Life and Love in Bethany
St. Mark 11:1-11
March 25, 2018 – Redeemer
Before we travel with Jesus into Jerusalem we’re going to take a little detour this morning. St. Mark begins and ends his Palm Sunday account in the little village of Bethany. Jesus came from there when He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey and returned there that night. Bethany was about two miles east of Jerusalem, on the other side of the Mount of Olives. Jesus stayed there during Holy Week. Do you remember who Jesus stayed with? Do you remember anything important happening in Bethany?
Jesus stayed with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and that should help you remember one of those events. Jesus came late to Lazarus’ funeral – 4 days late. This family was close friends of Jesus. He made a habit of staying in their home, but He deliberately did not come to the funeral.
When He finally showed up Martha and Mary expressed their disappointment, “Lord, if you had been here, [our] brother would not have died.” Then Jesus walked out to the Judean County cemetery and said what you and I would never say. Open the grave. Four days late. No Benson Funeral Home. No embalming. No thanks. But you and I are not Jesus. He speaks with authority. They open the grave and then, once again, He speaks what we could never speak. “Lazarus, come out.” And Lazarus comes out, alive, wrapped in grave clothes. Not a whiff of death on him.
The raising of Lazarus was the final straw for the Jewish leaders when it came to Jesus. If Jesus can raise the dead there will be no stopping His popularity. He must be killed and so the plot with Judas begins.
If Jesus raises your brother from the dead then your home is always open to Jesus. Lazarus might even had to give up his bed when Jesus came, but who cares? Better to lay sleepless on the dirt floor then to lay dead on a stone slab. So Jesus stays in Bethany during this last week before His crucifixion.
And that is when another significant event happened. They’re having a meal – and you know how that went in this home. Martha was doing all the work. Lazarus was reclining – still getting used to the idea of being alive. And Mary, well you know Mary too – she was at the feet of Jesus. She loved His Word, but now, after He raised of her brother, she loved Jesus even more. So she took some very expensive ointment, humbled herself at Jesus’ feet and began to anoint his feet and to wipe them with her hair. This ointment may have been Mary & Martha’s life insurance policy. If Lazarus had died this ointment could have been sold to provide almost a year’s income for these sisters. Judas Iscariot thought it was a waste, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Judas was the treasurer of the disciples and bookkeepers don’t like waste. Judas was also embezzling from the money bag and would soon betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver for himself.
I’m not sure Saint Mark had those stories in mind when the Holy Spirit reminded him that Jesus began and ended Palm Sunday in Bethany. But I wanted to remind you of them because they can help us as we enter Holy Week with Jesus.
Everything we do this week is because we know how the story ends for Jesus. He said it to Mary and Martha – “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall He live.” We would not be here today singing Hosanna and waving Palm branches if Jesus were still in His grave. We would not eat bread and wine on Thursday believing that little bit of food makes us alive forever. Why would we rehearse His death as the greatest event in history and the most important event for our lives if Jesus was still dead?
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Poor Lazarus he would have to die again to enjoy the final resurrection. Jesus was raised never to die again, and promises us the same resurrection. Whoever believes in me, if you believe in Jesus, that He died for your sins, you will live even though you die. You will rise with Jesus.
Judas considered Mary’s anointing a waste, but that is what love is. Love is wasteful. Love isn’t practical or common sense. Love isn’t for bookkeepers or banks. Don’t buy your stocks based on love. Love is for husbands and wives and mothers and fathers, and parents and children. If Jesus was a bookkeeper He would never have gone to Jerusalem. He would never have been born of the Virgin Mary. God would not have become a man if He didn’t love man. God’s blood is spilled on Golgotha for all sinners. What a waste! That blood is spilled for many people who will never believe, but that matters not to God, for God is love. Love doesn’t keep track or run the odds of a return on an investment. It is good, right, and salutary that God is love because if He wasn’t love – He would never have sent His Son for you. Are you worth the blood of Christ? Any bookkeeper would say “no.” God your heavenly Father says “Yes” with His whole heart – with His own flesh and blood, with Jesus on the cross.
In many ways the Visible Church on earth is wasteful. Look at this big building in which we worship. On average this sanctuary is used two hours a week. Maybe it should be converted into a gym for the neighborhood to use or a coffee shop or brew pub with a meeting place. That makes sense. It might even be practical. More people might come. It might even be good for the books. Many people spend more on their daily coffee or their liquor budget than they give to the church – which is probably an indication of what they love.
But such common sense would actually be against God’s love. Having this large sanctuary, expensive as it is, is a testimony to the love of God in Christ. The two most expensive items in this sanctuary are probably the granite baptismal font and that 1800 pound granite slab that serves as the altar. If you look closely – and it’s hard to see in the dark, you’ll also notice that the pulpit and font are cover in gold mosaic tile (which had to take a little time and money). It tells you the people who built Redeemer loved Christ and weren’t practical. A cement altar would have been cheaper. Why spend all that time putting tiny gold tile on the pulpit? It’s not the font that makes a baptism – it’s the Word with the water. Why the expense? Because Christ’s love for us isn’t practical or cheap. If God has so loved us, ought we not love Him and each other in the same way?
This week you have the opportunity to be wasteful in your love toward God. You can be in the Lord’s house for three or four hours instead of one. Perhaps you also could block off some time to read the story of our Lord’s love for you, His suffering and death from one of the Gospels. If you’re a bookkeeper – Mark’s account is the shortest. Or maybe this week you could strive to have family devotions every night. There are still some copies of Lent Devotions from Higher Things in the narthex.
So go ahead – waste some time this week and don’t worry about what it might cost you. Just remember why Jesus is going into Jerusalem. In love He is going to lay down His life for you. Three days later He rose. Because you know the ending (His resurrection means your resurrection) – you really don’t need to worry about the time or the money you might waste in your love for the Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
24 March 2018 anno Domini