A Living Witness

John 12:1-11 (NKJV)

A LIVING WITNESS

October 1, 2023

The Family (v.2 but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table)

Martha – Still serving, but now with a spirit of worship! Mary – Still at His feet, but now she is also working! Lazarus – Still with his family, but now alive and sitting at dinner with Jesus. He was alive and well! It is important that we find him eating because it proves that he was not a ghost. His resurrection was a witness to those who did not believe in the resurrection. The primary distinction between Pharisees and Sadducees was their disagreement about the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife. Pharisees believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees did not. The Pharisees believed in a realm of spirit and angels. The Sadducees did not. Every time a Sadducee looked at Lazarus the error in his doctrine was made public. Because Lazarus was called from death to life he now stood as a living witness to the resurrection. And when Jesus called him, it was a very personal call. That call was for no one else, but it was for Lazarus alone. The Gospel call is not a general call to all men! It is a call to individuals from a Holy God. I know that "whosoever will" may be saved, Romans 10:13. I know that God’s "will is to have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth", 1 Timothy 2:4. However, I also know that the call of the Lord is an intensely personal call! When He comes calling for you, He will come to you as an individual. He won't get permission from your parents, spouse or children. When He calls you He calls you by name – Some say, if Jesus did not say “Lazarus” when He said “Come Forth,” then All Dead Men would have risen from their graves, but I submit that the call of God is so personal that only he who the call is directed will hear it. Lazarus was a common name of that day and only Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha was raised from the dead! And because Lazarus got up from the tomb we learn that not only does Jesus have life giving, resurrection power, but He is The Resurrection and The Life!

The Fragrance (v.3 And the house was filled with the fragrance of oil)

Mary appears center stage three times in the Gospel record. Every time she shows up, she is doing the same thing: she is found at the feet of Jesus. The first time she appears it is at her own home. While Martha is working, Mary is sitting at His feet listening to Him teach, Luke 10:38-42. The next time we meet her is at the tomb of Lazarus. When she is told that “the Teacher has come and is calling for you,” she runs to Jesus and bows at His feet in supplication, John 11:28-32. The last time we see her is here, in our text. She offers her worship to Him because of what He means to her. The first time we see her in Luke 10, she is sitting at His feet as one Learning. She wants to hear His Word. The next time we meet her, in John 11, she is at His feet as one Leaning. She wants to experience His Works. Here, she is at His feet as one Loving. She wants to declare His Worth. Her actions in the text are extravagant! True love does not count the cost, and Mary took the most valuable thing she had and spent it all on Jesus. Her actions teach us of love’s humility as she is on her knees and anointing his feet with oil. There is a sense in the text that she is unconcerned about who is watching! We read that Mary wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair. Now we might think that was an odd thing to do, wouldn’t it have been better to have wiped his feet with her hands or a cloth? But it was more than an odd thing to do, because in Palestine no respectable woman would appear in public with her hair unbound –at that time loose hair meant a loose woman! But Mary didn’t think about that, she was in a world of her own with Jesus beside her and didn’t care what people thought! The bible says that "… the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." There is an image here which is so descriptive of the actions of love, because there is a sense in which an act of selfless love is not contained within space and time – it radiates out and affects other people, is sensed in the same way as a sweet fragrance. 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” Now Judas starts complaining that her worship is wasteful and what was used on the feet of Jesus could have been sold and the money given to the poor! So, in Matthew 26 Jesus said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. 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. 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.” Furthermore, the bible says that Judas was not concerned about the poor he was just concerned about the money because he was a thief and from time to time would steal from the money box! Ain’t it crazy how the loudest voice for money being wasted on worship was a thief himself. Why would Jesus give the responsibility of the money box to Judas? Jesus knew that Judas was a thief; Jesus knew that Judas going to betray Him. Family I have learned in my 40 years of ministry that just because they have a title or a position of authority in the Church, it doesn’t mean their morals match their ministry. I have seen men come down from the pulpit after preaching the oracles of God and then say some of the most immoral words in closed chambers. I could not believe that the same mouth of blessings was full of curses. Judas was making a valid concern about wasting money, but it was coming from the mouth of a thief. But because the fragrance of her sacrifice filled the room, his negativity did not change the sweetness of worship!