2022.04.03 | Scandalous Grace
“Scandalous Grace”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Make no mistake about it. The gospel is scandalous. Anyone who doubts this assertion wasn’t paying attention when Pastor Nadia read today’s scripture lesson or they weren’t paying attention to any of the other iterations of the story found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:1-10, and Luke 7:36-50.)
The gospel in general, and this story about Jesus’ anointing, in particular, reads like the Victorian equivalent of “scandal sheets,” for many reasons.
For starters, Luke’s version depicts the woman with the alabaster flask as a sex worker, and this depiction has wafted into two, some say all four of the gospel renderings of Jesus’ anointing and that scent has wafted into popular understandings of Mary’s identity to this day.
II
I don’t know about you, but I was only taught the “G” version of “Jesus’ anointing” in Sunday School. I had to go to college and graduate school and pay a lot of money for tuition before I was presented with the “R”-rated version.
Since today’s service is rated “PG,” I’ll explain that the “R”-rated version of Jesus’ anointing explains that the reference to Jesus’ “feet'' in Luke and John’s gospels was a euphemism for the male reproductive system.
(Yes, that’s right, you heard here first. Pastor Pepper, bar the door. We’re going to have to start a “waiting list” for Bible study!)
Now back to Luke.
In Luke’s version of the anointing, the anointer is depicted as a woman of the evening. The fact that she even makes a cameo appearance in this story is significant, but what makes this characteristic so scandalous to Jesus’ inner circle — and to modern day audiences — is that they erroneously thought that only those with perfect Sunday School attendance were exemplary.
The thought had never crossed their minds that those who were out all night, painting the town red, and sleeping in on Sunday mornings might be going to heaven, too.
III
So Jesus’ anointing is scandalous because his anointer’s identity was of questionable repute, and his embrace of this woman signaled her inclusion in the kin-dom of God. But that is not all.
Jesus’ anointer’s behavior was equally scandalous. According to all four gospels, the woman who anointed Jesus spent an entire year’s wages on a bottle of rare perfume, and then in one hot minute, she cracked it open and poured the contents all over Jesus’ body.
The woman who performed this sacred act was nameless in three of the four gospels, but in John’s gospel, she is identified as Mary of Bethany. She was Martha and Lazarus’ sister. (They were pillars of the church, before the church was the church, or it had pillars.)
According to John, Mary spent a year’s wages on this precious perfume and anointed Jesus, because she knew that he was the Messiah. She also knew that tensions were building with his detractors, that his life was in jeopardy, and that his earthly ministry was nearing an end.
Mary knew what the others could not comprehend. Consequently, she was moved to spend all the money that she had on fancy perfume, in order to minister to Jesus and publicly proclaim who he was, and the sitz in leben, the signs of the time.
For this reason, Jesus praised Mary’s exemplary behavior, even though Judas said that she was a bad steward; because the perfume should have been auctioned and the proceeds should have been given to the poor.
IV
A further scandal raised in today’s gospel was the notion that Judas was a hypocrite. Heretofore Judas was depicted as another one of the guys. No better behaved. No worse.
But here, in John’s gospel, Judas criticized Mary for spending a year’s wages on perfume that (in his view) should have been given to the poor, even though he was skimming funds from the community chest.
Jesus was onto Judas — long before everyone else was — and he wasn’t putting up with any of Judas’ false pretense. Jesus told Judas that Mary did the right thing by expressing her devotion to him, and accurately reading the signs of the time.
Jesus further chided Judas by reminding him, and everyone who had ears to hear, what the ancient prophets had explained to their ancestors: “You will always have the poor among you,” because you have not loved God with all our heart and soul or loved your neighbor as yourself. If you had, every person's basic needs would be met.
V
Each and every one of these gospel illustrations from Jesus’ anointing (the anointer’s questionable repute, her lavish gesture with the perfume, and the hypocrisy of Judas) point to the scandalous nature of the gospel, in that they remind us that Jesus came for one and all, regardless of our social location, our behavior, or what others think of us.
That’s right. God loves us just as we are. We are saved by grace, not by works of righteousness. And here’s the kicker--so is everyone else.
The gospel is just that simple, and it’s just that hard to comprehend. There’s no guarantee that everyone will comprehend the fullness of God’s grace or the purchase of Christ’s mission, like Mary did. But that’s not going to stop God from trying to get through to us.
And there’s nothing that any of us can do about this news. We’re just going to have to let it seep into our souls, like the pure nard seep seeped into the pores of Jesus’ skin. Amen.