5th Sunday in Lent March 17, 2013

March 17 Sermon Preparation

5th Sunday in Lent   March 17, 2013

Is. 43:16-21, Psalm 126, Philippians 3:4b-14, John 12:1-8

“The poor you have with you always”

by Bill Cotton revcottonhill@hotmail.com
  
   The lessons for this Sunday do not fit the somber mood of Lent.  I have thought for a long time that the church makes a grave error in Lent by its heavy focus on the “Old Rugged Cross”—Lent ought to be more than preparation for a funeral.  This week Isaiah 43 tells us that the Lord is about to do a new thing. The people will find a way through the wilderness.  Psalm 126 speaks of joy and laughter, obviously a reference to the great homecoming from exile--- they are bringing in the sheaves.  Paul in Philippians reviews his past life before he met the Christ and calls it all rubbish—he presses on, his new life now full of hope.  Then we come to the Gospel of John.  Jesus is having a meal with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  Seems like there has to always be a fly in the ointment—in this case, old Judas is grumbling because Mary spent all of that money on a pound of nard that could have been given to the poor. In rebuking Judas, Jesus gives us a new proverb—“the poor you have with you always.” 
   
    I think the theme that I will use next Sunday is  “newness”—a new way to think about the Lenten journey.  On the bulletin board in the Lacona United Methodist Church, someone posted a thank you card with pictures of a group of small children who had all signed their names.  The Lacona UM Women had given money to the school milk fund.  It seems that a number of children do not have money to buy milk at school.  They were drinking water. In Iowa of all places, the breadbasket of the world, kids’ parents cannot afford milk for their children.   For me this really put a face on those words “the poor you have with you always,” and it certainly moves me away from simply singing hymns about “the old rugged cross.” Those United Methodist women do more than sing, and in their actions of resurrection and faith, newness becomes reality.  It also helps me understand what the Quakers mean when they tell us to “preach every day, when necessary use words!”