Introduction:

Let's see. Where did we leave off?

[43] When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" [44] The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

That's where our story left off two weeks ago. Today, we pick John's story up again. Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, next the Jewish leaders decided he was getting too powerful, and must die. Caiphas summed up their thinking, and prophesied as well: John 11:50 ...it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." There is a pause in our text; it may be a week, or a month, but then, close to Passover, Jesus heads back to Jerusalem. That's where we're at today.

I) Mary Pours Out Everything They Have

On the way, Jesus stops at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. A party breaks out. What a party! (John 12:1-3) Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. [2] Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. [3] Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

A cute little story, right? A very happy sister goes out and buys a bottle of Chanel No. Five for $19.95, and the rest is history, right?

No, she poured out the most expensive thing known to those people. Nard was a perfume that come from northern India. Yes, India. A pint jar in those days would cost, in our money, about $75,000. It symbolized about everything they owned. Now can you understand why the dollar signs flashed in Judas' eyes?

Mary responded to what Jesus had done by simply pouring out her life.

II) It's About Love

There is one point to be made from this story. It's not about money. It's not about perfume. It's not about charitable giving. It's not about what you have to do. It's about love.

I have done a poor job teaching you about stewardship these many years. In Council we've talked about stewardship a great deal. We have talked with deep appreciation for the commitment of our people. We have talked about the sacrificial nature of the giving of St. Paul's people. We know that many give more than they can afford. We have hesitated to talk about giving because we do not wish to burden tender consciences. But, at the same time, in choosing to not talk too much about stewardship, we have not done as good of job as we might in proclaiming the Gospel Good News about life as stewardship- teaching our kids and our young people about the promises of God.

But stewardship is not primarily about money. It's about love. When Martha serves up the big dinner, and Lazarus comes to be by Jesus, Mary explodes in the passionate love that made her her. She acted out what they all felt and thought. Their lives had been touched, and in one instant, they poured all they had into an explosion of irrational, crazy, over-the-top, worshipful love.

That's what stewardship is. It's a response of faith for the gift of God in Jesus.

It's not about what I have to give.

It's not primarily about money.

It's not about rules, obligation or appeasing God.

It's about your life.

It's about what God created you to do.

It's about losing your life in joyful abandonment to something so great that it fills your heart with magnificent joy.

III) The Investment of Your Life

It's about investing your life to accomplish the greatest good a human can experience.

When Jesus grabs us and claims us, a strange paradox is created. A paradox is when two opposite ideas are both true. The paradox is this: When you become an absolute slave of Jesus, you gain the greatest freedom. When you serve him with your whole heart, he gives you back more than you ever invested. Listen to his promises:

Mark 10:29-30 Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, [30] who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

That's what stewardship is about. It's about a life invested in Jesus, no looking back, nothing less; completely sold out, leaving all behind, in freedom.

Of course we have bills, of course we have to take care of our family; of course we have to be ready for old age- but God puts all of that in order. The key here is that it's God's order. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all the things take care of themselves. It takes some discipline; it takes some hard faith to trust God in all these things- but our God is big enough to trust him in this.

Stewardship is a response of faith, and one tiny part deals with your finances. Ninety-five percent of stewardship is about what you understand your life is about. If your life is about you, if your life is about your career, your dreams and your toys, then you're missing something. If you see your life as a gift, given you by God, given by him to invested on his behalf and poured out in his love, then you've got it.

Life was created to be controlled by God. Jesus came to re-establish that kind of relationship, so you can know God's will; so you can do God's will. To be a Christian means that your life is claimed, and you have been put on this world to be the hands, the feet, the heart and the mouth of Christ. To be a Christian means that you see that you have a role in this world (as Luther would say) as a "little Christ" to your neighbor- pouring out your life for the neighbor's good.

If our whole life is returned to God as an offering, in whatever calling he has called us to, then the rest of life all falls into place.

If we live life, with Christ as just another leisure-time activity, or a minor hobby that may pay off in fire insurance, we're playing games with God. He may take us to heaven, but we're not experiencing the joyous abandonment of discipleship.

A few years ago I sat in the early morning on a high stone bluff in the Boundary Waters, watching the steam rise over the water at sunrise. I felt the freedom of the breeze in my face as the perfectly clear water below me was almost glassy still. It was one of those amazing times of great beauty with nothing but the call of a distant loon to hear. It was a time of great freedom and peacefulness. It was a time of a small gentle breeze in my hair, the early morning sun just beginning to warm my back. For me, that morning symbolizes deep contentment and absolute freedom.

That's the same kind of deep joy and freedom that God desires to give us in discipleship. We invest our lives in Christ, not because of fear, not because of compulsion, not even responding to needs or crises-- but because of love and freedom. That's that perfectly clean, clear, wind-in-your-face freedom of discipleship. That's the abandonment of self that Mary felt on the day she anointed Jesus' feet.

That's the kind of freedom God wants us to experience in joyously laying down our lives in surrender, whether we're 6, 26, 66 or 96. God seeks us; God needs us, but more than that, that's how we experience God's freedom. When we surrender, we're set free. When we're completely sold out to what God has for us, then we're completely free to do exactly what God created us to be. That's an amazing paradox, but true. When our lives are surrendered, the rest all comes into order.

In the past couple years, several times our Church Council has been reminded by the Holy Spirit through several people that what God wants most of all is St. Paul's. More than a program, or a tradition, or particular ministry- the Living God desires each of us, and us as a congregation.

When we have been set free; when we are given over in surrender to Jesus, our life, our priorities, our giving, our schedule-everything come together in Jesus. What more can we ask?

As we go to our time of prayer this morning, I want you to ponder what Mary was thinking and feeling as she poured that perfume on Jesus' feet. Get in touch with the kind of love that would have poured out everything they owned, just to love Jesus. Think about a life surrendered in love to him. Look at your own life and see what stands in the way of that kind of love. Then let's surrender that. That's the response of

a heart that has known great love. Amen.