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March 11, 2007
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The Last Week in the Life of Christ
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Karen Shimer
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"Devotion (Scent of the Sender)"
Matthew 22:1-16
As some of you may know, I really enjoy walking. So much so that I trained last spring and summer and walked 26.2 miles in 6 ½ hours in the Portland Marathon last October 1. Training for a long race like that means short walks of 3, 4, 5 miles at least three times during the week and longer walks on the weekends. The long walks start at 6 or 7 miles and progress up to 16, 18, and finally 20 miles. At the end of the training there are least two 20 mile walks and then you start tapering off until the week of the Marathon calls for 20 and 30 minute strolls and two or three rest days.
Mariana walked some of the early training miles with me, and then she had to begin training to run the Marathon, so Jenni, our dog, became my main training partner. Jenni has phases that she goes through during a walk. When we first begin, she is all over the path, using every inch of her 26' retractable leash to sniff and explore and run. She always seems to know when she is about to reach the end of the leash though and 90% of the time, she stops before she pulls the leash taut. As long as we are moving forward, away from the car and home base, she is fairly happy to explore, walk, sniff, whatever, without pulling on the leash. On a long walk, we make several stops for water, food, rest if necessary; but when we begin walking again, she energetically continues her sniffing and wandering. Usually sometime after mile 10 or so, she settles down to a fairly straight walk, sometimes by my side, sometimes a bit ahead, still keeping up an energetic pace, just a settled one.
For most walks there is a turn-around point. (On long walks, I sometimes go one-way and arrange for someone to pick me up on the other end.) When Jenni gets her water and treats, and I have taken care of my own needs for refreshment, we head back the way we have come. At this point in the walk, Jenni becomes the living definition of "dogged determination." Even though she knows exactly how to walk near the end of the leash without pulling and even though she may have already walked between 4 and 9 miles, she picks up her pace, draws her ears close to her head, and strains at the end of the leash. If she would be allowed to, she would pull me home at this pace for the entire return trip. God has heard many prayers and I have gotten not a little bit frustrated with Jenni at these points in the walks. Trisch has given me some pointers on how to help Jenni slow down on the homeward walk, which are helping. But the fact is that her first instinct when we turn around is to head for home with all her might. She enjoys walking, but is extremely devoted to home.
So, walking is one thing to which I am devoted. School is another thing. This term I am taking 8 ½ credit hours between George Fox Evangelical Seminary and Asbury Seminary online classes. At home when we are discussing plans for a day or evening, I have a standard response, "I have some reading I could do." At various times in my life, I have directed my energies to various crafts, raising children, homeschooling, etc. and continue to be invested in relationships with my husband and our children. Then there's my relationship with God, which has moved through many stages over the years.
What about you? How do you spend your energy? What activities or thoughts or plans are the objects of your devotion? Take a moment and share at least one of these areas of devotion with someone sitting next to you.
We can be devoted to many things at many levels, from sports and hobbies, to politics and causes; from pursuing a new friendship to working on a long-standing marriage relationship. At some level we are seeking a level of relationship with God. These things all point to building up with a positive focus, but we can even be devoted to destroying things. We can hold onto to grudges and unforgiveness, rehearse the sins and shortcomings of our neighbors and friends, possibly devoting ourselves to justifying our own behavior or bad attitudes.
I see three stages or aspects of devotion which we move through many times in our lives. The first stage is desire. Usually when we see someone else doing something well, we catch a spark of enthusiasm and we want to try it too. At my mom's family reunion about 7 years ago, Grace saw my cousin play the fiddle. She asked lots of questions, hung around him any time he was playing. When we got home, she announced that she was going to spend some of her savings and buy a violin. She actually did this and learned a little bit on it, but pretty soon the desire went away and the blue violin case took up residence under the bed.
After desire comes practice. Usually it helps if there's a teacher. That was one of Grace's problems with learning the violin. However, even if we had been able to put money toward lessons with a teacher, she had limited time to practice. Without many nitty-gritty, often very unrewarding practice times, the seed of desire cannot grow into a deeper love. Many of you have mentioned how much you enjoy it when our girls share a piano piece for the offertory. I'm not telling you anything new when I say that behind those pieces are hours and hours of practice and in the early years, some tears and frustration and keyboard banging and gritted teeth (on the part of parents and players).
What kind of energy have you given to practice the things that are important to you? Classes, better tools, practice time? You know what it takes. What about spiritual practices? Activities like prayer, Bible study, reading spiritual classics, spending time in silence before God-all of these serve to deepen our devotion to God as Lord of our lives.
The third aspect of devotion is elusive, not so easy to describe. It is an intangible element, the fulfillment we experience when we have acted on our devotion completely and fully and often spontaneously. For me in my walking, this comes unbidden at surprising times in my walks, but suddenly my entire being will be filled with joy and I cannot help but overflow with words to God. "I just love being out here with You! Thank you that my legs work and my lungs can draw in this air! Thank you for the trees and the grass and the smells and the companionship of this dog who has made this long walk with me! I never know when this will happen. I cannot manufacture it. It really is devotion and love just coming out of me.
Have you ever experienced this? Maybe at the completion of a project like a quilt or the creation of a webpage or a computer project. Maybe after you've worked at building relationship with someone, there's a response from them that you've been hoping for. Maybe you've prayed for something for a long time and God has brought an amazingly creative and thorough response. The desire, the long hours of practice and training and praying have come to this mountaintop moment when you can look around and shout "Woohoo!" Sometimes our response goes deep and there are no words. Just a very deep sense of satisfaction or fulfillment.
In today's Scripture passage, we see some different people and situations and definitely some devotion, not all of it positive. In verse 3, Matthew records that the chief priests and elders assembled in the palace of the high priest, meeting to decide how to kill Jesus. The Pharisees have not been happy with Jesus since the very beginning of his ministry. We can guess that their desires were probably focused on being in control of the religious situation in Jerusalem. They practiced directing the religious activities of the people and worked on influencing the people's beliefs through various kinds of manipulations of the law. The moment of mystery would come for them when they could look upon their desire come to fruition, the Teacher and Rabbi hanging on a cross.
Like the other one of a set of bookends, Judas acts on a desire he may or may not have had for a long time. Perhaps it was a brand new idea to him to betray Jesus. We don't really know. But once the desire has sparked a plan and he is committed financially, he begins the practice in earnest, looking for a time when he can betray Jesus. He had two days to watch and think and ponder what he had set himself to do. For Judas, the moment his lips touched Jesus' face in the garden, must have been the moment of mystery, the fulfillment of his desire. Sadly, it didn't drive him to life. Instead, it drove him to his death.
Let's focus for a moment on Jesus at Bethany in the house of Simon the Leper. He has come away from the crowds and the heckling church leaders. Since he was reclining at the table, we can probably assume he was eating a meal. The un-named woman came to Jesus and without saying anything, she anointed his head with very expensive perfume. Imagine with me a scenario that might be likely for this woman's life. She probably has stood at least on the fringes of the crowds, listening to his teaching. Something in Jesus' demeanor or eyes has caught her and she wants to hear more of what he is saying, maybe even stand closer to him. A spark of desire.
Maybe at some time she has worked her way up to the front of the crowd. She has watched Jesus and listened to him and walked with the crowd. She has practiced being in his presence. Quite possibly, she was with the crowd who had heard his most recent teachings at the temple and from the Mount of Olives just yesterday and today.
I would guess this idea had been in her mind for awhile. Either she used a jar of perfume that was hers to save for her own death, or she had to part with a great sum of money in order to buy it. Either way, it seems that this gesture included some forethought and planning. Again, more practice in her devotion.
As a side note, I think at some level her action of anointing was directed by the Spirit of God. Jesus speaks to one of the ramifications of her actions when he says, "When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for my burial." Could the woman have known she was doing that or did the Spirit of God call her to this action? The other aspect of the anointing is that the woman pours the oil on Jesus' head. Not on his feet, which would be more likely if she were trying to serve him by cleansing and anointing his dusty feet. In Old Testament practice, when it was time for a new king in Israel, God told the appropriate prophet who the king was to be and the prophet came to the person and anointed him on the head with oil. This is how the prophet Samuel identified David when he visited Jesse's home recorded in I Samuel 16. So, though nothing is said, this action probably would not have escaped the notice of these Jews.
How do the disciples respond? With anger. Why? Maybe because they are devoted to pleasing Jesus and want him to see that they've gotten the message. "We could have sold this and given the money to the poor!"
Jesus' response is surprising in one way and not at all surprising in another. "You can always take care of the poor, they will be around for a long time. I'm leaving you soon and this woman has directed the whole focus of her being on blessing and honoring me." Jesus says this woman will be remembered "wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."
This woman's devotion to Jesus was born from her desire to be with him and learn from him. She followed him, she listened, maybe she talked with him, perhaps he even healed her from some affliction. She practiced being in Jesus' presence. When the time came, moved by her devotion to Jesus, she broke open the jar of expensive perfume and anointed him with it. The moment of mystery, the moment of her devotion fulfilled.
The aroma of the perfume was very strong, definitely attracting some attention. Maybe the smell even wafted out of Simon's home into the streets. "What is that smell? Causing curiosity. Planting a seed of desire. Who did that? Why? I want to find out more about this. The woman's devotion awakened desire in the hearts of others.
Let's bring the focus to today, March 11, 2007. What are your desires? How do you practice your devotion to God? Can you think of moments of elation or deep peace when your heart has met its desire?
Last October 1st, I stood with Kate Conolly in the midst of 3 city blocks crammed with people waiting to begin the Portland Marathon. The desire had given birth to hundreds of miles practice and worn out one pair of running shoes. We walked. I called the church at the break between Sunday school and church to report we were on mile 10. We walked. I called the church again at noon, during the fellowship time and we were just approaching mile 21 near the University of Portland. We walked. Between mile 23 and 24 I switched to auto pilot, pulled along by some invisible line attached to Kate who still walked with me. At mile 24, I called Brian's cell phone with a cryptic message, "I hope you are on your way, because I want to see you at the finish line." Click. Still we walked. Front Avenue has never seemed so long. Finally we turned the corner up Salmon and turned left on 2nd. The final steps, the finisher's chute. Arms up in victory. Definitely a woohoo! Hugs all around for Kate, Brian, Gabrielle and Susanna, all waiting there to celebrate this mysterious, glorious moment.
A few moments later, we stood together with our shirts, our roses, our tree seedlings, medals hanging around our necks. Susanna said, letting out a breath of anticipation and delight, "Mom, can I walk a marathon with you before I leave for college?" We're training for the Eugene Marathon on April 29 and are in the midst of the practice phase. We completed an 18 mile walk yesterday.
Devotion passed on. In the moment of elation, a seed is sown in another heart.
A woman's extravagant devotion for Jesus, poured out, the aroma floating through the windows, through the door, through the ages; awakening desire and devotion from that time until now.
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