, there's a rule, we could have done it another way. And Jesus said leave her alone. That's still the word of Christ for us today. It's as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. Leave her alone.
Speaker 1:She did this in preparation for my burial and that's exactly like what Pastor Dennis reminds us of. She doesn't know, not to any extent, the horror that will endure. There's some beautiful things, that you can do your own research on nard and what it does for the human body. And he was going to suffer and I'm going to tell you the next time that they're all together. It's not going to smell like this. It is going to smell like rotting flesh. It is going to smell like blood mixed with dirt and sweat. It is going to be terrible. And Jesus said I needed this. What she did, she did for me in preparation for this incredible thing that I'm going to do. And when he said burial, he meant in about a week, 10 days, and they thought way far off. He knew what was coming and Jesus says leave her alone.
Speaker 3:I think there's something very important too, because Jesus is always a champion of the poor, so this isn't a situation where he's saying, yeah, this time, you know, do for me instead of those old poor people. The truth is, he understands the abundance of God.
Speaker 3:Yes, that there isn't a choice that has to be made between you having something or poor people having something. That's the craziest part is we have enough to share. All of us do Share what it is you have. Yes, you know, give it all away and there's plenty for for the things that you have need of, but it's not the things that I have want of, because it turns out there's never going to be enough for the things that I have want of.
Speaker 3:Because I mean, I remember working for this guy and he was a multi-millionaire and he would never even go out on the sales floor anymore. He would sit in his office and just buy stuff and then all of a sudden the trailer would come up and there'd be a race car like a you know sports car, and then he'd drive that home and something and he was buying boats and he was just you know. And then you know you think to yourself well, if you had that kind of money, things would be a little bit easier. No, because your want always outdoes your bank account. But your needs, you know those are handled. And so if we could shift, if he sat in his office and thought about how he could bless his salesman, maybe I'd still be there shift. If he sat in his office and thought about how he could bless his salesman, maybe I'd still be there. No, I just. But I mean, what if we did shift though? If you know, I'm sitting around shopping.
Speaker 3:I found myself for years like like that's what I did as a hobby. I went on Facebook marketplace and just looked for stuff, and he didn't know I wanted it until he saw it and then all of a sudden, I desired it and then figured out a way to get it. I know I'm the only person that's done that, but what if we could then just stop that race and focus on the things? How can we serve? How can we give a little more? How can we share? Nobody likes that preaching Heather. What am I going?
Speaker 1:to do. It's a good word they are. It's transforming. Jesus then says you will always have the poor among you and this is again in reference to the verses in Deuteronomy but he reminds them you won't always have me. This is important. What she's doing now, the present moment, matters.
Speaker 1:It's good that we've heard all the way since Deuteronomy, for thousands of years, that this is the way God wanted things done, but right now, in this moment, her response to the presence of the holy is extravagant devotion. What does it look like for us? Because, in our imagination, I feel like all of us who have experienced the love of God would say to each other I would thank Jesus for those things and I would be moved, probably with compassion. But he is not present here among us, beloved in the physical form. He is here in spirit, but he is here in each one of us, your brothers and sisters, each human bearing an image of the divine, each person not only made from God but made of God, each person with such dignity because we are made in the plan, in the thought, in the hope that God has for the world. There is an invitation for us to listen to the words of Jesus, who said to us and as often as you hear my story or this good news that God is coming, pay attention to the story of Mary, because right here she made it beautiful. Right here, right before things will get terrible, she made it beautiful. She makes it beautiful again in quite a few places.
Speaker 1:But Jesus says, when my story is told, her story would be told in memory of her. Why should we remember her? We remember not only her devotion in this one place, but we look at her as a path. What does it look like for us to live like we have? Devotion to the Christ, to the consciousness? That reminds us there's another way to live, beloved, there's a higher thought. You are to love God, love yourself and love your neighbor. That love is to be the path all the time. It is loving, right before Jesus goes to suffer like he did to care for him. It is loving for us to have our eyes changed. It is loving for us to join with heaven. One of the things that I did.
Speaker 3:You want to say something I did because you know, you and I were talking about this week, about how, a week later, jesus says something similar when he says do this in memory of me. And so there's this. You know this was done and she will be remembered, and he's asking us to remember. There's an importance in our remembering, you know, because why you and I have a tendency to forget. That is something that's very natural for us to do.
Speaker 3:I don't want to forget that. That sacrifice means something. I don't want to forget that laying down my life is important, that weeping and washing his feet with my hair is important. I don't want to forget what he has done for us. I don't want to forget the sacrifice that was made on Calvary. I don't want to forget the broken body. I don't want to forget the sacrifice that was made on Calvary. I don't want to forget the broken body. I don't want to forget the shed blood. I don't want to forget that daily bread the thing that I have need of that is offered to me. But I have a tendency to forget that, and so I need to be reminded, I need to rehearse, I need to share. I tell you what. That's a beautiful way to learn. It's in your sharing. Don't wait until you know everything to start sharing. Share what it is that you know and watch God just you know and make the beautiful story. That's what we share.
Speaker 1:This is our hope, beloved. We can make this world a beautiful place, not by our own thoughts, but our prayer that says may your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are invited into this renewal project that the Spirit is doing. The intention of God has always been and is to make all things new, and our participation in making the beautiful the story is our participation in lining up with how God is telling this story. We are joining, we're co-authoring, we're offering our hands and our feet, but we join with not only the church since the beginning, but we join with brothers and sisters all around the world as we celebrate Holy Communion, and what we are about to do may be the most important thing that we've done together. As we are here, we are celebrating this table, this sanctity, this holiness, this sacred meal.
Speaker 3:All right, I just want to piggyback on what you said. As we go into communion is that you have this opportunity to not just tell the beautiful story but make the beauty around you, and I can say that with all confidence, because God has said that he's placed his spirit within you as followers of Christ. Christ lives in us, and so I think somehow we have been duped and we have undervalued our own potential, our own potential power in our, in our lives and in this world. You know, we think to ourselves well, if I'm going to make a difference, I'm going to have to run for some office, or I'm going to have to get some job or get some income. I'll tell you a quick story that happened to Heather and I.
Speaker 3:But all these years ago we lived in Chicago and we had a beautiful house in the suburbs and we were two of the most unhappy people you'd ever meet. We were stirring whether we should start the church or not, and it was the first time ever that the lottery ever got to $365 million. And so I was driving down the road and I looked at that billboard and it said $365 million. And God said well, if you had that money, what would you do. And I said, well, I'd leave this house and I would just go down to Florida and start that church. And then God said to me so if you had $365 million, you'd start the church. And I'm like, yeah, and at this point I'm getting ready to pull over and write down the lottery numbers because I thought I was getting it. And instead God said to me well then, money's your God and not me.
Speaker 3:And all of a sudden it made perfect sense If I had $365 million, I'd start the church. But I have God, and that's not enough. I need that, and $365 million, apparently. Or is that all I ever needed was God? I need that, and $365 million, apparently. Or is that all I ever needed was God? And so I, like any good husband, went home and proposed the question to Heather. I said, heather, if you won that lottery, what would you do with the money? And then she pulled a Heather. Why do you ask, what would you do? I said, don't tell me. And she said, well, I'd go down to Florida and start that church. And I said, well then.
Speaker 1:He did.
Speaker 3:He did. I've grown so much since then. I said, well then, woman, money's your God, not the living God. I made it all religious. And then we looked at one another and we said, well then, and we put the house up for sale and probably wasn't for sale a week and we came down here and we got here on a thursday. We started this church on a sunday. We didn't even let a week go by and even during hurricanes we've had its service every time the doors are open for and we've been feeding the poor.
Speaker 1:And we've been preaching what we know to be the way of Jesus. We made some declarations this morning in our worship.
Speaker 3:We're choosing the Jesus way. But I just want to do you understand why I told that story. Because I found out in a real hard way that you can do the hard things. You can do the hard things. You can do the impossible things if you remember what the lottery numbers are.
Speaker 1:No, no, that wasn't the point of this story.
Speaker 3:So remember you have God and we undersell that in ourselves and then we don't do what the potential is for you and I to really live in and do.
Speaker 1:Let me respond and remind everyone that we did have God, but it took something of ours. We wanted what we had, and extra we wanted what we had. And then for God to show up with something else too and I remind you of the story of the Samaritan to show up with something else too, and I remind you of the story of the Samaritan, this recently we've talked about, where he takes this beaten and battered man and he puts him on his donkey and he takes him to. It will cost us something, and this is the way of Mary. This is the memorial that Jesus is talking about. It will cost you something to be a peacemaker. It will cost you something to be a peacemaker. It will cost you something to think differently than everyone around you. It will cost you something to see him for who he is. Mary saw Jesus. She really saw him, and in the seeing of him she responded with worship. That is absolutely appropriate, although other people may not see it.
Speaker 3:I love that. The way of Mary and the way of Judas is hey, somebody else's money should take care of the poor. Well, there's more people that are more, so think about that. Where are we? Are we listening to that voice that would tell us how we can affect the world around us? Or are we looking at the whole thing and saying, well, I can't do all that, so I'm going to do nothing, or I'm just going to try to spend someone else's money? Oh, you've been given what you've been given to share. That's better preaching there, amen.
Speaker 1:I think the way of Mary is a way of seeing, and I think what the Holy Spirit wants to offer us is another way of seeing. In fact, it is part of Jesus's ministry where he healed the eyes of people and you, beloved as I, might be blind in ways that we do not know. So, opening ourselves up to spirit and asking the spirit, show me how you see this and how I can be a part. Show me how you see this. One of the things that Silas does and as the youngest of my five children, I relish very much the fact that he is with us, present and available, and very often when I say something to him, he can probably tell with an inflection or a tone, as you do when you're around someone for a long time, and I'll say we need to do this, and an act of generosity that he has given to me that tells me that he loves me in such beautiful ways is he comes and he'll stand close to me and he'll go.
Speaker 1:I see what you see. Isn't that what all of us want? Do you see what I see? And isn't this what Mary did for Jesus? I see what you see. There's good to be given and even if it costs you your whole life, it matters. May we join this morning with spirit and offering ourselves. Help me see what you see regarding my neighbors, regarding our city, regarding my spouse, regarding my family.
Speaker 3:Help me see what you see and help us remember it, and I think that's what Jesus's point is here. You know this is. This will be commemorated. We'll remember what it is why, are we reminded because? Because it's important to see the way Jesus is To walk the path of Mary, not the path of Judas. We need to remember these things.
Speaker 1:Jesus said I am the way, I am the truth, I am life. The prophet Jeremiah said this Stop where you are, stand in the crossroads and ask for the ancient paths. Ask for the ancient ways, for in them you will find rest for your souls. There is for us an invitation into the ancient paths. There's a beautiful, very current story called the Mandalorian. I don't know if you're interested. I think it's a beautiful story. You might consider it. It's a way he's the hero and the Mandalorian is a way that he lives. It's choice. And every time he comes up against something that is too big, too hard, will cost two months, he simply says it is the way.
Speaker 1:The way of Mary calls us into devotion. The way of Mary calls us into tenderness. The way of Mary calls us into an embodied feeling. It's not just an esoteric moment, it is hands-on. It is when you're suffering with someone and you show up at their house to suffer with them every day. It is taking food to the poor. It is bringing help to the sick. It is being attention to our neighbors. It is living another way. And this morning, the way of Mary also joins us in the way of Jesus, who is telling us this is how you embody the way of Jesus. Mary is not another way. She is the same way and she is an exemplary, a witness to us of this is what it looks like to follow Devotion, humility. Giving the cost up there is for us a plan into really giving ourselves to the way of Jesus. We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg.
