This morning we have two different Gospel readings in the benefice. The rest of the readings are the same, but the Gospel readings are different. At St Mark’s, the Gospel is the story of the woman taken in adultery who’s brought to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees to test him, to see if he agreed that the woman should be stoned to death. At St Gabriel’s, the Gospel is the story of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with very expensive perfume and in the process earning the disapproval of Judas Iscariot. So we have two very different Gospel readings in the benefice this morning, readings which at first glance perhaps, might not seem to have much in common. But are they really so different?
One obvious similarity of course is that both stories are about a woman who, either because of her actual sin of adultery in one case, or her perceived sin of profligacy in the other, earn the disapproval of others, the scribes and Pharisees in the first case, Judas in the second, who then bring their disapproval of what the women have done to Jesus. The second obvious similarity is that in response, Jesus rebuts their accusations against the women. But as well as these obvious similarities between these two Gospel stories, if we look at them a little deeper, and especially if we take them together, what these two seemingly different stories do have in common is in having something to tell us about fulfilling the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart and soul and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. And as both Gospel readings are about accusations made about one person by another or by others, I’ll start with what these stories have to tell us about loving our neighbour.
In the Gospel story about the woman taken in adultery, I think there is one glaring omission; where is her partner in crime? As the saying goes, ‘It takes two to tango’, so where is the man who must have been involved in this sin? Why was he not also brought before Jesus? So the first thing we can say about this Gospel story is that it’s about double standards, it’s about seeking to punish one person for doing wrong whilst letting another person get away with doing the very same thing. And how often do we see that in the world? I think double standards of this kind are perhaps one of the most common ways we fail to love our neighbour as ourselves because it’s something that happens so often in the world.
We don’t know anything about the man involved in the background to this Gospel story so we can only speculate about him. Was he was a man of some importance in his community whom the authorities wanted to keep out of the affair, if you’ll pardon the pun? Or perhaps it was simply a case of sexual inequality; it was OK for a man to have a bit of fun in this way but not for a woman. What we do know is that these things have and still do go on in the world. We also know that using double standards is something that we’re all tempted to do at times, and do at times. How often have we criticised or condemned another person, or other people, for doing something wrong but then turned a blind eye to, or even excused the same wrongdoing if it’s been committed by one of our family or friends? Indeed, how many times have we ourselves done wrong and tried to excuse or justify it in some way? But have we or do we ever stop to think about the way in which the wrong we do, or excuse, affects others, our neighbours? Because it always does and so if we do these things, if we use double standards, we can’t love our neighbour as ourselves.
Both of these Gospel stories are also about hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees in the story of the woman taken in adultery is quite obvious from their response to Jesus’ challenge,
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
They all went away and left the woman alone, with Jesus. It’s also clear from this story that Jesus doesn’t condone the woman’s sin because he tells her not to sin anymore, but neither does he condemn her for her sin. Quite the opposite in fact, he forgives her:
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
The implication of this is that Jesus is more critical of hypocrisy, of sinners who condemn sinners, than of the individual sinner and their sins.
Hypocrisy is quite easy to see in this Gospel story, but we can also see hypocrisy in the story of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus, in this case, the hypocrisy of Judas.
When Judas saw Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, he said,
“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
And at first reading, Judas seems to have a valid point. Three hundred denarii was about a year’s wages for the kind of day labourer Jesus mentions so often in his parables. So it was a lot of money to spend on something to pour on someone’s feet, even Jesus’ feet. So surely this was a sinful waste of money, money that could have been put to better use. But we’re then told that Judas
‘…said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it.’
So what we have here is someone criticising the sin of profligacy to mask a sin he wanted to commit himself, that of getting his hands on some money so that he could steal it. And to make matters worse, trying to cover up his intended sin by telling lies about his motive. And how often do we see this happen in the world? How often do people shout about other people’s wrong doing or falsely accuse others simply to cover up their own sins? How often do we hear about corruption amongst those who run charities, people who raise money for good causes but then take vast sums of that money for themselves ? Jesus’ fiercest criticism was of the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of people who criticise and condemn sinners whilst turning a blind eye to their own sins. But it’s something we all do because we all want and try to take the moral high ground in arguments about who’s right and who’s wrong. But we can’t do that and love our neighbour as ourselves because we’re all sinners. In fact there are only two ways we can speak about sin and still love our neighbour as ourselves; one is to be sinless ourselves so that we can condemn sin, and the other is to condone our neighbour’s sins just as we condone our own.
The Gospel story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet also tells us something about loving God with all our heart and soul and mind. Jesus defends Mary against Judas’ criticism by saying,
“Leave her alone, so that she may keep it (the perfume) for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Jesus’ words leave us in no doubt that far from being a sinful waste, Mary’s use of the perfume was right and proper. He acknowledges the poor and, in the context of the conversation with Judas, his words confirm that it’s right to help them. But that’s something that can always be done, at any time. In the context of Jesus’ own situation, this anointing is something that had to be done now because, in the context of his earthly life, Jesus wasn’t going to be with his disciples and friends for much longer.
In our context of course, we believe that Jesus is always with us, as he promised he would be. We believe that we meet him in other people, especially in the poor and needy, and we believe that in helping them, we help him, again as Jesus himself said we do. But we also meet Jesus when we come to church to worship God, and it’s in this context that this Gospel story speaks to us most vividly about loving God.
How the Church spends its money is, and for a long time has been, a controversial subject. For many people, Judas’ criticism of Mary’s profligacy is one that could be levelled at the Church. Over the years I’ve met quite a few people who’ve been very critical of the Church for spending vast sums of money on magnificent buildings, and lavish furnishings to go in them. I’ve met people who’ve said that the Church ought to be ashamed of itself for filling churches with gold and silver, expensive vestments and the like when there’s so much poverty in the world. I’ve heard the Church accused of hypocrisy for doing this. But our churches aren’t just buildings; they’re not just places where we happen to meet to sing a few hymns and say prayers. Our churches are holy spaces, they’re places dedicated to the worship of God; they’re supposed to glorify God, and the things we put in them and use in them are not just things, they’re holy things that’ve been blessed and consecrated to God to help us glorify him in our worship. And as holy places full of holy things dedicated to God, our churches should be places in which only the very best will do because only the very best of what we can give is a right and proper offering to God.
Perhaps we can put it like this. If we we’re told that Her Majesty the Queen wanted to join us for worship one Sunday, I’m sure we’d do everything we could to make that Sunday a very special occasion. We’d do a deep clean of the church, we’d sort out any problems we had with the building, a touch of paint here, a bit of replastering there. We’d have the vestments we were going to use cleaned, we’d use the best chalice and paten and make sure those were sparkling. We’d clean and iron all the altar linen. In short, we’d spare no expense to make sure the church was fit for a queen to come in to. And when it came to the liturgy, we’d practice and practice and practice again until it was spot on so that it would be fit for a queen too. But if we’d do that for our Queen, shouldn’t we do that much for God and Jesus too who, no offence to Her Majesty, are far more important than the Queen? The answer can only be, ‘Yes, we should’. Our churches, what we put in them and use in them, and what we do in them in worship should be the very best we can offer and the very best we can do, because only the very best is good enough for God and for Jesus. We need to remember that every time we use our churches for worship, we come into them to meet God and Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and that is our chance to be with Jesus and it’s our chance to do as Mary did, to pour out the very best that we have to offer on and at his feet.
Jesus gave us a Great Commandment to keep. It’s a commandment in two parts; to love God with all our heart and soul and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves, and we need to keep both parts if we’re going to be true to Jesus’ teaching and example. This morning’s Gospel readings teach us a great deal about keeping both parts of that commandment. They teach us about how difficult it is to love our neighbour as ourselves if we use double standards and are hypocritical in our dealings with others. They tell us how difficult it is to love our neighbour as ourselves if we can’t see ourselves as sinners. But they also tell us that offering the very best we have to God in worship doesn’t mean that we’re failing to love our neighbour. It’s simply showing that we love God with all our heart and soul and mind when we have the chance to do that. And it’s simply giving to God and to Jesus the honour and glory that they’re due and that we owe them in return for their love of us.
Amen.
The Propers for the 5th Sunday of Lent can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 