Blood Money

Transcript

Well, good morning, brothers and sisters. Well, before we begin, let’s pray and ask for God to help us this morning. Father, we approach you this morning confessing our deep dependence, that unless you meet us this morning, there will be no point to what we’re doing. We need your help. We need eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that will burn as we take in the word of life. We pray, Father, that as we encounter your word, that you would help us to see all that is lovely and beautiful about our precious Jesus, that we would see his worthiness and his value and the great cost that was required to rescue us. Meet us this morning. May your spirit be ever-present and alive in the hearts of your people this morning, we pray. In Christ’s name, amen. Well, this morning, our text is another one of these Markian sandwiches.

And so to begin, I’ve resurrected the old ridiculous sandwich graphic to help remind us of what exactly a Markian sandwich is. Essentially, the sandwich is Mark’s writing style that takes one story and then adds another story that cuts right through the middle of that first story, creating a sandwich. And the primary purpose for this style is ultimately to connect thematically these two stories and to provide better clarity for both. So this morning, we’re going to look at this passage, or this sandwich, if you will, by dealing with the two outer parts of the story, which we might consider the bread. And then we’ll deal with the middle section, which you might consider the meat, okay? So I’ve reordered this a bit because I think it’ll help us to better grasp the weight of what’s going on in our passage. And so we’ll look at verses 1 and 2 first with what I’ve called the problem.

The Problem

And then we’ll look at verses 10 and 11. We’ll skip down there to what I’ve called the providence, and then we’ll spend a great deal of time focusing on verses 3 and 9 in the middle with what I’ve called the perfume. And as we move along, I want you to pay close attention to the contrast in our passage. In this sandwich, you get all of this juxtaposition between those who would be considered the religious insiders, but who actually behave as if they’re outsiders, and those who would be considered religious outsiders who actually behave more like they’re insiders. And I also want you to pay attention to the contrast between the stories as one of the stories reveals this deep betrayal and how this story in the middle reveals deep devotion. And so let’s begin in verses 1 and 2 with the problem. It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief

priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him. For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. Now the first thing that I want you to notice is Mark’s intentional use in referencing the Passover. This is not just, you know, data points or a time stamp. This is by Mark’s creative design. The reason why Mark emphasizes this is because the Passover was a feast that celebrated or remembered God’s judgment as it passed over all the homes of the Israelites. And the way this Passover worked was that the Israelites would sacrifice a lamb and then take the blood of that lamb and paint it on doorposts so that when the angel of death came across the homes with a bloody lamb-stained doorpost, the angel would pass over that house, thereby saving the house from judgment and death that was to be poured

out on Egypt. And so Mark is emphasizing the time of the Passover as a creative way to pull our focus on the ultimate purpose of Jesus and what He is on track to accomplish. That Jesus the Messiah is the one who came to be the sacrificial Passover lamb, whose blood was shed to cover the coming judgment that was to be poured out for our sin. Now the religious institution, the religious leaders, for whatever reason, have failed to see that the Passover was a picture that pointed to Jesus. And it’s hard to understand that because, remember, these religious leaders were the ones who should have known and understood this. They were the scribes. Their lives were dedicated to knowing the Scriptures, mining the Scriptures, taking out all that was in the Scriptures. But despite their inability to understand this reality, they nonetheless participate in the bloodshed of the Passover lamb.

These religious leaders, through their own sinful agency, unknowingly facilitate the greater Passover. And as we’ve seen over and over again in Mark’s gospel, these religious leaders, they’ve demonstrated that they’re actually outsiders. The chief priests and the scribes have literally been trying to kill Jesus. They’ve been trying to spill his blood. But the closer they get to what they perceive as a victory only proves to bring about God’s greater redemption plan, which is interesting if you think about it. They plan to kill Jesus because they’re evil, because they’re outsiders, religiously speaking. But their plans only bring about God’s greater purposes. And this is always the case with the God of the world. He is sovereign over everything in this world. Nothing happens outside of God’s divine control and purposes, including the evils that men do. And though we cannot fully comprehend it, and though sometimes it is exceedingly painful

to process, God uses the evil things that people do for greater purposes and for our ultimate good. So the chief priests and the scribes, though they plan to secure the death of Jesus, they are unknowingly accomplishing a new and better Passover. We’ve seen this wicked drama unfold week after week as the religious leaders make every public effort to trap Jesus. But they seem to always come up short, which only reveals that these religious leaders are under the sovereign control of God. They can only do what God allows them to do. And at this point, Jesus has decided not to play into their public plot of blasphemy. And so the religious leaders must again reevaluate their plan. And it’s here where the chief priests and the scribes have decided to move away from a public plan to a more private plan. And the reason for adopting this new and secret plan is because A, their original plans weren’t

working, and B, because of the overwhelming amount of people around Jesus as a result of the Passover. You see how all that drama is unfolding with the Passover. You see, the problem with their first plan is that they didn’t account for this massive influx of people in Jerusalem during this feast. Now the question we need to ask is, how are the people a problem? How is the number of people a problem? Why are they so worried about the reaction of the people during this Passover? Well, because the Passover in reality was a time of Jewish nationalism, where all these Jews would come together celebrating God’s liberation from the Egyptian oppressors. And so because of this patriotic energy that was among the people, and because of the concentrated number of Jews in Jerusalem who believed that Jesus was the Messiah who has come to liberate the Jewish people from Rome, their oppressors, if the religious leaders arrest

Jesus publicly, there was a strong possibility that there would be an uprising or a riot. And the Romans, being hip to this electric and nationalistic environment, they were prepared to move in with force should anything go down. So the religious leaders, though they want to kill Jesus, they can’t do it without starting some sort of riot, either from their own people or from Rome. Now the fact that these religious leaders are so blood-hungry to kill Jesus shouldn’t be a surprise to us, because it’s exactly what Jesus said would happen. If you remember in Mark chapter 10, verses 33 through 34, Jesus when speaking to his disciples said, see, we are going to Jerusalem. We’re going to where the Passover is. And the Son of Man, that is Jesus, will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. And they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.

And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise. So Jesus is already prepared what’s going to go down with his disciples. Jesus is well aware of their evil plan to kill him. None of this is alarming to him. None of this catches him off guard. He knows what they’re trying to do. He knows what they’ll eventually do. But in the sovereign power of God, he will use it for his purposes. But in the moment, because of the inconvenience of the crowd, the religious leaders need to defer their plan to kill Jesus until after the Passover, when the crowds die down and the threat of riots from Rome will die down. But what’s interesting is that their new plan, if you think about it, it really isn’t a plan. It’s just a deferring of what they want to do.

The Providence

There’s no structure to their plan. They still don’t know exactly what they’re going to do, even if they have to wait till after the Passover. Which brings us to the providence in verses 10 and 11. So if you skip down to verses 10 and 11, this will make sense.

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

— Mark 14

(ESV)

So the religious leaders in verses 1 and 2 are left without a plan. And then it just so happens that at the precise moment the religious leaders can’t seem to figure out what they’re going to do, they don’t have an actual plan in place of how to arrest Jesus and how to kill him, Judas, in some random coincidence, just happens to

approach the religious leaders with a solution to their very troubling problem. Now one important thing to notice is that the text says Judas, who was one of the 12, went to the religious leaders. It is Judas, an insider, one of the closest people to Jesus, who initiates contact with the religious leaders, the so-called insiders. Not the other way around. The religious leaders don’t come to Judas, so it’s not as if Judas was somehow coerced or persuaded by the religious leaders to betray Jesus. He is on his own volition. He sought out the opportunity because the seed of betrayal was already in his heart. He on his own, with his own agency, initiates this betrayal. And this betrayal becomes the very means by which the religious leaders will arrest Jesus and kill him. Now the question is, why did Judas, an insider, choose to betray Jesus?

Well, Mark doesn’t tell us specifically, but in Matthew’s gospel, in chapter 26, verse 15, it says that Judas asks the religious leaders, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And it’s there where you see that there’s this agreed upon amount of 30 pieces of silver, something equivalent to $7,700. So Matthew’s gospel alludes to greed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the primary reason. In fact, if you think about it, Judas’s mind would have already been made up. The betrayal was already there before he brokered the deal. This is often the case. Think about this in terms of marital infidelity. The betrayal already exists in the hearts and minds long before the opportunity avails itself. Rarely does infidelity happen without having already betrayed the marriage vows in your own mind and in your own heart because of some disenchantment with the marriage.

Now the text doesn’t tell us, but it’s my opinion, and it’s only that, my opinion, that the betrayal began in Judas’s heart because Judas was in every way a religious zealot or a Jewish nationalist. And when he realized that Jesus wasn’t going to liberate the Jewish people from the Roman government and even that Jesus was an advocate of paying taxes to Caesar, the pagan Caesar, Judas likely became disenchanted with Jesus and decided, I don’t really want this anymore, this relationship. And so he sells out Jesus. But again, that’s just my opinion. We don’t really know for sure, but what we do know for sure, what we can quite easily deduce is that Judas was persuaded by evil to give up Jesus. In fact, John 13 eventually tells us that Satan entered Judas’s heart. But again, it’s important to understand that although Judas is influenced by evil, by Satan,

although he is the one responsible for this deep betrayal, it is in every way divinely orchestrated by God to bring about the death of Jesus. Because Jesus is, after all, the sacrificial Passover lamb. Jesus himself says in John 10, 18, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down, meaning no one else can take my life. I have the authority to take it up again. Judas, one of his own disciples, is acting according to his own wickedness. But God is using the wickedness that exists in Judas’ heart for an incomprehensible good. And this isn’t uncharacteristic of God. This is how God operates. This is how he’s always been throughout the scriptures. In fact, in Genesis, in the very first book of the Bible, we hear this story of a man named Joseph who was in a very similar situation, sold out by insiders, in fact, his own brothers.

They threw him into a pit and they sold him into slavery. And even though the actions of Joseph’s brothers were wicked, incomprehensible, and evil, it was through the evil acts against their brother that eventually saved them from famine and death. In Genesis 50, 20, Joseph, speaking to his brothers after he saves them, says this, As for you, brothers, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. Listen, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive. Many people should be saved as they are today. God is in the business of overriding our evil deeds to bring about his greatest good and our greatest good. And that’s exactly what we see at the cross, brothers and sisters. In fact, the Genesis statement comes to its fullness when Judas, who meant evil against Jesus, God means it for good. And what is that good?

To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. Now to be sure, though good came from Judas’ betrayal, it is altogether treacherous. It is perhaps the most evil act ever committed because it is treason against the Most High God. What he did was evil, exceedingly evil. And the question that has been ruminating in my mind all week is how could Judas do such a thing? How could an insider be such a sellout? After everything he’s seen Jesus do, after everything he’s heard Jesus say, after all the miracles, all of these demonstrations of power, after all the mercy, after all he’s personally experienced walking with Jesus, doing life with Jesus, how could he do this? And the answer is really quite simple. Because the price was right. In that moment, Judas believed that 30 pieces of silver would better satisfy his soul than

his loyalty to Jesus. But the truth is, blood money never satisfies. In fact, money earned from betrayal or selling out your friends often comes with so much sorrow and remorse that it’s almost impossible to fully enjoy the money because it’s blood money. And this is eventually the case for Judas. We’ll see this later. Now before we sit in shock at the actions and the attitude of Judas for betraying the God he once professed to love, let me ask you this question. What is your amount? What’s the right price for you? What is your 30 pieces of silver? Is it a $30,000 increase in your salary at the cost of your Christian witness or your Christian community? Or maybe 30 grand is a little too low for you. What if it was $300,000? And just to be clear, it doesn’t have to be money. Maybe it’s 30 minutes of sexual pleasure.

Or maybe it’s doing godless things to gain 300,000 followers on Instagram. What is the amount necessary for you to betray the God you profess to love? And listen, before you quickly dismiss my question and say no amount, I’m loyal to Jesus. The truth is we betray Jesus for far less than any of those things every single day. Which is the very reason Jesus had to die. This is why we need a Passover lamb. To save us from the judgment of God that we deserve for betraying Jesus over and over and over again. Jesus had to die because no matter how much we profess to love Jesus, our hearts are bent to chase lesser loves. Unsatisfying loves. Loves that are taboo and temporal. And you see, one love will win. And with all these other loves, the things we always chase after, they will always lead

The Perfume

us to betray the God we were made to love. But thanks be to God that he sovereignly intervenes. That he overrides our evil hearts and our wicked intentions to lead us back to the God we were made to love. And you see, brothers and sisters, this just reveals that we need new hearts by Jesus so that we can be fully devoted to him. And you see this reality right here, this reality is why Mark gives us a story of devotion that splits apart this story of betrayal to show us how hearts made new by Jesus will lead us to deep devotion. And we see that in verses 3 and 9 with the perfume. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly.

And she broke the flask and poured it over his head. Now, a few things to understand to get everything out of this story. The first is that this story is not chronological. It’s thematic. In fact, this account with this woman and her perfume likely happened a few days earlier, but Mark creatively, and I would say brilliantly, inserts this story to contrast the deep betrayal with this deep devotion. Another thing to note is that Simon the leper, who was the one whose house this whole account takes place in, was a former leper. If he were still a leper, he would be considered unclean, an outsider, and the folks would not be in close proximity to him. So it’s highly likely that this Simon, who was a leper, was the recipient of Jesus’ healing ministry. And as a result, he’s not only made clean, but he’s made an insider, a follower of Jesus,

someone who can be close to Jesus. And so he hosts this house party for Jesus. And just by way of context, the woman in Mark’s gospel is unnamed. Mark creatively chose to keep her name anonymous because he wants you to focus not on who she is, but what she’s done. But in John’s gospel, it tells us that her name is Mary. Now to be clear, this is not Mary Magdalene. That’s a totally different Mary. This is Mary, who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the close friend of Jesus, whom Jesus just raised from the dead. And this dinner party is actually a celebration of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. So while everybody is celebrating this amazing miracle, probably asking Lazarus questions like, yo, what’s it like on the other side? Mary, Lazarus’ sister, is so moved by the love and power of Jesus, who raised her brother

from death to life. She’s so moved that she goes and she grabs her expensive jar of perfume. And she breaks it and pours it on Jesus’ head. Now side note, this perfume was likely a family heirloom, and it was very expensive. In fact, we’ll later see that the price of this perfume was about 300 denarii. Now, you remember a few weeks ago when we looked at the poor widow. She threw two coins into the offering box. Those two coins equaled the equivalent of one denarii, which would be the equivalent of one day’s wage. Okay? Well, if you do the math, 300 denarii would basically be a year’s salary. Some were around $27,000. So this perfume was very, very expensive, especially in the first century. And the text tells us that she broke the flask, meaning she had every intention to pour all of it out on Jesus.

There was no turning back. There was no lid. It’s done. This was an expensive and extravagant act of devotion. She is so moved with love for Jesus that she literally drops 27 Gs to anoint Jesus with this perfume. In John chapter 12, verse 3, it says, Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment, made a pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. So not only did she pour the perfume on His head, but she also poured it on His feet, and she begins to brush the perfume on His feet with her hair. Now this act here might be lost on us in our cultural context, but back then this would have been considered shocking for a woman. You see, in this culture, it was considered socially unacceptable for a woman to let down

her hair in front of anyone except for her husband. This would be considered provocative, scandalous even, something equivalent to being undressed. But Mary doesn’t care. Her devotion leads her to act without reservation and without concern for her reputation. $27,000 burned in a dramatic act of devotion. This is her gift to Jesus for what Jesus has done for her. This is how she shows her love and loyalty and her gratitude to Jesus for saving her brother, for raising her brother from death to life. I mean, what kind of gift do you give to somebody who raises your brother from death to life? There is no category for this kind of gift. She can’t think of anything better than giving the very best she had, the most expensive thing she had, to show Jesus just how valuable Jesus is to her. The cost of her perfume pales in comparison to the value of her loving Savior.

She knows the value of the perfume. She knows the value, but she has no problem burning it all on Jesus because Jesus is more valuable to her. Now to be clear, it was her perfume. It was hers. So she freely had the right to use it however she saw fit. And she thinks to herself, what opportunity would be more fitting than this? To publicly demonstrate her love and loyalty to Jesus in front of all these people in the room kind of reminds me of baptism a bit. But though she chooses to use her perfume as a public and positive declaration of her love and loyalty to Jesus, the lavish nature of her gift calls negative attention to others in the room. And we see that in verses 4 and 5. There were some who said indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that?

For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her. There were some in the room, meaning there were some disciples, that became furious at the idea of wasting this perfume. They considered what she did a waste of resources for the ministry. We could have sold it and given all the profits to the poor. John’s gospel tells us that it was Judas who had a problem with her wasting the money on perfume when it could have been sold to the poor. And of course, we all know how that would have ended up. So was it really about the poor? And they scolded her for wasting what could have been. What did you just do? What were you thinking? Where is your sanity? Where is your dignity? Where is your modesty? The men in the room were verbally berating her for wasting this gift on Jesus.

And could you imagine how she must have felt in that moment? She did this for Jesus. She was so moved with love for Jesus that she does this. This is her way of loving Jesus, and she’s being rebuked by a bunch of men in the room questioning her acts of love and devotion, questioning her motives and her modesty. So she moves from devotion to shame in a matter of moments, embarrassed and confused. Her act of love is met with hostility and condemnation by these ignorant men. Look at how Jesus responds. Jesus responds with rebuke, but it’s not directed towards the woman. It’s directed towards the foolish men in the room. Verse 6, but Jesus said, leave her alone, and don’t miss that. When Jesus says leave her alone, that’s aggressive. Therein lies the rebuke. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

I love this verse. I love this verse. I could talk about this verse, verse 6, for hours. I love this verse because it goes against all the social and cultural norms of our world. I love this verse because here you see the heart of Jesus. I love her. I love his defense of her. I love the dignifying voice of Jesus in a room full of aggressive men who attempt to bully her and condemn her. I love the way Jesus rebukes these men and esteems her act of love. And I love how what most people would have considered a complete waste, Jesus calls beautiful. This reveals that God delights in our acts of adoration, in our lavish acts of devotion. She does something so extravagant, and listen, that she understands will have no long-term benefit. She already knows it. Its greatest impact will fade as soon as the scent begins to fade.

So contrary to what we think about in terms of Christianity or what we might consider to be religious piety, unless it has long-term value, unless it serves some utilitarian benefit, unless it’s useful in some practical or functional way, then you shouldn’t do it. There’s no purpose behind it. That a gift that is that extravagant or that temporal should never be given to Jesus or to his church. And you see, brothers and sisters, God has not made us to be cerebral and practical beings only. He’s made us creative and emotional creatures with the capacity of giving and creating beautiful things for the sake of being devotional, for the sake of bringing God glory and adoration. We were made to create and to enjoy beautiful things because we were made in the image of a beautiful God who enjoys beautiful things, like perfume, like poetry, like paintings,

Beautiful Devotion

and even things with momentary value, like a flower that blooms and dies, or the sun that showcases all of its splendor right when it’s setting, only to hide. God by design made the parchment skies to be breathtaking so that we would be reminded that God is a beautiful God who delights in the beautiful things of his creation. This is why God says the skies declare his glory. What I find interesting is that the response of the men in the room is an objection to Mary using this lavish gift as an act of devotion to Jesus because they think it’s a waste, which ultimately is a reflection of their own hearts. They don’t perceive beautiful and extravagant gifts as important or useful. And this isn’t just with the men in the room. This is often the case with religious people, which is crazy because the world has no problem

with gifting or receiving lavish things. You want to buy yourself an expensive car because you’ve been driving a broken down car for 13 years? You deserve it. Go on. Get that new car. You want to buy your wife diamond earrings because of how much she’s sacrificed for the family as you’ve worked so hard? Go on. Do it. She deserves it. The world has no problem with an all expense paid vacation to a remote or extravagant place because it’s been a hard year. We’ve gone through a pandemic. You deserve to go to Hawaii and there is nothing wrong with that, but give a gift, a lavish gift of time or money to the church or to Jesus and the world will call you crazy. They will question your stewardship. They will call you a religious fanatic. Oh, you’re one of those kinds of people. You regularly give your money to the church?

And more than that, you actually give money to other people in your church who need money? That’s crazy. I don’t know about all that. You see, the world is okay with giving extravagant gifts unless it is connected somehow to Jesus. Then our religious piety kicks in. And listen, gifts are not just money. Mary’s gift was her perfume. Your gift could be your money, but it could also be your time. It could be your commitment. This is something the world also doesn’t understand. They will never question how you spend your time. The motto of our world is, hey, work hard, play hard. You understand how many hours you work this week? 50? Oh, you deserve time for yourself. Do whatever you want to do so long as you’re off the clock. You give your time to a weekly prayer meeting where you have to wake up at 530 to come and

meet with people to pray? That’s extreme. You give every Sunday to the church. And every Wednesday night? Sometimes Tuesday nights? Sometimes Saturdays? And when you’re not doing that, you have people over at your house making them meals? Tell me, when is it going to be your time? No one will say anything about how you spend your time, of course, unless it’s connected to your Christianity. You see, the problem is not extravagant gifts. It’s not time. It’s not money. It’s ultimately who gets the gifts and the time and the money. You see, there is a devotion-orientation problem. And oftentimes, Jesus is never even a part of that equation. It’s unheard of. And what is so incredibly hard for so many people to comprehend is that Jesus is worth more than all of your gifts, all of your time, and all of your money. He’s worth more than all that we could possibly give.

And just to be clear, this woman’s act of devotion isn’t a justification for being frivolous or fiscally irresponsible. That’s not what Jesus is getting at here, and it’s not a justification to not care for the poor. In fact, in verse 7, Jesus addresses this issue. Jesus says, for you will always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. Jesus’ heart is for the poor, and Jesus delights when we give our money to the poor, when we make drastic sacrifices to love and care for the poor. All throughout the Scriptures, God commands us to care for the poor. In fact, one of the ways we care for the poor is when Christians lavishly give gifts to care for the poor.

But Jesus receives this lavish and temporal gift not because he doesn’t care about the poor, but because it’s time-sensitive. There is a priority of devotion, meaning what benefit is there to give all your money to the poor if your heart is not sufficiently moved by God to give it? In fact, if you remember a few weeks ago, we talked about the greatest commandment, Mark 12, verses 30-31,

and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second priority is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

— Mark 12

(ESV)

Your love must be so full, so all-encompassing of love for God that it should compel you to love your neighbor. There is a vertical dimension of our love that begins first with God and his radical

love for us that causes to push our love out into the world. So Jesus cares deeply about the poor. But he receives this gift because it’s time-sensitive. But the time-sensitive nature of the gift, listen, is not why he calls it beautiful. He calls it beautiful because it’s connected to her devotion. Because it’s a picture of the greatest commandment. It’s another case study of fully loving God. And because her devotion prophetically points to that which is to come. You remember we talked about the poor widow and how she was a case study for the greatest commandment. She had nothing, but she gives everything because of her love and devotion for God. In fact, the text says in Mark 12, verses 43 and 44, truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box, for they all contributed

out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. What’s interesting in that phrase, everything she had, all that she had to live on, is that in the original language, it’s pretty close, pretty close to what Jesus says about Mary and her gift. She has done what she could, meaning she gave all that she had. Not exactly the same, but it’s pretty close. Both Mary and the poor widow, because of their love and devotion to Jesus, have given all they could to Him. Jesus sees this as beautiful because this is what love looks like. Beautiful generosity, radical and sacrificial love. What makes Mary’s actions so amazing is that she had no clue that Jesus would only in a few days go to the cross to be the Passover lamb, whose blood would be shed so that all

who believe in Jesus would find forgiveness of sins, would be covered by the blood of Jesus and escape judgment and death. Mary anoints Jesus’ body in a prophetic act of devotion to prepare Him for His burial. You have to remember, Jesus was betrayed, falsely accused, arrested, sentenced to death and died a criminal’s death, which means He would not receive a proper burial. Criminals didn’t get the proper Jewish burial, one that would include perfume for a decaying body. And so Mary, led by her deep devotion and moved by the sovereign hand of God, gives this proper burial perfume to Jesus, even before His death. And the reality is what’s crazy, Jesus would not need perfume for His dead body, because His body would never decay. But He uses it regardless, to point to the costly nature of His sacrifice. This is what makes this gift so lavish and so beautiful, that although it was not needed,

the Lord used the beauty of the perfume and the drama of the scene, the expensive nature of the act, to point to His life, His death and resurrection. And here’s the thing, He did it at a party that celebrated bringing someone back from death to life. Crazy. If you don’t see the beautiful handiwork of God here, I don’t know what else will. And what this means then, brothers and sisters, is that you never know how your gifts will be used by the mighty and sovereign hand of God, to be used for His greater purposes. Mary couldn’t know when she cracked that flask of perfume and poured it on His head and His feet. She didn’t know the significance of what she was doing, but God used it to showcase the beauty of the great cost of the gospel. This was never about perfume, or the value of perfume.

It was all about prophetically pointing to the death of Jesus. The lamb that was slain as a scapegoat of our sin. And I love how Jesus closes this verse. Verse 9, He says, And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. There you see Jesus divinely restores this woman’s dignity. The men in the room condemned her, but Jesus commends her. Not just in front of the men in the room, but throughout human history. Her act of devotion reverberates throughout human history. Her lavish acts of devotion are remembered wherever the gospel is proclaimed. Her extravagant gift and all that it represents is sealed. It’s canoned in the scriptures. It’s never taken out. Her gift, her lavish devotion will continue to point people to the value of Jesus. His worth, His goodness, His glory, and His gospel.

The perfume points us to this most glorious truth. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Costly is the death of our dear Jesus, who paid for the sins of humanity with His own life, because He loved us, because He lavished this great gift on us. This should compel you to radical acts of love and kindness and generosity, because as you love, you paint the picture of God’s glorious redeeming love that we have experienced. So brothers and sisters, let that burn in your hearts and in your souls as you go and love the people in this world. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we thank You for Your beautiful Word that draws our attention to our beautiful God. And I pray, oh Lord God, that these words would not just bounce off of our mind as if it’s insignificant, but I pray, oh Lord and God, that Your Word would move our hearts

emotionally. That Your Word would cause us to be passionate, not just data-driven. May we be agents, beautiful agents, of Your mysterious gospel, of Your wonderful gospel. May we be agents of Your love to a lost and dying world who so desperately need to know this Jesus, the Passover Lamb. Help us to be bold and beautiful and loving and truthful. We pray all of these things in Christ’s name, amen.