Loved by Anointing

Sometimes we learn in unexpected places…

It is always the simple things that change our lives.  And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen.  Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so.  You feel like running, but life is on a stroll.  This is how God does things.  Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, 159.

This is the last week we will spend in dialogue with Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz as part of this series.  But, as many have let me know, and based on the total sales of the book, perhaps millions have been significantly messed with by Miller’s words.  My hunch is that many people, like me, were surprised to discover some great words of truth within the pages.  Surprised because Miller has an excellent way of weaving a story along, and then taking you to a rich, deep place.  The stories that fill the pages of the book are what give context to the statements Miller was making.  Pressed for time, we may want Miller to simply bullet-point the take-aways, so we wouldn’t have to wade through the stories.  But stories force us to stroll when we want to run.  And it is on a stroll where God wants to meet us.

Learning from a month with hippies…

Because I grew up in the safe cocoon of big Christianity, I came to believe that anything outside the church was filled with darkness and unlove.  Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, 152.

Miller spent about a month living with hippies while working for a resort doing housekeeping.  Free lodging under the stars made for a fatter wallet by the end of a summer’s work, and also made for a fuller heart.  At first, Miller wasn’t sure what to make of these young adults.  Much of what he grew up hearing about in church made him extremely cautious around such derelicts.  But he began to see things differently as he camped with them, as they welcomed him and loved him.

When I was with the hippies I did not feel judged, I felt loved.  To them I was an endless well of stories and perspectives and grand literary views.  It felt so wonderful to be in their presence, like I was special.  Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, 151.

My Christian communities had always had little unwritten social ethics like don’t cuss and don’t support Democrats and don’t ask tough questions about the Bible.  Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, 153.

I began to understand that my pastors and leaders were wrong, that liberals were not evil, they were liberal for the same reason Christians were Christians, because they believed their philosophies were right, good, and beneficial for the world.  I had been raised to believe there were monsters under the bed, but I peeked, in a moment of bravery, and found a wonderful world, a good world, better, in fact, than the one I had known. Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, 157.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 12, we read about a very profound event in Jesus’ life.  Jesus was having dinner with his disciples, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, who he had commanded to come forth from the grave.  While reclining, Mary (Lazarus’ sister) broke open an extremely expensive bottle of perfume, and poured it on Jesus’ head.  It most certainly covered his body, and she wiped up the excess on his feet with her hair.  Everything about the act screamed love, adoration, committed sacrifice, etc.  Bible Scholar Gerald Borchert in The New American Commentary noted: Since Mary’s gift was of such economic significance, sociologically Mary had depleted her potential of gaining a husband.  That move is not to be understood as merely some nice act of honoring the Lord but as a tremendous demonstration of commitment to him.  As a result, Jesus graciously accepted the act of dedication that many might consider both strange and wasteful.  One person displayed her love and devotion without regard to the setting or the comfort level of the other guests – she couldn’t help herself.

Judas, the treasurer of the disciples, complained about the extravagance, drawing attention to the wasted resources that could have been used to help the poor.  The Gospel’s author questions the sincerity of Judas’ care for the poor, noting that he liked to help himself whenever he needed some extra pocket change, or a cheeseburger.

I guess everybody else just sort of sat there looking on as the scene progressed.  Except John – he probably took notes for the book.  Many of them would get their chance later…

Nobody left that dinner wondering where Mary stood with Jesus.  Nobody questioned her commitment or love for the rabbi she believed to be the Messiah.  Especially in our day and age, where our budgets are so often the indicator of our true treasure, we can be shocked by Mary’s exuberance even 2000 years removed.

It makes me wonder:  how we anoint Jesus today?  How we continue to anoint him as our journey with Christ continues?

We have some traditions in the church – baptism, communion, offerings, worship services, Bible study – all are important ingredients in our anointing perfume.  But it is certainly possible (at least for me) for these things to become mechanical to the point where they might not communicate much love anymore.  My love for God can be challenged by a hundred other not-as-good tempters that seek to steal my time, money, and attention from the very source of my life and all life.  When I slip into such temptation, everything gets colder.  I don’t care as much about others or myself.  My resources of time, money, and attention just don’t stretch as far.  But when I choose to found myself on the love of God and loving God, I discover that I’m never lacking.  Donald Miller realized this in his own way, too:

I have come to understand that strength, inner strength comes from receiving love as much as it comes from giving it.  I think apart from the idea that I am a sinner and God forgives me, this is the greatest lesson I have ever learned.  When you get it, it changes you.  My friend Julie from Seattle told me the main prayer she prays for her husband is that he will be able to receive love.  And this is the prayer I pray for all my friends because it is the key to happiness.  God’s love will never change us if we don’t accept it.  Blue Like Jazz, 170.

Many of the disciples sitting there got their opportunity to express their love of Christ in the years following this event.  Instead of breaking a vase of perfume, they broke their lives wide open.  And changed the world.  And lost nothing.

How do you choose to anoint Jesus in this season of your life?