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I'm going to read a passage from John, Chapter 12, verses 1 -11.
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Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom
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Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
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Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.
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The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said,
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Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
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Jesus said, Leave her alone, so that she may keep it, for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.
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When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of him, but also to see
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Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put
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Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
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Heavenly Father, this is an amazing passage of Scripture. You see just how hardened men's hearts can become.
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And Lord, we are so grateful to you that you have softened our hearts, that you've given us a new heart.
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And we pray, Lord, that we would always have that soft heart towards you, that we wouldn't become hardened with the deceitfulness of sin.
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Lord, we confess our sin to you. We confess our self -reliance, our pride, our selfishness.
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We confess our lack of faith. And we pray, Lord, that you would cleanse us from these sins.
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And we're so thankful that you do. So Lord, be with us now as we go through this passage.
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Help us to understand what it means. Help us to apply these truths to our lives, so that we might live for your praise and glory.
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Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, we closed
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John chapter 11 with the great dishonor done to our Lord Jesus. We read in the last verse of that chapter of the evil design of the
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Jewish leaders of Jerusalem. Now, both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
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But in John 12, although some greatly dishonor him, and Jason just read some that did, nevertheless, there is much honor conferred upon our
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Savior. And Matthew Henry wrote of this. It was a melancholy account which we had in the close of the foregoing chapter of the dishonor done to our
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Lord Jesus. When the scribes and Pharisees proclaimed him a traitor to their church, and put upon him all the marks of ignominy, they could.
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But the story of this chapter balances that by giving us an account of the honor done to the
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Redeemer, notwithstanding all that reproach thrown upon him. And thus, the one was set over against the other.
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Let us see what honors were heaped on the head of the Lord Jesus, even in the depths of his humiliation.
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And he lists seven ways in which honor was given to the Lord Jesus. Mary did him honor by anointing his feet at the supper in Bethany.
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Second, the common people did him honor in their acclamations of joy when he rode in triumph into Jerusalem.
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We'll consider that next week, Lord willing. The Greeks did him honor by inquiring after him with a longing desire to see him.
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Fourthly, God the Father did him honor by a voice from heaven bearing testimony to him.
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Fifth, he had honor done to him by the Old Testament prophets who foretold the infidelity of those who heard the report of him.
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Sixth, he had honor done him by some of the chief rulers whose consciences witnessed for him, though they had not courage to own it.
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And then seventh, lastly, he claimed honor to himself by asserting his divine mission in the account he gave of his errand into the world.
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And so even as we speak of the dishonor rendered to him, we should be cognizant of the great honor conferred.
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And so as we continue our study of this gospel, we will continue to see our
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Lord both honored as well as dishonored. And they go hand in hand.
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But we will see that both honor and dishonor will merge in our
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Lord hanging and dying upon his cross. There's both honor there as well as dishonor.
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On the cross, he'll be perceived by all about him, both by his enemies, but probably as his disciples as well, as having experienced the rejection of all, even the rejection of his father.
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But even in that event of the cross, there is incalculable honor conferred upon the
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Lord Jesus that only spiritually illuminated eyes see through faith.
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For Jesus dying upon his cross is not only his experience of great shame and pain, but it is the occasion of his greatest glory.
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We want to emphasize that as we go through the chapters before us. And indeed, in John's gospel, we will read that it was on his cross that our
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Lord Jesus was actually glorified. We usually think of his glorification upon his resurrection and ascension, and there's due emphasis given to that.
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But in John's gospel, his glorification is centered upon his cross.
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And so he was lifted up, that is glorified, when he was lifted up on his cross.
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And so our Lord will declare this in the chapter before us.
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The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly,
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I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. He's talking about his death on the cross.
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It remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain. And so our
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Lord was glorified in his death upon the cross. Now, there's no indication in John's gospel of the amount of time that had passed between the end of John chapter 11 and the opening account of John chapter 12, which of course contains the anointing of the
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Lord Jesus by Mary. It could not have been very long, but it was probably a couple weeks in duration, roughly.
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When the Passover season arrived, which would result in Jesus and his disciples returning to the region of Jerusalem.
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Now, with the opening of John chapter 12 before us, we're only days away from the crucifixion of the
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Lord Jesus. And therefore, in the chapters before us, we take up the bulk of John's gospel.
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Beginning here with chapter 12, even until chapter 18, in which we read of our
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Lord being arrested, cried and crucified. We enter a very rich portion of our gospel story in which the
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Lord prepared his apostles for the ministry that they would assume in just a few weeks time.
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Now, the account before us here in John 12 is that of a meal probably largely attended in which
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Jesus is the guest of honor. And the main persons present included
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Martha, Lazarus and Mary who were introduced to us in John 11. And we read that Martha was doing what she seemed to do best.
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She was busy serving. And we read of Mary who was doing what she did most and that was sitting at the feet of Jesus.
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And we read of Lazarus who was there with Jesus, his friend. Nothing is recorded of Lazarus speaking any words, interestingly.
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But of course, just his presence. The fact that he had been dead and in the grave for four days, just his presence spoke a louder witness on behalf of Jesus than he could have probably ever expressed in words.
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And actually in the account before us in these 11 verses of John chapter 12, the only one we have recorded speaking other than Jesus is
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Judas Iscariot. But what was foremost in the memory of the disciples of Jesus who were present on this occasion was the action of Mary showing forth her love and devotion to her
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Lord. And it would be as our Lord predicted of her as recorded in both
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Mark and Matthew, not Luke, but in Matthew. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
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One wrote of this, what struck out in everybody's mind concerning this supper, however, was not the presence of Lazarus so much or even the bravery of Christ's friend.
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We're actually having had this meal together. What the disciples remembered of this dinner and wrote about long afterward was the act of Mary, who we're told took about a pint of pure nard and expensive perfume, and she poured it on Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
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It was about 12 ounces worth, probably, of this expensive perfume.
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Or here's another word of the lasting influence of this perfume. This was rather colorful, flowery, so I thought
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I would include it. A truer story tells us that the house where Jesus lodged for the night in Bethany was once filled with a perfume, which has become the symbol of the most precious offerings to Christ, and which has taught millions how to make the lowliest home more holy than the shrines of saints and the ashes of martyrs.
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And the perfume which filled the house of Bethany, and which is still diffusing itself through the world, was only such a gift as every true and loving heart can give.
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It was, in fact, the gift of the heart alone which made the perfume precious and gained the giver the memorial of a blessed and everlasting name.
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And that's, of course, a reference to Mary. We already read the passage, and so we'll pass over reading that at this time.
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But we'll consider these 11 verses by the outline. We have first the sacrifice of Mary, verses 1 -3.
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Then we have the protest of Judas Iscariot, verses 4 -6. Jesus' defense of Mary, verses 7 -8.
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And then the reaction of others to the presence of Jesus, as well as Lazarus, verses 9 -11.
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So let's consider this sacrifice of Mary, some of the details. Here we read of the setting of this narrative episode, this pericope, which is the offering of Mary, verse 1.
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Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.
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Now, we've already considered in John 11 how Jesus and his disciples left
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Bethany and traveled to Ephraim, which was about a dozen miles north of Jerusalem.
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In other words, about 10 miles north of the little village of Bethany. And John 12 opens with Jesus coming to Bethany.
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And so we might assume that Jesus and his disciples came immediately down from Ephraim, the short 10 miles to Bethany, but that's not what occurred.
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But when we consider the other gospel accounts, we discover a few more details of our Lord's ministry.
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They actually traveled quite a distance. And so before Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethany on this occasion, they had traveled eastward to the
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Jordan River Valley, and dropped down and then traveled southward, and they came to the city of Jericho.
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And as Jesus was entering the city of Jericho, divine providence, of course, led him to that sycamore tree, where Zacchaeus, a little statured spice tax collector, was watching for Jesus.
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And Jesus told Zacchaeus, come down, Zacchaeus, out of that tree, for I must stay at your house today.
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It was divine providence that moved Jesus to go by that place at that time and call
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Zacchaeus to himself. I love the title of the sermon of J. Vernon McGee on that account.
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He called Zacchaeus the fruit of the sycamore tree. And what a wonderful term and title of that event.
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And of course he spent the day, Jesus spent the day with Zacchaeus. He had become a disciple of Christ. And then on his way out of Jericho, Jesus encountered blind
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Bartimaeus, and he healed him, restored sight to him. Actually there were two men, but Bartimaeus was mentioned.
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Jesus then traveled the approximately 14 to 17 miles to the west, climbing about 3 ,300 feet of elevation towards Jerusalem.
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Now you think about that. Tremendous elevation in just a matter of 14 miles.
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I've driven the four -lane freeway from Jerusalem down into that valley, and it's very, very steep, twisty, going through barren hills of the so -called wilderness of Judea.
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But there's quite a drop in elevation. Well, here they would have climbed up out of Jericho, these 3 ,300 feet, passed by Jerusalem, and went the further two miles to Bethany, where they had this supper.
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One might wonder why John did not include these details that are found in the synoptic gospels of Matthew and Mark.
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Well, it was simply not in John's purpose to do so. And that should not trouble us when we find different details within the gospel record.
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In fact, deviations and lapses between the gospels shouldn't distress us.
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They actually lend to credibility of the four gospels. And I thought the words of J .C.
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Ryle, who wrote about this, were pertinent for us. Why St. John did not record these facts we do not know, and it's a mere waste of time to inquire.
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What's the point? A reverent mind will be content to remember that John wrote by inspiration of God and was guided by infallible direction, both as to what he recorded and what he did not record.
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Reason and common sense, moreover, tell us that if the four evangelists had all narrated exactly the same things, their values as independent witnesses would have been greatly damaged.
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Good point. Their variations and diversities are a strong indirect proof of their credibility.
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Too close an agreement would raise a suspicion of collusion. It would look like an attempt to deceive.
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That's a good word. We read in verse two of John 12, There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
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John does not specifically say who made this supper for Jesus. He uses the third person plural pronoun they.
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And perhaps the antecedent of that pronoun was Martha and Mary and Lazarus, but maybe not.
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It may have just been a reference to a number of people there in Bethany who wanted to provide this supper in honor of Jesus.
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Now, we read, however, in the other accounts, both in Matthew and Mark, of the location of this supper.
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And so in Matthew 26, we're going to read the account, and as we do, if you're attentive, try and note the similarity as well as the differences in detail.
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This is Matthew's account. When Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, that's not sound in John's gospel, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask full of very costly fragrant oil.
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See, Mary wasn't named here. And she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it, there's a difference there, different detail.
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They were indignant, saying, why this waste for this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.
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But when Jesus was aware of it, he said to them, why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for me.
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For you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial.
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Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
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And then we have Mark's parallel account. But again, there are some different details.
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See if you can catch some of them. Being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spiked north.
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Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, why was this fragrant oil wasted?
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For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.
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And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, let her alone. Why do you trouble her?
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She's done a good work for me. For you have the four with you always. And whenever you wish, you may do them good.
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But me, you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.
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Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
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Simon had been a leper, obviously, whom Jesus no doubt had formally healed. Perhaps his home in Bethany was most spacious and suitable for a large gathering for Jesus and his disciples.
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But even though the supper took place in Simon's house, the account suggests that Martha, Lazarus, and Mary were the principal hosts who were sitting as well as serving the
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Lord Jesus. Perhaps, probably, this supper was intended to show gratefulness to Jesus for having both raised
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Lazarus as well as healing Simon of his leprosy. They wanted to thank him, honor him.
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Perhaps others were present at this supper who had received great grace from the Lord's dealings with them.
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Recognize that the very act of hosting and of attending this supper in recognition and celebration of Jesus reveals the courage and commitment to Jesus of all those in attendance.
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Again, consider what we read last week in John chapter 11, the last words of the chapter.
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Now both the chief priest and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it that they might seize him.
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These people completely disregarded that command of the Jewish leaders and had this supper in honor of Jesus.
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But then we read of this devotional act of Mary in verse three. And Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikener and anointed the feet of Jesus.
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In the Matthew and Mark account, she anointed the head of Jesus, here the feet of Jesus, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
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John indicated she anointed the feet. Mark and Matthew wrote she poured it on his head. She probably first anointed his head and then afterward his feet.
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And in John stating that Mary had anointed his feet shows forth her humility as well as her devotion, as one wrote.
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To attend to the feet was the task of the most lowly slave. Now, by the way, again, just a reminder,
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Martha and Mary and Lazarus were probably a prominent wealthy family. And yet here she is manifesting humility in pouring this perfume upon the feet of Jesus.
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This is emphasized by her using her hair to wipe the feet. It is curious that the oil was wiped off at all.
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Be that as it may, the use of the hair rather than the employment of a towel or the like may also indicate something of personal involvement.
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The act is all the more striking in that a Jewish lady never unbound her hair in public.
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That apparently was a mark of loose morals. But Mary did not stop to calculate public reaction.
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Her heart went out to her Lord and she gave expression to something of her feelings in the beautiful and touching act.
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And the repetition of feet may be a way of stressing Mary's willing acceptance of the lowest place.
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And the oil was of good quality. It was one pound, actually 12 ounces, of costly oil of spiked nard.
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This was a product derived from a plant that is only grown in the
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Himalayan mountains. And they were a long way from the Himalayas. This would explain its value.
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As one wrote, the essence of this ointment was derived from pure nard, which is an aromatic herb grown in the high pasture land in the
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Himalayas between Tibet and India. In view of the fact that it had to be procured in a region so remote and carried on camelback through miles and miles of mountain passes at very high price, that Mary had this quantity of spiked nard to devote to Jesus probably reveals the well -to -do condition of the family.
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This brother and two sisters were a considerable wealth and therefore a privilege also.
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This is no ordinary generic perfume in the hands of Mary. It was the highest quality and normally possessed by only the well -to -do in the
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Mediterranean world. Now, the synoptic accounts, again
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Mark and Matthew, indicate this oil was sealed in an alabaster flask.
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This itself was rather a special container for the special fragrance. It would have been a jar of white, fine -grained gypsum, itself mined at effort and expense.
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And in order to use this oil, the flask, because it was sealed, the neck of the flask was actually broken and then the oil could be poured out.
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And of course, when Mary broke this flask, the fragrance of the oil filled the room.
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And so it would have been immediately evident to everybody present. All would have noticed that she had anointed his feet as well as his head, according to the synoptics.
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So as we consider this event, it might be good for us to recall the matter of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples that's recorded in the next chapter in John's Gospel.
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This matter of the feet is a theme that we find elsewhere, as one wrote,
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D .A. Carson. John focuses on Jesus' feet in terms of symbolism established in chapter 13.
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At the very least, it signifies the utmost and self -humbling devotion and love, regardless of the cost, the expense of the narc, or of what others might think.
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Mary let down the tresses of her hair to wipe Jesus' feet. Mention of the fact that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume suggests not only extravagant love, but suggests the fragrance of the act will extend far beyond the event itself.
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And it certainly did. Interestingly, the note of the fragrance of perfume filling the room has often been homiletically, in other words, it's been preached commonly, as an emblem of the glory of the death of Jesus Christ declared in the
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Gospel of Salvation, filling the world with its pleasant effects.
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That'll preach. The Apostle Paul, interestingly, had written of the
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Gospel in a similar vein. Paul said, we are the aroma of Christ, a God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
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The one a fragrance from death to death to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
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And one can see a parallel of themes there. An association between those two passages.
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All were present. All present were quite aware of the costly value of the perfume that Mary had poured upon the feet of Jesus.
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Some, perhaps a few, were very impressed that Mary would devote herself and this treasure for this purpose.
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But it would seem that most present found fault with what Mary was doing. And so we read in John 12 the protest of Judas Iscariot.
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We read of his assessment and comment. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, that's what barjona means,
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Judas son of barjona, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii given to the poor?
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This he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the money box and he used to take what was put in it.
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This of course is an explanation of John looking back. This is one of the few instances where Judas's poor character is displayed before the actual event of betraying
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Jesus. John singles out Judas Iscariot as the one who protested.
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But again, we read the other gospel account that speak of the other disciples also protesting, joining in it.
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Mark recorded, there were some who were indignant among themselves. The Matthew related this detail but when his disciples saw it, they were indignant saying why this waste for this fragrant oil might have been sold much and given to the poor.
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Apparently it was Judas that voiced it but they all felt similarly about the matter.
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John records however, Judas's motives were corrupt in his protest. He was a thief.
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He stole from the money that supported Jesus and his disciples in their ministry. Isn't it interesting how
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Judas who was of course a reprobate, a son of perdition, nevertheless gave voice and influenced the thinking and attitudes of true disciples who were sitting with him.
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That's interesting I think. Sometimes we're influenced by ungodly people in thinking and assessing things in a manner that is not right.
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Herman Ritterboss was a reformed theologian, commentator of the 20th century.
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He wrote, Judas's censure of Mary's act corresponds with that of the disciples or some mentioned in the synoptics who similarly complained about the loss of the oil.
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Here however, this attitude cannot be explained as an expression of narrow mindedness or as understandable misplaced opposition to so much extravagance in a world of poor people.
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That may have been why the psalm or the disciples objected. The fourth evangelist,
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John, makes it clear that Judas spoke not out of concern for the poor but from the regret of a thief who saw a large sum of money lost to the purse that he administered and from which he enriched himself.
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And by the way, I read a couple comments that it may have been this event when he saw this money lost to him that shortly thereafter he went to the chief priest and sold
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Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He lost it one way, he'll gain it another way.
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There may have been an association there. Of those other than Judas who also thought ill of the extravagance of Mary's devotion,
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J .C. Ryle wrote this, but there were some present who found fault with Mary's conduct and blamed her as guilty for her shameful extravagance.
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One especially, an apostle, Judas, a man whom better things might have been expected declaring openly that the ointment would have been better employed if it had been sold at the price given to the poor.
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The heart which could conceive such thoughts must have had low views of the dignity of Christ's person and still lower views of our obligations to him.
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And then this last statement of Ryle resonated, a cold heart and a stingy hand will generally go together.
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Just how valuable was this fragrant oil? Judas declared it could be sold for 300 denarii.
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That was confirmed by one of the writers. I forget if it was Matthew or Mark. It was a little less than the annual salary of a day worker of the first century.
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And so in today's terms we might be talking about a value of $40 ,000 to $50 ,000. It was very costly.
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Well, in contrast to this selfish, covetous spirit of Judas, we see in this act of Mary her humility, devotion, and her generosity.
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But it would not be too creative to say it probably also reveals a change in Mary's value system.
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Now I know I'm reading into this, but I don't think I'm reading too much into this. She came to Jesus.
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She heard him teach. Witnessing miraculous works. Jesus had raised her brother from the dead.
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Maybe this flask had once been a gift to her. Who knows? Maybe she had purchased it for herself.
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But the possession of this alabaster flask of spikenorn must have been obtained at great cost and had probably been quite a treasure in her mind.
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Don't you think? Why else would someone obtain and retain such an extravagant item?
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But Mary could probably have joined in singing the hymn written much later, All to Jesus I surrender.
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That was her attitude. All to him I freely give. I'll ever love and trust him in his present daily live.
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The point is that she might have been one who, like many of us, characterized by covetousness.
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But when it came to Christ, that came to an end. The fact is when a person becomes a true
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Christian, everything he owns, he surrenders to Jesus. Oh, we might stubbornly refuse or hold back, but the
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Lord has a way of teaching us and leading us in the right way. Before conversion, that Christian may have been characterized by covetousness, the desire to acquire and retain that which he thought would bring him pleasure and perhaps security.
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Things belonged to him or so he thought. But upon becoming a Christian, he confesses that all things belong to Jesus, even as he remains a steward of what
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Jesus has entrusted to his care and use. Coming to Jesus cures the covetous heart, or at least it should.
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The Christians at the church had a terrible sin, for if they persisted in that sin and others, they would not have salvation.
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Apparently the sin of covetousness may have been one of their sins. So Paul wrote, Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another.
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They were Christians suing another Christian and going before an unconverted judge. Why do you not rather go to your brethren?
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They were covetous. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
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Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, and here it is right in the midst of it, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
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But such were some of you. They were no longer covetous. Their sin was crept in.
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They needed to repent of it. But rather you were washed, you were sanctified, you were cleansed of these sins, sanctified, justified in the name of the
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Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God. Some of them had formerly been covetous, but they were no longer having come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Paul wrote a similar exhortation to the Christians in Ephesus. For you may be sure of this, you may be certain of this, you may be sure or who is covetous, which is, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
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They will not inherit salvation. The fact is that every true Christian loves the
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Lord Jesus more than anyone or anything in the world, in his life.
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The Lord Jesus himself indicated this is characteristic of all true Christians. As we read in Luke 14, great multitudes went with him.
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He turned and said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brother, sister, yes, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
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And by biblical definition, a disciple is a true Christian. A disciple isn't a special kind of Christian.
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A true disciple is a true Christian. Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
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For which of you intending to make war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10 ,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20 ,000?
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Or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions to be met.
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So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.
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When we become a Christian, everything is surrendered to King Jesus. Now it may, you know, may have to be played out in our life through resistance and stubbornness, but if the truth be known and if you pressed every truth, yes, everything belongs to Jesus.
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And if I'm hanging on to it, I'm doing so illegitimately for I know it's
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Jesus who owns everything. I was bought with a price. I belong to him. And when he bought me, he bought everything that I have.
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And I'm a steward now of that which he's given me. And so a true Christian, a true disciple loves him supremely above all other people and things.
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It's born out in our coming to know the width and length and depth and height of his love for us, which turns us, moves us to love him supremely.
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And so Peter wrote, new Christians probably, in his epistle, 1 Peter, though you've not seen him,
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Jesus, you love him. And though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and full of glory.
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Covetousness has no proper place in the heart of a Christian. And yet, again, the
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Church of Corinth had that problem and maybe some of us do. I don't know. The Christian knows the
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Lord Jesus has purchased him with the price of his own blood. And so the Christian is no longer his own.
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And what was once his possession exclusively in his own mind is now no longer his but belongs to the
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Lord. All we are, all we have, are for the Lord. Our own lives and everything that pertains to our lives belong to him.
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Everything can value things we possess. Mary did not view this very expensive spikenard as something to treasure for herself or keep solely for herself for she knew what a wonderful service this thing could bring to her
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Savior. She knew the best thing she could do with this was to dedicate it and bestow it upon Jesus.
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And so even as Mary serves as the best example of a devout Christian, Judas shows himself to be the true covetous man who has a cloak of religiosity but was inwardly corrupt.
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And so just as we have dishonor and honor of Jesus set side by side, we have this noble, righteous character of Mary set beside this unrighteous, ignoble character of Judas.
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There's one row. Again, J .C. Ryle, he's a quotable guy. Hardness especially appears in Judas Iscariot who after being a chosen apostle and a preacher of the kingdom of heaven turns out at last a thief and a traitor.
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So long as the world stands, this unhappy man will be a lasting proof of the depth of human corruption.
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That anyone could follow Christ as a disciple for three years, see all his miracles, hear all his teaching, receive at his hand repeated kindnesses, be counted an apostle and yet proved to be rotten at heart in the end, all this at first sight appears incredible and impossible.
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Yet the case of Judas shows plainly that the thing can be. Few things perhaps are so little realized as the extent of the fall of man.
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He was the poster child of the fallen man. Well, Jesus would not have
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Mary denigrated and so Jesus defends her. But Jesus said, let her alone.
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She's kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always you'll always have opportunity to care for them but me you do not have always.
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Now it may be that only Jesus viewed her act of devotion as a very gracious, generous, thoughtful, loving action on her part toward him.
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Jesus declared that she had done it with view to his burial. Perhaps Mary knew that his death was imminent.
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I kind of think she didn't however and that Jesus was infusing meaning and the value of what she was doing.
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I'll explain that a little more fully. Interestingly, the synoptics record
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Jesus saying the same things but the order is reversed. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus first mentioned the poor then he spoke of the reason for Mary's action.
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Here in John's gospel first Jesus mentions the reason for Mary's action with consideration to his burial and then his words about the poor.
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This is a good example by the way by which we explain the nature of the Holy Scriptures that God has inspired and has preserved for us.
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The Bible records what actually happened but in a manner that the Holy Spirit interpreted and shaped the record for the benefit of the readers.
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Human writers heard and observed what occurred. Later they wrote down their recollections as the
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Holy Spirit gave them recall and shaped the manner of their record. These eyewitnesses did not necessarily recall word for word what they heard.
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They didn't walk around with tape recorders and then write down by dictation exactly what they heard but rather the
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Holy Spirit gave them recall and shaped the words that they penned so it was in the
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Holy Spirit's purpose for having Jesus state it one way in Matthew and Mark and reverse that in John's gospel and there's a reason for that a purpose for that but we would argue the
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Holy Spirit superintended the recollection and the expression of what occurred and this is why this is how we can explain variations in detail and verbal statements of parallel accounts in the gospel that we have both before us.
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Both the accounts of Matthew and Mark as well as of John are true statements but our ability to know exactly the order in which our
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Lord stated these matters may not be something that we can determine and may not have enough evidence or information but it doesn't matter.
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The Bible is the record that God superintended to be recorded and we are to accept it as the true authoritative word of God.
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The reason I press that or stress that is because that undercuts basically
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German higher criticism that just devastated Christianity for about 200 years.
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If they knew that and understood that they wouldn't have gone down that route of terrible liberalism and denial of the authority of scripture.
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They would take those two accounts and the synoptics and John's gospel look, look there's a contradiction. The Bible can't be true.
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They were imposing an illegitimate standard upon the scriptures. The Holy Spirit moved those writers to pen it exactly how he intended and so Matthew and Mark got it right.
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John got it right. That's how the Holy Spirit would have us read it and understand the accounts.
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That's an important principle in reading the scriptures. Now, I want to ask this question however.
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Did Mary know about his impending death or did Jesus impose an application of what she was done regarding his impending death?
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There are differences of opinion but in my opinion she probably didn't know or intend the pouring out of this oil was for this purpose.
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I'm guessing. Take that for what it's worth. My guess. You don't have to accept that.
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Jesus' words reveal how he received her action rather than Jesus revealing that this was her intended action.
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And I read some extended comments dealing with the Greek text and what not in a different argument.
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And it's a difficult matter. I think Jesus was infusing meaning into what she was doing that she herself might have been unaware.
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And then here's a paragraph I think that explains why this is probably the case. There's no clear evidence that Mary or anyone else understood before the cross that Jesus had to die.
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Remember the disciples protested when he had indicated it to them. She meant this to be an act of costly humble devotion but like Caiaphas, remember the high priest back in the previous chapter, she signaled more than she knew.
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In the culture of the day it was not thought inappropriate to spend lavish sums at a funeral including the cost of the perfumes that were designed to stifle the smell of decay.
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But here was Mary lavishly pouring out the perfume on Jesus while he was yet alive. Small wonder
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Jesus sees it as prefiguring of the anointing that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus performed.
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I think what Jesus saw, by the way, this reveals what Jesus was on, Jesus's mind probably foremost than anything is death was right before him and he regarded this anointing of Mary as a preparation for this death.
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She may have known about it but if she was, she was the only one. People were ignorant and even the disciples were disillusioned when
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Jesus died as indicated by the two disciples on their way to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection.
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They were all confused when it all fell out the way it did and then when the resurrection occurred, the lights turned on and then the
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Lord taught them and then they understood. God purposely kept people in the dark with regard to the fact and the meaning of the crucifixion until after the fact.
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And so to say that Mary had an understanding might be reading more into it.
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Here's another point and we need to close. Man, I didn't realize we'd gone so far over but let me close with this.
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There is an emphasis in John's gospel on Jesus being king and it may be that in Mary anointing
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Jesus, it was due with him being king, being anointed king.
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I'd never seen this before until I read it in Plink's commentary. She was doing so due to Jesus being anointed as king who's worthy of all honor.
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Anointing of another in the ancient world and particularly the feet of another was a way of showing deep humility and great devotion before the king.
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And so here are the comments of Edward Plink for your consideration. Such an act of anointing would have normally symbolized the anointing of royalty.
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In the Old Testament, for example, kings or priests would be anointed to mark the beginning of their rule of priesthood and the use of sweet -smelling ointment or perfume was symptomatic of the office of the king in both the
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Old Testament and pagan context. For Samuel 8, for example, was anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to be anointed to knowned with honor but with shame and not an enthroned an an ethrone but on a cross.
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And I think that there is legita misy in that understanding. But if Jesus death was not present in Mary's thinking when she broke the
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Al abaster flask and poured out perfume on his feet and that death was in Jesus' thinking clearly and indeed
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Jesus would be crucified before the next week had passed. The time of Jesus was limited but he needed to pass on much instruction to his disciples in the short time remaining for him and that's really what we have here from John chapter 12 all the way up until he's arrested in John chapter 8.
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What was the reaction of those present? Well great many came they want to see
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Jesus they want to see Lazarus but look at the wickedness of these Jewish people the Jewish leaders.
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The chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him many of the
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Jews went away and believed in Jesus. Can you imagine you imagine going up to one of these
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Jewish leaders and saying the time is coming when you are going to murder a man that God raised from the dead in order to retain your own power.
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Can you imagine the treachery a mitigated wickedness of these men let's kill
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Lazarus because he's given credibility to Jesus who is going to going to take our place if we don't take action and so what we have again is a heightening an expanding of the cruelty and the injustice on the part of these
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Jewish leaders. We'll conclude lastly with a few more words of royal unbelief appears in the chief priest who consulted that they might put
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Lazarus to death they could not deny the fact of his having been raised again living moving eating drinking within two miles of Jerusalem after lying four days in the grave
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Lazarus was a witness to the truth of Jesus's Messiahship whom they could not possibly answer put to silence yet these proud men would not give way they would rather commit murder than throw down the arms of rebellion and confess themselves in the wrong no wonder that the
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Lord Jesus in a certain place marveled at unbelief and well might he say in a well -known parable if they believe not
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Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead Lazarus rose from the dead and they weren't persuaded salvation is due to an inward work of great not do it an outward observation of a miracle observing a miracle doesn't convert anybody to take the miracle of God grace internally to make a
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Christian and certainly this passage underscores that let's pray thank you father for your word thank you
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Lord for this wonderful glorious act of Mary so long ago that's commended throughout the world wherever the gospel is proclaimed help us our
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Lord to arise to the measure and level of devotion and delight that she had in giving all to you may we give ourselves wholly and fully to you we pray
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Lord that you would rid our souls of any covetous spirit and acknowledge and recognize that you own us and everything that we own yet you've entrusted us our
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God to be responsible stewards of that which you've given into our care help us to be faithful in these matters help us our
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God as we go forth now to live for Christ throughout this coming week so we pray in Jesus name