Glimpses of Grace: A Sermon Series
Grace in Anointing
John 12: 1-8, by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
February 7, 2016
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.’ - John 12: 1-8
It was the best that she had; a costly bottle of perfumed oil. People considered it a prized commodity back in New Testament times for it was worth the annual income of an average laborer. It was pure nard.
Nard is still sold today as an essential oil to stimulate health and wellness naturally. It has an earthy aroma that brings relaxation while also assisting the heart and nervous system. Since ancient times, nard has been considered an extravagant and costly oil as the spikenard root comes from the Himalayas. Nard was once used as sacred incense in the Jerusalem Temple. It was used by gracious hosts to anoint invited guests and demonstrate honor. Nard was also used to anoint kings in life and in death.
Mary took the nard and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark remember Jesus said that this woman had done a good service – a beautiful thing – for him (Matthew 26:10; Mark 14:6). Luke’s Gospel remembers an unnamed woman stepped in off the street to anoint Jesus with her nard and tears as she sought forgiveness (Luke 7:37).
But John’s Gospel focuses on something different. Within this small house friends gather to celebrate a miraculous healing; Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11). In the house Martha is serving dinner and Lazarus is reclining at table next to Jesus. And Mary takes the best that she had and again sits in the presence of her Lord. With a heart of gratitude Mary anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. And then John says that the aroma of the oil filled the house. It is a moment where time is suspended as God’s grace is experienced with the human senses. It is a moment where sight, touch, and smell proclaim God’s steadfast love which brings restoration, healing, and wholeness through Jesus Christ.
Mary knew Jesus as her friend and her Lord. She knew firsthand the love of Jesus Christ and God’s power at work through him. She knew Jesus as the Messiah that was coming into the world to make all things new through God’s redeeming love. The touch of Mary’s hands as she anointed Jesus shared her trust and testimony in a loving Lord and King of Glory who promises healing and wholeness. For as Isaiah says it is by his wounds that we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
John invites you and me to join this intimate setting as Mary anoints Jesus because our human experience with grace is fundamentally connected to an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
A number of years ago I was privileged to take a long weekend retreat with a handful of friends who happened to be clergywomen. Our bonds of friendship grew out of seminary and we entered into ministry leaning upon each other for support and insight. The retreat was to continue nurturing our relationships, supporting one another in our challenges, and to rest in God’s grace. It was a gift to listen to one another’s stories of family, ministry, and life. We each were going through unique life changes and milestones but there was also a common thread. We continued to search for the whispers of God’s grace to find a sense of wholeness in all the ways that life fragments us.
As the retreat came to a close we participated in a service of anointing for wholeness. We sat together in a circle and had a time of prayer as a whole. And then one by one we said a prayer over the friend sitting immediately next to us. It was a prayer asking and trusting the Holy Spirit to be present in that person’s unique situation. And then the friend held our hand and anointed it with oil with the mark of a cross.
It is hard to find words to describe the mysteries of God’s grace in moments like this. The experience of being prayed for and anointed with oil was humbling. The Spirit of the living God fell upon each of us as our hands gave testimony to the power of Christ’s healing love. I felt my own brokenness was held by the very hands of God. The whispers of grace through the prayers and care around that circle proclaimed that our relationships with Jesus Christ and one another were indeed bringing new life.
One of the most beautiful revelations of God’s promises of healing and wholeness is made known through ordinary elements that are common to human life. When we experience God’s grace with the tangible expressions of water (Baptism), bread and juice (Communion), and oil (Anointing) then we are proclaiming “a vision of a community shaped by love and grounded in relationship to Jesus Christ.”*
God takes ordinary things like water, bread, juice, and oil remind us of the greatest story ever told – that is God’s love for you and for me breaks in to our brokenness – our grief, our need for healing, our struggle with forgiveness, our worry, and even our sense of unworthiness. God breaks into these hidden places of our hearts and begins the work that only God’s amazing grace can do.
Anne Lamott once said, “I do not understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”
The work of God’s amazing grace does not stop with you and me as being mere recipients of grace. Remember that John’s Gospel invites us into this intimate setting with Jesus and his friends. John’s story invites you and me to follow Mary’s example to use our hearts, hands, and feet to bear testimony to the fullness of life we have in Jesus Christ.
The Women’s Bible Study Group is currently studying the Gospel of John. And it has been such a gift to dive a little deeper into God’s Word. The words of John’s Gospel are pregnant with the glimpses of grace which Christ is bringing into the world through relationships. The Bible study book we are reading shares an interesting insight to the implications that Mary’s actions have in our lives:
"Jesus’ feet anointed by Mary bring us closer to an understanding of Jesus’ giving himself in love for us and the meaning of our own discipleship in obedience to him. Jesus’ feet will carry him to a cross and ours continue to carry us into a world to bear witness to his love." **
Today we have the opportunity to experience glimpses of God’s grace in a service of anointing for wholeness and in approaching the Lord’s Table to take the bread and cup of Communion. It is my hope and prayer that each of us might experience the Spirit’s presence breaking in to our personal and communal spaces of brokenness. Allow the Spirit to open a deeper awareness of God’s deep embrace in times of need. But more than anything, may the Holy Spirit use these ordinary elements of bread, juice, and oil strengthen our trust in God’s amazing grace and embolden us to go out bearing witness to God’s love.
John’s Gospel and the whole of Scripture leaves us a legacy of faith that has been passed down through every generation. Today we proclaim that this gift of faith continues to shape our lives by our relationships with God and one another through Jesus Christ. But as growing disciples of Jesus Christ, you and I are also the keepers of the story of God’s love. It’s a love that meets us where we are and thank God does not leave us where it found us!
May the glimpses of God’s grace surround you, shape you, and send you so that others may have life in Christ’s name.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources:
* New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary: John (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), p. 600.
** Mark Matson, “Interpretation: The Gospel of John” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002). P. 78
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