Who Really Knows?

By the Rev. Dr. John D. Lane

This sermon is based on John 12:3. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon.


Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

It is often said that John’s account is the most theological of the four gospels. Mark’s version is the most direct and succinct. Matthew and Luke expand upon Mark and add many stories and parables of their own. Luke is my personal favorite. He is great with language and is the only evangelist who tells the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. The Prodigal you heard last week.

By contrast, John wants not only to tell us stories, but to interpret what they mean. He does not care a great deal about when events occur, but about their significance. We encounter Mary and Martha once in Luke’s gospel, and twice in John’s, where their brother Lazarus also appears.  In addition, John’s gospel is full of Jesus’ long and sometimes hard to follow discourses.

Luke’s Mary and Martha story is played out in many families. I’m sure most of you know it–or think you do. Jesus is visiting, along with his gang of disciples. Martha is working her fingers to the bone in the kitchen, making certain that everyone gets a good meal and a memorable experience at her house. Meanwhile, her sister Mary is lollygagging, contentedly sitting at Jesus’ feet. So Martha complains to Jesus, asking him if he isn’t distressed that Mary is good for nothing, all while Martha herself slaves away.

The gospels tend to be efficient, terse, brief, economical with words, but in my imagination Jesus says something like, “Martha, just take a break. You don’t have to make such a fuss over us. My guys and I would have been just as happy if you had sent out for pizza, or made us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,. Mary is in here listening to important ideas and participating in the discussion. Why don’t you take off your apron and join us here in the den?”

Often this Mary and Martha story is presented in a kind of post-modern ‘different strokes for different folks’ way, often a little patronizing of Mary. In this fantasy version, some of us are Marthas, practical types, taking care of business. And some of us are dreamers, kind of lost in the headlights of life. Hail, Martha! If it weren’t for her, nothing important would ever get done. Mary, you ought to be grateful to your sister.

But this is the very opposite of what the story tells us. As Jesus himself puts it, in the text, not just in my imagination, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Sometimes we need to listen up, especially when Jesus is talking. Last week, preaching in Nelson County, I pointed out that the Prodigal was not forgiven because he repented. The Father forgave him before he confessed his sins. For the Prodigal and for Mary and Martha, we need to read the text very carefully. Otherwise, we tend to hear what we think is in there, even when it’s not.

Lazarus, who was risen from the dead in the preceding chapter, is only mentioned as present in today’s story. John, economical in his storytelling assumes we remember the earlier great miracle. Being raised from the dead made Lazarus a local celebrity. Everyone wanted to see him. The Jewish leaders wanted him dead for all time so that the people wouldn’t be reminded of Jesus and his power every time they looked at Lazarus.

In chapter 12 it is neither the hard-working Martha nor the uniquely blessed Lazarus who is the center of the story, but everyone’s favorite biblical space cadet, Mary. We aren’t certain how she comes to understand Jesus, but she is the one who truly gets it. Martha hasn’t been paying attention because she’s way too busy doing ‘important things.’ I’m sure Lazarus has his own issues. Three days in the tomb has perhaps left him pretty confused.

In John’s gospel and in the overall story of Jesus, we have to be ready for surprises. A clergy friend of mine, Harry Pritchett, wrote a campfire/vacation bible school song called “God is a surprise.” You’ll be pleased to know that I won’t attempt to sing it this morning. Besides miracles themselves, God picks unlikely people to carry out his work, people like the liar Abram, the murderer Moses, the adulterer David, the Christian persecutor Paul, the coward Peter. Given this crew, we have no reason to believe that we ourselves can’t help to carry out God’s mission. God is a surprise, often counter-cultural, turning the world upside down, saying things in the Bible which, if we pay careful attention, are the opposite of what we expect.

I had a neighbor growing up whose body matured a lot faster than his mind. In fact, he soon grew to 6'9". David was a bully, though he usually let me alone. I was a year or two younger, and always a lot smaller. He was about 17 when he stole someone’s new Corvette and took it for a joy ride. Afraid that he’d get caught, David drove it into a flooded quarry. Someone ratted him out, and I still remember the picture on the first page of the newspaper of everyone’s favorite dream car dangling from the crane picking it out of the water.

David got his day in court, and he was lucky enough to get a wise judge. He gave David the choice between prison or the service. It didn’t take very long until he was in the US Navy. It tickled my mother that this giant wound up in the close quarters of a nuclear submarine. He served his 4 years, then became a patrolman in the Princeton Township Police Department, the very force who had handcuffed him not too long before. He got married, adopting his wife’s two kids, and lives an exemplary life. The last time I saw him, we had a very nice conversation. I didn’t mention the Corvette. Did I say he’s much bigger than I am?

Like the judge in my friend David’s case, Jesus sees something more in Mary than others do. Bethany, where Jesus is in essence hiding out, is an easy walk to Jerusalem. Martha cooks. Lazarus is counted as present. It is however the flaky Mary who sees deeply and understands what is going on. Knowing the danger that Jesus is in, she brings out a pound of very costly perfume, and begins to anoint Jesus’ feet, wiping them with her hair. She understands who Jesus is and she understands what is going to happen. As Jesus himself points out, she is anointing his body for burial.

The challenge to us is to be open to the Spirit. To recognize that God can be surprising, indeed that God is a surprise. To look beyond our own familiar but often incorrect reading of scripture. To dig deeper. To see more clearly what God is telling us. To pray fervently that we may know God’s will. To go beyond ourselves in becoming better and better followers of Jesus. And beyond all else be open to the Grace of God.