Isaiah 43:16-21 John 12:1-8 Philippians 3:4b-14
Have you ever had a time when everything went wrong. Maybe you got laid off, or fired, or maybe it was a health problem, or bankruptcy, or any one of a few hundred other situations where you just felt like things couldn’t get any worse and you felt like the world thought you were worthless. One form of conventional wisdom is that when you find rock bottom, the only direction that you can go is up, but the more cynical conventional wisdom is that no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse. And so naturally, a worthwhile question arises, “When I find myself at the bottom, where should I go next?”
As we begin this morning, we read the words of the prophet Isaiah who, at the time, was writing to the people of Israel who had been carried off into captivity in Babylon. Their nation had been defeated, their cities destroyed, their Temple and their worship had been demolished, and many of the people, especially anyone who had any nobility, royal blood, or even demonstrated leadership skills, had been carried off into slavery. The only people left in Israel were peasant farmers and shepherds that Babylon needed to generate tax money.
It isn’t hard to imagine that the people were, at this point, highly discouraged, without hope, and struggling with a feeling of utter worthlessness. And so, it is at this moment that God, through his servant Isaiah, send this message to his people in Isaiah 43:16-21:
16 This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
God says, Remember who I am. I am the one who made a path for Israel to walk across the sea and defeat the army of a superpower at the same time. I know that things are terrible, but let’s forget how things used to be and look forward to something new. Just as I led your nation through forty years in the wilderness and led you into the Promised Land, I am making a path for you through the desert today. If captivity feels like being lost in the desert, then I want you to know that I am the one who will bring you water, food, and protection from the wild animals. I am the God who cares for his people, I have a plan for you, and I am, even now, making a path for you into the future. In this way, despite their feelings of worthlessness, God was declaring Israel’s value.
But there is another kind of worthlessness that we should consider this morning but to understand that we must begin with a story about someone who believed that they were worth more than the people around them. We find that story in John 12:1-8, where we hear the story about Jesus’ betrayal at the hands of Judas Iscariot as it is contrasted with the selflessness of Lazarus’ sister Mary.
12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to 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 pintof 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.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold, and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
The story begins with Mary pouring out a bottle of perfume that cost the equivalent of a year’s wages just so that she could honor Jesus. Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were not wealthy. This was an extravagant gift that they certainly could not afford. That bottle of perfume was, quite likely, a part of Mary’s retirement saving’s plan or other long-term investment rather than trusting her money to the bankers, moneylenders, or the priests at the temple. But she poured it all out on Jesus’ feet as a demonstration of trust, loyalty, and honor.
In contrast, John shows us the reaction of Judas to Mary’s gift. Judas immediately complains that if Mary was going to give Jesus such an expensive gift, then they should have sold it rather than pouring it out so that they could use the money to help the poor. But John editorially tells us that Judas really didn’t care about the poor, Judas only cared about himself. If they had sold the perfume, then Judas, as the club treasurer, could have embezzled a bunch of it without anyone noticing.
As we look at these two characters, we see that while Mary was selfless, giving, trusting, and honorable, Judas was disingenuous, selfish, and self-centered. Even from a superficial reading of this story, it is obvious that Mary is the person that is supposed to be the hero, and whom we are supposed to admire, and after whom we are to model our lives. But even so, as we look at our culture, both in the first century and today, the people that our culture admires have more in common with Judas than Mary.
Paul addresses this cultural flaw in his letter to the church in Philippi and explains that while he once followed the self-centered path modeled by Judas and admired by his culture, he has found a different path in Jesus Christ. In Philippians 3:4b-14 Paul says:
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith inChrist—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul says that if anyone had a self-absorbed, narcissistic reason to be confident in who they were and in what they had accomplished, it would have been him. He was, and had done, everything that a good Jew aspired to do be and to do. He was born into the right family, had the right pedigree, went to the right schools, had the right teachers and the right training, was associated with the right people, had the right resume, was known for his enthusiasm and passion, was found to be faultless in understanding and in obeying the law in every aspect, and was even a Roman citizen.
And yet, no matter what things he had and his record of accomplishments, once he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and had chosen to follow him, Paul considered everything else to be a stinking pile of garbage. He understood that a resume of righteousness built on what “I” have done, the family from which “I” came, and who “I” am because of how I have studied, understood, and obeyed the law, was utterly and entirely worthless. Paul realized and understood that, in Christ, the “I,” “me,” “my,” of everything in my life became worthless except as it leads us to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection and in our participation in his suffering so that we can receive the gift of resurrection from him.
Once he recognized how following Jesus changed his life, and once he understood how following Jesus made his narcissism, self-confidence, and self-reliance worthless, only then did Paul begin a new life in which he could move forward toward the goal for which God had called him through Jesus Christ. As humans, the more that we crow about who we are and the things that we have done, the less that we are useful and valuable to God. It is only when we realize the worthlessness of our pride, selfishness, and narcissism that we can move forward towards our calling in Jesus Christ.
It is said that addicts cannot accept help and begin to heal until they find themselves at rock bottom and this has much in common with our journey in faith as we follow Jesus Christ. We cannot begin to move forward towards the life to which God has called us, until we understand the worthlessness of trying to do it ourselves. How we were born, who we know, and what we have accomplished mean nothing. Our righteousness and value to God comes from Christ alone. And, until we understand that, we cannot begin to move forward.
May we, like Paul, understand that we need to surrender our resume if we want to gain our resurrection in Christ.
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