1. Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were
seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;
2. for they were saying, "Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people."
timeline alert
this is taking place on wednesday. two days before good friday
so we're getting super close.
a short summary of the 'religious leaders' vs jesus
they've had it.
- he disproves their theology
- he threatens their position
- he attacks their motives
they tried:
- badmouthing (spreading rumors that satan was behind his powers)
- letting him say something bad publicly
they're out of options.
but they still have power.
so...they're going to kill him.
note what that says about people who have 'found god'
do you think that they felt that they were evil?
or, did they think that they were angry, and believed (at least partially) that they were protecting something?
ugly religious zealotry: anger and hate is cloaked in righteousness.
so...the end is that they take the practical solution. they resolve to kill jesus, as soon as they can.
they say they want to wait till the passover festival is over, as there will be a lot less people around.
(at passover, jews came from all over the place to jerusalem. guesses are between 180,000 and 3,000,000 extra people.)
as it turns out, they end up doing it during the festival anyway.
this may be a bit of a factor in why the name of christ and his death/resurrection spread so quickly...
3. While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with
an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.
4. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, "Why has this perfume been wasted?
5. "For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor."
And they were scolding her.
6. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me.
7. "For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.
8. "She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.
9. "Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also
be spoken of in memory of her."
3. While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with
an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard;
the place...simon the lepers house.
we don't know who he was, but its possible that he was a leper who was healed by christ.
lepers were outcasts, sent away...probably not going to have homes in the city.
the woman who annoints jesus? mary, the sister of lazarus and martha.
john 12 identifies her by name; you might remember her as one who loved jesus dearly, and who sat at his feet while he taught.
she seems to be from a wealthy family - lazarus had a nice tomb, there was a crowd at his funeral, and she's got some crazy
expensive perfume.
anyway, she comes and pours some perfume on jesus head (mark) and feet (matthew/john), annointing him.
john adds details about her annointing his feet, and wiping them with her hair.
the whole event is one of service to christ.
granted, if any of you dumped perfume on a dinner guest, i doubt anyone would feel honored.
this was more culturally accepted. also, perfume wasn't sheer chemical terror then; it was probably
much milder, as it hadn't been extracted by wonders of chemistry and science.
nard. what is this stuff.
3. an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard;
spikenard was an expensive perfume. it was often mixed into other stuff...but this was supposedly the pure deal.
it's a flower that grows in the himalayas; if you crush the rhizome (root), you get an intensel aromatic oil.
basically, this stuff came from the far border of the next empire over, the parthian empire (iranian).
the cost for this bottle was given as 300 denarius, which was equivalent to 1 years wages.
4. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, "Why has this perfume been wasted?
5. "For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor."
And they were scolding her.
6. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me.
7. "For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.
8. "She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.
money...a huff
the disciples go all practical at this point, and freak about the expense.
matthew says "the disciples" were freaking out.
john specifically identifies judas as freaking out, as he was the treasurer and wanted some of the money (he was thieving).
"ahh, this could have been given to the poor."
now...give them some slack.
were there poor? yes.
legitimately poor people, who needed money. there wasn't welfare, public housing, food stamps, medicare, or any of that.
john has a special call out on judas
judas, the treasury guy, planned to take some of the cash apparently.
don't think jesus didn't know that the guy he had in charge of the money was a crook.
calibrate that in your wisdom with money formula...
"the poor you always have with you"
jesus quotes moses... deut 15, the chapter all about forgiving debts every 7th year.
deut 15:7-11
7 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD
your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;
8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need
in whatever he lacks.
9 “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission,
is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry
to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.
10 “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because
for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.
11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall
freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’
what does he mean by quoting this?
deut 15 is talking about a specific part of caring for the poor.
it makes the point that the poor are will always be a part of society.
jesus is saying that the occassion of his death is unique;
whereas the poor are always a need, this is more important because he is being annointed for his
burial, which is a one time affair
unsaid is that this is more important because it is the central event of human history.
v9"Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her."
the reward for mary's gift? enduring honor.
her action is significant enough to be memorable.
as it turns out, so was the disciples hating (or at least some of them, judas specifically).
"for all time guys, people are going to remember how awesome mary was and how lame you were."
principles of this section on his annointing
money can be turned into acceptable worship to god
this is a great principle of the bible.
money, something that of itself has no spiritual/eternal value, can be converted to eternal goodness.
the widows mite showed this; the perfume shows this.
what do they have in common?
the intent to worship god with the gift.
this is also true in 2 cor, with the gift to the poor in jerusalem, and throughout the bible.
if you are most interested in eternal good, this is great news.
worship of god is first. more important even than caring for mankind.
a years wages were better spent here honoring christ than on feeding the poor.
we serve god, not man.
what is the most important commandment? love the lord your god with all
the other commands and beliefs come from this.
we should have compassion on the sick, the orphan and widow, and those who need help.
however, we do this because we love and serve god.
&nbps;
if this sounds weird to you, you might attempt to answer why it would matter if god hadn't said it mattered.
you can see this type of priority reflected against our own personal values as well -
mat 16:26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?"
at least in some cases, expense might be justified.
caveats galore...this was explicitly linked to the temporary presence of jesus, a condition that you won't exactly find a bunch.
i think you can find similar principles in other places, but i don't wnat to go too topical on this currently.
but, at minimum, when you see expensive church buildings, remember this story and tone down your precious outrage.
you don't have to be into it, but you better not be huffy.
side note...women again come out looking better than the dudes.
you know me...i believe that there are different roles prescribed for men and women in the church and in marriage.
i don't think they were just for those primitive times or anything. so, to some people, that makes me a giant sexist.
whatever. i do think it should be noted just how frequently the gospels make the women look awesomer than the guys.
but...the real point? jesus is ging to die.
jesus' death is coming. again.
it's been predicted for us repeatedly, and we can see that the whole book is moving towards this goal.
this event heightens the anticipation, as christ is now being physically prepared for his death.
though this is obvious to us reading the book, for those living the events mark is showing us that it wasn't clear.
10. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them.
11. They were glad when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.
why did they need judas?
well, we don't really know.
but it's fair to say that having a guy on the inside to say where he was when he wasn't surrounded by a crowd would be handy.
it's also fair that someones reputation would be more recognizable than their image, as they didn't have cameras. or the internet.
after v11, we have a specific plan to kill jesus.
the clock is ticking here - we are moving to easter.
we are going to spend the next 3 weeks in mark 14.
on good friday we are going to read mark 15, the record of the crucifixion.
on easter, we will have our usual easter service, centered on the resurrection of christ and the rest of mark.