I regard everything as loss, because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I
may gain Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Please do be seated. During Lent group this week we had a lively debate about the
meaning of the resurrection in our daily lives as Christians.
We began with Rowan Williams teaching that when Jesus rose again he began a new age of
human reality. This is a confronting thought, but not one that's easy to picture. We're used to
thinking of history in terms of periods, like the Tudor or the Victorian periods, but we don't
often think of ourselves as living in an age defined by anything really beyond politics.
But the Bible shows us that we do. The Old and the New Testaments point to defining moments
in human history, each defined by the relationship between God and humanity. In the Old
Testament, humanity was defined by the covenant God made with Abraham.
Through that covenant, Abraham and his descendants were blessed. And though it was a focus
on a particular people, the covenant had a universal scope, for the promise came, in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 12 verse 3. Israel descended from that covenant.
Jacob, Abraham's grandson, who was renamed Israel. And from him came the twelve tribes, as
we heard in our reading from Philippians this morning, one of them being the tribe of
Benjamin. Israel was called to be a priestly people on behalf of all humanity, living in the
promise of a future blessing that would spread out to the ends of the earth.
And so the Abrahamic covenant was the beginning phase of human existence. The beginning of
our relationship with God. One people chosen to speak on behalf of all people, and a promise
that all people would be brought into the fold.
In the Abrahamic covenant, the relationship between God and humanity was renewed and
secured by the sacrifice of crops, of money, of livestock. The blood of lambs and goats, as
Hebrews refers to, was given not just because it was costly to the owners, but rather so that the
greater sacrifice, the sacrifice of the second phase of human existence, could be foreshadowed.
A sacrifice of blood.
And it is that sacrifice of blood which creates the new covenant, the New Testament, the
sacrifice of the blood of the Lamb of God. In this new covenant, New Testament, Hebrews
explains to us that a daily sacrifice of animals was no longer needed. No longer did sacrifice
extend to just a select group of people, the people of Israel and the sacrifice of the temple.
In the new covenant, the blood of Jesus was given, once for all humanity on the cross. And in
the resurrection, the new covenant reached its climax, as the death of God gave way to his life,
not just for himself, but for everyone. In Jesus, all the families of the earth are blessed.
All are welcome. And so, the old covenant gave way to the new. The final promise was fulfilled.
The Abrahamic covenant, which extended to one people, was opened up into Jesus's covenant
with all people. As Jesus himself said to the disciples, go out therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the
perfect human being who represents all human beings.
And in him, we die to sin, the sin that keeps us back from God. And in him, we rise to new life.
And so, we are defined by a new relationship with God.
That resurrection fulfills the final promise. And so, the totality of human existence is realized. Of
course, we're caught between the beginning of one age and its fulfillment.
Jesus completed the work of the new age in the resurrection, but we await its full arrival. We are
not yet perfect, as he is perfect. But he told us that it is coming.
The victory has been fought on the cross and won at the resurrection. And so, now we live in an
age which has started, whose end is decided. Although we do not know exactly when the end
will come or what it will be like when it does.
This feels very strange. As I say, we're not used to talking in this language, but every week we
proclaim this truth in the words of the Creed. We say, he will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
What we're saying is, we live in the final phase of human existence. One started by the
resurrection, and one which will end with the judgment. And after that, his kingdom will have
no end.
There is no further phase to come. This is it. We are now living, looking forward to the
fulfillment of all things, Jesus's return and his coming kingdom.
Returning to our Lent group, we considered what our response to this really major piece of
news should be. If, in short, the resurrection began a new reality, then that means enormous
consequences, not just for us, but for all humanity. Because what we're claiming as Christians,
with that simple word in the Creed, that simple line, is that we are claiming an appeal to an
objective truth, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Rowan Williams reminded us the resurrection is not an isolated historical event. It was the
event that completed all of Jesus's work towards salvation. It was the turning point in human
history.
Everything before it looked to it. Everything after it must be understood in light of it. And so no
one is unaffected by it, regardless of belief.
We're claiming, too, that we live in an age which affects not just us in this room or in any
church, but all people. And we're claiming that that age will end with Christ's return in
judgment. When he comes, that judgment will come down to whether we have allowed our sins
to be subsumed into his death, and whether we are ready to share his risen life.
And we don't know when this moment will be. As Jesus said in Matthew 24, 36, but about that
day and hour no one knows. Neither the angels of heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.
So here is the question. Does that constitute an emergency? If we are living in the final phase of
human existence, if the end of that phase will come with the day of judgment, if on the day of
judgment the question will be asked, have you responded to the most important event in
human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is that an emergency? Is it an emergency for us
and is it emergency for the people who have not yet realized that truth? Well certainly the early
church thought so. The Apostles, including St. Paul, acted with remarkable energy after the
resurrection, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ across the Roman Empire in just a few
decades.
They established communities, taught the essentials of faith, and moved quickly to the next
place. Their urgency is evident not just in their travels but in their letters, writing to sustain
fledgling communities from afar. They risked imprisonment, persecution, beatings, even death.
They believed that their mission was essential, it was worth every risk, and so they travelled at
breakneck speed across the known world, spreading their message, defiant of everything that
stood in their way. Of course some suggest that the Apostles acted in this way because they
expected Jesus's return within their lifetimes. We can understand why.
For example in Matthew 16 verse 28 Jesus said, there are some standing here who will not taste
death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. But the church very quickly came
to understand that Jesus referred to the inauguration of God's kingdom in the resurrection.
Jesus was not coming immediately but his kingdom was coming soon.
And so again are we in a period of urgency? The most important thing in human history has
happened. We need to respond, and we need to respond by a date we do not know. Perhaps it
is an emergency but as our Lent group observed, most of us can't live as the Apostles lived.
Life for all of us carries responsibilities, work, family, community. We can't just drop everything
and travel across the known world shouting about Jesus as St. Paul did. But actually the fact
that St. Paul established communities suggests that even he didn't expect all Christians to act
like he did.
He expected the believers that he created in each new place, including Philippi where he wrote
to in our reading from the New Testament, he expected those believers to stay where they
were, to live out their faith in their community, to maintain their worship, and to care for the
vulnerable. And so this brings us to our Gospel reading and to Mary of Bethany. Because Mary
showed us another way of living urgently.
She didn't travel at breakneck speed or shout about her faith, but she lived out urgency in
giving. Paula Gooder has suggested that the ointment that Mary used to anoint Jesus was likely
worth a year or more's wages. This wasn't something that a person would just happen to have
lying around.
It was a very precious item, probably the most precious she owned. Maybe it was given to her
as a dowry, maybe a gift, maybe she'd held on to it for very many years. Perfume of this sort of
quality would have been stored in a completely sealed clay jar because it would have spoiled
quite quickly.
And so for Mary to use it, she had to break open the jar. This wasn't a case that she could
quickly unstopper it, pour a bit on Jesus's feet, and then put the stopper back on and save the
rest for herself. No, she had to break open the jar, use this most expensive thing that she
owned.
And so hers was an act that was costly, not just in terms of the material cost, but rich in
emotional value. In urgency, she gave the most precious thing she had to Jesus because she
knew that the moment demanded it. Think about that, her most precious possession, so
precious that she hadn't even used it on herself, and yet she poured it out for Jesus without a
moment's hesitation.
In doing so, she lived up to the Jewish tradition of worship, where fragrant offerings were given
exclusively to God. In Exodus chapter 30, there is a description of how incense ought to be
made for the tabernacle. It says, it shall be for you, holy to the Lord.
You shall not make it for yourselves. So precious was this fragrance that it couldn't be used for
personal enjoyment, but only for divine worship. Mary lived that reality.
She took her most precious thing and she set it aside for God, because she recognized who he
was, the Son of God. And so she offered in urgency everything that she had. Her act teaches us
something vital.
She acted in urgency, not in frantic activity, but in lavish, wholehearted worship. She saw who
Jesus was and she recognized it by giving of her best, everything that she had. And so the
question then for us, who cannot live as St. Paul lived, traveling to the ends of the earth,
shouting about the gospel, is how do we live urgently? How do we live in response to the reality
of the resurrection? How do we live with the extravagant worship that Mary offered at Bethany?
Do we recognize that we are worshipping right now the God who became a human being, who
died for us and rose again, who created a new reality for us and for the people that we love?
Can we ever give enough? Can we ever worship enough in response to what he has done for
us? The way that we give is the life of the church.
Mary's gift was personal and costly, but it became part of the wider witness of the gospel. Our
gifts too are given to Christ when we give them to his body, the church. You don't have time to
pray morning prayer every morning, but Laurie and Avril and I can.
You can't sing God's praises in the choir, but Mike and Tom and Valsa can. You might not have
experience to go out and use music to reach young people in the community, but Patrick and
Cosima do. You might not have capacity for church spreadsheets or a weekly toddler group or
church building faculties or arranging flowers or holding funerals or visiting people in hospital,
but Lynn and Jackie and Elaine and Helen and Sue all have you covered.
And so, to so many others who in this community give what they have in worship, the church
exists in order to facilitate urgent giving in every community so that always and everywhere
praise and worship is being offered to God our Father and in thanks to Jesus his Son. If you are
part of the body of Christ, then you are part of its mission. You are me and I am you, and
together we give more than either of us could give alone.
So, should our response be urgent to the message of the resurrection? Absolutely. Christ is
returning and we must be ready, but the urgency doesn't rest on your shoulders. It rests on our
shoulders.
And so your final question as we approach Holy Week is this. How do you give urgently as part
of this community? What gifts do you give so that this body can worship at all times and in all
places as it is called to do? How do you work so that other people can live their lives just as they
work so that you can live yours? Because together we give the most costly thing we have.
Together we spread the message to the ends of the earth.
Together we are St. Paul. Together we are Mary of Bethany. Together we worship God Almighty
always and everywhere as urgently as he requires.
Amen.