It is a quiet evening in early spring – just like last evening. It’s just a week before Passover and already the roads leading to
Perhaps they have just finished dinner. Martha, as always, is busy in the kitchen, perhaps doing the dishes, perhaps getting dessert ready to serve to her guests. The men recline around a low table and make small talk, each of them aware that tomorrow, when Jesus enters Jerusalem, he will arouse the anger and jealousy of the high priests – and he will excite the crowds at just the time when the chief priests want everything to be done quietly and in order.
Since Judaism is an ancient religion, it is tolerated by the Roman armies that occupy the region, but there is always the chance they their toleration will be withdrawn. Judeans are a proud people and someone, somewhere is always stirring up trouble.
Just as they are perhaps enjoying their last glass of wine from dinner, Mary enters the room – and she does the unthinkable. She removes her head covering – a shocking thing to do in public! sinks to her knees and pours out $30,000 of perfume on the feet of Jesus. The aroma of it fills the house. But Mary is not done. She bows her head to the floor and wipes the feet of Jesus with her hair. A woman of comfortable circumstance, getting down on her hands and knees and doing the work of the lowest slave in the house – using her hair, the glory of her womanhood – like a towel and a mop.
All around the room, people are astonished. They all think it, but only Judas has the courage to speak: What a waste! If she wanted to give something away, why didn’t she just sell perfume so the money could be given to the poor?
What a waste!
--------------------------------------
On a dusty road to
-- And worse that that, he throws the rest of his life away trying to convert others to this new religion of his!
What a waste!
----------------------------------
It is a warm day in the middle of summer, the blue sky is highlighted only by a few wispy clouds and a gentle breeze blows across the outfield of Twins stadium. The moment comes for the seventh inning stretch, and suddenly, from out of the west, comes a small biplane. Behind it is carried one of those advertising signs that reads, ‘Jane will you marry me?’ The crowd looks around excitedly, the TV cameras pan the crowd, looking for the young couple until suddenly, two bright, happy faces are displayed on the outfield video boards – and the young woman is nodding her head – Yes! – And the crown goes wild! Everywhere other couples sit a bit closer together and exchange knowing smiles as they remember the exuberance, the extravagance, of romantic love.
Yet, somewhere in the crowd, there is someone who shakes their head and declares: What a waste!
----------------------------
What do each of these little pictures have in common? Each of them represents what people will do when they really fall in love. The gentleman at the baseball stadium was so overcome with love that he spent hundreds of dollars showing his love for his girlfriend – and after it was over, he had nothing to show for it except for the wonderful memory the two of them would share for the rest of their lives and the stories they would tell their children and their grand children. Money well spent, I think.
Mary, the sister of Lazarus, is so overcome with love for Jesus that she poured out at his feet the most precious thing she had – and after it was over, she had nothing to show for it except for the wonderful aroma that filled the house, the words of gratitude spoken to her by the savior, the memories that everyone present would carry with them for the rest of their lives and the stories they would tell their children and their grand children in the faith for thousands of years. Money well spent, I think.
Paul the Apostle was so overcome with love for Jesus, that he turned his whole life upside down. He thought about everything he had treasured and decided that it wasn’t worth anything. He writes about it in today’s epistle reading from Philippians 3:7 – 9:
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More that that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (NRSV)
When Paul’s life was over, he had nothing to show for it except a few letters that were circulating among the churches where he had preached, words and sermons that people would carry with them for the rest of their lives and the stories they would tell their children and their grand children in the faith for thousands of years – we still read them today. A life well spent, I think.
-----------------
We all mourn lives that are wasted when people fail to live up to their potential. We agonize over gifted teenagers who fail to excel at school. We despair over gifted athletes who ruin their bodies with drugs – and sometimes we are shocked by people who throw themselves into causes that try to make the world a better place instead of throwing themselves into causes, careers, that will get them a cushy job and earn them a good living.
But are cushy jobs what people really strive for when they are in love? Are power and money, fame and fortune, the best things we can give ourselves over to? If we are in love with our families, how do we let them know? We waste things on them.
--------------------------------------
When we love our families, we waste our time on them. We do things for them and with them. We waste our attention on them. We listen. We try to really hear what they are saying. We try to really speak the words they need to hear in return.
We waste our concern on them. When they are tired or sick or sad, we turn our hearts to them, worry about them, emphasize with them, and sympathize with them.
-----------------------
Should we really be any different when it comes to showing love for God? American Christianity has gotten it all wrong. Too many of us come to church looking for handouts. Too many of us look at God and the life of faith in terms of what we can get out of it instead of what we can put back in. We come to church looking for health, prosperity, that warm fuzzy feeling – and perhaps if we really believe in it, eternal life – but when was the last time we wasted something on God?
----------------------------------
How we spend ourselves says a lot about our sense of priorities. We waste our time on lots of things - watching sports, playing video games - even shopping has become a pastime – but when was the last time any of us wasted something on God?
When was the last time we wasted 20 minutes in prayer? Or wasted an hour with a grieving friend in the name of Jesus?
-------------------------------
We waste our money on lots of things – we buy things we don’t need when we already have enough – and sometimes even when we can’t afford them but think that spending that money will help us ‘fell better’. – but when was the last time any of us wasted our money on God?
When was the last time we wasted money on the things of God? Wasted money on the poor? Wasted money on something that would last forever instead of a few years?
---------------------------
Can we think that if we waste an hour a week sitting in worship that that is enough? If we wasted an hour a week on anyone else we loved, would it be enough?
---------------------
I think there were a lot of people who met Jesus as he went about preaching and thought – This guy could really go places. He could have a great future going for him if he would just stop all this Son of God stuff. If he would just stop wasting his time on tax collectors and sinners – if he’d just stick to teaching in the synagogues and doing a few little miracles now and then – but this obsession he has to save the world is only going to get him killed – and what a waste that would be!
---------------------------
How would it be, I wonder, if God, the Creator looked down from heaven and wondered if all the love and care that has been showered on the world has been worth it. I wonder if God ever shakes the divine head and mutters, What a waste!
---------------------------
It is two weeks until Easter. It is the time of the Lenten season when we stop looking inward to examine ourselves - our consciences and our lives - and we turn our focus outward to the Passion of Christ. Who thankfully didn’t think that we were a waste or that his time could be better spent elsewhere.
It is my prayer that this week we may perhaps like proclaim, Phil 3:13b-14:
This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (NRSV)
I can think of no better way for us to waste our time.
Amen.
