Love The Lord Series

Note: There will not be any sermon notes posted next week on Sermon Central. -JED

Journey With Jesus: Love The Lord

Mark 14:1-9

Introduction

What is the most expensive perfume per oz in the world? The ingredients impact high cost of a perfume. Natural and rare ingredients, such as the musk from certain animals or specific flower oils, can be very expensive to obtain and process. For instance, Joy by Jean Patou is costly because it requires 28 dozen roses and 10,600 jasmine flowers to produce a single bottle, reflecting the labor and resources involved. Sometimes the bottle is the source of the cost. DKNY has a million dollar bottle of their fragrance Golden Delicious with a variety of precious stones including a 2.43-carat yellow Canary diamond and a 7.18-carat oval sapphire. The most expensive perfume by the ounce is Clive Christian No. 1 Imperial Majesty Perfume – $12,721.89 per ounce. (Do you feel poor now?). Perfume plays an important role in our text today.

In our journey with Jesus we have studied…

The foundation of the disciple’s life, the Beatitudes.

The source of authority, Jesus is Lord.

The divine help we receive, the Holy Spirit.

The life of service in imitation of Jesus.

Today, we seek to grow in our love for the Lord.

In our text Jesus is facing some difficult days.

-There are religious leaders who are plotting for his death.

-He has to deal face-to-face with his critics and enemies.

In between these, Mark tells of Jesus going to Simon the leper’s house. Read Text.

Mark 14:1-9, NIV

Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.

2 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?

5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.

8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.

9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Mark allows the woman to remain anonymous. John tells us that it is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus (John 12). Perhaps Simon was their father? Hughes wonders what the conversation was at the table. “Lazarus, what did you see on the other side?” Sanders: The context of the action highlights the joy and comfort it must have brought to the Lord when the shadow of the cross loomed so near.” Barclay: The poignancy of this story lies in the fact that it tells us of almost the last kindness that Jesus had done to him.

Reactions! The reaction of those present

Akin: The disciples not only demeaned the woman; they also demeaned Jesus. To honor Christ in this manner, they said, was a waste. Judas raised the complaint about the money spent. He was the treasurer of the Apostles. They didn’t just feel this way - they scolded her. Note that all the men in the room were appalled and rejecting of Mary’s act. Except one.

What Jesus Thought About Mary’s Gift …

1. Beautiful. “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” (14:6)

Barclay: It was the custom to pour a few drops of perfume on a guest when he arrived at a house or when he sat down to a meal … She broke the flask and anointed him with the whole contents! He was a ware of her loving motive. Hughes: “Love makes our gifts pleasing to God.”

Hughes: Those things done from simple, real love for Christ become his treasure. … Those things without it are futile. Mary’s beautiful gift came from a beautiful heart.

Akin: Nard was a sweet-smelling perfume from a rare plant found only in India. Swindoll notes that Mark goes out of his way to explain how expensive the perfume was. This concentrated oil could have been diluted to make many other perfumed products, but it was pure. John tells us that a powerful and beautiful fragrance filled the room so that everybody could smell it.