"A Fool For Christ"

Sermon Preached By Rev. Kendrick D. Weaver - April 9, 2006

Mark 14:1-9

In order to properly understand this passage in Mark, we must have a sense of the physical and emotional state of the disciples.  The disciples had placed their entire present and future in the hands of this Jesus character. Now, almost two years later, they found themselves in a worse predicament than when they started.

 They were unemployed.

They were cast out by family members.

They were rejected by the priests and religion that used to care for them.

They were borderline fugitives, being watched and regarded with suspicion.

They had become part-time bodyguards, part-time preachers, part-time social workers and part-time beggars.

They had become followers of a teacher that was on Jerusalem’s most wanted list.

They started to see less and less miracles by Jesus.

They started to hear less talk about the kingdom of earth and more talk about a distant kingdom to come.

They started to listen to fewer stories about triumph and more stories about suffering and persecution.

 It was in this context of unemployment, confusion, frustration, mental and physical fatigue that the disciples encountered a woman who wanted to praise and honor Christ. 

I. Woman Honors Christ

A woman honored Jesus in three very specific ways.  Alabaster was a marble-like material imported from Egypt.  This material was often used to adorn sacred and royal places.  An alabaster jar was precious and a gift itself.  This woman did not just have an alabaster jar, but she had an alabaster jar filled with nard.  Nard was a perfume extracted from a plant found in India.  Both the alabaster jar and nard were extremely expensive items individually and even more so collectively. 

This woman drove pass Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls, Macys,  Lord and Taylor, Nordstrom and ended up at Neiman Marcus.  She went into the store and asked, “Where is your perfume section?”  She went to the perfume section and looked at all the perfumes on the shelf from the least to the most expensive.  After she looked at all the perfumes on the shelf, she got one of the attendants and asked her, “Are these all the perfumes that you carry?”  The attendant said, “No, ma’am we have some more expensive and rare perfumes behind the counter, but we don’t pull those out unless some ask.”  The woman said, “Well, I’m asking so pull those out.”  The attendant went behind the counter and pulled out the top leading designer perfumes that had been released from all over the country.  The woman looked at all the perfumes and said, “All that is nice, but what do you have in the vault?”  The attendant looked surprised that the woman knew about the vault.  The vault was where the store kept the extremely good merchandise that only one or two entering the store per year could afford.  “Miss, you don’t want to bother with the vault. We have to do a credit check in order for you just to look inside.”  The woman responded, “I don’t care. I want to see what is in the vault.”  So the attendant called two security guards to escort the woman to the vault.  The attendant punched in the code to the vault, opened up the vault and said, “Miss, right now we only have one item in the vault.  We have a perfume called nard extracted from the mountains in India and placed in an alabaster jar imported from Egypt,” and the woman said, “I’ll take it.”           

            This woman could have simply made a financial contribution.  She could have simply gone anywhere and got any kind of perfume, but she wanted to make a financial sacrifice.  We cannot talk about praising God separate from making financial sacrifices for God’s kingdom.  The first way that the woman praised Jesus was by making a financial sacrifice.

 Once this woman obtained the alabaster jar with nard in it, she could have stopped there.  She could have felt that her duty in honoring Christ was fulfilled.  She could have got a box, some bubble paper, packaged the perfume, went to the post office and sent the package off priority mail to Jesus.  However, the woman went to the house of Simon the Leper to find Jesus.  The second way that the woman praised Jesus was by seeking him out. 

If we truly want to honor God we must have a desire to form a closer relationship with Christ.  We must seek out Jesus in our personal and social lives.  Every place you go, ask yourself:  Where would Jesus be at this moment?  What would Jesus be doing in this context?  Who would Jesus be with?  Then go there and do it.   

Sometimes you have to seek Jesus out by reading the scriptures.

Sometimes you have to seek Jesus out by fellowship with other Christians.

Sometimes you have to seek Jesus out by prayer and meditation.

Sometimes you have to seek Jesus out by association with those that have been outcast and down trodden. 

The woman purchased the perfume and then sought Jesus’ location.  Now the woman could have also stopped there.  The woman could have gone to Jesus and said, “Jesus, I bought you this very expensive perfume. It was a pleasure seeing you, please enjoy.”  The woman did one more thing. The woman poured the perfume on Jesus.  The last way that the woman honored Jesus was by doing some work. 

It wasn’t good enough for her to read the scriptures; she wanted to apply them.

It wasn’t good enough for her to fellowship with Christians; she wanted to mobilize them.

It wasn’t good enough for her just to pray and meditate; she wanted to be more like Christ.

It wasn’t good enough for her just to associate with those that had  been outcast and down trodden; she wanted to serve them.

She honored Jesus by pouring the perfume on his head and body, by taking some action.  This woman honored Jesus in three ways: a financial sacrifice, seeking Jesus out and serving Jesus.   

II. Disciples Scold the Woman

As this woman honored Jesus, the disciples came to her and scolded her for her actions.

These disciples were unemployed, frustrated, confused, mentally and physically fatigued.  Their leader was being hunted by the authorities.  It was crazy for anybody to want to praise in that context.

The disciples pulled the woman aside and said: 

Don’t you know what we have been going through?

Don’t you know what type of strain Jesus is under?

Don’t you know how many people are suffering in this city?

This is no time to be honoring Jesus by bringing him expense bottles of perfume and pouring it on him.  That just doesn’t make any sense.

The disciples thought the woman was crazy for her actions.

You give how much money to the church?

And you only make what?

You attend Sunday worship, a weekday meeting and a Christian fellowship group every week?

You go to church early just so you can teach Sunday school?

You are going to give up your only free day to help repair someone’s house in April?

You take part of your groceries and use it to prepare meals for people in the shelter?

Don’t you know your utilities, childcare and housing expenses are sky high?

Don’t you know that you barely have enough time in your schedule to do what you are doing now?

Don’t you know you already participate in enough activities?

Don’t you know you already help enough people?

What you are doing just doesn’t make sense; it’s crazy. 

III. Disciples Advise the Woman

The disciples told the woman what she did was foolish, and then they proceeded to tell her what would have been the wise thing to do. They said, "Your money, time and energy could be applied to something more useful than praising Christ." 

It is very tempting to buy into the notion that we can do something better, more beneficial and more efficient than honoring God with our time, talents and treasures.  Sometimes we want to circumvent honoring God and just donate money, just serve, just hear the sermon on the radio or TV; it is more efficient to do it that way.  That way makes more sense.  The disciples told the woman of a more logical way to handle the perfume. 

IV. Jesus Sees Wisdom in the Foolish Act

After the disciples had identified this woman’s actions as foolish and provided her with the wise course of action, Jesus interrupted and said, "Actually, there is more wisdom in this woman’s actions than what you know."  Jesus told the disciples, “You thought this gesture was useless, but actually it has prepared me for my burial.  This gesture that you considered foolish, a waste of time, energy and resources, was actually a gesture that was preparing me for the next stage in my journey on earth.  What you thought was foolish and wasteful actually had more rationality behind it than what you or the woman were able to understand.” 

When you say something doesn’t make sense, what you really mean is, based on my limited knowledge, experience, exposure and time on this earth I do not understand this.  The only way you can truly make an assessment of something is foolish or not is if you possess infinite knowledge, experience and existence.  Just because you don’t understand it,  that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense.  You might not understand why you should praise God in the midst of sickness, death, pain and mental anguish, but try it.  Because if we don’t try these things that we don’t understand and that appear foolish, we operate as if Christ does not exist. 

Painter Story

There was s painter who had achieved international notoriety and fame.  Her paintings were in all the major galleries throughout the world.  As she grew older, she became more and more disillusioned with her life and career.  She took a long sabbatical from painting to travel and explore different faith traditions. She eventually accepted Christ into her life, joined a church and became extremely active in it.   

Away from her career for some time now, she called up her agent and said, “I want to start painting again.”  The agent said, “That is great.  That is music to my ears.  We are going to be able to get into any gallery we want because people are craving for your paintings.  And we are going to make so much money.”  The painter said, “Well, hold on; I want to do a few things differently.  I only want to make one painting and then remake it over and over again.  I just want to paint a cross on a canvas and sign my signature to it. That is it.  Also, I  don’t want to sell any more paintings.  I want to take these cross paintings, and I want to donate them to shelters and soup kitchens around world, so they can be auctioned off to help feed and clothe people.  Just with my signature alone, the paintings should generate a lot of money.  What do you think?”  The agent paused for a moment and responded, “That is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard in my entire 30 years as an art agent.  If you produce too many of these cross paintings, you will saturate the market and decrease your value.  Why don’t we just donate a few of these paintings to some places and then get to the real work?”  She said “No, this is what I am going to do. Are you going to support me or not?”  The agent responded, “I am not going to help you ruin your career,” and they parted ways. 

The painter did exactly want she said she would do.  For the last ten years of her life, she painted the same picture over and over again: a black cross on a white canvas.  She distributed them to shelters and soup kitchens around the world.  By the end of her life, her career took the exact path the art agent said it would.  She produced so many paintings that her value as an artist decreased and she was eventually written off as a has-been, too eccentric for her own good.  The art agent lived a few more years after the painter and eventually died.           

The art agent went to heaven and was assigned an angel to show him around.  The angel said, “I am very sure that you will enjoy your stay.  I heard that you were an art agent while on earth.  Well, you will be pleased to know that we have many museums here in heaven.  In fact, a new museum has just opened today. Would you like to tour it?”  The agent said, “Of course I would love to go.  This heaven place is getting better by the second.”  The angel took the agent into the brand new museum.  As the agent walked in, he noticed there are no pictures on the walls.  They went up three flights of stairs with empty walls and found everyone crowded in this room.  As the agent went a little closer to the room, he noticed that there was only one painting in the entire room and entire museum, and everyone was staring at it in awe.  He worked his way through the crowd, and, low and behold, it was a white canvas with a black cross  painted on it with the signature of the artist he used to represent.  He turned to the angel and said, “Out of all the paintings you could have chosen, why in the world is this painting in a museum?"  And the angel turned to him and said, “On earth, you determine beauty and value based on how many people don’t have something, but here we determine beauty and value based on how many people are blessed by something.  This painting has clothed and fed more people than any other painting ever made; therefore, it is the most beautiful painting of all time.” 

THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Almighty God, you are the provider of all our needs.  We come to you asking for wholeness in our broken states.  We seek from you peace in a chaotic world.  Yet you are a God that requires much from us.  You petition us to be humble, when it is so tempting to put ourselves first.  You expect us to share, when it is more natural to preserve and keep.  Dear Lord, allow us to balance what we desire from you with all that you want from us.  May we view each day as a lesson to become more like Christ.