The Woman Who Anointed Jesus: Practice Acceptance Preached for Wollaston Congregational Church On Palm/Passion Sunday March 28th 2021 Scripture: Mark 14:1-10 Today we reflect on the sixth secret of the Mister Rogers Effect, “Practice Acceptance.” We have also heard a story of an event during Jesus’ last week, before the crucifixion. Once we see the connection between this story and the need for acceptance, we will not be able to un-see it. We will be reminded of the disciples’ failure to truly accept who Jesus was, why he had come, and what would happen to him in Jerusalem. And we’ll reflect on our own struggles with acceptance. Palm or Passion Sunday begins on a high note. The disciples are made hopeful by Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem on a colt, or baby donkey. The entourage that has traveled with Jesus since Galilee, sees the crowds throw their cloaks down in the road as Jesus approaches, giving him the pathway of a king. People from the countryside and locals come out and join the parade, shouting “Hosanna, save us now! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” The movement is gathering support, and Jesus’ popularity is increasing. His followers must be feeling confident about the week ahead, when Jerusalem will be packed to overflowing for the Feast of the Passover. The hopes for liberation will ring out loud and clear, and Jesus will be at the front, leading the charge. Or at least that is what they think. Memories of Jesus’ predictions of his suffering and death are fading away. Surely he didn’t mean it. Perhaps he just brought that up when he was feeling low. Now, he must be encouraged by the crowd. Now, surely he, too, is feeling confident that his mission will work out perfectly! Jesus spends the week traveling into Jerusalem, teaching in the temple, engaging in heated conversation with the scribes and Rabbis, and on one occasion making something of a ruckus. Each night the group retires to the village of Bethany, walking 2 miles up the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. They stay with friends, eating together each evening and sharing stories. As the days go by, it seems that the religious elites are becoming more and more concerned about the influence of Jesus and his followers on the crowds in the city. A sinister atmosphere begins to develop. In today’s gospel reading we hear that two nights before the Passover, “the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.” On that same night, Jesus and his followers dine in the home of Simon the leper. In the middle of the meal while Jesus is sitting at the table, a woman comes in with a surprising gift. It is an alabaster jar, filled with a very costly lotion, called nard. She breaks open the jar and pours the amber colored aromatic oil over Jesus’ head. Other gospels tell us that the aroma fills the whole house. The other disciples are angry at this outburst, complaining that it is a waste. They could have sold the nard, and given the money for the poor. But Jesus says "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." The mood of the group changes dramatically. One disciple, Judas Iscariot, can’t get over his anger at what the woman has done. Outwardly, he complains with the others about the waste. Inwardly he is disappointed by the turn of events. If this is how Jesus is going to play things, Judas is done with him. Rather than wait to be arrested with Jesus and the rest of the group, Judas goes to the chief priests in order to betray him. The irony is that, according to Matthew, Judas asks the chief priests for money, in exchange for turning over Jesus. Even as Judas complains that the woman has wasted her nard on Jesus instead of feeding the poor, he takes 30 pieces of silver in exchange for turning Jesus over. And so we come to the sixth secret of the Mister Rogers Effect, Practice Acceptance. As Fred Rogers said “When we love a person, we accept [them] exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the facade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.” (Fred Rogers) [1] Rogers projected acceptance to his TV audience, singing “It’s You I Like” at the end of every show. He “believed that self-acceptance was a prerequisite to other acceptance” and he was determined to cultivate self-acceptance among his young viewers. [2] For Christians, self-acceptance is essential, and so is the conviction that we are accepted, by our loving parent God. And yet both self-acceptance and the belief that we are accepted can be very difficult in our times. We are encouraged to self-criticism to the point of self-judgment. Both narcissism and self-loathing are on the rise, in a culture that emphasizes material success, achievement and popularity based on social media hits and likes. The 20th century German-American theologian, Paul Tillich, delivered a famous sermon on the grace of God, in which he urged Christians to “accept that you are accepted.” He said “[Grace] strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. … it is as though a voice were saying: ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. … Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!’” [3] Self-acceptance and accepting that we are accepted by God are critical steps toward accepting others as they are. And, of course, accepting others as they are is the only true way to love. Wishing someone was different and trying to change them is about control over others. Loving is never about controlling. When my husband and I were married, our wedding was officiated by our minister. I remember only one piece of advice from our marriage preparation meetings. The minister said, and I paraphrase “never try to change the other, it will only cause them to resent you. You both will change, of course, as you grow together. And if you do not try to change the other, they will grow into the way they are supposed to be and become all the more beloved.” It has not always been easy to remember this advice, but I know that when I have felt accepted for who I am, accepted for my own hopes and dreams, I have grown in ways that feel good, right and true. One of the most difficult things to accept, from a person we love, is that they are suffering, or that their life might be reaching its close. The most natural human response is to try to fix or deny suffering and death. Perhaps you have not been ready to accept the truth of what a loved one has told you. They say that they are sick and they won’t get well. They want to discuss how they will leave this life, or what will happen when they are gone. Often family members are not willing to listen and the sick or dying person is left without anyone to share their worries and fears. I want you to know that I am always available to talk about end of life issues or anything else, particularly, if your family and loved ones are having trouble accepting. For now, though, we return to the gospel story for this morning, looking through the lens of acceptance. The disciples, who are angry at the woman who anoints Jesus’ head with lotion, are in denial. They have not taken in what Jesus has been telling, them: that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem, that the only way forward, now, is the way of the cross. These followers do not truly accept Jesus. They do not accept who he is, why he has come and where he is going. Instead they project their own goals and agenda onto him. Perhaps they imagine taking power in Jerusalem, or raising an armed rebellion. When the woman comes forward to anoint Jesus, the others see exactly what she is doing. The woman understands Jesus. She has listened to his predictions of suffering and death. She does what she can to care for him, without denying what the outcome of his actions will be. But, we must wonder about Judas and his agenda. He is so outraged at the woman’s actions that he goes to betray Jesus. We might wonder if this is the product of his lack of self-acceptance, his own self-loathing. According to Matthew, Judas’s life ends by suicide. He throws away the money he receives from the temple elite in an act of self-disgust. Judas can’t accept himself, and so he cannot accept Jesus for who he is. How things might have been different if he could. So often we, as individuals and institutions like the church, do not accept Jesus for who he is and why he came. We also project our own goals and agenda onto him. But, how might things be different, if this Holy Week we accept ourselves, we accept others and we accept that we are accepted by the one who humbled himself even to death on the cross. May all God’s people say, Amen [1] Kuhnley, Anita Knight . The Mister Rogers Effect (p. 137). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. [2] Ibid., p. 141 [3] https://southfellowship.org/accept-that-you-are-accepted/
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
If you enjoy a sermon or have a question, please leave a comment. If you would like to quote any of my material in your own sermons or writings, please use appropriate attribution. I look forward to hearing from you!Archives
April 2022
Categories |