These illustrations are based on John 12:1-11
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It’s O.K. to Be Extravagant - John 12:1-11
A few years ago Mark Trotter told a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. His kidnappers called his wife and asked for $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000. The story had a happy ending: the man returned home unharmed, the money was recovered, and the kidnappers were caught and sent to jail.
But, don’t you wonder what happened when the man got home and found that his wife got him back for a discount? Calvin Trillin wrote about this incident. He imagined out loud what the negotiations must have been like: “$100,000 for that old guy? You have got to be crazy. Just look at him! Look at that gut! You want $100,000 for that? You’ve got to be kidding. Give me a break here. $30,000 is my top offer.”
Mark Trotter concluded his rendition of the story with this thoughtful comment:
“I suppose there are some here this morning who can identify with the wife in that story, but for some reason I find myself identifying with the husband. I’d like to think if I were in a similar situation, there would be people who would spare no expense to get me back. They wouldn’t haggle over the price. They wouldn’t say, ‘Well, let me think about it.’ I like to think that they would say, ‘We’ll do anything for you.’” (Mark Trotter 4/2/95)
The point of that story is this: sometimes it's O.K. to be extravagant! Now, that is precisely what this story in the Gospel of John is all about. Remember the story with me...
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The Devastating Influence of Faultfinding, Nay-Saying, and Nitpicking - John 12:1-8
This is the fifth and final Sunday in Lent. In today’s gospel reading, it is the Saturday night before a crowd lined the streets of Jerusalem to give Jesus a parade, throw palm branches in his path, and sing, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (v. 13). In spite of that enthusiastic welcome, by the following Friday night, Jesus was in a grave.
In the previous few weeks, it was increasingly evident that things were headed in that direction. There had been serious run-ins with the religious authorities. Jesus had predicted his death and John told us there was already a plan to make his death a reality (8:21-30; 11:45-56).
On this particular Saturday evening, however, Jesus and the apostles took a respite from worry. They accepted an invitation to dinner in Bethany, a small crossroads village only two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:28). The party was being held at the home of Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus. All the people at the party were already acquainted with one another. The evening promised to be one of rest, relaxation, food, and fellowship. Lazarus is an old friend not only of Jesus, but at least a few of the apostles (John 11:31). Not all that long ago, Jesus altered his preaching schedule to go to Bethany and resuscitate Lazarus from the dead. On a different occasion, Jesus stopped for lunch at Martha’s house and had a wonderful afternoon of conversation with Mary (Luke 10:38-42).
The evening delivered on its promises. Per usual, the food Martha prepared was delicious. The service was impeccable. The conversation was uplifting. It was a great evening. Before Jesus and the apostles said their “good-byes,” Mary slipped quietly out of the room. She returned carrying an incredibly expensive jar of perfume. It was said to be worth nearly a full year’s wages (v. 5, footnote m). Mary broke the seal on the jar, knelt before Jesus, and washed his feet with the perfume. The gospel tells us the fragrance of the perfume filled the house (v. 3).
That is no benign observation….
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Intentional Acts of True Devotion
IATDs - that's what this passage is all about. People were becoming more and more devoted to Jesus and they were expressing it openly in ever increasing ways. They even started doing IATDs - Intentional Acts of True Devotion.
Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave and he came out struggling in the bondage of his grave clothing. But he came out, he had new life! Jesus had power even over death! The result was IATDs! People started following Jesus. Not only did they start following him, they become devoted to him, and their devotion was radical! Those who saw this resurrection put their faith in Jesus. The sense of the Greek in verse 45 is that people without reservation, without growing into it, at this one miracle put all their faith in him.
And it showed in IATDs. At one time the Jews had been devoted to the Pharisees and the law. Now in wholesale crowds they were turning to Jesus, becoming devoted to him, radically devoted to him with the kind of devotion that is dangerous:
"He'll upset the applecart! We can't have that around here! We'll lose our place and our power!" That was the thinking of the Pharisees, so they plotted to take Jesus life. We often think it was Jesus who got himself in trouble with the Pharisees, but the Pharisees wouldn't have cared a bit if he didn't have these followers with their IATDs. Their IATDs got him in trouble, too.
Intentional Acts of True Devotion - they're powerful, they're dangerous, and they mark the lives of those who put their faith in Jesus.
Bill Versteeg, Intentional Acts of True Devotion
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Gratitude
Pastor Victor Shepherd tells the story of a missionary surgeon he met who was rather gruff and to the point. On one occasion the surgeon was speaking to a small group of university students about his work in the Gaza Strip. He was telling us that we North American "fat cats" knew nothing about gratitude. Nothing! On one occasion he had stopped a peasant hovel to see a woman on whom he had performed surgery. She and her husband were dirt poor. Their livestock supply consisted of one Angora rabbit and two chickens. For income the woman combed the hair out of the rabbit, spun the hair into yarn and sold it. For food she and her husband ate the eggs from the chickens. The woman insisted that the missionary surgeon stay for lunch. He accepted the invitation and said he would be back for lunch after he had gone down the road to see another postoperative patient. An hour and a half later he was back. He peeked into the cooking pot to see what he was going to eat. He saw one rabbit and two chickens. The woman had given up her entire livestock supply--her income, her food, everything. He concluded his story by reminding us that we knew nothing of gratitude. He wept unashamedly. The incident will stay with me forever.
There is another incident concerning gratitude that will never be forgotten. It's about a woman who poured costly perfume over our Lord as she wiped his feet with her hair. Make no mistake--the perfume was expensive, three hundred denarii, a year's income for a laborer in Palestine.
Enough to keep a family alive for twelve months.
Victor Shepherd, Preacher's Annual 1992, Nashville: Abingdon p. 122.
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When I Pause the Longest
In the biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Antonio Vallenten tells of a time when the great artist was at work in Milan on his famous painting of the Last Supper. Da Vinci spent many hours meditating in the chapel of the monastery where he was working. The monks resented these "idle periods" and accused the artist of wasting time. But da Vinci defended these periods of reflection by saying, "When I pause the longest, I make the most telling strokes with my brush."
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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Taking a Time Out
A woman who worked in a high level job for a major corporation experienced a grueling schedule and a lot of pressure. So when she was offered the opportunity to attend a stress reduction seminar, she quickly accepted. However, she soon realized the seminar might not be as helpful as she first thought. The instructor arrived late, out of breath, and announced, "In order to accommodate everyone's busy schedules, this five-day seminar will be speeded up and completed in two days!"
In our study of turning points in people's lives, we must focus on the dramatic difference that takes place when a person learns the secret of taking "time out" for rest and renewal. No one who reads the gospel accounts of Jesus' public ministry can miss the fact that our Lord lived a very busy and challenging life. Everywhere he went, the crowds followed him. Many people sought his help both day and night. Like many people in our time, Jesus lived with a grueling schedule and lots of pressure. But a careful reading of the gospels reveals that Jesus knew the wisdom of taking "time out" in his busy life for rest, relaxation, and renewal.
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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Critics
A young musician's concert was poorly received by the critics. The famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius consoled him by patting him on the shoulder and saying, 'Remember, son, there is no city in the world where they have a statue to a critic.'
Haddon Robinson
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The Power of Fragrance
Isn’t it amazing that John could remember this fragrance so many years after Christ’s ascension? That, when his mind drifted back to that last week of Christ’s life, it was the fragrance of Mary’s offering that framed his memory. What once was an oasis for Jesus, that helped comfort him so he could go forward, was now an oasis in John’s memory that helped him deal with the rigors of his trials. Still today, two thousand years later, Mary’s gift brings fragrance to our lives and while Mary was condemned by the apostle’s that day for her extravagance, she provided a gift that has been remembered for thousands of years. Her fragrance still fills our lives with the presence of Christ.
Jerry Goebel, The House Was Filled With the Fragrance of the Perfume
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A Simple Answer
Could that have been Judas' greatest downfall, the inability to see himself as a sinner and hence receive God's forgiveness? For without that sense of forgiveness, life holds little joy and the future is hopeless. Someone once said that the person who knows himself or herself to be a sinner and does not know God's forgiveness is like an overweight person who fears stepping on a scale.
I once read about a very bitter man who was sick in soul, mind, and body. He was in the hospital in wretched condition, not because his body had been invaded by a virus or infected with some germ, but because his anger and contempt had poisoned his soul. One day, when he was at his lowest, he said to his nurse, "Won't you give me something to end it all?" Much to the man's surprise, the nurse said, "All right. I will." She went to the nightstand and pulled out the Gideon Bible and began to read, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." When she finished she said, "There, if you will believe that, it will end it all. God loves you, forgives you and accepts you as his child."
Such a simple answer. But it worked for that man. He realized after much soul-searching that she had spoken truly. And over a period of some time, he came to believe and accept God's love for him.
There is a way to God. Jesus died to provide it. We may not be Mary or that "woman of the city," but there are sins that weigh upon our hearts. There are scars and cuts that we have inflicted on others. There is a darkness within each of us that no one knows of but God. But that same One, our loving God, sees all and forgives all and calls us to God.
Remember, the one who is forgiven little loves little. But the one who is forgiven much loves with all the heart! May that be true of us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Lee Griess, Taking the Risk out of Dying, CSS Publishing Company.
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Sermon Opener - Abysmal Heights by Leonard Sweet - Philippians 3:4b-14
Sometime in life we have all had to endure a “know it all.”
Maybe it was that annoying kid in class who read the dictionary for fun and whose hand was always waving wildly in the air while claiming “Oh, I know, I know.”
Know-it-alls plague us later in life as well.
The co-worker who always has a “better way” to do things.
The naysayer who “just knows” that your new idea is doomed to failure.
The clueless who claim they “know” just how you feel.
The powerful who “know” what is best for the powerless.
The relative who is the resident know-it-all of the family.
The claim of “knowing it all,” of having “absolute knowledge” guarantees the same results as “absolute power” . . . absolute disaster.
In the first few centuries after Christ, there were lots of different religious practices based on special, secret knowledge. Among Greek and Roman religious cults, Judaism, and certain early Christian communities, being privy to special “gnosis,” or “knowledge,” created “insiders” and “outsiders.” There were those “in the know” and those left out in the dark.
We still have lots of secret societies or what one might even call “gnostic” tendencies today. Did anyone here join a fraternity or sorority in college? Remember all the crazy initiation rites you had to go through? Remember how you were sworn to secrecy from that time forward?
We all are seduced by gnosticism. Author Dan Brown (“The Da Vinci Code,” “The Lost Symbol”) has made a fortune remaking and “revealing” secret “gnosis” that allegedly drove factions within the Catholic Church and the Brotherhood of Freemasons. Or how about a secret language, Latin for Christians, Hebrew for Jews, that kept praises, proclamations, and prayers secret, unintelligible to the untutored or the uninitiated. Or how about this: can any but those with insider knowledge understand “military-speak” or “legalese” or “academese?”
In today’s epistle text Paul takes the first century love of secret “gnosis” and turns it upside down. All the impressive elements that had made Paul one of the most “in the know” religious know-it-alls within Judaism . . . a “Hebrew among Hebrews,” a Pharisee, a zealous, blameless defender of the faith . . . all those great achievements Paul suddenly declares as “loss,” as absolute “excrement.” Paul put a big, fat, minus sign in front of all that had been previously seen as positive in his life.
What replaces all these human achievements? One thing: “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord” (v.8).
What is this “knowing” Paul had experienced?...
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I Love Mankind
The musical Hair has within it a most provocative song called "Easy to Be Hard." The gist of the song is that it is easy to "care about the bleeding crowd" while yet totally ignoring "a needy friend." A little joke you may have heard makes the same point: "I love mankind ... it is people I can't stand!" Jesus does not set himself apart from the poor. He simply points out that he himself, as one of the specific poor, has needs - and that Mary has been sensitive to those needs. By contrast, Judas pretends to be concerned for the poor (in general) but is actually only concerned about himself.
Carl L. Jech, Channeling Grace, CSS Publishing Company
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How Much to Spend on The Poor?
What happened at Jesus’ anointing in Bethany has plagued the followers of Jesus from then until now. How much do we spend on ourselves and how much do we give to missions? Couldn't we do more good by giving all this money to the poor instead of spending it on, say, a new building?
In partial response to this question, my mind goes back to an experience of William Willimon, chaplain at Duke University. Willimon tells of the time the faculty of Duke was discussing a proposal to renovate the seminary chapel. They had received a modest proposal from the architect. But, would the chapel be renovated? No. "With all the poverty and hunger in the world," said one faculty member, "how can we as Christians justify spending $50,000 to pretty-up our chapel?" Of course, this person failed to offer similar objections when faculty salaries were raised each year, (a figure that collectively exceeds $50,000) nor does he question the morality of the luxurious faculty lounge. Obviously the man was posturing, just as Judas was posturing. Even so, the problem is tough. How much should we give to others and how much should we reserve for ourselves?
Richard Meyer, Break a Vase
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My Blood for My Sister
His pediatrician told a little boy that he could save his little sister’s life by giving her some blood. His six-year old sister was near death, a victim of a disease from which the boy had made a miraculous recovery two years earlier. The little girl’s only chance for restoration was a blood transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the illness. Since the children both had the same rare blood type, the boy was an ideal donor.
"Johnny, would you like to give your blood for Mary?" the doctor asked. The boy hesitated. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, I’ll give my blood for my sister." Soon both children were wheeled into an operating room. Mary was thin and pale. Johnny was robust and full of life. Neither of them spoke.
As Johnny’s blood siphoned into Mary’s veins, one could almost see new life come into her tired little body. The ordeal was nearly over when Johnny’s brave voice broke the silence, "Say, Doc, when do I die?"
It was only then that the doctor realized what the moment of hesitation had meant earlier. Johnny actually believed in that giving his blood to sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he had made his great decision.
Obviously, in Johnny’s mind his act of love toward his sister had no personal reward. In fact, he believed that in helping her, he would not even be around to enjoy whatever relationship he might share with his sister.
In John 12:1-8 we see a biblical example of love when Mary anoints Jesus feet with spikenard and washed his feet with her hair.
Traditional
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Acts of Humility and Love
Patricia Long, pastor at First United Church of Christ, Berkley, California said it best. "Performing acts like the one Mary did are acts of extravagant caring that remind us we are called to be in equal partnership with each other, and that we all ought to be humbled as we come together before God." She says "acts of humility and love are empowering! They remind us that though power, control and domination are the ways of the world, there are some places where simple gestures of kindness and caring still count, still make a difference."
Rev. Long says that Mary’s act of anointing Jesus was not unlike Rosa Park’s act of moving from the back of the bus to the front. Whenever a person stands up for love, the world notices. It can also be changed for the better as the oppressed are liberated or the presence of God becomes more visible.
Keith Wagner, The Supremacy of Love
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Pride Is the Source of Your Problem
Psychotherapist William Beausay tells of counseling a man who lost everything after he got involved in some shady business dealings. He lost his money, his job, his marriage and his family. In fact, some of his former business associates had tried to kill him. His client admitted that his life revolved around one philosophy: "I am Joe Blow. When you are Joe Blow, you can do anything you want." That belief was the foundation for his life. Yet even after his foundation crumbled and he lost everything, this man still didn't see the error of his ways. He actually said that he had lost everything but his pride. Beausay pointed out to the man that pride had been the source of all his problems. If he had not been so proud and self-absorbed, he never would have gotten into this mess in the first place.
William Beausay II, The Leadership Genius of Jesus, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), 47.
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Holding On
I have some items in my garage that I have been holding on to. I’m waiting for the day I have a garage sale so I can make some money. You know what they say, "waste not, want not." Why throw away a perfectly good item when you can make some money on it, right? A friend said to me, "Why don’t you just set it out. Someone will surely come by that can use it. Then you will have more room and be free of something you really don’t need."
My friend was right. We have a habit of holding on to things that might have value. Giving away something that we could turn into cash would be unthinkable. It wouldn’t make any sense.
Does love have to make sense?
Keith Wagner, The Supremacy of Love
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Making the Bed with His Wife
When looking at Mary, I think of a letter Bob Dole received on the campaign trail when he was running for President. An article about Bob and Elizabeth Dole appeared in a magazine, along with a picture of Bob and Elizabeth making the bed together. Well, a male reader of the magazine wrote to Bob Dole and expressed his disappointment that Dole would allow himself to be photographed in such a "compromising" position, making the bed with his wife. Senator Dole wrote back to the man, saying, "You don't know the half of it; the only reason Elizabeth was helping at all was because the photographer was in the room."
Richard Meyer, Break a Vase
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A Prayer to Let Go
Lord, I am haunted by Mary's unreasonable extravagance as she poured the precious ointment on your feet. Part of me agrees with those who rebuked her, that the money could have been better spent - in feeding the poor or paying the bills or supporting the temple.
But you would have none of it. Unembarrassed, you accepted her gift of ointment and tears and the house was filled with the fragrance.
This goes against the grain for me. I have learned the hard way that money is not to be thrown around, that I must live with prudence and modesty, thrift and discipline, or life will get out of hand.
Teach me, Lord, that there are times when love requires something more than habit and routine, a rigid timetable and a balanced check book. Lord of the dance, do you sometimes invite me to join you in fresh and spontaneous responses to life, to allow myself to be vulnerable, to make the unexpected gift, to show my love in gesture and embrace, and let myself go without fear of others' censure - to break the iron disciplines of every day?
Must I always rein in my emotions because of what others may think of me?
Is my forgiveness of those who hurt me always to be cold and conditional?
Am I never to reach out to others in case they rebuff me?
Lord, Mary knew that her moment had come and might never come again. Will you rescue me from my imprisoning inhibitions, help me to know when it is time to cast prudence aside, break open the spikenard and fill the house with the fragrance of love.
Amen.
Selwyn Dawson
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Humor: On Critics (The tie in here is with Judas' Criticism of Mary)
While traveling separately through the countryside late one afternoon a Hindu, a Rabbi, and a Critic were caught in a terrific thunderstorm. They sought shelter at a nearby farmhouse.
“That storm will be raging for hours.” The farmer told them. “You ought to spend the night. The problem is there is only room for two in the house. One of you must sleep in the barn.”
“I’ll be the one” said the Hindu, “ a little hardship is nothing to me.” And he went to the barn.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. It was the Hindu. “I’m sorry he said to the others, but there is a cow in the barn. Cows are sacred creatures and I cannot impose.”
“Don’t worry said the Rabbi, make yourself comfortable. I will go sleep in the barn”
A few minutes later there was another knock at the door. It was the Rabbi. “I hate to be a bother,” he said, “but there is a pig in the barn. In my religion pigs are unclean, I wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping near a pig.”
“Oh, all right said the Critic, “I’ll go sleep in the barn.”
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. It was the pig and the cow.
Benjamin Hoff, The Te of Piglet
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Eating Together (verse 2)
Since the beginning of time, people who trust one another, care for one another, and are deeply connected to one another have shared food as a sign of and a reaffirmation of their relationship.
When attention is paid to this sharing, it takes on a ritual character.
The nurturing of the body becomes a metaphor of the mutual nourishing of lives. Every time we hold hands and say a blessing.
Before a meal, every time we lift a glass and say fine works to one another, every time we eat in peace and grace together, we have celebrated the covenants that bind us together.
Robert Fulghum, From Beginning to End
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Wesley’s Resolve
For Jesus there was no separation between personal piety and social action. He was equally concerned about the misery of human beings and the glory of God! The times alone with God gave him the resolve to turn belief into behavior and words into deeds of compassion and justice.
We can see that same resolve in the life of John Wesley, the great Methodist preacher. A biography of Wesley gives this description of his very busy but fruitful life: Wesley always arose at four in the morning, preached whenever possible at seven, and was often on the road again at eight. Sometimes he followed his morning sermon with five others in the same day. In fifty years, he preached over 40,000 times! That's an average of fifteen sermons per week. It is estimated that he traveled more than 250,000 miles all on horseback! Even when he was eighty-three years old, he recorded with some regret that he could only write about fifteen hours a day before his eyes hurt too much to continue. At eighty-five, when his friends urged him to ride his horse to a place six miles away where he was to preach, Wesley said indignantly, "I'd be ashamed if any Methodist preacher in tolerable health made a difficulty of six miles." And off he tramped on foot to keep his engagement!
At the end of this description of such a full and busy life, the biographer tells us the secret of Wesley's resolve: "His ability to achieve was due in the main to a temperament which was remarkably steady and self-possessed. He never seemed to hurry or to worry, and he always made time in his busy day to be alone with God."
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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The Dummies Guide to Sacrificial Living
I have watched in increasing fascination and amusement the growing proliferation of a series of books called the Dummies Guides.
Naturally, they began as simplified instruction manuals for computers. I can understand that. I not infrequently feel like a dummy when I match my wits with my impressively fast and absolutely literal friend the computer. However the books began to sell like hotcakes. People evidently loved them. Now you can find everything from Auto Repair and Family Health to Time Management and Sex for Dummies.
You will not, however, find a book entitled The Dummies Guide to Sacramental Living. That is because the Dummies Guides deal with technique. There is a technique to learning computer software.
Technique can lead to the possibility of cloning animals. Technique provides medical miracles. But there is no technique which promises a full and fulfilling life. There is no technique which sustains love. There is no technique which finds God. All of these precious goals are approached in a way which is the opposite of technique.
Donel McClellan, Practice Sacrament in a World of Technique
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The Women Become the Model
If perhaps not its original setting, now the story belongs in the last days of Jesus. The woman’s response stands in contrast to that of Judas, but also of Peter and the disciples. Both in Mark and in John, as in the common tradition which feeds them directly and indirectly, Jesus is pictured as abandoned by his inner circle of disciples. In the end it will be a few women who are left standing near Golgotha and who will venture to the tomb.
The unlikely ones in Mark and John’s world, the women, become the models. This is deliberately subversive and reflects so much of the experience of Jesus’ ministry. Others were so good, so devout, and so busy being so, that they missed the point. This is grindingly obvious, when a woman like this inarticulately breaks the perfume container open and spreads the contents over Jesus’ feet. Mark even suggests that Jesus predicted how memorable her act would be. Let the memory live!
William Loader, First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages from the Lectionary
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A Sense of Gratitude
On a recent religious talk show the hostess was interviewing a young woman who had just recently come to know Christ and had been received into the church. Until her recent conversion, she had lived on the wrong side of the tracks, lived in the fast lane, and teetered on the brink of destruction. So overwhelming was the sense of forgiveness that this young woman practically gushed with joy as she spoke. "I can't express," she said, "the sense of gratitude that I feel that God has changed my life."
The talk show hostess knew where she was coming from -- for she, too, had walked on life's wild side before coming to Jesus. She said, "I know what you mean. Every day I thank God for saving me!" And then she added a very profound statement: "You know what I've noticed though? People who have always been in the church, people who always do what they ought, who have never really gotten into trouble, always been prim and proper, don't have the same sense of gratitude that I do. In fact, I've noticed that for most church people, it's not so much what God had done for them, but what they still want God to do!"
If you can identify with that statement, perhaps we can appreciate the story in today's Gospel reading from John 12. It's an unusual story -- this story of the anointing of Jesus' feet with oil.
Lee Griess, Taking The Risk Out Of Dying, CSS Publishing Company
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Aroma: Bringing Back an Emotion
Taste is 95 percent smell. What happens when you get a cold? Can't taste anything? In talking with others about their smells, what I have discovered is that there are regional differences to our favorite smells that often depend either on our food habits or on our outdoor customs. East Coast people prefer floral scents and Northerners the smell of the seasons. Southerners seem to prefer hearty snorts of pine. Midwesterners like the whiff of hay and farm animals. Westerners like the aroma of barbecuing meat.
Whatever our pet smell, huge histories of time are relived within the microseconds of a sniff. Nothing can bring back a time, a place, or an emotion better than an aroma.
Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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What Close-minded People Don’t Do
Remember the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy is chasing Charlie Brown. She is shaking her fist at him and screaming:
"I'll get you, Charlie Brown. I'll get you. And when I get you, I'm going to knock your block off!"
Suddenly, Charlie Brown screeches to a halt. He turns and in a very mature way says:
"Wait a minute, Lucy. You and I are relatively small children with relatively small problems and if we can't sit down and talk through our problems with love, respect and understanding, how can we expect the great nations of the world to sit down and talk things through?" And then, "Pow!" Lucy slugs him and says: "I had to hit him quick, he was beginning to make sense!!!"
That's what closed-minded people do. They don't want to listen to another person's point of view. So, they hit them quick. They think that anybody who disagrees with them is the enemy... the enemy who must be silenced. And some, sadly, even go so far as to think that anybody who disagrees with them is the enemy of God.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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I Died on the Battlefield
Dwight L. Moody told of the young man who did not want to serve in Napoleon Bonaparte's army. When he was drafted, a friend volunteered to go in his place. The substitution was made, and some time later the surrogate was killed in battle.
However, the same young man was, through a clerical error, drafted again. "You can't take me" he told the startled officers. "I'm dead. I died on the battlefield."
They argued that they could see him standing right in front of them, but he insisted they look on the roll to find the record of his death. Sure enough, there on the roll was the man's name, with another name written beside it.
The case finally went to the emperor himself. After examining the evidence, Napoleon said, "Through a surrogate, this man has not only fought, but has died in his country's service. No man can die more than once, therefore the law has no claim on him."
Two thousand years ago, Jesus went to the cross to bear the penalty that rightly belongs to us. He died in our place. And through Him, our names are written in the book with His name written beside ours.
Adrian Dieleman, Created to Worship
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A Sacred Death
Some time ago, I returned as the guest preacher to a church where years before I had served as a student pastor. After the service, I struck up a conversation with a woman whom I had not seen in many years. "How is your dad?" I asked her. "I remember him as one of my favorite people."
"I lost my dad last summer," she said sadly. "Cancer. But he lived a long and good life," she added, "and in many ways he died a peaceful death. The last few moments of his life were amazing.
"My sister, my brother and I were with him when he died. He had a stroke a few days before and lost his speech. You can imagine how hard that was on my father."
"Yes," I nodded. "Your father loved to talk, loved to tell a good story."
"About an hour before he died, he began a hard struggle. He was using this last bit of energy to try to speak. He seemed to have something he really wanted to communicate. It was terribly frustrating for him and painful to watch. Finally he pointed at my brother and motioned toward the sink in his room.
My sister said, 'He wants some water, and my brother went to the sink and poured a glass. He brought it over to my father, but Dad refused it and made a gesture toward my brother as if to say, 'No, you drink it. My brother hesitated for a moment and then took a sip from the glass. My father then motioned with his hand, as if to say, 'Pass it to your sister. My brother handed me the glass, and my father repeated the gesture.
"It was then that it dawned on my sister. 'He’s serving communion, she said quietly."
Through these gestures, her father communicated that this was no ordinary hospital room, but a chapel, no ordinary dying, but a sacred and faithful death.
Thomas G. Long, The Gospel Sound Track, Christian Century
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Graciousness of Spirit: Everyone Is a Winner
On March 16, 2007, for the first time in its 23 year history, there was a three way tie on the game show, Jeopardy. Mathematicians calculate the odds of this occurrence to be one in 25 million. What a mathematical calculation cannot take into account is the graciousness and generosity of someone like Scott Weiss. In the ‘Final Jeopardy’ round, the second place player and the third place player both had $8,000. Scott had a little over $12,000 going into this last question. The players made their bids before they even heard the question they needed to answer. You could see it on Scott’s face, the calculation that a three-way tie would be possible and his growing excitement over the idea.
Often on Jeopardy, the winner makes a bet on that final question that leads to a victory of one dollar. It is, after all, a competition. Scott bet exactly enough money so that if the other two players both bet their entire $8,000 and got the question right, then all three players would have a total of $16,000. That’s exactly what happened. Scott forfeited his victory so that all three players could be winners. It was a moment of pure joy made possible by an act of generosity and graciousness.
This week we read about Mary’s remarkable gift to Jesus, and we are reminded that there are opportunities all around us to open our hearts and do something extraordinary. The odds of a three way tie in Jeopardy may have been one in 25 million, but Mary understood that she had a chance that may never come again.
Staff, www.Sermons.com, for more information about this story visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17653609/