B, Midweek Lent 1 - Mark 14:1-21 "Not Passed Over"

Mark 14:1–21 (ESV)  It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,  for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”  And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.  There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?  For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.  But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.  For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.  She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.  And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”  

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.  And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.  And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”  And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him,  and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’  And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”  And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.  And when it was evening, he came with the twelve.  And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”  They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?”  He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.  For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

Coming up to the Passover, Jesus was not passed over!  The chief priests and the scribes, not usually conversant with each other, have joined forces plotting to kill Jesus.  The two parts of the Mark narrative we have heard tonight, begin and end with the coming reality of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, and death at the hands of the Jewish leaders.

Housed within the desires of the Jewish leaders and Jesus’ proclamation of his betrayal, are two very different pictures of belief and unbelief. 

First, Jesus and his apostles are in the home of Simon the Leper at Bethany.  A woman presents herself with expensive oil and proceeds to pour it on Jesus’ head.  The oil was pure nard, from the spikenard plant, and most likely came from traders to the east.  Nard grows in the Himalayan region, so this oil was not common or cheap. 

Those present who witness the event, literally snort with anger at the woman, claiming the ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor.  With no understanding, Jesus’ apostles seek to shame the woman for doing what she had done.

Three hundred denarii are three hundred days wages, almost an annual income.  Would you tip your yearly wage on someone’s head?  At face value it makes no sense to pour out all this perfume on someone’s head.

That is not unless you knew why you were pouring the perfumed oil on the person, who that person is,  and what they were about to do! 

Today, knowing that Jesus is our Saviour, most of us would still consider passing over Jesus, believing pouring a year’s wage over his head, a waste!

Arguably, this woman is demonstrating the greatest faith of anyone Jesus ever met, in his ministry or march to the cross.   It might seem one would have to be ludicrous to do such a thing with such reckless abandon.  Waste not want not, seems to have given way to wanting to waste!  But there was no waste here!

This woman believed what Jesus had said about himself, that he was the Messiah, but that he was also going to die to be the Messiah.  Her seemingly wasteful actions, reveals a faith, second to none.  The Holy Spirit has taken a hold of this woman to value Jesus’ life and death, more valuable than the expensive nard, with which she honours him and pours on his head.  Jesus affirms her Holy Spirited faith and action, saying to those who snort in anger, “she is working a good work on me”.

The woman did not pass over Jesus.  What is Jesus, worth to you?  Is he worth passing over, in a bid to waste not, want not!  We, like this woman, are called to see the worth of what Jesus has done for us.  To not pass over Jesus.  To allow the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds.  So, looking into the core of our being, we hand over to Jesus what is wasting us away.  Like the woman, we pour all our sin on Jesus with reckless abandon, giving him the full debt of our sin!

To God the Father, Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit, this is the sweetest most fragrant offering we can pour onto our Saviour, justifying God the Father working a good work through Jesus Christ, having been led to the cross by the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit working a good work in us as we pour our sin in confession on the Son of our salvation.

In having Jesus in this way, in pouring our sin on him, in emptying ourselves of the idols of our hearts, allows us to truly serve the poor.  Having seen the poverty of our hearts through trusting in these idol (idle) riches, allows God to use us in seeing and serving the poor, as Jesus serves us, in his death and resurrection.  In not passing over Jesus, the Holy Spirit will work a good work in us, allowing us to pour Jesus on the poor with the reckless abandon of God’s love!

The second picture,  is that of Judas Iscariot, selling Jesus for thirty shekels of silver.   We find out the amount from Matthew’s Gospel account in chapter twenty-six.  A shekel is two denarii, two days wages.  So, Judas betrays Jesus for sixty days wages.  

In contradiction to the apostles snorting with anger over the woman’s costly faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the chief priests are glad to pour riches on Judas.  But these riches, are a loss of faith in Jesus as the Messiah.  Judas, one of the twelve, having been sent as an apostle, no longer trusts Jesus. 

We see the depth of Judas’ poverty here!  We do not know the reason for Judas betrayal, but we know he passes over Jesus, no longer pouring his trust on him.  What Judas “expected” was something far different to what the woman hoped in Jesus.  She trusted Jesus unto death, but Judas handed him over to death, no longer having faith in him as the Messiah.  If Judas had believed Jesus’ word of promised resurrection, he would not have solved a short-term problem with the eternal remedy of the hopelessness of his human spirit.

The story of Judas’ poverty stands as a warning to us, to not pass over Jesus!  We are called to put our expectations of Jesus under the magnification of God’s Word, leading us to repentance.  In this Lenten season the exposure of (idle) idol expectations of Jesus, can occur within.  Not to pass over Jesus, but to pass onto Jesus our confession of sin.

Two pictures of faith!  Faith in Jesus, and unbelief in Jesus.  Human spirited faith in the self, and Holy Spirited faith in someone greater than the self.  The woman did not pass over Jesus, but Judas passed over Jesus!  The woman poured her trust onto Jesus with reckless abandon, but Judas poured his trust onto other things and abandoned Jesus as his Messiah.

In this Lenten season, it’s an easy temptation to pass over what Jesus did for us, and why he did it.  It’s easy to forget about Lent and go straight to the sweetness of the Easter eggs that have been furnishing the shelves of shops for about the past sixty days. 

But the forty days of Lent give us time to stop, reflect in God’s Word, the work of God, the work done for you and me, where God did not pass over Jesus, but stopped with him,  causing him to be our Passover Lamb, who covers the poverty of our hearts with his holy and most precious blood.  Amen.

C, Midweek Lent 1 - The Lord's Prayer #2 - Matthew 6:9, 1 Chronicles 29:10b-13, Psalm 145:10-13 "We join with Jesus in his Prayer"

Our Father in Heaven… for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen. 

Last week at the Ash Wednesday service, we began learning about Prayer.  Throughout this Lenten Season and on Maundy Thursday we look at the Lord’s Prayer and its petitions.

While Jesus was on earth, he spent much of his private time in prayer.  Full of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led out to quite places to pray.  When we peruse the Gospels, we hear that he prayed.  Sometimes, he prayed in public, to demonstrate it was not his power healing the person, but rather he was submitting to the power of God.

We too can submit to the power of God in prayer.  And when we do, we judge correctly the three realities of prayer…

1) We were originally created to be in fellowship with God.

2) Since the fall we are weak and helpless.  But, because of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father, we are now “blessedly helpless”.  

3) All our right prayers are Holy Spirited prayers. 

Although Jesus was the Son of God, he gave up his authority as the Son and took on the weakness of humanity.  In doing so, he became the archetypal Son of all humanity, the Son of Man.

Jesus glorified God in his fellowship with God the Father in prayer.  In his healings, those around him also glorified the Heavenly Father.  And, when others sought to glorify him, he avoided the opportunity for them to do so, not letting it happen.

But Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit throughout his ministry.  He joyfully praises God when the seventy-two disciples returned praying, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  (Luke 10:21ESV)

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 10: 22 ESV)

Hear how this prayer of praise becomes teaching.  A little later on he teaches about the Holy Spirit and how he teaches, saying, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,  for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”(Luke 12:11–12 ESV)

The Holy Spirit teaches us what to say and what to pray.  Jesus full of the Holy Spirit taught the disciples what to pray.  Through his word to the Apostles, in the Written Word of God, he teaches us who have been filled with the Holy Spirit what to pray.  In our weakness we need the Holy Spirit to lead us in what to say and what to pray.

Today, we focus on the first thing and the last things the Holy Spirit teaches us and leads us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father in Heaven… for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen. 

The introduction comes straight to us from Matthew 6:9.  The Lukan equivalent begins simply with, “Father”, in Luke 11:2.  However, the doxology of the prayer is nowhere to be seen in the prayer that Jesus gives. 

Before we go discarding it from the prayer, we need to realise, what this doxology is, and from where it comes.  We must first return to Jesus’ prayers and ponder the heart of Jesus.  It has long been held that the Lord’s Prayer summarises the entire Psalter of the one-hundred and fifty Psalms.  The psalms that were written down by Kings David and Solomon, other temple authors, and the prophets, are the prayers of Jesus inspired in these men and written down long before Jesus was incarnate in flesh.  But once in the flesh he prayed the very prayers he inspired them to write.

Prayer fulfills God’s desire to be in fellowship with humanity, and we glorify him in that fellowship.  The Holy Spirit leads us in glorifying the fellowship of Trinitarian love with us, and within us.  We glorify God with praise and thanksgiving. 

We find this language of glorification right the way through the Psalms, and we find it in the words that come from Jesus’ lips.  We also hear it come from the lips of those who praise God, when they witness the acts of Jesus, while he moves amongst the people of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, as well as the gentile surrounds, he visited.

To narrow the doxology to one place in the Psalms, we hear the Lord’s Prayer doxology, most clearly in Psalm 145:10-13…

All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!  They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,  to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.  The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.  (Psalm 145:10–13 ESV)

Outside of the Psalms we also hear a similar doxology recorded in First Chronicles chapter twenty-nine.  First and Second Chronicles are the historical record of worship events including the building of the Temple, so it is no surprise to see a similar doxology here.   King David prays these similar words, when he charges the assembly prior, to Solomon’s anointing as king, and his death.

“Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our Father, forever and ever.  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.  Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.  And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.” (1 Chronicles 29:10b–13 ESV)

These words of glorification are prayed by an assembly.  Even if Jesus is to pray by himself it is within the assembly of the Triune God.  He prays in a Trinity of Love, together with angels and archangels.  But even on earth King David leads the congregation before God and calls on his name in prayer.

So we come the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer.  We pray “our” Father not “my” Father.  Why?

Firstly, because Jesus teaches us to do so.  But he does so because of the greater reality of what we are called into.  This greater reality is not just the hidden reality of the Trinity, the angels ands archangels, but also the whole company of heaven. 

Secondly, this reality is a catholic reality.  Lutherans tend to recoil when we hear the word catholic, thinking we mean Roman Catholic.  But believing Romans like us who believe in the Lutheran Church are all a part of the catholic church.  As we confess in our creeds, we are apostolic and catholic in faith.

Thirdly, we adhere to the words of the apostles, and therefore we are gathered by the Holy Spirit into one holy congregation around Jesus Christ. 

This includes those who have gone before us, and now worship in the company of heaven. 

And it includes all who worship in the realm of time on earth, in our congregation, parish, denomination with others around the world. 

It also includes those still yet to be born, baptised, and abide in the faith given to them.  These are our unborn children, and the generations to come.  All these are the catholic church gathered by the Holy Spirit before Jesus, inside and outside of time.

When we say, “Our Father”, we pray as the body of Christ, and we join in the fellowship of God’s kingdom, glorifying him for his power and his kingdom, which is a kingdom of love that extends to us here on earth through forgiveness.

This introduction can be prayed as a perfectly succinct prayer in itself, “Our Father, the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen.”  This prayer stands on its own and honours God in his eternal realm. 

But we are given petitions to pray here on earth by Jesus.  And these petitions teach us how the Holy Spirit moves us from evil to holiness.  The Holy Spirit does this so we might join Jesus, our ascended Great High Priest, in his petitioning the Father of love in heaven.

Next week, we continue on our journey of joyful discovery, examining the Lord’s Prayer and its petitions as prayer worked in us by the Holy Spirit.  But also, as a teaching or doctrine of the Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit practically bridges the divide between evil and holiness.  Amen.