The Bethany Bullet Sermon Message - Week of March 24, 2019

Sermon: “Anointed”

Where would you go if you knew you only had a few days to live?

Jesus heads to Bethany!  Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, heads to where she has been before - Jesus' feet.  At the feet of Jesus we've found her being blessed.  At the feet of Jesus we've found her broaching a burden.  Now, at the feet of Jesus we find her bringing her best!

Mary anoints Jesus.  She is anointing her prophet; He who has spoken the Word to her.  She is anointing her priest; He who has cared for her in her deepest pain.  She is anointing her King; He is set to enter the holy city to waving palms and communal cheers.  Yet, this anointing is not for a coronation but an execution.  He is being anointed not in order to ascend a throne but to be suspended from a cross.  As He Himself states, this anointing is for His burial. He is anointed with oil at Bethany, but shortly on Calvary He shall be anointed with the guilt of humanity, only to thereafter be anointed with God's wrath toward sin in its entirety. 

It is after His anointing but prior to His explaining its purpose that Judas decries the event.  He does so, as John says, because he was a thief who stole from the treasury.  He is more than that!  He is the fella who feigns spirituality to cloak his carnality.  He is the guy who takes and takes and takes but never gives...the person who demeans the laudable work of others to cover over the laxness and lured work of himself; the person who criticizes the sacrificial gifts of others while never offering an offering of his own.  As much as the room absorbs the scent of the perfume poured on Jesus, Judas is absorbed with himself.

Self absorption is our natural state.  We are - by sin - bent in - on self.  Yet, as His anointed children, anointed in water and Word at baptism, anointed with mercy and forgiveness by the grace of God in Christ, anointed by the Spirit through faith, are given a new nature. 

We are ANOINTED

A

N - ew

O - rientation

I - n

N - ature

T - urned (the)

E - xternal

D - irection

Which means - we are free to find ourselves at Jesus' feet being blessed, broaching or burdens and bringing our best. 

 -Pr. Kevin Kritzer