Pastor David M. Wilson
Grant Avenue Baptist Church
Redondo Beach, CA 90278
COMMENTS WELCOME
(310) 376-7890
abimilech@ca.rr.com
John 12:1-10
Introduction:
Did you ever notice that some stories appear in the Bible more than once and sometimes with different details? For example, if we were to compare today’s text with a similar story in Luke 7 we might come to believe that these two events were really the same event just told from the viewpoint of different witnesses.
I believe that the anointing of Christ described in this chapter is a distinct and separate event from the anointing that occurs in Luke 7. One of the reasons why I feel this way is because of the setting. In Luke 7 the event occurs in the house of a Pharisee named Simon, who Mark describes in his gospel as having been a leper. In this instance, we have Christ apparently in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The similarities are there.
I believe that Jesus was anointed by Mary Magdelene, in the home of Simon. Then I believe that Jesus was also anointed by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, in our text this morning.
Why would there be two such strikingly similar events recorded? What happened in Jerusalem, in the early church, when Joseph, the Levite (also called Barnabas) sold his land (Acts 4:36-37) and brought the money to the apostles? Others began to follow their example. This led to the sin of Ananias and Saphirra described in Acts 5, still we know that others followed the sacrificial example.
There is always someone watching you. You can provide a positive example or a negative example. You can count on others following you, whether you are popular or unpopular, cool or uncool, spiritual or unspiritual.
The Sunday morning I got saved it took everything I had to come forward and confess that I had faked my way through the Christian life. After I did, one of the most popular young adults in the church took to the floor and came forward to rededicate his life. He was older than I was, cooler than I was, smoother than I was—you name it—I thought he had it made. But he came forward and said, “If David can come forward and confess that he needs to be saved I can come forward and confess that I need to rededicate my life to the Lord.” Who would have thought Marlon Griffin was watching me? Who would have thought I would lead him in the right direction? Sometimes the very people that you think are not watching you are simply waiting for you to move in the right direction.
I believe Mary, Martha’s sister, was aware of Christ’s positive response to the sinful Mary Magdalene anointing of him in the house of Simon, a neighbor. She either saw or heard about this loving action and decided that she needed to do something very similar.
Let’s move forward and look at the text.
VERSES 1-2 Dinner at the Lazarus Home!
Here we have another incident of Martha serving dinner. This time, there the Lord, the twelve disciples, and her siblings present at the very least. However, in contrast with the story found in Luke 10, where she complained about having to do all the work, now she is serving without too much concern. Her service hadn’t come to a stop, but her attitude about the service of others had changed.
Martha was using her gift. She was a confident hostess and that was important. No longer was she focused on how others were or were not working, but now she is simply focused on using her gift to bring blessing to the Lord.
VERSE 3 The anointing!
Mary took the expensive ointment and in an act of true humility, poured all of it out on the feet of Jesus. She gave it all. It would never go back into that bottle. She then wiped his feet with her hair.
An important point should be made here about giving of our best to the Lord. Far too often we give the leftovers, or what we can spare. That is not sacrifice. It is only when we give up that which is near and dear to us that we have given in a sacrificial manner.
John makes an important point that the smell of the perfume filled the house. This is interesting because of a Jewish proverb. The Proverb says, “The scent of a perfume fills the house from the bed chamber to the dining hall, while a good name is spread from one end of the world to the other.” In other words, it is one thing to smell good, but it is a whole lot better to be known of for your righteousness.
Mary’s actions were meant to bless Christ, but here we are two thousand years later discussing her sacrificial actions.
I’m not saying we need to be some type of spiritual copycats. However, sometimes you will see others do something righteous and the Lord will push you that direction as well.
Paul encouraged others to follow his examples and to continue in his teachings. We need to understand that there are times we need to follow examples and times we need to set examples.
VERSES 4-6 The critic!
Judas criticized the woman harshly. He publicly chastised her for an action that he perceived as wasteful, though John points out strong that wasn’t his real concern.
Don’t you think right about that moment, as Judas spoke, Mary wanted to simply shrivel up in embarrassment? I imagine Judas’ words made her feel about an inch tall. She had attempted to do something that would show love and be a blessing and she had taken a huge chance by acting in a way that could bring great embarrassment to herself. (Jewish women did not let their hair down in public)
Judas mouths off and criticizes her, but John is quick to point out that he was not criticizing her from a position of righteousness or even true concern from the poor, but his criticism was instead based on his own selfishness.
John elaborates on Judas’ character as well. I wonder why John waited until he wrote his gospel before telling about Judas’ embezzlement from the groups funds. Perhaps it was something he learned after the crucifixion when he and the other disciples began to discuss the death of Judas.
LIFE LESSON # 1 : Before you criticize someone’s act of worship or sacrifice you need to search your heart and see if your criticism is based on valid spiritual principles or is it based on your own selfish desires. Does your criticism promote and protect the kingdom of God or does it promote and protect your own little kingdom.
LIFE LESSON # 2: You can count on others around you to respond with some form of criticism when you act in righteousness. Jesus healed people and the Pharisees still criticized him. How can we expect to act in righteousness and not have people oppose us?
LIFE LESSON # 3: It is not our place to criticize someone else’ sacrifice. It is their sacrifice and not ours.
Don’t be shocked when unrighteous people oppose you when you are going the direction that God has called you to go? It happened to the early church and it happens to the church in the world today. It happened to individual believers who had specific life missions and it happens to individual believers today.
LIFE LESSON # 4 The desire for more money can be an addiction to some people. It becomes the driving factor in their lives and leads them to look at everything in light of its monetary cost. It drives them to attempt to obtain money in ways that are not proper. The first step towards being a thief, like Judas, is to have a wrong attitude towards money.
VERSES 7-8 Christ defends Mary!
Christ tells his disciples to leave her alone. He declares that she had anointed him for his burial. This was something even Mary did not know. However, after the crucifixion, Jesus is immediately pulled down from the cross and buried promptly without being anointed with any of the oils or perfumes that usually accompanied a burial.
Mary did not know why she was motivated to sacrifice this jar of perfume. She acted out of love and God used it.
To use a silly illustration—let me just say men are CLUELESS! They don’t understand why women want to talk out problems they cannot fix. They don’t comprehend the reasons why women want to be held and cuddled. They don’t begin to understand why women like flowers. But when they become good listeners they bless their wives. When they present flowers they thrill their wives! When they cuddle and hold their wives they meet needs.
There are times that you will be motivated to do something for God and you do not know why. Just act in accordance with God’s leading and you will be blessed.
I had a counseling session with a man and it began with him complaining about his wife. This went on about five minutes and suddenly I felt led to ask him a simple question, “Have you ever received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?” When he indicated that he had not I asked him if I could share the plan of salvation from the Bible. He allowed me to do so and in the next five minutes, with tears of joy streaming down his face he had prayed and received Christ. Now, he didn’t want to talk about his wife’s shortcomings. Instead, he was ready to begin to overcome his own personality flaws and character quirks. Look at the blessing I received. I was able to help this couple salvage their marriage and bring a new child into God’s kingdom, simply because I followed the leadership of the Lord.
VERSES 9-10 Let’s get rid of the evidence!
The Pharisees decide that they not only want to kill Jesus, but that they want to get ride of Lazarus as well.
We can almost create a top-ten list of the stupidity of the Pharisees and religious leaders:
1) Remember how they said “No prophet comes from Galilee” yet we found that some of the Old Testament prophets came from Galilee, and that there were prophecies regarding the Messiah coming from Galilee.
2) Remember how they brought the woman caught in adultery, but ignored the Law of Moses regarding the need to bring both the man and the woman.
Okay… well, I think their plan to kill Lazarus tops the list of stupidity. How did they expect him to stay dead? He’d already died once. Can you imagine the foolishness of this? This also shows the evil intents of their hearts, they not only want to silence Jesus, they want to get rid of the evidence of his power and might.
People who don’t love God are always seeking to ignore the evidence of God. (See Romans 1). They ignore his Creative Power, his righteous laws, and the work of his Son, Jesus Christ. If they can’t ignore it, they will do everything they can to bury it.
The Jewish leaders told Peter and John after they healed the man at the gate of the temple that they were no longer to preach in the name of Christ. They wanted to silence the church.
The liberal left has sought to silence the church on issues of morality for years. Some churches in Iowa even received anonymous letters warning that they endangered their tax exempt status if they spoke out on political issues or candidates. I don’t believe ministers ought to be political. I believe we are called to preach Biblical morality. I believe we are well within the bounds of the Constitution and the tax exempt code to publicly point out immorality in public officials. John the Baptist condemned the immorality of King Herod and it eventually cost him his head.
