Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 6 April 2025.
• First Reading: Isaiah 43: 16-23 (Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past)
• Epistle: Philippians 3: 4-14 (A righteousness, not from the law but through faith in Christ)
• Gospel: John 12: 1-8 (Jesus anointed at Bethany)
I suppose it is natural to admire the fastest runner, the toughest fighter, the most skilled performer, the most articulate in debate, the most creative artist.
The superlative should gain the greatest reward, and the onlooker would pick up what he or she can. The least able, the least fit or educated or proficient would get next to nothing.
We might say that this is the way of the world, and sit back in a contented complacency, satisfied with how life has treated us, and coming to terms with its challenges.
It is an outlook that accepts the wealth of the most able, provided that we are not left in want ourselves. Yet it still works on the basis of survival of the fittest, and it accepts that there are losers in life. ‘That’s life’ we say.
Of course it accepts that some may have less, others may have nothing, and anyway, death the great equalizer, comes to us all.
But then Isaiah says something quite different.
‘I am doing a new thing’ says the Lord. The One who brought Israel out of slavery and destitution and into a new land, promised by God and flowing with milk and honey.
And He did it because of His love for Israel, and His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was all a work of love: unearned and unearnable. It was never about the intrinsic merits of the House of Israel. It was always about the desire of God for the whole world and He was starting with Abraham, whose faith was itself accepted before God as making him holy.
But the new thing was all about receiving the gifts of God as they is given. The law was to be a tutor for holiness and never a vehicle for personal superiority or the oppression of others. It was a preparation for a special kind of prophet – a Messiah who would totally reshape human history and morality.
God would be known and worshipped in a different way, and all the human impulses to dominate and oppress others would have to be set aside in favour of the total victory over sin and death that Jesus would accomplish. A new life, aims and values.
He would face the worst that humanity could offer and present Himself as the atoning sacrifice to the total holiness of God, once and for all time.
And yes, God would raise Him up, overcoming death and initiating a new way of living and believing and praying. New relationships would lead to new kinds of action and initiative.
And all this would be quite different to the ways of personal gain and advancement in the rat race.
And so in the gospel we have a deep paradox.
The Prince of Peace, accepting the anointing of His feet with costly perfume: seeing it as a preparation for His burial, a deep and searing act of worship.
And yes, this was a costly act of worship, bringing out a protest against waste in the name of giving to the poor.
Surely the needs of the poor should override all else?
And this question is with us today. But there are two aspects here for the bible says a lot about the poor but nothing about poverty. The poor are people whose needs are present on every street corner and in whose interest there are great government agencies to try to meet their needs.
Yet poverty is a protest at the way we distribute the resources of our society. It is always a relative term, offended at the opulence and arrogance of the wealthy.
The scriptures are full of protest at the arrogance, the self-satisfaction, the godlessness, and the acquisitiveness of the wealthy. The Psalms have lots to say about it.
But we still build great buildings, we still reward outstanding sports people, we still commission great works of art and engineering. None of these is abandoned in favour of the poor. Nobody protests at the wealth of our entertainers.
But then Paul brings us back to Jesus Christ. His salvation, His victory over death.
Besides this Paul’s own high social standing and education, his place in the House of Israel, his zealous practice as a Pharisee all count for nothing.
These are standards and symbols which will fall away in death and yet Paul has the assurance of life in Jesus Christ. A life founded on faith in Him rather than any procession of good works that he may want to present.
Life as a gift: freely offered by Jesus and yet done so on the basis of a hideous and grotesque personal sacrifice. Extravagant beyond reckoning and yet offered to all who will receive it.
This is the basis of Paul’s wealth. Certainly not personal merit.
So yes, our response to the poor is always personal: personal giving, and for some, personal commitment to ministry to the poor as we find them, possibly supported by suitable charities.
Here is an opportunity to worship the Lord: person to person in love rather than as a protest at the way our society organises its work and payments and the relief of need.
So long as we commit to the principle of survival of the fittest, then we also underwrite the competition for status, wealth and power.
But the Lord is doing a new thing: sealed at Calvary and worked out in the lives of those who believe and trust in Him.
