Sermon snippet from Northern Plains District Conference 1 Chronicles 18:8-10, John 12:1-3 "...Mary anoints his feet and suddenly Jesus is kneeling before the disciples in the very next chapter. These days we usually anoint for healing, but most biblical anointings are to commission kings. Earlier in the gospel of John, chapter 6 verse 15, Jesus refuses to be anointed king by the people gathered by the Sea of Galilee, after the feeding of the multitudes. But as Mary anoints his feet, she prepares Jesus for his first kingly act - a grand entrance into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. Soon after, king Jesus kneels and washes the disciples feet. Now do you know about feetwashing in 1st century Palestine? It wasn't a weird religious ritual then, it was a run-of-the-mill moment of hospitality, performed by a woman or a slave of the household. King Jesus kneels as a woman, as a slave, and turns the world upside down. We might not like to call Jesus king, but he's an upside down king, he became king by his feet, not his head. Jesus lords under us, he never lords over us. The only way we can practice feetwashing tonight with joy is to dive into this upside down world with Jesus where slave becomes master and master becomes slave. We must renounce each and every worldly power and privilege that we have ever lorded over one another. They have no place in Jesus' upside down kindom.... Mary helps Jesus turn the world upside down, as he inverts master and slave, men and women, inspired by her inversion of head and feet. She doesn't anoint his head as kings are usually anointed - she anoints his feet and changes our world. Sole by sole, may we celebrate the kindom come. Tell the whole world who God is and that God has turned the world upside down! God-seekers, be jubilant in your soul and your soles!"
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