A Beautiful Thing

“A Beautiful Thing”
Mark 14:3-9
Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 3/7/10

In an article about family and parenting, Christian author Stu Weber offers the following reflection – he writes:
“My youngest son is the third of three boys. The first two are high-powered; the third is not any less high-powered, but he’s just the third out of three. By the time you’ve had a brother who’s All-Conference this and another brother who’s All-Conference that, there’s not much left for you to do.
“As a father, I worried about our caboose. He is the most sensitive of the three. To encourage him, I spent a lot of time with him in the outdoors - camping, hunting, fishing. Anybody who has spent time in the outdoors knows that a pocketknife is essential gear - the man with the best blade gets the job done. So, whenever you’re setting up camp, you’re always looking for the knife.
“My (youngest) son Ryan had a pocketknife that became his identity. His older brothers always had to ask him to use the knife as we were setting up camp. That became his status in the tribe. He was the man with the blade.
“Well, my birthday came around one year, and my family was planning a party for me. Earlier in the afternoon my youngest walked into my office at home where I was studying. At first I didn’t hear him; I felt him - I could sense his presence - and I turned around.
“He had chosen this moment because he wanted to give me a birthday present, but not at the birthday party. He wanted it to be just me and him. He handed me a present, and I opened it - it was his pocketknife.”
A gift of tremendous affection. An offering which, to an outside observer, might seem difficult to understand; but to those within, expressing a deep bond, a great love.
Something of what I’d like to talk about today.

In our text this morning it is Tuesday evening of Holy Week. It has been a very busy day for Jesus – arguably the busiest day of the week...
It began with debate with the religious leaders, eventually resulting in outright confrontation. This then leading Jesus into a lengthy discussion of the end times: the final judgment and his return. Basically, he gets his affairs in order. Like any caring person who is about to die, he’s attempting to prepare those who remain to continue on in his absence.
And here Jesus’ teachings stop. There will be no more parables, no more sermons by the sea. This one last, jam-packed “Super Tuesday” (as some refer to it) - an action-filled day; yet, from all outward appearances, not a particularly SUCCESSFUL one: Jesus’ opponents now simply hate him more than ever and are out to kill him; and Jesus’ own followers are totally confused and misunderstanding almost everything he has said.
The events leading to his death are about to kick into motion and nobody seems to be getting what he is all about – friend or foe! Is Jesus about to die for nothing?
Well, as he has done each night of Holy Week, he retires to the town of Bethany just outside the city of Jerusalem. He and his disciples are sitting down to dinner when (in a complete breach of cultural decorum) suddenly a woman bursts in upon their dinner party.
Now, we don’t know who this woman is. All that we know is that she is someone who has obviously heard the message of Christ’s love, and it has touched her heart and so she comes to offer a GIFT TO JESUS. She has a jar of costly perfume which she breaks and pours over him.
A gift of tremendous affection. But not everyone sees it that way...
The disciples begin to grumble. “What a waste!” the say. “This perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” And they’re absolutely right. We’re told her gift was worth a year’s wages. Imagine taking the annual median household income in Manahawkin - $50,000 – and tossing it away in one moment (and I not at Atlantic City!)
The disciples don’t see anything good here, quite the opposite. And in a pattern played-out in the church ever since: an act of love for Jesus, a soul saved; is pushed aside in favor of a heated debate over finances. Cause for celebration replaced with criticism and complaint.
Jesus steps up to correct the matter. He defends the woman, essentially saying: “Leave her alone! You don’t understand. There will always be someone in need somewhere and each of you are free to help them however you feel so moved. Don’t criticize someone else’s giving. She has done what her heart moved her to do. And, in point of fact, out of her love, she has done precisely what is most needed at this particular time – she has pinpointed the very crux of the moment: she has prepared me for my death and resurrection that is about to come!”
Think about how this woman’s act embodies everything that Jesus is about to do: She breaks and pours – Jesus’ body about to broken, his blood poured out. A costly gift, the giving of all, prepared for burial, a beautiful thing – all for our salvation.
In effect, the text, this scene, saying: “LOOK! SHE GETS IT!” At the close of this day which has ended with fierce rejection; against the backdrop of Jesus own closest followers missing the point entirely; just when it seems like nobody gets it, or is going to; that it’s all going to be for nothing... A demonstration of what it means to truly grasp what Jesus is offering!
This woman, filled to overflowing with the experience of God’s love in Jesus Christ. The point being: This is what Jesus hopes FOR ALL OF US – that we each, in our own way, might be like her. In a room full of disciples, this one model disciple pointing us toward the direction we all should go. What do we learn from her example?
(I)
Well, for one thing, her example calls us to TAKE IT PERSONALLY.
This woman offers a very personal gift to Jesus. Why? Well, it seems, because she has experienced a very personal Savior. For this woman, Jesus’ teachings are not just some abstract theoretical concept; no, they are something that has reached deep into her soul and taken hold of her in the real issues and struggles of her life. She knows a PERSONAL SAVIOR. And this is the first key step.
Many people come very close to Jesus but never really take hold of what he offers because while they know that Jesus is the Savior of the WORLD they do not know Jesus as THEIR SAVIOR!
Simply put: Have you ever stopped to realize that ALL OF THIS is FOR YOU PERSONALLY? That everything Jesus ever did, everything that has ever come from that, everything we do here every day is FOR YOU, PERSONALLY?! That is: Even if no one else was to “get it,” even if everyone was to reject Jesus, BUT YOU, Jesus still would have gladly done it all!
You know, there’s an old saying that “God loves all of us as if there was only each of us.” The church is here today that you might discover God’s love. The worship is arranged that you might find healing. The candles are lit, the organ is playing, the choir is singing that you might know hope. The table is prepared that you might be born again! It’s all for you! Let that fact grab hold of your heart – in whatever way you are feeling lost, or ashamed, or a failure, or undeserving, our unloved, or hopeless. When you come forward to receive communion today, realize, first and foremost, that this meal is FOR YOU!
TAKE IT PERSONALLY. From this, then...
(II)
BREAK THE JAR.
In taking hold of Christ’s love and offering her devotion in return, the woman, of course, BREAKS THE JAR of perfume. She’s NOT HOLDING ANYTHING BACK, she’s ALL IN. And this points us to a second key step in taking hold of all Christ offers as she does: We have to be “all in”, we can’t hold anything back.
But let’s face it: The fact is that we often do hold something of ourselves back. There’s some way we refuse total commitment, some part of ourselves we won’t give over to Jesus. And in this, we lose the whole thing – we come close but “close” isn’t good enough! As the saying goes: “’Almost saved’ is like ‘almost pregnant’- you either are or you ain’t!”
Plainly stated: What keeps you from letting all this, from letting Christ’s love, totally “grab” you? Is there some injury, some anger, some grudge, you won’t let go of? Is there sin you like having around, won’t quit, won’t repent; even though it’s destroying you? Is there something you’ve done, some shame you believe is beyond forgiveness? Is there some cost to discipleship you don’t want to pay; some demand you don’t want to accept; some change you don’t want to make; some self-centeredness you don’t want to see beyond?
How is your heart case-hardened against God’s love?
Well make no mistake: As Christ was broken for our salvation, something must break in us for the gospel to get in! What do you need to “break open” today that the love of God might truly, finally, enter our heart? Are you willing to give that to Jesus this morning? As you kneel at the rail in prayer, to offer that up to him, to break that open for him? A great teacher once said:
“God uses broken things. Broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is only the broken alabaster jar that gives forth its perfume. It is Peter, broken-hearted, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever. It is our lives broken open that allow God to enter in.”
BREAK THE JAR. And finally...
(III)
DO A BEAUTIFUL THING.
In the end, of course, the woman’s experience of Christ’s love results in her giving a gift to him – a rather odd gift, the gift every man wants(?): PERFUME!
You know, maybe it’s just my “twisted” sense of humor, but... Have you seen the current ads for OLD SPICE deodorant? There’s this guy standing there with his shirt off – it’s like: “Ladies, look at your man. Now look at me. Look at your man. Now back to me. Your man may not be able to look like me, but he can smell like me. Old Spice”
Obviously they’re having fun with the idea of the tremendous power of a pleasing scent. It’s big business. Scientists tell us that, of all our senses, the sense of smell triggers the deepest reactions of memory and emotion. It’s powerful. Think about just that touch of spike nard on your hand. That’s something of what’s going on here...
This woman offers a strange, risky, costly, extravagant, illogical, even rather useless and wasteful gift: perfume. Yet, ironically, it’s also the PERFECT GIFT: the gift of BEAUTY – expressed in a manner that seeks to reach as deeply as possible. As if to say:
“Lord, this is what I have received from you: a most profoundly beautiful thing – your sacrificial love, my salvation – that has reached deep within my soul. I can only reply, can only offer my gratitude, in kind, as best I can – through the gift of deep BEAUTY: something invariably costly, and risky, and illogical, and even often seemingly useless; yet expressing great love.”
The final way we “get it”, truly take hold of Christ’s love for us: by offering gifts of beauty to him in the most powerful ways we can. Now, obviously, we can’t tangibly offer gifts to Jesus as this woman did; but we can, out of our love for him, offer them to one another, reach out and touch others - and as Jesus said, “As you did it to one of the least of these who are my family, you did it unto me.”
And this is the final lesson for us here: DO A BEAUTIFUL THING. That is, every day, just let Christ’s love take hold of you, so consume you, that it causes you to do outrageous things for Jesus: risky things, costly things, sometimes illogical things, maybe even things that seem entirely wasteful and useless to the world; but things that are beautiful to God, gifts of beauty that express God’s deep love to someone who needs to know of this love - the greatest gift we can offer to God! You know, sometimes (in fact, often times) the seemingly most pointless things are ultimately the most important... and beautiful!
Think of God’s beautiful gift to you – and offer something beautiful in return! This is, finally, how we “get it”! Preacher Frank Harrison writes:
“It was the first Holy Week since the my wife’s death. I was having a hard time. Everyone was preparing for Palm Sunday worship – senior choir, junior choir, bells, orchestra. The children were running around having a great time chasing each other and tickling one another with their palm leaves. They were the hit of the day.
“I was lost in thought. Suddenly, I felt someone tugging on my robe. I looked down and saw that it was little 6-year old Melissa. She had stepped away from the other children. She held her palm leaf up and handed it to me, saying, ‘Here. It’ll be okay.’
“I immediately knelt down and hugged her. Many probably wondered what was going on. It got me through that most difficult Holy Week.
“Today, many years later, I still have that palm. It reminds me of what I have been given, and who I need to be. I had it pressed and mounted in a frame, and it hangs in a prominent place in my office. It looks rather strange: this giant frame with just a single palm in it. When visitors enter my office, they often ask, ‘What’s this?’ I reply, ‘It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

In a world of people about to miss out on the gift of God’s love, one woman “got it.” Might we do the same. Take it personally. Break the jar. And do a beautiful thing.