St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
April 3, 2022
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8
Mary of Bethany & Sonia of Jersey City
Back in New Jersey, I served on the board of a really wonderful organization called Garden State Community Development Corporation.
It’s a non-profit that was founded a couple of decades ago by a few Jersey City Episcopalians who wanted to develop housing for people in need.
Over time, thanks to the hard work, persistence, and creativity of some truly amazing people, “Garden State” expanded its portfolio of good.
Today it rehabs old houses and apartment buildings and also does new construction. One point of pride is that if you were to visit any of their projects you would notice the high quality of materials and craftsmanship. Unless someone told you, you’d probably never know that you were looking at low-income housing.
In addition, they also operate a homeless shelter, which is often at full capacity, especially in the winter. And, they also provide a homeless drop-in center, not far from Journal Square, which is Jersey City’s transportation center.
Most days the drop-in center, located on the first floor of a housing project, is full of people who come by for coffee or to relax in a large TV room.
At the drop-in center, people can also meet with social workers, who try to connect folks with much-needed services.
As a board member, I learned that providing food to the guests at the homeless drop-in center was a real and ongoing challenge.
Often the best they could do was some basic sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly or cheese.
Once a month one of the local African-American churches came in and offered something more substantial.
And that was it.
One time, about four years ago, I was giving a ride to one of my parishioners, a woman named Sonia, and we got to talking about Garden State CDC and the needs of homeless people we both saw all the time around Journal Square.
Sort of thinking out loud, I said something like, “Wouldn’t it be great if our church could provide lunch at the homeless drop-in center once a month? But, it would be a big job and I don’t know if we could really pull it off.”
Without hesitation, as if she had been waiting all along for this opportunity, Sonia said, “I can do that, Father Tom.”
Now, I should mention that coffee hour at my previous church was much more than coffee and some cookies. Just about each Sunday, a parishioner or a small team of parishioners prepared a hot lunch. As the church grew, these sit-down meals became more challenging, with fewer people willing or able to take on this large task.
A few times I suggested maybe scaling back coffee hour a bit.
All I’ll say is that every church has a third rail that it’s best not to touch!
Anyway, I mention this because right from the start of this new ministry Sonia made the commitment that the hot lunch we provided to the guests at the homeless drop-in center would be just as elaborate and delicious as the meals we served and enjoyed at our church coffee hours.
I remember our first lunch.
We chose a day near the end of the month, when most assistance would have long since run out, making the need greater than ever.
I remember the guests carefully watching Sonia and her little band of volunteers as they brought in trays of food – the delicious aromas filled the room, letting everyone know that something much better than peanut butter and jelly was on the menu that day.
When it was time to serve the meal, some of the guests were shocked and excited by the sight and taste of this home cooking, thanking us profusely, while others were too lost in the haze of mental illness or addiction or just beaten down by life to say anything much.
Yet, they were all fed.
They were all blessed with the best homemade meal Sonia and her little team could provide.
And, not to mix up my Bible stories, but there was plenty of delicious food left over for the people who worked at the drop-in center, and for all of us volunteers.
And, over the years, this amazing generosity has continued, month after month.
Even if you didn’t know that today is the Fifth Sunday in Lent, even if you didn’t know that there isn’t much time left in this holy season, you can feel the mood shift in today’s lesson from the Gospel of John.
As had been true so many times in the past, Jesus and his friends were gathered for a meal.
They were not far from Jerusalem, in Bethany at the home of the sisters Mary and Martha. And, we’re told that their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, was also present.
For everyone who attended, this must have been a particularly memorable dinner because Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume – so much perfume that the aroma spread throughout the whole house.
And then, as if that weren’t notable enough, Mary then wiped the Lord’s feet with her hair.
In the face of such an intimate act, probably the best response would be to look away, or to at least remain silent.
But, we’re told that Judas complains about the extravagance, that this perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii – nearly a year’s worth of wages for the average worker – and all that money could have been given to the poor.
Now, I don’t know about you, but this story puts me in the uncomfortable position of kind of agreeing with Judas. Maybe that’s why the Evangelist John adds the parenthetical remark that Judas didn’t really care about the poor, he just liked to steal money from the common purse.
Anyway, we might expect Jesus to agree with Judas, but instead he says, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Obviously, Mary of Bethany’s generous and intimate gesture is also richly symbolic. She prepares Jesus’ body for all that is to come in Jerusalem – the suffering, death, and, most of all, the new life that we will remember over the next few weeks.
As Jesus said, it’s true that we don’t have him with us in the same way as Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and everyone gathered around the table did on that long ago day in Bethany.
But, we do have Jesus here every time we get together, and Jesus is especially here in the sacrament that we are about take into our bodies and into hearts.
As for the poor, I do not hear Jesus’ words as bleakly fatalistic.
Jesus is not shrugging his shoulders and saying that no matter what there will always be poor people.
No, I hear Jesus’ words as a reminder that when we are truly his church – when we are truly a servant church – then we will always be close to the poor.
We will always have the poor with us.
And, Jesus can always be found among the poor.
Long ago, Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus with costly perfume, giving away the very best that she had.
And in our own time, Sonia of Jersey City and her friends anoint Jesus by giving away their delicious food month after month to people who are often hungry, usually ignored, and sometimes even despised.
So, today, to prepare for the holiest days of the Christian year, let’s recommit to being a servant church – a church that feeds people at Paul’s Place and provides for clients at the Community Crisis Center – a church that opens its doors to refugees fleeing violence and destruction - a church that anoints Jesus by sharing our very best with the poor.
Amen.
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