The Value of a Dead Man Walking

John 12: 1-11 约翰福音第12章：1-11节

Today’s passage is bracketed by the character of Lazarus. That is the context. At the start, Lazarus’ family was named as the host of the party. At the end, we were told that the Jews wanted to kill Lazarus. But Lazarus was not the main character of the story. The purpose of mentioning Lazarus was mainly to provide a setting for the story. Lazarus was there as a reminder that even though it was a dinner, with food and drinks, with people reclining and people serving, even though it was a party, it wasn’t party time. Yes, a resurrection had just occurred, Jesus was honored because Lazarus was raised from the dead. But precisely because Lazarus lived, Jesus as a religious phenonmenon could no longer be contained. The Jesus frenzy had gone viral and he had to die. It wasn’t party time because there was the tension of impending death in the air. Any moment now, Jesus was about to die. In the Gospel of John, this exact moment, was called “the hour” or “the time”.

This was first indicated at the wedding in Cana. “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied (to his mother Mary). “My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) And indeed, it was not. In all the preceding passages, whenever danger was about to strike, we were told “his hour had not yet come.” At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. (John 7:30) Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come. (John 8:20) But after today’s passage, it was a different message. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (12:23) Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. (13:1) The immediate event following the dinner was Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, and that was the hour that would arrive shortly. Jesus might be at a party, but it wasn’t party time.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just Jesus who knew about his impending death. Guess what? Everybody knew. One might think that since Jesus was a prophet and probably planning his own death, Jesus might know about his own death but it didn’t mean that the rest had the same foresight. That might be true. But in this case, the impending death was already an open secret. It began with rumours and gossips. John 7: 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. They may deny any such nefarious plots were going on when questioned. Jesus asked them in John 7: 19 Why are you trying to kill me?” 20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?” Yet in their hearts they knew a plot to kill was on-going. John 7: 25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Then these whisperings turned into actual actions. John 7: 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. Then we were told in John 7: 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. Perhaps it was when the time had not yet come. But when they felt Moses and Abraham were insulted, even the crowd was against Jesus. John 8: 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

By then the impending death of Jesus was already an open secret; Jesus couldn't escape these close shaves for long. Not even if he continued to impress the crowd with his words and his signs. In fact, it would be these signs that would eventually seal his fate. The raising of Lazarus from the dead was the last straw. We were informed in John 11: 45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life. They no longer put up a pretense or did their operations in secret. Like I said, everybody knew what was going on. It was only a matter of time. The moment when Jesus entered Jerusalem would be his hour of death. In John 11: 55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

By now, there was an open order for arrest. You can imagine a wanted poster of Jesus at the local post office. If we have been following how the events had unfolded, it would be clear that Jesus' death was inevitable. The Chinese have a saying, “欲加之罪，何患无辞”, meaning that if you want to kill someone with a trumped-up charge, there's no worries that an excuse cannot be found. Since there was already an open warrant for arrest, the killing of Jesus would surely follow as well. The impending death was an open secret. Jesus knew it. The disciples knew it. Even the crowd knew it. It was only a matter of time when Jesus came to his fate. That would be ‘the hour’ when he would be arrested and eventually killed. This is why I’ve titled today’s sermon “Dead Man Walking”. In America, when a condemned man starts walking from his prison cell to the place of execution, a guard would shout “dead man walking”. It’s like the final walk of his life, and you are looking at a person who is as good as dead. At this juncture of the Jesus story, the verdict was as good as written, the execution was as good as prepared. The actual walk carrying the cross may be one week away. But Jesus was already dead man walking.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It is a time when the church would guide everyone to reflect on the death of Jesus. Since the Lent period spans almost 7 weeks in a year, you can see the great importance we place on such a reflection. Tonight, I’ll kick off the first response. I want to reflect on this question: what is the value of a dead man walking? Maybe before I speak on, you can first estimate a value for yourself. You are like an insurance agent looking at the case file of Jesus and making a judgment. How much premium would you ask for and how much would be the payout if Jesus dies in the end? If you are a rational insurance company, you might say, “Oh, no need for any premium. If Jesus signs up with my company, I’ll give him a special rate. He doesn’t have to pay any premium. But one thing though, although he doesn’t have to pay any premium, when he dies, there is also no payout.” If we were to make a mathematical calculation of the value of a dead man walking, that seems to be the logical conclusion. If our worldview is that death is the end, then of course there is no more value at death.

If zero value is your conclusion, you are sadly not as shrewd as Judas. He knew that Jesus was as good as dead, and so he wasn’t going to throw good money after bad. He had wasted 3 years of his life following Jesus for nothing. But that didn’t mean that Jesus was not worth any value. He could still cash in to cut his losses. He was right. By betraying Jesus to the authorities, he managed to get 30 pieces of silver. One silver was worth about 4 days’ work, so you can imagine it like your 4 months’ pay. That was what Jesus was worth to him. Judas was the treasurer of the Jesus gang, and he was the calculative one of the lot. If you are looking for good advice for an investment, you can probably trust him to give a good judgement.

Imagine his surprise when he witnessed the action of Mary of Bethany. Mary poured a pint of pure nard on Jesus’ feet. He quickly calculated, that’s worth a year’s wage! So wasted. Openly he remarked that this money would be so much better utilized on the poor, but inwardly he must be thinking that this money would be so much better if it was spent on him. How could Jesus be worth a year’s wage? Jesus’ rebuke may make us reconsider his value. 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.” Jesus was not telling them to neglect the poor, since helping the poor was part and parcel of the Jewish Law, and the importance of such work could not be disputed. However, at that critical juncture, in the face of his death, it was important to respond to Jesus. What does Jesus mean to you? If you were to know that those were the last moments with him, how would you express your love?

Material-wise, the pint of nard was worth a year’s wage. But to Mary, it probably meant more than just that. “Mary’s gift is an act of generous love. Her intentional extravagance expresses her devotion in anticipation of Jesus’ death.” [1] Mary’s true gift is actually the giving of herself entirely to Jesus. In wiping Jesus’ feet with her own hair, she would need to let it down for the purpose. “That’s roughly the equivalent, at a modern polite party, of a woman hitching up her long skirt to the top of her thighs. You can imagine the onlookers’ reaction. Has she no shame? All sorts of disturbing thoughts must have been flying around the room.” [2] But still she did it regardless. “She wipes Jesus’ feet not with a towel but with her own hair, shaken loose as a sign of her deep grief. The cost and extravagance of her action can be seen to correspond to those involved in Jesus’ prior action, which entailed the willingness to sacrifice his own life for the sake of Lazarus.” [3] I think if you were to ask Mary what is the value of Jesus, it would be more than just a year’s wage. It would be worth her own life.

Is that the true value of Jesus, someone who was already dead man walking? You might say that well, since Jesus sacrificed his life for Lazarus, Mary sacrificing her own life for Jesus was about right. The value of Jesus was worth one life. Is that close to your initial estimate when I first asked the question? The time has come for me to unveil the true value of Jesus. Ironically, the one who truly gets it was an enemy of Jesus. His name is Caiaphas.

In John 11: 49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.

Jesus’ death was worth the whole nation. Not only that, John even added that it included all the scattered children of God, those even beyond the nation. That was the true worth of Jesus. Shocking isn’t it? It is difficult for us to imagine how one life or one death can be worth so much more because we calculatively would think that one equals one. That’s because we do not yet look at things from a spiritual point of view. If we think that death is the end, we would never understand that a death, even the death of Jesus, can be worth so much. To gain such an insight, Jesus used the analogy of a seed. In John 12:23-26, Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Brothers and sisters, this is my first reflection of Lent. The value of a dead man walking is actually unestimatable, because one life that is sacrificed, like a seed, can produce so much more life. Jesus is the living example. But he didn’t mean it only for himself. Don’t you see? Jesus meant it for all his followers as well. Life is not a zero sum game. It doesn’t mean that if you give it to someone, you would lose value and that person will gain it at your expense. No it is not like that. Whenever you give your life, life multiplies. John 12: 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This is the insight that differentiates Judas and Mary. Judas thought that he would steal from the life of Jesus to add to his own. In the end, when he realized his folly, when the ensuing guilt and misery subtracted from him instead, he ended his own life. Mary on the other hand transformed. Earlier, when she thought Lazarus was dead, she felt lost and powerless before Death. She still hung on to the concept that living on makes you more alive. But today’s passage reveals that she has transformed. In the face of death, she is now fearless. She chose to honor Jesus’ death instead with her actions, though outrageous they may be. And when she gave herself fully to Jesus, her most prized posessions, her dignity and all her vulnerabilities, she found her true life as a true follower of Christ. By giving her life, she multiplied her life and added to whoever her life influenced, not just to Jesus, but I’m sure to whoever is touched by her story.

This is my vision for the Jubilee community. That we may gain this insight about life and death, and then transform ourselves to live out this life-giving quality. It seems counter-intuitive. But the more you give your life, the more life is added to us all. Jesus lived as a dead man walking. But tonight we see his true infinite value. Are you walking with Jesus too? “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship. But this death is for a new birth. May we live on as a life-giving life.

[1] Preaching the Gospel of John, p 144
[2] John for Everyone, part 2, p 22
[3] The Black’s New Testament Commentary, the gospel of John