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Mark 14 this morning we be looking at verses 1
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11se now the Passover and unleavened bread was two days off and the chest were seeking how to seize him by stealth and kill him for they were saying not during the festival
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lest there be a r of the people and while he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper and reclining at the table there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very
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costly perfume of pure nard and she broke the vial and pour it over his head but some were indignant remarking why
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has this perfume been wasted for this perfume might have been sold for over 300er and the money given to the poor and they were scolding her but Jesus
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said let her alone why do you bother her she has done a good deed to me for the poor you always have with you and whenever you wish you can do them good
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but you do not always have me she has done she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial and truly I say to you wherever
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the gospel is preached in the whole world that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of in memory of her and Judas scariot who was one of the 12
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went off to the chief priest in order to betray him to them and they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money and seing how to betray
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him at an opportun time our father truly we do ask that you would speak by your Holy Spirit speak to
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our hearts and Minds we might not only understand these things but be given the ability to meditate upon them to see
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whether these things be true they true they Liv we to think of them as relation to you the way that you revealed yourself
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to us so we ask that you would do these things again father For Your Glory not for our good Christ name
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pray for those of you who have been following this
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Tuesday we had occasion back during the Thursday night study with Chuck when we went through the Book of John as we looked at John's relation to us of an episode very
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similar to this in John 12 we had trouble harmonizing the synoptic gospels
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John what day of the week is it well there are some very hard questions related to that in here other questions in here was when was this meal
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in Mark 14 is it's the same meal in John 12 he names Mary as the one who brought
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the alabaster vial but John says it was six days before the Passover and here we think it's only depending on again another question whether it's two days
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as Mark as Mark says on what day was the last supper and is the Last Supper the Passover supper or was it another supper on the previous
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evening slaughtering and eating of the Passover meal was on the 14th of Nissan in that evening which would been a
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th so does that with Mark's and who was the woman with the jar of jar of perfume Luke 7 describes her as a sinner
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an immoral person who anointed Jesus feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair in John chap 12
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again it's described as Mary the sister of Martha and of Lazarus who anointed his feet with the perfume in Mark chapter
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14 we have another woman is this another Martha of Bethany was it Mary Magdalene was it the same Mary Mary and
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John and John and Luke who was she it's very interesting to me that Jesus says what she has done
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will be a memorial to her wherever the gospel is preached but Mark does not even give us her name when did Judas meet with the
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Sanhedrin to make the deal to betray Christ 6 days before the Passover in John or two days before the Passover in Mark or at some other time is Mark
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as the 25 cent word is intercalating his narrative here on what day of the week did Jesus
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die was it Thursday or Friday what does it matter well we talked about this in the
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Thursday night class Chuck did and reading the notes and looking at that we can take two paths the chronological but it seems almost
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impossible to reconcile the gospels perhaps again stirring us to some questioning as we talked about in Sunday school this morning of when we
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study the Bible we get to things that we can't quite put together and I am one of those and you know some of you know me pretty well I I'm an engineer by
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education I like things symmetrical I like things to make sense and be reasonable and I can remember when my children were growing up reading a story book to them one night where the the
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author clearly wrote that the little boy had a brand new pair of bright yellow boots and went splashing in the mud and you turn the page and the picture that
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the artist drew the illustrator Drew him with bright red boots the reason I remember that 40 years later gives you an indication of
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how I read things I like things to make sense and it bothers me on one level the chronology that I
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can't quite put together but together but theologically I think it is important for us to look at these things and I won't give all of it away
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because we're not quite to the crucifiction but what I want to do is preface this chapter by by saying I think the theological is the important
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thing to understand that if we understand the day on which Christ died it places him at the day when the Lambs
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slaughtered it means the arrest and the trial of Jesus took place before the start of the Passover when the officials the ones that will see in the trial and bringing
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the charges against Jesus were not forced to deal with it in the middle of the feast days of which there were to be eight in
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eight in total and I believe believe that if we look at it critically and looking at how the scriptures interpret
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scriptures interpret Scriptures it matches jesus' prophecy in Matthew 12 where he says for just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea monster for three days and three nights
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so will the son of man be in the heart of the Earth for three days and three nights and so I think it's important for us us to ask what is God revealing of
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himself but what is the truth that Jesus speaks and does the scripture comport with his with his prophecy and so we see all of these
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characters coming together there's there's quite a quite an a a cast here of characters and they're
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all emotional they're all with their various personalities they're looking for certain things there is a a an amount of
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in this chapter of tension not only in the household where we see the conflict between the apostles
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and this woman but outside what's going on in the background in Jerusalem from verses 1 and two we see
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the chief priests and the scribes gaed together and apparently they're in secret they've only got 2/3 of the Sanhedrin together here but they're meeting in secret in the courtyard as I
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understand it of the chief priest Caiaphas with his relatives on the staff and they're trying to
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decide how they can seize Jesus by stealth or by treachery or some of your versions by
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and then we have Simon the leper we don't really know who he was whether he was someone that Jesus healed and he went by that name there it's a very common name in that part of the
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world but he is a householder in Bethany apparently but again that's not the detail that were given here many people
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want to refer to the other gospels and bring in that they believe that Simon was actually the husband of Martha and so Mary would have been his
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sister-in-law and he would have had some kind of relationship to her as to what he thought of her action but then we have this unnamed
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woman who appears at the meal carrying a jar of very expensive perfume and all of Jesus disciples are there
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including the man we come to know as Judas Iscariot Judas of kth which was a town in
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Judea and he was not a Galilean but a Judean and then we have of course the most important character in the
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scene Jesus Christ reclining at the dinner table as an invited guests of Simon and as one of the commentators say
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the atmosphere is supercharged with feeling the Intensive seeking of the Sanhedrin the chief priests and these
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scribes seeking scribes seeking how they might seize Jesus apparently they've already agreed we're going to kill him but we want to seize him
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secretly because they do not want it to be public and so they say well not during the festival not during this 8 Days time there's all these people who have come
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for the Passover we don't want to do it during that time because you know what Middle Eastern people are like when they get something
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in their heads they can be very violent and there might be a tumult or a riot on our hands we don't want that to
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happen and then we have the surprise action of the woman she doesn't say anything but her actions speak volumes as Jesus later says about what
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her emotions her emotions are but then we have the reaction of the Apostles the love and devotion of the
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woman apparently sparked anger and disbelief of the Apostles the Deep sorrow and resignation on the part of the woman provoked I believe in
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part Judas consequent actions in verses 10 and 10 and 11 where he goes out to stir up the evil gladness and the
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rejoicing of the Sanhedrin all of these Jesus says have come together
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come together in the act of the woman the act of preparation the preparation for his body
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burial we have seen Jesus as the prophet we have seen Jesus as the Supreme teacher but we began to see Jesus in the height of his passion is our great high
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priest and Jesus emotions Jesus reaction to these things is the one that we ought to cling to cling to in the act of preparation some people say this woman
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acted out of impulse that it was just a great impulsive great impulsive emotion that if it was Mary remember who Mary was she was the one who wanted to
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sit at jesus' feet and her sister Martha complained she's not helping she's not serving she's in a sense wasting her time some say that Mary did things in an
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or not that she had no consideration for [Music] cost of the perfume and the details are not so
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important except that we know from the description of an AB Alabaster vial of costly perfume of pure nard it tells us that it
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was something was something rare that it was something ornate in the vial and it was something of a very rare
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type of perfume and the fact that she had no idea of its costs or what she was doing I think is a
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little forign to my mind but perhaps she was not unprepared for the reaction of the Apostles when she broke the
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vial and she poured it over jesus' head and the idea is that in this vial it had a very narrow neck and the IDE
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way to open it was to crack that neck off and she poured it on all of it sparing none pouring all of it on Jesus
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and no one in the house could ignore this because the aroma would have filled the entire house now we might even say that the
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apostles reaction to this was and Justified what do they say what a
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waste th this precious perfume could have been have been sold for a large amount of money it's impossible to know how much 300 daeri is
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worth today but this expensive ointment and this broken jar could have been sold for cash and and the money given to the
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poor and the anger toward her it it's immediate we don't know if Judas was the ring leader some beli that he was and he stirred up the others because they were
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imitating him but the reaction is anger indignation disbelief how how could you do this thing The New American Standard
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says they were scolding her the word comes from the root word that means the snorting of a horse so you could
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audibly hear the reaction the scorn and the scolding in just the
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Jesus but Jesus accepts her service Jesus doesn't come to his own defense he comes to hers and further he honors
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her with words of Praise motive matters Jesus says let her alone why do
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you bother her she has done a good deed to me Christ seems to say that anything done to him or for him out of simple
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love out of just a desire to show love to him is good it is a good work it is a
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good deed and the haters and I hate to call the apostles haters but they are the haters have not only condemned the
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woman but but they just condemned Jesus himself the conventional way we we think as Christians sometimes is good works
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well that that's benevolence well I gave money to the Salvation Army in their bucket in front of Walmart I I I do certain things and we seem to designate
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certain things as well that was a good deed but but other that that's that's a waste of time that's a waste of resources and your energy we we we seem
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to condemn other Christians for something that they feel in their heart is a good deed or a good thing to do sometimes we label them as as
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Fanatics or in my day in college they were called Jesus Freaks uh you you're not following the convention you're not following the the
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things that Christians normally do why did you do that and the question he seems to be asking us is do we give out of
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tradition do we give out of guilt do we give out of pure motives and he implies in verse
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7 that she took an opportunity as it was available to her and the apostles did not for the poor you will always have with you and whenever you wish you can
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do them do them good he doesn't say that she couldn't do something else for the poor but he says you do not always have me with
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you I believe she understood something she felt something she was inspired in way but the apostles didn't get it Jesus Takes what people give him with
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whether they're outward possessions or our inward rever
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reverence if it was truly to him with love with trust and with just plain old submission to his
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will people may criticize us for the energy and the time wasted on what they consider well that was a strange thing to do but as Alexander McLaren writes quote
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Jesus Christ has many strange things in his Treasure his Treasure House the widows two mites cups of water broken
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water broken vials has he anything of yours motive matters manner of service matter matters
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as well verse eight Jesus says she has done what she could now some people take that as an excuse I mean it's the same in the
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first century I guess as it is in the 21st century I did I did the best I could it is what it is but the Greek doesn't take that
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meaning here the Greek when Jesus says she's done what she could the Greek goes much further she understood the opportunity that would that would arise she Not only was
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ready but she saw the opportunity and she embraced the opportunity and she went to the limit of her ability to meet
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that opportunity and she would have gone further Beyond it if she had had the means that's what Jesus means when he says she has done what he she could
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and I don't know about you but that puts me under the bus as if the woman had said the question is not how much I have done but
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could I have done more the the alabaster jar as I said has this narrow neck and she broke it off and it's not resealable you can't put
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could and so I think we're asked to evaluate our evaluate our own if you're into alliteration the three C's your C's your circumstances your capabilities your
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character are are we hemmed in from good deeds and serving Christ be be because of the strictures and the the guidelines that others have forced us
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into we ought to ask God what should be the manner of my service how can I do all I
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can but the meaning of her motives and her manners is given by Jesus in verse 8 he says she has anointed my body beforehand
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for burial Jesus puts meaning into the service that he accepts it may be our motive it may be
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how we are led by the Holy Spirit but he determines the determines the outcome perhaps the woman had reached the conclusion apparently from hearing him
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tell his tell his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem he was going to be arrested he was going to be tried killed and
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buried and she perhaps saw that her opportunity to do this good deed to anoint him for burial was now or never
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remember the woman who went to the tomb on that great Sunday morning the first day of the week what did they have with them they had gone out and bought the perfumes and the anointing oils and the
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things that they were going to use and they it was too late we Rejoice that it was too late but perhaps
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knew and Jesus brings out that good he brings out the higher meaning of her actions toward actions toward him Jesus knew that he was on his way to the Cross we know that since he has left
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Galilee he has set his face like Flint to this day he has left the temple he is not to return there he is to go to the
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cross and he is telling us she has prepared me for my
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burial oh the many contrasts we see among these people here I think they mirror the contrast that we see among people even in our day we we have these key emotions of the Sanhedrin they were
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filled with hatred for Jesus why else would they say we're going to seize him and kill and kill him they had a hatred for Jesus and his
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followers but they were also filled with fear and this is this this thing this emotion in their hearts they they have this hatred because Jesus rebuked them
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they he rebuked their whole method you you you teach for Doctrine the traditions of traditions of men your conduct you're lording it over
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the people he he had exposed them you have failed as Shepherds of the my flock and they knew that he had exposed
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them but why this fear well we see it here the popular opinion of Jesus we've already seen on that day we call Palm
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Sunday it was obvious the crowds were hanging on his words and then they paraded him through the streets of Jerusalem and treated him as a king and
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they were saying there will be a riot among these people if they know that we are to seize him and this man Judas the scariot we know from John chapter 12
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John describes him he's he's a he's a thief and yes he's he's been entrusted with the money bag he's been entrusted because he had some kind of skill with
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handling the money and he used to steal the money out of the money bag he was a Covetous man Desiring what was not
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was not his and we see his reaction if this is Judas why this waste Jesus says let her alone he says
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this could be given to the poor Jesus has to tell him the poor will always be you the affection of the woman and the anger of the
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man Judas is quite a contrast her contrast her devotion his devotion his antagonism and many people in our lives
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even today will react in Anger at things in the way we behave sometimes I would never do something like that and some deed that we feel this is something I
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can serve the Lord in even if our behavior is genuine even if it is good we will meet those who are
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antagonistic and even scold us AB Bruce wrote of the woman and Judas as extreme opposites he said she freely
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spending in love he willing to sell his master for
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money Jesus emotions I think are decisive notice he uses the language that we've already seen in Mark several times in verse 9 and truly I say to you it's solemn it's
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important and it's authoritative truly I say to you wherever the gospel is
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in all the world that also which is which this woman has done shall be spoken of in memory of her everything but giving ourselves holy to
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him is a waste but what is done to him what is done for him is good this this Memorial
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this good work that she did yes they could have given this sum of money to the poor and some few poor would have
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been helped but the fact that Jesus pronounced that wherever the gospel is preached in the whole
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world what this woman has done will be spoken of her in memory of her think of all the people who have have heard this gospel the many more
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poor folks and Rich folks and folks in between who have heard the gospel
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message it's a Perpetual record it's a Perpetual remembrance it's a Perpetual Aroma of good let us
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pray our heavenly father we do thank you for the for the scriptures the words that we can read and study and meditate upon of your revelation of yourself to us and father
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yes there are things in here which are hard to understand there are things which are hard to meet together when we look at the chronology the things that we just can't
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quite get our minds around but also things that we wish would line up we have to work harder to see and yet father we ask that you would
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teach us to do these things teach us to cling to these things that Jesus teaches us and that we would truly be among
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those who would do all that we can to honor and glorify you in Christ's name we pray amen
