This sermon explores the concept of Christ's extravagant love, encouraging followers to learn from His example and increase their capacity to love others, even in their messiness.
Welcome to the last week in our Love Has a Name series. As we get started today I want to recap on the big ideas from weeks 1 and 2. Our first challenge was to go and learn someone’s name, which, we believed would lead to deeper conversations about their lives, their needs, and the role that we could play in their story. Last week we talked about the messy nature of loving others and how it all seems so easy in theory. Did anyone get good and messy this past week? I sure hope so :)
(Pastor - Are there any relevant stories or testimonies that could be shared here? Any people or families you can highlight from the congregation who are getting messy and loving others well?)
Today we’re going to take loving others, learning their names, their stories, and sharing our lives together to another level. We’re going to take it up a notch to the level that Jesus loved. Jesus loved extravagently and we believe He continues to do so. He adores His bride, the Church and we have so much to learn from Him about sacrificial, messy love.
Instead of trying to cram every lesson about love from Jesus into one sermon we’re going to look at just one story today. The story of Mary, the perfume, and the radical exchange of love that happened at the table that night.
We’re going to take it up a notch to the level that Jesus loved.
Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany - John 12:1-8 A Sinful Woman Forgiven - Luke 7:36-50
I’ll be sharing this story from the perspective of Luke and John. Both accounts include details relevant to our teaching today.
As the story goes, Jesus was invited to dinner at the home of a prominent Pharisee named Simon in the town of Bethany. There were others present at the meal, but of note are Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.
As the meal began, “A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. (Luke 7:37)
To be clear, this lady wasn’t just any sinner but was a publicly known sinner, most likely a prostitute, named Mary. And to say that Mary was disrupting the meal, that she was a bit of a distraction to this important religious leader’s time with Jesus…this would’ve been the understatement of the year.
“As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” (Luke 7:38)
While Jesus was eating, she poured the jar of perfume mixed with her tears over the feet of Jesus. The gospel of John says this was a full pound of expensive ointment that Mary used.
It would have been worth an entire year’s salary for a working man at this time. Not to mention, it’s value to a woman like Mary with a job like hers. It would take years for her to replace what she so freely poured out at the feet of Jesus.
Mary is literally taking everything she has and anointing Jesus.
It’s impossible to convey the total absurdity of what’s going on in this scene. A woman like Mary, with her reputation. Interrupting the dinner party of a prominent Pharisee. Crying at Jesus’ feet, pouring out a pound of expensive perfume. The smell, the scene, the completely inappropriate nature of what’s going on as she wipes her tears away with her hair and massages ointment over His feet.
And Jesus does nothing to stop it while Mary couldn’t care less about who she offends or what it costs ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium
Love adores, Love is lavish, Love adores extravagantly.
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