
Mary, the Sister of Lazarus and Martha
February 21, 2024
Adapted from a message included in the Concordia Publishing House Lenten Series Witnesses to Christ
Mary, the Sister of Lazarus and Martha
Text: John 12:1-11
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
There’s a book that was published in 2011. You may have heard of it. It’s called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. It’s by Marie Kondo and has been published in more than thirty countries, becoming a best seller in Japan, Europe, and the United States. In 2015, Kondo was listed as one of Time’s “100 most influential people” in the world.
Marie Kondo struck gold because she realized that people are surrounded by so much complexity and clutter! If you ever look at our attic and garage, you’ll know what I’m talking about. But it’s not just the physical stuff. Digital stuff is just as overwhelming. I like the story of the father who was teaching his three-year-old daughter the Lord’s Prayer. He’d say a line and she’d repeat it. Finally, she decided to try it on her own. He listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer. “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “and deliver us from email!” Yes! Deliver us from email! Talk about clutter!
Marie Kondo’s method of organizing is known as the KonMari method. It consists of gathering all your belongings, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that bring sparks of joy. The word in Japanese is tokimeku. Tokimeku means “flutter, throb, palpitate”—sparks of joy!
Who doesn’t need to simplify? Who doesn’t need to declutter? Who doesn’t want tokimeku—sparks of joy?
This Lent, we’re meeting witnesses to Christ’s Passion in John’s Gospel. Today, John introduces us to someone with many of the same qualities as Marie Kondo. It’s Mary! Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Mary, who helps us simplify and declutter. Mary, who helps us experience sparks of joy!
How does Mary do it? Mary replaces get with give. That’s it. Replace get with give. Pretty simple! Get only clutters things. Get only confuses things. Get only makes us miserable! Get ahead. Get back. Get even. Get more. Get revenge. Mary replaces get with give. Mary gives freely. Mary gives extravagantly. Mary gives joyfully.
Are you stuck in an emotional rut? Have you lost your zest and zeal? Do you want to be alive again? Do you want sparks of joy? Start by replacing get with give.
Here’s the context. In John 11, Lazarus dies. Jesus arrives four days later and stands in front of the tomb and weeps. But then He shouts, “Lazarus, come out.” Lazarus comes stumbling out of his tomb—alive—with his shroud still around him.
For the Jewish leaders this was the last straw. By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus moves from the category of “manageable nuisance” to the category of “serious threat.” “So from that day on they made plans to put Him to death.” Christ’s days are numbered!
As we come to John 12, Jesus has a price on His head. So does Lazarus. “The chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus” For them to destroy Jesus they had to destroy all the evidence. That means they must also destroy Lazarus!
That’s the context. Here’s the cost. “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.” How much did the ointment cost? We’re told in John 12:5 that it’s worth a year’s income. Imagine dropping a year’s income just like that. So, what’s going on here? Get is being replaced with give. Is it ever!
The context? Death for Jesus and death for Lazarus. The cost? Everything. The comparison? We see the comparison when we look at Mary and then at Judas. Mary is extravagant. Mary is excessive. Mary’s gone way over the top. And Judas? “But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples (he who was about to betray Him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” Judas is threatened; his entire world comes crashing down. All because Mary lives by one word—give.
The comparison couldn’t be more black and white. Mary is a generous disciple. Judas is a greedy disciple. Mary gives with abandon. Judas is miserly to a tee. Mary sacrifices financially. Judas won’t give a nickel. Mary shows her faith with actions. Judas talks a good game—giving money to the poor—but we know he doesn’t mean it. Mary loves the word give. But all Judas can do is get. Get more. Get ahead. And get on top. And it will kill him.
It all leads to the cross. “‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied, ‘so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.’” “The day of My burial.” Mary understands the cross. Mary believes these words from John 1: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” And from John 2: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And from John 3: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Mary gives Jesus everything she has. In doing so, she prepares Jesus to give everything He has. And the room is filled with the smell of costly perfume.
Smells are powerful, aren’t they? The smell of a rose catches your nose. Suddenly, you remember the first time someone brought you a dozen roses. Or maybe it’s the scent of your grandmother’s perfume, and memories of her come flooding back. While words go to the thinking part of our brain, smells go to the emotional part. That’s why a whiff of Grandma’s perfume brings back our emotions for Grandma. Smells can stir in us some powerful emotions.
And that’s also true for Jesus. Mary’s strong perfume lingers with Jesus throughout Holy Week as He makes His way to the cross. Even on Good Friday, the fragrance of Mary’s perfume still lingers. And then, perhaps, just perhaps, when Jesus gives Himself completely—all of His love and mercy and grace, holding nothing back for us—He might have still faintly smelled the sweet fragrance. A reminder that Mary had marked Him with one word—give.
Both Matthew 26 and Mark 14 state, “Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” And why is that? Because the kingdom of God isn’t about hoarding and stockpiling. The kingdom of God isn’t about being cheap and withholding. The kingdom of God isn’t about get. Get will kill us. Always and forevermore, God’s kingdom is about one word—give. Give? Then what? Back to Tokimeku—sparks of joy! “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, shows us that the kingdom of God is about giving lavishly, giving generously, giving joyfully, and giving completely. “Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Jesus never says this about anyone else! Thanks to Mary, we have a model of how to experience great joy by giving rather than getting. Putting aside everything that gets in our way and remembering that we’re called to give all we have for the sake of the One who gave all He had for us. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.
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