Advent Lutheran Church

"God's Suffering Servant"

Grace and peace to you from God the Creator and the Lord Jesus.  Amen.

There is a question that hovers over this reading from the prophet Isaiah, the prophet through whom God introduced his servant, the one whom he upholds, his chosen in whom his soul delights.  This servant has become known to us as the Suffering Servant, who will embody God’s spirit, and who will have a primary task: to bring forth justice throughout the land.  The question that hovers over this passage is “How?”  Just how is the servant to accomplish his mission?

God tells us clearly how he will not meet his challenge.   “He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street”; in other words, he won’t be a revolutionary, leading a rebellious opposition that will take to the streets to meet the violence of the empire with a violence of its own.  And, God says, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench”; he will not take advantage the vulnerable or victimize those barely hanging on.  So those are not the methods of the Suffering Servant.  But just how will he succeed?

That’s the answer that hovers over this gospel reading from St. John.  At a dinner party given in Jesus’ honor, one of the hosts, Mary, takes a pound of expensive perfume and pours it over Jesus’ feet.  The fragrance from the perfume completely fills the house; if you’re breathing, you’ve taken in the rich scent. 

The perfume that Mary uses is nard, an ointment used in preparation for burials.  Some scholars contend that, in a culture in which you did everything you could to avoid being a burden to others, including family members, you would spend whatever it cost to provide for your own burial preparation, including the purchase of nard.  You might save up for years, or borrow from whomever; but at some point you would secure the necessary elements for yourself.  So what Mary is really doing is taking her own burial preparation and pouring it out on Jesus.

In this reading from John, Jesus says that Mary acquired the nard “so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”  In Mark’s account of this dinner, Jesus says that Mary “has performed a good service for me,” or as some translations have it, “has done a beautiful thing for me.”  Mary pours out her own death on Jesus, and Jesus calls it “beautiful.”  And he calls it “beautiful” because that’s why he has come, to take Mary’s death, and yours and mine, upon himself so that final and ultimate death does not claim us.

Just how does that divine transaction take place?  The Bible doesn’t tell us how, it only tells us that through the death and Resurrection of Jesus, we are brought by the power of God into eternal life.

In the cantata that the choir presented yesterday, Palm Sunday, there was one piece in particular that speaks to this miracle.  It’s the piece titled “Guilty of Innocence,” and here are just a few verses:

“He was born into a kingdom ruled by cruelty.  His birth filled the king with fear and jealousy.  They tried to kill the child, birth was his only crime.  He was guilty of innocence. 

“The child was saved and grew into a holy man.  He preached a love the world could never understand.  Still he showed that compassion was greater than the sword; he was guilty of innocence once more. 

            “And now he’s standing trial before a vicious crowd, and what before was whispered now they shout out loud.  They hand down the verdict decided long before.  He was guilty, guilty once more. 

“And when they handed down the final penalty, there began a pardon for humanity.  Though born into a world full of cruelty and sin, through Christ we are innocent once again.  … Now we are innocent, … once again.”

Amen.