Isaiah 43.16-21; Philippians 3.4b-14; John 12.1-8

Isaiah 43.16-21; Philippians 3.4b-14; John 12.1-8

Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet points ahead to his death and burial. And in that pointing, her act is prophetic, both in the way that the Gospel of John describes it and in the way that it unfolds. For people watching it unfold, however, it would have been a surprising act. Barbara Brown Taylor offers a summary: Mary loosens her hair in a room full of men, something in biblical times an honorable woman would never have done; she pours aromatic oil on Jesus’ feet, also not done; she then wipes it all off with her hair, something Taylor calls “a bizarre end to an all-around bizarre act.”

Though I’m not so sure Mary’s act is any odder than other biblical prophets who went before her: Ezekiel take a scroll with the word of God and eats it as a sign that the Word is alive inside of him; Isaiah walks around barefoot and naked for three years as a warning to the nations; Jeremiah is instructed by the Lord to buy a new linen loincloth, wear it, then bury it in rocks, and after many days dig it up again—it’s ruined, of course, an object lesson on the ruin of God’s people. Prophets do this sort of thing in the Bible. They act out their message bodily. You might not listen to what a prophet says but it is hard to overlook what a prophet does.

No one overlooks what Mary does. By anointing Jesus’ feet, she embodies utter and complete devotion to Jesus, and she doesn’t count the cost. And about that cost, Mary’s perfume oil is so valuable that, if it were sold at the newly opened Von Maur department store, it would be kept behind the counter and under lock and key; the value, 300 denarii, was equal to an average worker’s annual salary. Judas is right: it could be sold and the money given to the poor. Now with Jesus, of course, there is never any suggestion that care for the poor is optional. But with Mary, something else is going on. Her anointing—extravagant, generous, prophetic—has a deeper meaning that cannot be overlooked. “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”

There is nothing frugal about what Mary does because there is nothing frugal about what Jesus does in his death on the cross. Mary’s devotion to Jesus is an echoing response to the generous, extravagant grace of God in Jesus Christ who doesn’t count the cost of giving his life. She is an example of a line in our Opening Collect when it prays that, among the changes of the world, and despite the unruliness of our own lives, our hearts will be “fixed where true joys are to be found.” Mary’s heart is fixed on true joy in Jesus Christ.

With Mary’s act in mind, and the line from the opening prayer to focus our hearts, we can look at the other readings today: Isaiah and St Paul. First, Paul. When we meet him in the second reading, he’s looking back on a lifetime of accomplishments. ‘If anyone thinks they’ve got good reason to believe in themselves,’ he says, ‘I’ve got more.’ That might be a bit immodest, but it’s not far from the truth. His claims of family, religion, status, and personal triumphs are all good things and to his credit; they could easily be a source of personal pride.

These are the sorts of things we commonly applaud in others or even in ourselves. Of a businessperson: ‘This CEO has countless successful start-ups to her credit.’ Of a writer: ‘With more than 60 books to his credit, you’ve no doubt read something he has written.’ Of ourselves, ‘I grew up in a difficult family but, to my credit, today I am healthy and thriving.’ And all of these are good. “A good reputation is more to be desired than great riches,” says the book of Proverbs. But Paul has discovered something else even better than the things he once counted as important. Having been changed by God and made new in Christ, all the things that he once thought were to his credit now take on a different perspective. “Whatever gains I had, I have come to regard as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

As for us? We may think that who we are, or what gives us personal value, is what we have or achieve, who our family is or where we have come from, what we look like, what we own, what we do: any number of things to our credit. But with Paul, we see that nothing is as valuable as the extravagant grace of God in Jesus Christ for us. “Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Trusting this is where true joy is found.

Next, Isaiah. Like Mary and her devotion, or Paul changed by God with life made new, the prophet Isaiah also takes up the theme of where true joy is to be found. In the first reading, Isaiah sums up the story of the Exodus in a few short verses: the Lord makes a way in the sea for his people, draws Pharaoh’s chariots and horses out in pursuit, then quenches them like a wick. The Exodus is the defining event of God’s people in the Old Testament, the moment of freedom and life, the centerpiece of both sacred and national identity. It’s how the Israelites told the story of who they were. ‘Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt and God gave you freedom.’

Now the prophets, to their credit, reminded God’s people over and over that this rescue showed how valuable they were to God and how God would be with them in whatever they faced. Yet Isaiah, after reviewing this defining biblical event, says a most surprising thing. ‘Forget it all. The past is the past. God is in your future and the future belongs to God.’ “Do not remember the former things or consider the days of old.” There’s no future in the past. True. Yet even so, imagine telling a recovering alcoholic to forget the anniversary of his sobriety or telling a cancer patient not to remember the day she rang the bell on the way out of the Roger Maris Cancer Center. Hard to imagine. Yet that’s exactly what Isaiah is saying. “Do not remember the former things…I am about to do something new.” This changes perspective on everything in the past, and changes perspective on that we think is important or valuable in the present. The future belongs to God; our future is in God.

Today, the Opening Collect prays that among the changes of the world (and of changes in the world you’ve maybe noticed there is no shortage) and despite the unruly wills and desires of our lives, our hearts are fixed where true joy is found. That is why Mary acts the way she does. Her generous, extravagant anointing is an echoing response to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. There is nothing frugal about what Mary does because there is nothing frugal about what Jesus does in his coming death: letting go of equality with God to take on the cross for our sake; exchanging our sin for his forgiveness; giving life to a dying world and, amid the changes of life, holding us secure in God’s eternal changelessness now and into the future.

Mary is responding to God’s grace; Paul and Isaiah, too. As for our response to Jesus who pours out his grace for our sake and doesn’t count the cost? “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,” says the New Testament letter of Hebrews. Jesus “endured the cross, disregarded its shame.” Why? “For the sake of the joy that was set before him.” Jesus’ own heart was set where true joy is found—the joy that comes from gathering you to life in God. And even though you may not be able to fully calculate the value of that grace in your head, this priceless grace is expressed in Mary’s anointing—fragrant, beautiful, poured out for you. He is our true joy.

Isaiah tells us that life and joy don’t depend on the past; “Do not consider the things of old.” Paul says that life and joy won’t come from present circumstances; “Whatever gains I have, I have come to regard them as loss.” Life and joy come instead from the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus embodies for you the generous, extravagant, impossible to ignore grace of God. He is the source of hope to find life not in what you have accomplished but in what he has accomplished for you. In him, you receive life so that, like Mary, you can be filled with generous grace for the people he places in your life. Through all the changes of the world and in our lives, your heart can be “fixed where true joys are to be found” because true joy is who you are to God.