I speak to you today in the name of God: Father (+), Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Today we come to worship and we find a story about love – about extravagant love; about love that is not afraid to give away that which is precious.  We come to worship on this Monday in Holy Week and we find a story about a family that our Lord loved.

 

Let’s look at what kind of family this was.  Lazarus, Martha and Mary appear a number of times in the Gospel.  Martha is always worrying about getting things done and ensuring that all is in readiness.  Mary is a bit more impulsive and lets the details take care of themselves.  Lazarus is a man who was dead and Jesus proved himself as the great miracle worker that he is by bringing him back from that state.

 

Lazarus is an interesting character and there is a theory about him that I have come to embrace.  Lazarus is a grown man who is still living with his sisters.  This is highly unusual for first century Jews.  A grown man gets married at the first opportunity.  But there is something quite different about Lazarus.  Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’arche Community, supposes that Lazarus may be a person with something like Downs Syndrome or other developmental delay.

 

This is seen in how much his sisters care for him.  When I spent a day with the Core Members of L’arche  I spent a day immersed in love.  People with Downs filled with love for those around them.  It was an emotionally moving day for me and the other participants who when with me.

 

But back to the family, Jesus comes to dine with his dear friends.  With the woman who constantly shows her love by doing things for others (Martha).  With the woman who constantly shows her love by acts of devotion (Mary).  With the man who constantly shows love.

 

Mary offers Jesus a great gift today, it is an extravagant gift, an over the top gift, and she does it in love and worship.  To put this extravagant gift in perspective the jar of nard was worth about a years wages – not 12 easy payments made over the course of a year; it would have cost an entire year’s wages.

 

So think of something that costs the same as you make each year.  Picture that in your mind.  For me that would be about equal to my car.  So have you got that picture in your mind?  Now, give that thing away – give it away to someone you love and who has loved you.

 

This is the kind of offering that Jesus gives.  He gives his entire self, he loves us so extravagantly that he is willing to not just give a year’s wages away he is willing to give his very life up for us to show us what extravagant love is all about.

 

Today as we take this next step on the journey toward the cross I ask that you contemplate what extravagant love is all about and how it is that you can incorporate it into who you are.  For the sacrifice that Jesus offers is his life blood upon a cruel cross and he does it in love for us and out of that sacrifice comes the moment of creation that is our salvation, and not just our salvation but the salvation of the whole world.

 

Amen.