Extravagance!

The social convention that a woman would not approach or converse with a man not her husband in public needed to be overwhelmed by the extravagance of love in response to Jesus.

Jesus acts out God's love and patience to the fullest, suffering every imaginable indignity all the way to execution on the cross, in order to show us the depth of his determination to put back together the community with God and each other which we destroy as we go our own practical and unthinking ways.

What else can we do but marvel at the love and patience which God demonstrates.

Sing hosanna, wave a palm-branch, join the parade, praise God., and in the case of the unnamed woman, pour perfume to anoint Jesus body before his death, since there will be no time later.

In the process of these things, we are becoming the community he desires.

Such extravagance in God's love invites extravagance in our response.

But it is so unreasonable.

Those sinners didn't even earn or deserve God's forgiveness.

Whether we are talking about the authorities who condemned Jesus, or the crowds who turned on Jesus, or the lying witnesses, or the disciples who melted away, or the one who betrayed, or the soldiers who carried out the execution and gambled over his clothes – none of them deserve any consideration from Jesus; they have all participated in the evil.

That is precisely the point; none of them deserve God's forgiveness.

God loves in spite of the sin, in order to overcome the sin, the ancient sin, your sin, my sin.

One of our hymns says it well:

Love divine, all loves excelling

Joy heaven, to earth come down.

Fix in us thy humble dwelling.

Jesus, thou art all compassion,

Pure, unbounded love thou art,

Visit us with thy salvation [LBW #315]

What should each of us do when we hear how much God loves us in Christ Jesus?

What can we do that will be of the same nature as the woman's action in pouring the perfume over Jesus,

Lord, teach us to love as extravagantly as you love us.

And let it begin right here, right now.

--Let the Hosanna we sing convey a heartfelt “Save, Lord.” (That's what the word means.)

--Let the Peace we share be more than a polite “hello”; truly may it be both an anticipation and a gift of the peace and wholeness which only God can grant.

--Let the Meal we share not be our private arrangement of holiness, but truly may it be a sample of the shared community of the future.

--Let the hymns we sing truly be our rehearsal for the final chorus when we will all have our true voices.

--Let the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

--Let us love extravagantly, as Christ loves us.

Let these things be our prayer in response to hearing this Passion story today, O Lord.

To which let all say, Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.