Mary's Alabaster Box

Mary’s Alabaster Jar

John 12:1-8

Good Morning Everyone /Glad that you joined us this morning. Welcome online friends

Would you turn to John 12 and as you are doing that would you bow your head for prayer as we ask the Lord for His presence and guidance into His Word?

Prayer-

John 12:1-8 Read from Bible

So let me set this up for us -

Jesus is arriving in the town of Bethany the week before His Triumphant entry in Jerusalem.

He is going to a home of Simon the leaper, where Mary, Martha and Lazarus are preparing for a banquet.

These 3 are siblings- 2 sisters and a brother.

You remember Lazarus- Jesus had recently raised him from the dead- don’t be too quick to race over that- it was a big thing! That does not happen everyday.

People are watching a man they saw dead now walking around.

People will be at the banquet just to see the man that Jesus has raised from the dead.

You remember Martha- she is always the one serving- she was serving while her brother Lazarus was dead in the tomb and you remember she got mad at her sisterMary for not helping her serve. Servers serve and she wanted her sister Mary to serve.

Mary was the one who seems to be always at Jesus feet- she was at his feet when Martha had a breakdown and Jesus had to remind Martha that it was okay for Mary to be at the feet of Jesus.

They were at this dinner in honor of Jesus- Lazarus is at the table as a special guest.

Ever plan a party?

There is always something that is forgotten.

There is always something that goes wrong.

Something always happens that you don’t expect.

Like I tell couples as they prepare to be married.

Do not plan to have a perfect wedding because something will go wrong-

The flower girl will have a fit and not want to come down the aisle.

Someone will stumble / some may even faint.

Someone show up late or drop something at a critical time when it is quiet.

One time for me while doing a wedding, the groom to be was passing me the secrete rings I dropped one. I fumbled the handoff. He calmly bent down and handed them to me and we moved on.

I have had only one Bridezilla in my years of ministry.

Why won’t it be perfect? Because you have to figure Murphy’s law-

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” Did you know that the original Murphy’s law was “If there are two or more ways to do something, an one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it”

How dare Mary show Jesus the guest of honor some love and honor for raising her brother from the dead! Somebody is going to meltdown!

(3) “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

You have to pause a minute there - that is not normal- that is not normal in many ways-

Mary poured a pint of expensive perfume on Jesus feet- John records a pint of pure nard-

What is nard, exactly? It is a perfume, an essential oil if you will, that is made from the roots of the spikenard plant.

Amazon sells replicas of it for about 30.00.

Matthew and Mark record the event and don’t use Mary’s name but say a women with an alabaster jar.

Matthew and Mark tell us cost of the perfume. They say it is a year’s wages. 300 Denari.

Remember the boss who owned a vineyard and wanted to pay people to help him and he brought people in for (1) Denari a day and so many got upset that he would dare pay them the same as some who only worked awhile. This perfume was worth 300 times that much.

It was in an Alabaster jar which had great value-

Was it something that passed down to her?

Was it something that she had saved for?

Was it something that she worked for?

Was it a great sentimental gift from someone she loved very much?

We are not told that- I believe because the Lord wants to show us that we must be willing to pour out and give the Lord our best with a willing and grateful heart.

Matthew and Mark record Mary’s act of devotion and Luke 7 records a similar event with another women falling down at Jesus feet to wash them and using her hair to wipe his feet. Don’t rush by this act of devotion and love for Jesus.