March 15, 2015

Today�fs question is �gWhy????�h There are three episodes in Mark�fs Gospel on Wednesday of Holy Week, and I honestly want to ask �gwhy�h each of them happened. Why did he Jews want to kill Jesus? Why did Judas betray Jesus? And why did the woman pour the expensive perfume on Jesus�f head?

Let�fs start with the dinner in Bethany. We do not know anything about Simon the Leper, assumedly a person whom Jesus had cured from leprosy earlier in his ministry. Although Mark does not name this woman, in John�fs Gospel she is identified as Mary, the sister of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead (John 12:3). Customs of hospitality are different around the world. In Japan, a nice custom is the oshibori face towel that the guest can use to refresh by wiping his hands and face. In old Israel there was the custom of taking off your dusty sandals and washing your feet, perhaps washed by a servant. There was even the custom of anointing the guest with perfume. This last act of hospitality was performed by the woman who anointed Jesus�f head with the expensive perfume. We are told that it was pure nard, a rare and very costly fragrance. It was sold in a sealed jar carved from alabaster stone. The only way to open the jar was to break the jar open. The nard could not be put back into the bottle. She broke the bottle open and poured all the contents on the head of Jesus.

What shocked the disciples was the price of the nard perfume. Three hundred denarii is like a year�fs wages, like maybe $30,000. Can you imagine spending that much money for perfume for just that one occasion? She must have been a very wealthy person, but still, I with the disciples would ask, �gwhy?�h

4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, �gWhy this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year�fs wages and the money given to the poor.�h And they rebuked her harshly.

Jesus counters by asking them �gwhy?�h �gWhy are you bothering her?�h He defends her in two ways. First, she has done a beautiful, wonderful thing for Jesus. It shows her love and respect toward Jesus. It is a sign of her faith. It shows how much value she puts on Jesus. Secondly, Jesus says that she has prepared his body beforehand for his burial. It was the old burial custom of Israel to bury a body with spices, but Jesus died on Friday afternoon, right before the beginning of the Sabbath, and there was no time to buy spices and prepare his body before putting it in a nearby tomb, they had to wait to do that on Sunday morning, but Jesus arose from the dead before they could do that, which Jesus knew would happen, so he said, �gShe poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.�h

I understand the shock of the disciples because I too am sometimes stingy. And so this story is a reminder for us to be generous: to the poor and to Jesus. Jesus gave his lifeblood for us. What have we given him? What can we give besides thanks and praise and prayer?

Holy Wednesday also has the account of the Jews wanting to arrest Jesus and Judas offering to betray him. Why do they want to kill Jesus? Why would Judas, one the twelve disciples want to betray him?

Pontius Pilate the Governor thought that they wanted to kill Jesus because of envy (Matthew 27:18). Surely they were afraid that Jesus would become popular with the people and they would lose power. Why was Jesus such a big threat? They were Israelites who believed the Bible. You would think that they would be happy that the Messiah-Savior had come. The Messiah was promised by the Old Testament prophets. The Messiah would bring in the Kingdom of God. Many people saw that Jesus was the Messiah Savior. They sang �gHosanna.�h Why didn�ft the Jewish religious leaders see that??? At his trial, the official reason for killing Jesus was that he said he was the Messiah King. Why didn�ft they see that he truly was the Savior? That is the mystery of sin. Was it the work of Satan or the work of God? If it was the work of Satan, then his plan was foiled when Jesus rose on the third day. And of course it was the plan of God, as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament. And this plan was successful when Jesus rose on the third day. Why was this God�fs plan to do it this way? Maybe because this showed the price of God�fs love. More than an expensive alabaster jar of perfume, God totally gave the life of his only begotten Son.

And finally, why did Judas betray Jesus? I cannot understand it. Even if Judas wanted money, thirty pieces of silver (Mt. 26:15), a months wages, seems very cheap, especially compared to the value of the perfume that was ten times that amount. Why? Was Judas disappointed, disgusted, disillusioned about Jesus? Did he think that he was doing the right thing, perhaps even helping to stimulate the work of Jesus? Jesus foretold his own death, so perhaps Judas was just helping him? Was it the work of God or the work of Satan? If it was the work of Satan, well Jesus rose on the third day and the Jesus freed sinners from hell, so Satan�fs plan did not work. If it was the work of God, well, I just cannot imagine that. Why would God do something like that? Except that God allowed Judas to do it in order to bring about the salvation of the world. What disappoints me about Judas is that when he saw that Jesus was going to be killed, he went out and hung himself. If he had only waited just three days until Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus could have forgiven even Judas. That is the power of the forgiveness of God. That is why we have faith and hope. The power of forgiveness has the same strength as the power of the resurrection from the dead. Just like the nard perfume could not be put back into the broken alabaster bottle, so the broken tomb shows that forgiveness and salvation can never be taken away from us.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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