A Man Who Wrestled with God and Lost - Mark 14:1-11

7:30Moved him to the point of being that inside disciple to being that inside murderer and betrayer of Christ. And that is what I want to look at this morning. I want to look at these key on these verses 3 through 9 and what took place. Three things. First of all, I want you to see sacrificial love. I want you to see what sacrificial love looks like. Verse 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. Now, the setting of this goes back to the Saturday before. We're on Wednesday, as Jesus has just finished talking the Olivet discourse. They're on the mount. He's told them everything that's going to take place in the future. And then Mark, then Judas goes out and starts to conspire, figure out how to hand Jesus over. But then Mark, in verses 3 through 9, he takes us to a flashback the previous Saturday to explain what's going on in Judas' heart and that trigger event. He begins to tell the story about a dinner party that was given in Jesus' honor. It was while he was at Bethany at the home of Simon the leper. It's probably a former leper. Obviously, he wouldn't be having a dinner party if he was still an outcast, still had his leprosy, probably somebody healed by Christ. We know that there is at least, there would have been Jesus there, there would have been the 12 disciples, there would have been Lazarus, there was Mary and Martha, there was Simon the Leprez. There's quite a number of people there, but certainly by the time you get to the end of the feast or the end of the dinner party, news has gotten out that Jesus is there, and according to John's account, a crowd had gathered. What happened in that intimate setting that night is that while Jesus was reclining at the table, one of the most extravagant displays of love towards Christ in all of Scripture occurred. A woman appears, anoints Jesus with very costly perfume. And in Mark's gospel, she's unknown. And this is the way Mark presents her. He doesn't give her her name. John gives the name, it's Mary. But for Mark's purposes, she's unknown. He's not calling attention to the person, he's calling attention to the act. And that is what he is showcasing. The act of this nameless woman comes in. And it was a truly extravagant love. Truly, it was extravagant. It was self-sacrificing. It was a self-sacrificing love. And this is seen in a couple of things. Number one, it's seen in the public nature of this woman's act. It was a public act. Now, like I said, there would have been at least 15 men in the room, maybe more, and this didn't seem to discourage her. Her love and gratitude was not ashamed to go in and interrupt, break what would have been a custom to come in for any other purpose other than serving, and to come in and to take the spotlight would have been a break with custom, but she was not afraid to, or not ashamed, to express her love to Christ publicly. John tells us that the perfume was also poured out on his feet, on Jesus' feet, and that she wiped his feet with her hair, and that the whole house was filled with the fragrance of this perfume. And this is a very public event. Both the sight, the sound, and the smell. I mean, it was public. You came into that house, you knew something was happening. It was a very public display. In fact, the very next day, Jesus makes his way into Jerusalem on the little donkey, and guess what you could have smelled? That fragrant would have still been there. Self-sacrificing love is not afraid or not ashamed to express itself publicly. Question: Are you ashamed of Christ?

11:36Are you ashamed to be identified with him? If so, you do not have this kind of self-sacrificing love. In fact, you've got more of a self-exalting love. If you're ashamed of the person of Christ, your love is more characterized by that of Judas, that is self-exalting, than that of Mary, who is sacrificial love. But the second thing, her sacrificial love. Love is also seen in the cost of the perfume and what she did with it. There are two points of emphasis in verse 3: the value of the perfume and then what the woman did with it. It was very costly. Look at verse 3. It was very costly. It was pure nard. It's an undiluted amount of perfume. It's what you would use to maybe perfume something else. If you had some oils, you could drop a couple of drops in there and then give the oil its fragrance. I mean, this was the undiluted, pure stuff that was derived from the nard plant from India. Very expensive. In fact, they still use the nard plant for perfumes today. And Judas, and look in verse 5, he quickly assessed the value of it. 300 denarii, which was a year's wages. And that's according to our 2011 index, the National Average Wage Index by the Social Security Administration. That's nearly $43,000. What are the year's wages?

13:01That's a lot of money. I mean, if I came in and poured out something of a year's wages up in smoke like that, or if I had somebody over at my house for a dinner one night and then afterwards I shot off $40,000 worth of fireworks, you'd think, wow, that's a lot. Well, that's such is the amount here. The alabaster jar was most likely a marble flask with a long thin neck and it had a cork at the end. And that was the best kind of material for a story. Storing this precious perfume. Now, she didn't make this kind of money, so it was probably a family heirloom, or it was certainly passed down to her. It was probably one of her most precious treasures, probably something that she had inherited. So, there's an inherent value in the perfume, but the greater emphasis of part three is of verse three is what she did with this perfume. And just relive the action. Here's Jesus reclining at the table, probably having the meal is probably over, and they engaged in long conversation, and these were events. He's reclining. And then all of a sudden, a woman appears moving towards Jesus, holding this expensive vial of perfume in her hands, and then breaking the neck of the jar. And then she poured it out. And when you break the neck, you're not planning on saving any of it. You could probably have heard a gasp in the air. They knew what she had, probably a gasp, and then as she poured it out, there was probably a long period of silence and kind of one of those stunned disbeliefs, like, what am I seeing? type silence. I mean, what kind of heart would do this? What is being expressed here? Well, I can tell you, and Jesus knew it, and so do we. What kind of heart would go to this link? What kind of heart would make this kind of Public display and this kind of expression of love, one that is deeply grateful. One that is deeply grateful. I mean, he raised Lazarus from the dead. So just alone, she is deeply grateful, but also sincerely humble. Said the glory of the woman was her hair. She wiped his feet with it. Sincerely humble, deeply grateful, entirely devoted. This is a woman who held nothing back. And as you see, Mary in the Gospels, as she is presented, she is not out busy. She's at the feet of Jesus. And then in another episode, this one we have before us, she is again there before him, pouring out the most costly, costly treasure upon him. This is somebody who is deeply grateful, sincerely humble, entirely devoted, and loved wholeheartedly. And this is one of the most intense expressions of devotion found in Scripture. So this was the form of this woman's love to Christ. That was an expensive evening for her. But this is the beauty of pure devotion. This is what pure devotion looks like. You see, sacrificial love holds nothing back. Well, next, I want you to see the satanic displeasure, the satanic displeasure. Look at verse 4. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been. Sold for over 300 denarii, and the money given to the poor, and they were scolding her. They were scolding her. So, this satanic displeasure is first seen in the indignant conversation that was going on. So, the disapproval of this woman's outpouring of love was expressed very, very strongly. It's the same word, indignant, is the same word that Mark uses to describe Jesus' indignancy with the disciples for not letting the children come to him. Same term, very strong emotion. So, first, as they witnessed this, first the disapproval was expressed in sharp looks, probably frustrated grunts, like ugh, and then into harsh statements. Did you see that? Did you see what she did? Oh. And so it went around the room. And John tells us that this whole thing was led by Judas. John chapter 12, verse 4 reads like this. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples who was intending to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Now, he said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. And as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. So John makes it very clear that it is Judas that's leading the charge. And he has probably sounded very convincing as he started this. This was welled up in his heart, and he convinced the other disciples to get on board. Yeah, that's right. That is a bad waste. It's awful. But it's important to understand something about Judas. He was not merely just overcome by his own vices. Oh, he was. He was that. He was not just demon-possessed. He was Satan incarnate. This is the one who Satan keed upon. This was the insider. And it is important to look at what Judas did because in there you see the action, the mindset, and the game plan of Satan himself. You can see the heart personified. Well, verse 4 tells us that the cause of the indignation was this waste. Waste, the word for waste is complete destruction. Complete destruction of a valuable resource. Why this waste? Why did you totally waste this precious resource? That's the heart of Judas. Well, the implication is Jesus isn't worth all of this stuff poured upon him. That's the implication. Why would you pour all of this stuff upon Jesus, this expensive treasure? He's not worthy of it. And the bottom line is: what Judas is saying is, I wanted that money. I think I'm worthy of it. I wanted my hand in there. Don't give it to Jesus, give it to me. That's the heart of a satanic displeasure. He's not worthy of it. But he sure thought he was worthy of it, did he not? So, this satanic displeasure is seen in this indignant conversation that was taking place, but it is also seen in the need for a masquerade. You see, Satan's designs are hidden, so he doesn't say, Look, why didn't you put that in there so I could put my hand in the money pit and put it in my pocket? No, that wouldn't fly very well with the other 11 disciples. The other 11 disciples are probably very much content. Yeah, this should go to the poor. But see, Satan is an angel of light. He is a master of deception. And it's no wonder that Judas hides behind a noble cause. In fact, one of the most noble causes is the poor. The poor. All of a sudden, Judas is this incredible sympathizer with the poor, right? You see, the poor are often exploited and used to further someone else's agenda. That's often the case. And often it's those who champion their cause the most are the ones who are guilty of exploiting them the most. I love the salaries of the CEO of the American Red Cross. In 2008, she has an annual salary of $500,000 plus a signing bonus of $65,000. But the president and the CEO of the United Way, he currently makes over a million dollars a year. And that was in 2010. You know, if I'm going to be a champion for them for, there's a million reasons why. I might want to champion the cause. You can go through history and just look at the political engines and the revolutions, revolutionaries that have taken place, or the revolutions that have taken place, and those revolutionaries who capitalize on the plight of the poor to advance their own agenda. And what really happens is it's just one government, one regime taking over another regime and exploiting certain classes of people to get them there. Well, such was Judas. Such was Judas. He was there to champion the cause of the poor, and yet he was the one exploiting them the most. See, he didn't care about the poor, he was a thief and an embezzler. He was upset. What really got to him is that he was upset that he couldn't cash in on this expensive perfume. That's what really got his goat. And he just, he used the weapon, or he used the poor as a weapon to club this woman and to whip the others in a lather against her. Think about what he's talking about. How many could have benefited from this money that the poor could have had? Think of the poor. Oh, the poor, poor. Oh, think about him. Think about him. What a sinful waste this woman has done. And the others jumped on board. Well, the third thing, this satanic displeasure, is seen in the open scorn. The open scorn. Not only is it the indignant conversation that led to a masquerade, but it's also seen in the open scorn. Look at verse 5, the last phrase. And they were scolding her. They were scolding her. Literally, they rebuked her harshly, openly. They made her a public object of scorn. Very graphic, very public. So everywhere Mary looked around, or everywhere this woman looked around, she was met with harsh words and angry looks. But what's really striking about this is even among the closest of Jesus' followers, this kind of sacrificial devotion to Christ was too much to handle. Even among the closest followers of Christ, this kind of sacred devotion was too much for them to handle. You see, a little religion is a good thing, right? A lot of religion is a bad thing. You've heard that before. Oh, this is the world we live in. Yeah, you can love Jesus a little bit. That's a good thing. We're all comfortable with that. But man, when somebody really goes overboard and really loves Christ with their whole being, it is something to back away from. It's too much, even for the church, in many cases, even for Jesus' inner circle. It was too much. I had lunch this last week with a man who was telling me his testimony, how Jesus radically saved his life. And boy, it did. He did. He was saying he was involved in drugs and alcohol. He was married, and he was involved in things and even infidelity. And then he gets saved. He gets saved, and Jesus radically changes him. And then all of a sudden, his parents are very concerned about him. And his wife, he said, my wife could tolerate the infidelity more than she could tolerate my love and devotion to Christ. Happy ending is she got saved.

24:21But isn't that the way it is? A little bit of love for Christ is good, but don't you go too far with that, right? Serve him a little bit. Yeah, give him a little bit, but don't give him everything. Your phone will be ringing, and even oftentimes some of your closest loved ones will be discouraging you. You see, because the bottom line is this, this is what Satan cannot stand. He cannot stand sacrificial devotion to Christ. This is what he hates. It's that sacrificial devotion to Christ that he cannot stand because he wants that. This is what he hates, and this is what he seeks to destroy. Whether it is on an individual level or on a corporate level, he seeks to destroy intimate devotion and sacrificial devotion to Christ. And all the disagreement, all the things that he throws at the church, and all the things that he brings into your life to tempt, all that stuff is aimed at one thing, and that is to destroy a sacrificial devotion to Christ. This is what gets under his skin.

25:30Looked at sacrificial love, looked at the satanic displeasure. Now I want you to see a supreme rebuke. And it comes in several waves. In verse 6, Jesus comes to her defense. Look at that. But Jesus said, Let her alone. Let her alone. Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to me. Imperative command: you let her alone. I remember when I was a little, I may have told this story before, and as you get older, you tell the same stories over and over. That's okay. It's okay. But I remember my little brother, I was on my way home from school one day, and I stopped at a friend's house, and he had a little brother about the same age as my little brother. And we went into the house, and my friend just started beating up on his little brother and made him scream and yell. And I thought that was kind of funny. So I went home, I walked in the room, and there's my little brother. And he looks at me and says, Hi, Tom, how are you doing? And I went up there, just started beating up on my little brother. And then my dad, who hardly disciplined me, came in, and he had one of those big leather straps that you sharpen those old-fashioned razors with. And he wore me out like I have never been worn out in the history of my life, nor so ever will again. But you know what? That ended that. He said, You let him alone. You know what? I needed to let him alone. That was one of the, my little brother is one of the best friends I have in this world.

27:06And it's not right to treat him like that. And this is what Jesus is saying here. You let her alone. I mean, this is the best expression of sacrificial devotion. This is where I want all of you. It's what he's saying to his disciples. And this is where Mark wants all of us. This is where the Holy Spirit, this is his work in our life. This is where he wants to take us. You let her alone. You need to be like her. You see, their attack was a public, and Jesus' defense of her was public. And then he asked her a very probing question. Why do you bother her? He asked the disciples, why do you bother her? In other words, what is it that's going on in your heart that is causing you to trouble her like this? Let's put your heart on the table. What's going on? And look at verse 6 at the end of it. She has done a good deed to me. And the word for good deed is the same word for beautiful that adorned the temple, the beautiful stones. She has done a beautiful thing. So they think she has done a sinfully foolish thing, and Jesus is saying, no, she's done a sacrificially beautiful thing. So he comes to her defense. He comes to her defense and says, no, what she's done is not foolish at all. It's beautiful, and you need to understand that. And then in verse 7, he addresses their so-called concerns. Concern for the poor. Verse 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. In other words, Jesus is saying, Look, you're going to have plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to serve the poor. In fact, her act is not going to diminish your act or your capacity to love the poor. Her act is going to be completely independent of you being able to express your love for the poor all the days of your life. He says, but you're not going to have me with you forever. I'm here for a short time. But you're going to always have them. So don't worry about the poor. In fact, it's interesting that Jesus doesn't even allow the highest social good to be a means to prevent lavish expressions of love and devotion to Christ. In other words, you can't use the poor to clubber. It's no excuse for your indignation. And he said, you know, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He just said that in Mark 12, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But he clearly elevates himself as the one to be loved first. And in succeeding generations, he has already told his disciples that your expression of love to others will be your expression of love to me. But he doesn't even let the great social cause of the poor to be a whip or to discourage or to prevent lavish expressions of love and devotion to Christ. Then he goes on to explain. Why her act was a beautiful thing. Look at verse 8. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burial. The first reason it was beautiful is because she has done what she could. Literally, in the Greek, it's written like this: What she could do, she has done. What she could do, she has done. And this is beautiful. Everything she had at her disposal, she used to exalt Christ. That's a beautiful thing, is it not? This is why Mark doesn't really put a name on her, he's talking to us. This is a beautiful thing. What you could do, you did. May that be the testimony of your life. As you stand before God in presence and the angels, and in eternity come, may it be said of you, what he could do, he did. That's a beautiful thing. It was an expensive night for Mary that one moment. But her act was beautiful because it gave Christ priority and it gave Christ totality. You see, most of us go through life giving God little droplets of our lives, do we not? A little devotion to Christ is good, but not too much. Not too much. For many churches, it is just a box to check. A little devotion to Christ may manifest it. You read your Bible, check the box. Pray, check the box. Listen, brothers and sisters, don't let this be you. Don't let this be your life. What you can do, do. It's a beautiful thing. And that is the only response to Christ, who has redeemed your life. But the second reason her act was beautiful is: she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial. You see, Mary seems to have picked up what the disciples kept missing. He kept telling them what was going to happen. She knew he was going to die. He had stated it so many times. In fact, she probably knew that her brother's life, Lazarus, was in danger because someone had Lazarus dead because Jesus had raised him from the dead. And they hated Jesus so much that they wanted to kill Lazarus because Lazarus was causing many people to go to Jesus. And so she knew that his life was in danger or was sure to be killed. And what's interesting, in that day and age, they didn't embalm the dead. And what they would use, fragrant perfumes, were used to anoint the dead body, along with myrrh and aloes, were put into the burial cloths. And these all had the effect of masking the smell of decomposition. And if you walk through the rest of the book of Mark, in the chaos of the crucifixion and in the hasty effort to put him in the grave before the Sabbath, his body wasn't properly anointed. And then you go to Mark 16 and just read 16, 1, when the Sabbath was over. So they didn't get him properly anointed before they laid him in the tomb. And then after the Sabbath, or when the Sabbath was over, Mary and another Mary and James and Salome brought spices so that they might come and anoint him. They were going to anoint the body then, but the resurrection prevented that from happening. And so it's safe to conclude that this was the only anointing that Jesus' body received for his burial. Of course, Mary didn't know this. Her act was simply an expression of gratefulness, love, and sacrificial devotion to her master. And that's all she had to, just an expression of love. What she could do, she did. And this is the lasting legacy of this woman. And Jesus holds her up as a lasting memory, as an eternal monument. So in verse 9, Jesus seals his supreme rebuke of her opponents by establishing her as an eternal monument of sacrificial love. Look at verse 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. There's three things about this eternal monument. He holds her up forever. Here is the eternal monument of sacrificial love. It's longevity. Look at it. Whenever the gospel is upon the law, Gospel is preached. Her act is forever part of the gospel itself. The good news. Its extent. Look at the extent. The whole world. I mean, here we are talking about the gospel today, and we're talking about her. Its content is exactly what the woman has done. Its longevity is whenever it's preached, extent to the whole world, and its content is what this woman has done. You see, what Judas wanted is he wanted a name for himself. He wanted a kingdom according to his own passions, and he wanted a king who was going to usher in his kingdom. That's a pagan conception of a king. But this woman, unnamed in Mark, just loved Jesus. And she made a name for herself by her sacrificial commitment to Jesus. She made what Judas wanted, but she wasn't seeking fame, but that's what she got. And the irony is that those who love Jesus like this are not really interested in making a name for themselves. It's all about him. As Mark is showing us what Jesus wants in his disciples, if you'll remember at the end of chapter 12, there was this widow, another woman, who put in two pennies, and Jesus held her up as an example. And then here's this woman that he also holds up as an example. You see, the widow's pennies tell us that no gift is meaningless, even if it's insignificant by the world standards. No gift is meaningless. And this woman with the alabaster jar teaches us that no devotion to Christ is wasteful, no matter how extravagant, no matter how extravagant. It's not wasted if it is poured out for him. Well, this is what the church needs today. This is what he redeemed. It's a body who would pour themselves out. Pour themselves out. What they could do, they did. May that be said of us. Well, there's two eternal monuments here: there's the woman, which is humanity at its best. And then there is Judas, another eternal monument, humanity at its worst. Because in reality, he was the wasteful one. Three years with Christ, the most privileged one. I mean, he had a greater privilege than almost everybody that's ever lived. 30 pieces of silver. Now, that's wasteful. Well, this act of sacrificial love was too much for Judas. Then Judas Iscariot, verse 10, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 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. You see, just as Cain despised God's favor on Abram's offering and then went out with murderous intent upon Abel, so Judas despised Christ's favor upon this woman's offering, and he left with murder in his heart. See what Judas was. Wanted was to bring was for Jesus to bring in a kingdom pattern for Judas. What about you? Where are you with God? You see, Judas had ambitions that he wanted Jesus to serve. Jesus, I've got this, this, this, and this I want done, and I want you to do it. You see, self-ambition is more satanic than you realize. Pay attention. Watch out what's going on in your own heart. See, Judas wanted a name for himself and all the honor and wealth that went with it. What about you? I got a news flash for you. God's plan isn't to bring in your kingdom. And we all have to come to this crossroads in life. Judas, when he discovered that it wasn't going to be about him, he found himself at the crossroads of eternity. And some of you are very much at that very same crossroads in life right now. Will you follow the pattern of self-sacrificing devotion to Christ, or will you follow the pattern of self-exalting rebellion of the devil? Which way? Is it going to be brokenness and submission, or anger and retaliation? We come to the most important part. And I'm going to say this very quickly, but if I left you right here, I would leave you with something that there is no way you could fulfill. If I left you today with saying, go out and love Christ like this, there's no way. That's a burden that you cannot bear. So how does one love Christ like this? How does he? How do you and I get that kind of love? Well, the answer is very clear. Clear. You gaze upon the one who sacrificially loves you. You gaze upon the one and his sacrificial love for his people. You see, you cannot love God unless you first know that you are loved like this. You cannot sacrificially devote yourself to God unless you first understand that he is sacrificially devoted to you. In fact, I invite you all back tonight because we're going to be celebrating the Lord's table tonight. But here's the picture.

39:29The Lord institutes the supper the very next night after Judas has gone out to get him betrayed. And he takes the bread and he breaks it. And then he says, This is my body. And then he says, This is the blood which is poured out for you. And Mark is making a connection. You see the sacrificial devotion and love that Christ has for his people. You cannot possibly love him until you know that he was broken and he poured out something far more precious for you than you could ever pour out to him in return. Gaze upon that, believe upon that, and it will transform you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this beautiful display of sacrificial love. And, Father, as we work our way through this passage, we can't help but also be warned and be frightened, Lord, of this great apostasy. And how close and how near one can be to you, or at least on the outside, and yet be eternally forever separated. Father, we pray that it is not us. God, I pray for those here who are at that crossroads and they're struggling, Lord, which way to go? Are they going to go the path of brokenness and submission or going the path of trying to redefine you and rebel against you? Father, I just pray that this beautiful picture of this sacrificial love, Lord, will permeate our being. God, that we would first see what you have done for us and that your love is for us so that we can respond in kind by the power of your Spirit. Father, transform us and raise up in this church, in this church around the globe, men and women who will do what they can out of a selfless devotion to you. In Jesus' name, amen.