Sermon preached on Passion Sunday 6th April 2025 based on John 12:1-8 and Philippians 3:4b-14

‘Do you know how much that cost? I could have used that for a lifetime,’ was the heated response to discovering my best perfume bottle smashed on the bathroom floor and my two daughters looking guilty, but both ready to finger point the blame on the other. ‘But mummy, we were playing princesses and you always look like a princess when you go to one of daddy’s balls, and we wanted to smell the same’.

How could one carry on being angry, with that explanation, but I did try hard for a little while longer and there was no pudding at dinner time…

The fact is we make a lot of value judgements, about things that we think are precious, we sometimes even hoard things, thinking that one day we will benefit from being the only one that has a year’s supply of toilet paper, and we salt our money away forgetting that it will be of no value to us when the final curtain comes down, and we have not made any memories for those who come after us to share.

Now I’m not suggesting that we should waste these things, and we are not going to solve world hunger or provide for all those less fortunate than ourselves overnight, but knowing when to be generous, not only with your money or your time but your love is surely more important.

In our gospel reading today we find Jesus once more visiting the home of his dear friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He is on his way to Jerusalem to face a fate that will ultimately prove all of the things that he has taught his followers and fulfil the prophetic messages that the Saviour of the World, the Messiah has lived among them. It’s a fate that he accepts willingly but which is much harder to accept for those who have loved and known him as a man living among them, a man which the words of one worship song describes as ‘way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness’.

Of all the people surrounding Jesus that day in the house, it was Mary who realised that now was not the time to hoard her most precious possession, but to use it unstintingly to show her devotion to the person who had commended her choice to sit at his feet and had taught her everything she needed to know about how life should be lived.

Now it was her turn to offer a deep reverence and recognition of Jesus’ impending sacrifice. It also held a rich symbolic meaning, that through the act of anointing, an action usually reserved for the consecration of priests and kings, she recognised Jesus as the true Messiah. Where she once sat, she now anoints his feet with her hair, displaying humility and devotion.

Her use of pure nard, a valuable and aromatic oil, signifies the importance and sacredness of the moment, and its perfume was bittersweet, filling the house with its fragrance, but also a prophetic act foreshadowing Jesus’ death and burial. His acknowledgement that this was done ‘in advance of my burial’ also allows us, who already know what is to come, that there would be no need to follow the normal burial rituals as there would be no body in the tomb which to anoint!

Still, there has to be a killjoy to this incredible act of devotion, and here is where Judas steps in. I have to admit that having written a thesis on whether he might be identified as God’s scapegoat, I have own up to having a soft spot for the reviled figure of Judas.

Without Judas at this time there would have been no ‘betrayal’, no manipulated trial, no crucifixion and thereby no resurrection. Perhaps it was inevitable that someone amongst his followers would have eventually turned against him, with the promise of financial reward, but the poignancy that it was one of the disciples at this point in the story is both hard for us to comprehend as its consequences were to be for Judas.

Being a disciple meant having a unique and intimate relationship with Jesus, which makes Judas’s later actions even more significant and tragic. John’s stark statement, ‘the one who was about to betray him’ foreshadows the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, such as Psalm 41:9, which speaks of a close friend lifting his heel against the psalmist.

Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.
Psalm 41:9

Moreover, Judas’ betrayal is a critical event in the Passion narrative, raising questions about predestination and human responsibility, as Judas’ action were foreknown by Jesus, yet he acted of his own volition. Here was someone who must have grown to know the true value of being one of Jesus’ disciples, but who wasn’t ready to give his all if it meant giving up what was precious to him, his life, which is ironic as his decision ended up with him doing just that.

Judas’s questioning attitude contrasts with the faith and devotion expected of a disciple and follower, highlighting his internal conflict and eventual betrayal. For John the Evangelist, who was writing his gospel some fifty years after the events of Jesus’ passion, his thoughts about why and what Judas had done had not improved with age. His scathing remarks about a thief, who stole from the common purse, does not speak of love and forgiveness, and by this time the name of Judas had become an idiom to mean someone whom you accused of being deceitful and a betrayer of friends or country.

And then there is Paul, persecutor turned zealot, but with good reason. As a 1st century Jew, he could claim to have attained a sufficient righteousness before God, exemplified by adhering to the Torah’s commandments and engaging in acts of loving-kindness, aiming to be a light unto the nations and fulfilling his purpose as one of God’s chosen people.

Yet this valuable store of righteousness, is being cast aside in exchange for what Christ is offering instead. Not a righteousness ‘that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith’. Everything is being swept aside as ‘rubbish’, of so little worth because of the value of the heavenly prize that Jesus offers, eventual resurrection from the dead.

So where do we see ourselves in all of this? Are we willing to give up everything? Do we give up those things that are precious to us to show how much faith we have?

The fact is each and everyone of us is seen by God as individuals, people who face daily decisions about how we live our lives. He knows the choices we have to make about how we spend our time and our money, but more importantly about how we share our love and our care for others. How we share the Good News that Jesus’ passion brings for all of us.

Perhaps this could be a new beginning as once more over the next couple of weeks we are going to hear the story of the greatest gift ever offered to us all. Let’s just make sure that we really hear the message and be prepared to accept and continue to generously share it each and every day going forward.

Amen