Palm Sunday 09
Love’s Extravagance!
Discipleship Questions for
Sunday April 5, 2009
Scripture Readings:
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm Reading: Ps 22
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel: John 14:P1-39
First Reading Is 50:4-7
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
my face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
(R.) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
All who see me scoff at me;
they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads:
“He relied on the LORD; let him deliver him,
let him rescue him, if he loves him.”
(R.) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Indeed, many dogs surround me,
a pack of evildoers closes in upon me;
they have pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
(R.) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
They divide my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, be not far from me;
O my help, hasten to aid me.
(R.) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the LORD, praise him;
all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him;
revere him, all you descendants of Israel!”
(R.) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Second Reading Phil 2:6-11
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians
Christ humbled himself. Because of this God greatly exalted him.
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel Mk 15:1-39
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As soon as morning came,
the chief priests with the elders and the scribes,
that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council.
They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him,
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
He said to him in reply, “You say so.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Again Pilate questioned him,
“Have you no answer?
See how many things they accuse you of.”
Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them
one prisoner whom they requested.
A man called Barabbas was then in prison
along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.
The crowd came forward and began to ask him
to do for them as he was accustomed.
Pilate answered,
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
For he knew that it was out of envy
that the chief priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate again said to them in reply,
“Then what do you want me to do
with the man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted again, “Crucify him.”
Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?”
They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,
handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.
They clothed him in purple and,
weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.
They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.
They knelt before him in homage.
And when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak,
dressed him in his own clothes,
and led him out to crucify him.
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,
a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.
They brought him to the place of Golgotha
—which is translated Place of the Skull—.
They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
Then they crucified him and divided his garments
by casting lots for them to see what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read,
“The King of the Jews.”
With him they crucified two revolutionaries,
one on his right and one on his left.
Those passing by reviled him,
shaking their heads and saying,
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days,
save yourself by coming down from the cross.”
Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes,
mocked him among themselves and said,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross
that we may see and believe.”
Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
At noon darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon.
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard it said,
“Look, he is calling Elijah.”
One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed
and gave it to him to drink saying,
“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion who stood facing him
saw how he breathed his last he said,
“Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Discipleship Questions:
1. Please read the Scripture readings above and then read Mark 14:1-10 and focus in on the incident with the unknown woman whom we believe is “Mary.”
2. Read this incident a number of times and see what our sovereign Lord would reveal to you as you do this.
3. Please read the following from my sermon notes and discuss: Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. 2 “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.” So what has St. Mark told us in these two verses? The chief priests and the teachers of the law have decided to kill Jesus since he threatened their hegemony – their control over the people. He was an extremely attractive and charismatic leader and was clearly swaying the public sentiment away from the established religious oligarchy to Himself. In other words, Jesus was a political threat and had to be terminated as soon as possible but they were frightened if they did it publically a dangerous riot might erupt. The last thing they needed was to make a martyr of Him. So instead they slyly planned on a less public way of getting Him out of the picture. So let’s read on:
Mark 14:3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman – an unknown woman - came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
Have you ever wondered what “nard” is – well it’s a very expensive herbal ointment from the valerian family of herbs. It’s was wonderfully pungent. It’s extremely expensive because of where it grows and the difficulty in obtaining it.
Spikenard is not native to Egypt, Punt or the Middle East. It is native to the Himalayas and grows at high altitudes. Its use in the ancient world is a demonstration of their sophisticated trade routes and of the importance placed on aromatic material: they went to a lot of trouble to obtain this little root. Spikenard was packaged in carved alabaster boxes, carefully brought down by caravan and exported over the ancient world. As recently as one hundred years ago, spikenard was imported from Nepal to Egypt for use as a folk medicine. Beyond various medicinal uses, like valerian, it has relaxing, sedative properties, spikenard was anciently believed to bear mystical and romantic powers and it’s fragrance was exquisite. It was sought after throughout the known world!
Spikenard apparently has an earthy, harsh wood like smell that’s slightly musty.
So please take a moment to imagine how this happened. The woman was probably a wealthy widow who had heard that Jesus was in town and was staying at the well known home of Simon who had once been a social pariah – a social outcast – a leper, but now after his healing by Jesus was a highly respected disciple of the Nazarene miracle worker.
Ask yourself this question – “What prompted her presence at Simon’s home?” We don’t know but we do know that she came with this very expensive anointing oil to specifically anoint Jesus – as an expression of her deep devotion and love!
Try to imagine how this happened. Did she just stand up and walk over to Jesus – break the anointing oil seal and pour it over His head? Remember it was meant as a sublime act of love and devotion – how would you accomplish this?
Who was Jesus to this woman that she would react in such a way?
Have you ever witnessed such an act of love?
Clearly she blessed Jesus but let’s read on:
Mark 14:4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. I can relate to these sorts of comments can’t you? Such extravagant waste! But listen now to Jesus’ response:
Mark 14:6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Did you hear that? This pronouncement is preceded by the solemn “I tell you the truth.” In an indirect way Jesus is predicting his resurrection, because the preaching of the gospel presupposes the Resurrection!
It’s intriguing to me that at the beginning of Holy Week Jesus is telling those who were listening that He was about to die but He was also about to be resurrected!
The central message of the Good News is Jesus’ defeat of sin, death, and hell by his resurrection. And anywhere in the world that Good News is preached, this unknown woman’s act of love and devotion will be remembered. Throughout all generations and today we remember her.
4. Please read the following and discuss: she was the only one who really, in some albeit limited sense, actually got what was about to happen. The other disciples didn’t but she knew somehow that she was to anoint Him.
see, Jesus was about to be executed as a common criminal and common criminals were never anointed before burial but here she was anointing His body in anticipation of His death and He knew it!
He knew what she was doing! So who sent her? Yes, God, the Father, in His infinite love sent her and she obediently responded!
And because her name is unknown we are being invited to become her today.
That’s the reason why she wasn’t named – you put your name in her place.
That’s the whole point – can’t you see it – we’re being invited to stand in her shin and reach out with her hands to anoint our precious Lord with anointing oil!
Now I want to ask you – can you even remotely imagine doing such a thing?
If, in fact, you and I are being invited by our Lord to imagine ourselves as this woman – can you imagine doing such a thing?
Some of us probably can, others of us – in all honesty can’t – for in fact we can probably better relate to the grumblers concerned more about her prodigal and imprudent expenditure of money that could better be used for the poor.
But, I’m convinced, that our Lord is inviting all of us today to put aside our “ISSUES” and wonder what it would take for us to do such a thing?
Just take a moment now and try to discover what it would take for you to take your entire year’s income and purchase the most expensive anointing oil in the world or the most expensive perfume (Imperial Majesty, which costs $215,000 a bottle, is the most expensive perfume in the world) and then find Jesus and anoint Him with it - nothing held back.
Can you even begin to imagine doing such a thing?
Now I suppose some of us could how about us “macho” men?
You see I believe that you and I are being encouraged today to think about entering into a new level of devotion to our God and this “unknown” woman is our model.
Do you think she’s alive now in heaven? Yes.
Do you think it’s possible that she’s praying for you right now to reach out for this gift that she wants so very much to give you?
Yes – I have to believe that she is with her Lord in heaven and is right now praying for you and me to open our hands to receive this gift of extravagant love for her Lord – for our Lord!
Do you want such an extravagant love? We, you and I, are the bride of Christ! Do you want to become a greater man and woman of God?