Scripture Introduction
We believe that God’s people need God’s word rightly applied in order to grow in faith and love and every grace. Thus the pastor has the two-fold task of exegesis and exposition. Exegesis is pulling God’s meaning out of a Bible text; exposition is explaining that divine meaning.
In churches like ours, which greatly value Biblical preaching, we determine which text to study in one of two ways. One method we used over the last twelve weeks. We took a topic (in this case, the church empowered by the Holy Spirit), and studied various texts which explain or apply that one theme. That is a topical series. The other way is to progress through a book of the Bible, each week taking the next section, seriatim (one after another). Between January 6 and May 18 of this year, we moved verse by verse from the seventh chapter of John through the end of the eleventh chapter. Today we resume that method.
Chapter 11 was a convenient place to pause because it ends the first major section of this book, that of Jesus’ public ministry. Beginning in chapter 13, Jesus’ teaches his chosen disciples exclusively. Chapter 12 serves as a transition—it moves us from the public teaching to private, from miracles and signs to the passion and great sign, the resurrection.
Those who study John’s Gospel soon discover the importance of “living parables,” events that really happened, which also taught greater theological truths. Jesus changed water into wine to prove to us that God’s grace is an intoxicating truth, a hilarious and happy mercy. He healed the lame so that you would trust him to heal your sin-sick soul. He multiplied bread and fish from a boy’s lunch into a feast for thousands so we would come to him for spiritual food and nourishment. The miracles proved the deity of Christ, certainly; additionally, they were signs pointing to the nature of God and of his good news of grace.
Today’s text is a living parable, though a different kind. Instead of performing the story, Jesus receives an act of devotion which points us to and prepares us for the culmination of his ministry—the cross. [Read John 12.1-11. Pray.]
Introduction
A recent article in the New York Times commented on the fantastic wealth concentrated in certain parts of the country. In Palo Alto, California, the median home price is, apparently, well over $2,000,000 and the article specifically mentioned a 850 square foot house which recently sold for more than one million dollars. Wow.
The article interviewed a young man who lived in Palo Alto. He said “You know, out here, with ten million dollars you’re nothing.” Ten million dollars and you are nothing. I wonder how much money that young man thought it took to “make him something.”
Pastor John Ortberg recently published a book entitled, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box. When he was a kid he always lost to his grandmother at Monopoly. She was ruthless and John says that every game ended with his giving his last dollar and piece of property to grandma, leaving him with only disappointment and sadness. The goal of the game is money, and grandma knew how to get all of it.
One summer, however, John met a kid who taught him some of the subtleties of Monopoly. Near the end of the summer he challenged his grandmother—and won! It was his moment of great glory. “Then,” Ortberg says, “I learned the final lesson—when the game is over, it all goes back in the box. All the houses, all the hotels, Boardwalk and Park Place, all that money—everything goes back in the box.” (Preaching, volume 24, number 2, 9).
Many people (even those NOT living in Palo Alto) base their hopes for fulfillment on stuff which goes back in the box. In the end, will what you counted as significant still count? In order to help us think about that question, notice three things in this passage.
1. To Live a Life That Counts, We Must Understand the Death of Jesus Prefigured In the Anointing (John 12.3-8)
This is a moving scene. The family of Lazarus, overjoyed by Jesus’ raising him from the dead, hosts a dinner party to honor and celebrate Jesus’ gift. There was wine and feasting, laughter and profuse gratitude. Over and over they must have said, “Tell us again, Laz, what it is like to be dead! What did Moses look like? Was Elijah there?”
While Lazarus thrilled the family with descriptions of the afterlife and the process of having one’s soul reenter the body with rotten flesh regenerating and fingers growing back, Mary must have been thinking of another event.
Everyone had heard about the time Jesus ate at the home of the inconsiderate Pharisee. That host neither washed the Lord’s feet (an expected act in a land where everyone walked dusty roads clad only in sandals), nor did he anoint Jesus’ head with oil. But a prostitute entered, and overwhelmed by the possibility of acceptance and forgiveness displayed in the presence of the Messiah, she begins to weep. The tears fall on Jesus’ feet and mix with the dust to make a muddy mess. She instinctively pulls the pin from her hair and began to wipe his feet clean. Remembering the healing ointment she carried with her, scented and so soothing to the skin, she rubs the Master’s feet and kisses them. Jesus used that event to teach how she who is forgiven much, loves much, but those who are forgiven little love little. Mary thought about that prostitute and knew that she loved Jesus much. She loved him for restoring her brother; she loved him for accepting her devotion; but mostly she loved him for his compassion and grace.
So she retrieved her most valuable possession. We do not know why or how she came to own $15,000 worth of this rare and expensive ointment. Maybe it was a family treasure handed down from former generations. Maybe a friend brought it back from a trip to the orient. Whatever the means, she connected this lavish gift to the predictions Jesus made about his impending death. Somehow she understood that all that mattered in life was tied to his death.
Mark records more of Jesus’ response to her act: “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me…. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14.6-9).
When we lived in Chicago we were fortunate to be involved in a ministry helping those released from prison walk the harsh path of reincorporated into society. Few in our suburb church had ever participated in an inner-city Chicago program, much less one populated by convicted criminals. One of the men felt this was the greatest thing he had ever been part of.
Even though these ex-prisoners had very little money, the ministry always had a tithe-box in the back of the room. The ministry needed money, of course, but the real purpose of the box was to help teach these folks to give back in gratitude to the Lord. Well my friend got so excited about participating in this mercy ministry that one week he brought a wad a hundred dollar bills to stuff the tithe box. He wanted the ministry team to open it up and feint over what God had provided! The funny thing was that the box had only a narrow slot, and he could only work in a bill or two at a time. He was afraid of being seen standing in front of the box trying to stuff money in, so he came to me and said, “You have to help me. I can’t get the money in without drawing attention to myself. Let’s take turns stuffing the box!” Some of us might think that inappropriate—but I guarantee this— he will not lose his reward.
Those who understand the death Jesus died, those who, like Mary, realize what the Lord was doing, those who take the implications of the cross and press them into their souls—for true believers, this extravagant gift is completely reasonable. What value are all the hotels and property on the board, or a pound of pure nard, or $10 million, or even the whole world, if you lose your soul?
Of this act, the famous preacher G. Campbell Morgan said, “I would rather be a successor to Mary of Bethany than to the whole crowd of apostles.” Would you? Will you give to Jesus what is most valuable to you? Is it money? Time? Pride? Your carefully groomed self-image? Your children?
My sister told me the other day that she and her husband realized that they had been complaining too much. God wanted them to give up their right to observe every fault in every person and situation. He wants them to be happy and positive. That is their treasure which she breaks open, pours on the feet of Jesus, and its fragrance fills the room. What is yours? Once you rightly understand the death of Jesus, no prize is too lavish.
2. To Live a Life That Counts, We Must Offer Our Best Through Faith in the Death of Jesus (John 12.1-2, 9-11)
Discussions of this text usually focus on Mary’s gift, and properly so. It was costly act of deep devotion. But we do well to notice the other gifts, too.
This is not the first time Martha worked hard in the kitchen while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. A couple of years earlier, Luke tells us that “Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10.38-42).
Somewhere between that encounter and this one, Martha had learned to delight in giving her best to Jesus without complaint or demanding the same of others. She had learned what Paul wanted so badly to press upon the church in Galatia. Listen to his exhortations: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 2.20; 5.24).
Martha did just what Paul counseled. She allowed the Spirit to crucify those selfish desires that demanded recognition for her service and help from everyone else. She lived by faith in Jesus’ death as the promise of reward for her life. She boasted in the cross of Christ rather than any cross she might have to bear.
Pastor James Boice: “I suspect Martha was not the kind of person who treasured perfume, or kept it for a special occasion as Mary did. But she did value something. She valued hard work. That can be seen in every context in which we find her. So what is she doing? She is working. She is dealing in perspiration rather than perfume. But, more importantly, she is serving Jesus, and she is not complaining about it as she did formerly.” This text is not asking for more nard; God is asking for what you value. Martha gave what was important to her. She is not the only one; did you notice Lazarus?
People heard about what had happened to him and they came from miles to see. What made him so attractive? Obviously the miracle, but there are other examples of winning witnesses in the Bible. Like the woman at the well, there are two things about Lazarus that make people believe in Jesus.
First, his testimony was of what Jesus did. Lazarus did not display his perfect theology or mature manhood. Instead, he was simply a living, breathing example of the fact that Jesus gives life to the dead. Second, Lazarus spent time with Jesus. Even though it increased the risk of being killed, he insisted on being seen with Jesus. As a result of these two features, people wanted to see him.
Is your life a winning witness? Does anyone believe in Jesus on account of you? We can offer all kinds of highfalutin reasons why we are not seeing any people come to faith in Jesus, but before we rationalize it away, I think we ought ask: Does my life and witness sound like someone Jesus has healed? Do people who meet me think: That guy knows Jesus. Have I been so focused on showing what I know that no one sees in my life whom I know?
3. To Live a Life That Counts, We Must Reject a Life Lived for Self (John 12.4-6, 9-11)
I think these are the first recorded words ever spoken by Judas—a complaint about giving recklessly to God. Do not doubt the corrupting effect of a complaining spirit. The Bible says it this way: “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Hebrews 12.15). Judas’ greed for self-gain combined with bitterness over other’s honor until he could not stand the grace of God.
Nor was he the only one. It seems inconceivable that men would plot to kill Lazarus, a man clearly raised from the dead. But his life marked what they stood to lose: power and prestige. Many a man will give up anything to hold tightly to those twin idols.
The point is clear: will we live for our life here and now, or will we live based on the promise of Christ’s death?
4. Conclusion
The anointing is clearly a parable about preparing Jesus for death. But it forces us to ask: am I prepared for death?
The great lie of the evil one is that this is all there is, so I should live for myself. Interestingly, the Bible agrees. If there is no resurrection, then “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1Corinthians 15.32). But what if Mary’s anointing was correct? What if Jesus did die, and more than that, was raised from the dead? If the dead are raised, then we will all be changed, and the real life to be lived is not this one but the one that comes after.
Are you preparing for death, which is really preparing to live? Are you wrestling the big questions, or only responding to banal pressures? Are you serving with quiet confidence that the resurrected Christ rewards those who minister in his name, or are you worried about recognition here and now?
Is your life a witness to the happiness of God, or are you still playing god yourself, eager to conform others to your will? Whom, or is it what do you live for? Mary anointed Jesus to remind you that the true reward comes not from the pieces which must be put back in the box, but from the Messiah who sits now at the right hand of God and who will judge the living and the dead at his coming. You think about that.
