Christians under Construction: The Remarkable Virtue of Patience
March 28, 2004
The Rev. Dr. Anthony
J. Godlefski, Pastor
John 12:1-8
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
1Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in
Bethany, the home of Lazarus--the man he had raised from the dead. 2A
dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table
with him. 3Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume
made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it and wiped his
feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance.
4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples--the one who would betray
him--said, 5"That perfume was worth a small fortune. It should have
been sold and the money given to the poor." 6Not that he cared for
the poor--he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples' funds, and he often
took some for his own use.
7Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. She did it in preparation for my
burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but I will not be
here with you much longer."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! Our topic for today is "Christians under Construction: The Remarkable Virtue of Patience." Well, friends, as you know, when I talk to the children up here I usually have a bag and something in the bag that I talk about. I wanted to bring something to show you today, but I could not find a bag large enough, because the example I would like to bring before you is exactly what you see before you this morning. We are indeed under construction.
For those of you who are reading this sermon on Visions of Hope, our congregation this morning is sitting before a rather remarkable sight. Our altar is not where it usually is. It's down on the floor level. So are the chairs and pulpit. Our sanctuary is filled with scaffolding and green sheet rock and dabs of spackling, and we can see the configuration of the new pipe organ that is going to be going into our sanctuary.
Clearly, we are under construction. But now, let me ask you – even though our sanctuary is in this unfinished state, isn't there something rather exciting about it? All this building material means we're going somewhere. Something new is coming! Something wonderful is taking shape. We know that in just a few weeks, there will be a thrilling addition to our sanctuary: a remarkable new pipe organ. It will have tall, silver pipes, shining with a brilliant mirror finish. It will have a rich, sonorous, soul-stirring sound that will elevate our praise and intensify our singing. Many people will come to hear its wonderful voice. Our praise of God will be elevated to new heights.
But for now... we are under construction. Of course, no one would want our church to look like this forever. Being under construction means that, though we are not finished, we are on the way to something better. And so, we ask for something of you... we ask for patience.
Our church is under construction, and we are too. We are Christians under construction. Remember that bumper sticker that says, "Please be patient with me... God isn't finished with me yet!" There's a lot of truth to that!
Isn't it true for us and for the people that we deal with, within the church and outside of the church? Perhaps it's something good to remember, because we're the kind of people – aren't we? — who like to get things done. We like things settled. We like things taken care of. We like things to be all set and ready to go.
But the truth of it is, as is our sanctuary this Lenten time, we are under construction, and so is everybody that we talk to. You know, as you talk to people this morning after the benediction, remember that you're talking to a Christian under construction. Remember that you're talking to a person who is on his or her way and perhaps hasn't gotten to the destination yet – as we haven't, either.
It's easier to deal with people that way. It's easier to know that here's a person who, though strong-looking, may have a broken heart. Here's a person who, though wise-looking, may be very scared inside. Here's a person who looks strong but may have trembling knees. So deal with each other as people under construction, people who are on their way to something wonderful.
In our gospel reading this morning, we have a wonderful example of this. Jesus is scared! Who wouldn't be? I'm sure that those of you who have seen the movie "The Passion of the Christ" can understand that rather well. He knew what was coming. He was on His way to Jerusalem. It was six days before the Passover. Faithful Jews who lived in the area had to go to Jerusalem, and Bethany was within the parameter of Jerusalem that was acceptable to stay for the Passover. Jesus went to a place that was very good, to the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, His dear friends. And they all were blessing Him in their own way. Martha blessed Him through hospitality. The Bible says she served Him a meal. Lazarus sat at table with Him and listened. Sometimes one of the best blessings we can give is to be a good listener. But Mary, oh Mary, what she did was remarkable! It says that her love for Jesus was so great that she wanted to express it as powerfully as she could. Mary was the recipient of many gifts, and one of the gifts she had was a bottle of perfume that was incredibly expensive. If you could, imagine a bottle of perfume that was worth a laborer's yearly wage. Wow! She took it off the shelf, broke open the cap, and she knelt at Jesus's feet. She took the perfume and anointed His feet with it, a sign of great respect and love.
A sign of honor and love is to anoint someone's head with oil, as in the 23rd Psalm, "Thou anointest my head with oil." She didn't feel worthy to do that, so she anointed His feet. Then she did something that women of the day did not do. She took the pin out of her hair and let her hair fall. And she used her hair to wipe His feet with the perfume. Then a beautiful sentence appears in the scripture. It says, "Fragrance of the perfume filled the house." Beautiful things have a way of doing that.
What a gesture of love! What a gesture of reassurance to Jesus! What a beautiful gift! But then, Judas said, "What's this? Lord, that perfume is worth a small fortune! It could have been sold and the money given to the poor."
And Jesus said, "Judas, back thou off! She has done a beautiful thing for me. She has found a unique opportunity. And Judas, I'll tell you this: the inspiration of this beautiful act will inspire more generosity to the poor than you could ever imagine, my friend. So leave her alone. She has done a beautiful thing."
Judas was quick, and rash to judge. And Jesus said, "Give her space. She's under construction. She's doing a beautiful thing."
And so should we. Patience – doesn't the very word make you relax? Isn't the very word reassuring? Yeah, there's time. What's the rush? By the way, our Confirmation Class saw the Princeton University Chapel this week, and saw the virtue of patience carved into stone in the doorway. I was glad that one of my students had a flashlight so that we could see it well.
Patience. Patientia. It seems to me that built into the sacred virtue of patience are three thoughts. Patience means "Relax. What's the rush?" Don't you think our society needs to relax a little more? We go out and buy a new computer. Why? It's faster. The Pentium processor! It's faster than what? Most of you are too young to remember this, but I typed my doctoral dissertation on an Underwood manual typewriter. You probably don't know what that is. And "spell check" was my professor at seminary, with a list. "Correct all" meant putting a new piece of paper in and typing it again. But I passed. Everything turned out okay.
Let me ask you this – for all our computers and electronic gizmos, do you have any more free time? I don't! It's like a gerbil wheel. Technology has accelerated it rather than making it easier. So relax! If you're a friend of Jesus, you know you have eternity.
A couple years before I came here I was going through a very difficult personal time. It was around summer, and I decided to just go away. I went to a little vegetarian resort in Jamaica. I thought I'd spend a week there. I went to the desk, and I tapped on the desk. A lady came out. "I'm Godlefski, here to register."
"Thank you, sir. Sign here."
Right. I signed. "Now, do you have an agenda?"
"A what?"
"An agenda. You know, a schedule of events. What we're gonna do at different times here at the resort."
"Sir, why don't you go back to your room and unpack, then come back and we'll talk about it?"
"Okay. Can I have a tour of the island?"
"Sure. When would you like it?"
"How about fifteen minutes? I'll be back in fifteen minutes."
"Fine."
So I went, put my stuff down, came back, and said, "Okay. I'm here. When do we go? Where's the tour guide?"
And she looked at me and said, "He soon come, man. Soon come." Well, there was nothing to do but sit back and take a breath and relax.
Two days later the manager of the hotel came and sat with me and visited, as he did with all his guests. He said, "You know, I never visit with you Americans the first two days." I got into that pace. It was good. It was good to be able to relax. The first step of patience is to be able to relax. God isn't done with us yet. There's time.
And the second thing – patience is loving. It's got love built into it. Remember the Bible says "Love is patient." If you are patient with someone, that says, "I believe in you. I believe there's a difference between 'no' and 'not yet.' I believe you can grow into this. I believe that you may not have this particular skill right now, but it can happen. I have confidence in you. Let's keep trying."
There was a young baby born, a little girl who could not hear. She could not see. And consequently, she could not speak. She'd be an easy child to give up on. But there was a teacher that the family hired who said, "I will not give up on this girl." And she worked and worked until the baby came to make the connections in her head that allowed her to speak. You know who it is – Helen Keller. Patience is loving.
And patience is positive. Patience is an investment in success. Patience says, "Just a little more time, a little more diligent time, and we can be where we need to be." Jesus said, "She has done a beautiful thing for me."
Last thought – patience calls us to relax, to be loving, and to be positive, but also, patience is personal. I'm wondering, do you find it easier to be patient with others and ruthless with yourself? Maybe we need to be patient with ourselves. Oh, friend, I had a wonderful counselor once who said, "God calls us to take exquisitely good care of ourselves." What a beautiful thought! Be patience with yourself, and know that you are indeed a work in progress. You are so precious. You are so loved. Let God's love work through you.
May your meditation this week, dear friend, be on the word patience – patience with others, patience with yourself, patience with the world, with the process, and may you know that God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed week. Amen