Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. 7 Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. 8 “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” 9 The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.
There are several instances of the word ‘therefore’ in the final verses of chapter eleven and the first verse of chapter 12 that serve to put together a picture for us.
Verse 54 of chapter 11 says ‘Jesus therefore no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews’. The reason for this is that they have made up their minds to kill Him. But it wasn’t His time so He and His disciples went and stayed in a city in the wilderness.
It couldn’t have been a very long stay though, because the time came for the Passover and it was time to head back to Jerusalem. In fact, Jesus had more to accomplish at this Passover than ever before because it was at this time He was to be arrested, tried, tortured and crucified.
Then in verse 56 of chapter 11 there is another ‘therefore’, telling us the people were seeking for Jesus. They were seeking Him because it was Passover time and they were hoping He would come to Jerusalem as was His custom. We’ll talk more about these people later, because they are like many of us in the church today. I’ll tell you why later.
Then verse 1 of our text says, “Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany…” Interestingly, this ‘therefore’ comes on the heels of the author telling us that the chief priests had given orders that anyone seeing Jesus should report it so they might seize Him. “Therefore”, Jesus came to Bethany.
They were seeking to seize Him, ‘therefore’ He came back out of the wilderness to Bethany. Why? Because He came to do the Father’s will, and it was now time. Remember all those times in the Gospels that Jesus is recorded as saying ‘My time is not yet’, or the author saying Jesus disappeared from the midst of angry crowds because ‘His time was not yet’? Well, it was time. So six days before the Passover, which we also know was five days before His crucifixion, He came to Bethany, which is less than 2 miles from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem can be seen from Bethany. All of His venom-dripping enemies are curled up in their viper’s den less than 2 miles away, but Jesus comes to dine with His friends. Let’s look in on the feast.
A NICE DINNER
“Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead”.
Before we go to dinner, allow me a brief side trail for your edification.
This was probably the Sunday prior to Passover. Different people calculate the beginning of Passover differently; some saying the first full day of the celebration is the first day. However, since the Jews reckon the new day to begin at sundown, others calculate Passover to begin the evening before, as soon as the last rays of the sun disappear behind the western horizon.
There is something worth looking at here. John said that Jesus came to Bethany six days before Passover. If you count back starting with Friday, six days, you end up on the previous Sunday.
John 12:12 says that the next day, following this feast in Bethany, Jesus was welcomed to Jerusalem by the multitudes who were waving palm branches and shouting ‘Hosanna!” That would have been Monday the 10th of Nissan, the month of the Jews in which Passover is celebrated.
Are you with me so far? Jesus enters Jerusalem on the 10th, and He came back to the city each day of that week, teaching in the Temple and moving about the people (Luke 22:53). Then on the fourteenth day, that is Friday, He was crucified.
Now listen to the instructions God gave to Moses for the first Passover meal in Exodus 12:1-6
Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. 4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nissan, the day in which the people were directed to select a lamb for sacrifice. He was in the city and even in the Temple for the next three days, being examined, so to speak, by the people and by the priests, and when He was arrested and tried even the pagan Roman governor had to declare, “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4). He was God the Father’s Lamb without spot or blemish, and on the fourteenth day He shed His blood and died for the redemption of His people.
But let’s go back to that house in Bethany where Jesus was honored by His closest friends on the day before the lamb selection began.
First, notice that Bethany has now become famous for being the place where Lazarus was raised from the dead. That’s how John refers to it in verse one of chapter 12, and in fact that is what Bethany is known for today. They’ve even built a church over the spot where someone must have convinced them the tomb of Lazarus was. That’s what they do over there where Jesus was born and walked and died and rose again. The only place they couldn’t build a church on was the middle of the Sea of Galilee where He walked on the water.
But even just a short time following that last miracle that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry, Bethany had become synonymous with the raising of Lazarus.
Now it isn’t mentioned here, but a reading of Matthew 26 and Mark 14 would confirm for us that this dinner was held at the home of Simon the leper. It’s odd to me that the Gospel writers would have still referred to him that way, because most certainly by the time of this gathering Simon had been cured of leprosy by Jesus. If Jesus didn’t heal him he wouldn’t be healed because there was no cure for leprosy. And if he had leprosy no one would be in his house. Therefore I have always wondered why Matthew and Mark didn’t say they were in the home of the former leper, Simon.
Nevertheless, here they were, gathered for a meal in this home, and I imagine it being a good-sized home, because if Jesus was there with His twelve disciples, and Mary, Martha and Lazarus, Simon would have made #17; and if Simon had a family then there would have been even more, but we can count a minimum of 17 people at this feast being held in Jesus’ honor.
It says, “So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving…” So the dinner was for Jesus, but Lazarus was also there, as John is careful to mention, and at that point in time Lazarus was a bit of a celebrity in Judea. Down in verse 9 John points that out also.
I would imagine a guy like this would be the talk of the town in any time in history wouldn’t he? “Hey, remember that guy Lazarus who died over in Bethany?” “Yes, I remember him; I was at the funeral; poor guy.” “Yeah, well, I saw him yesterday. He’s doing quite well!”
Before we move on very far we should mention again that Martha was serving. That was just Martha, huh? Every time we see Martha and Mary in the gospels, Martha is serving and Mary is being sensitive – not in a bad way – just more sensitive to what’s going on, what’s being said, who is in the room and so forth.
Martha was a server. That’s a spiritual gift, you know. There are people God has made that way, and you can always pick them out because they’re the ones bustling about, setting things up, cooking things, cleaning things…
…hey, they’re not even at her house! They’re at Simon’s house and Martha is serving. I like people like that, don’t you? If it wasn’t for people like Martha a lot of people would be very hungry and very dirty and they wouldn’t be able to find anything.
But where is Mary? She was right here a minute ago…
A SPONTANEOUS ACT OF LOVE
Oh, there she is in verse 3.
“Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
Here again you have to read the Matthew and Mark accounts to get the whole picture. They both say that Mary poured the perfume on Jesus’ head.
I called this a spontaneous act of love, but it couldn’t have been too spontaneous, could it? Remember, they’re at the home of Simon. So even if Simon lives next door, there had to be some degree of planning on the part of Mary to bring it with her.
On the other hand, this act, if not entirely spontaneous was certainly extraordinary and unexpected and even shocking.
In the first place the perfume was very expensive. I have heard somewhere that this nard was extracted from a plant that only grew in the mountainous region between China and Tibet. It had to be harvested, extracted, packaged, transported by camel, put in nice containers for sale, and all of this would have made it a rare commodity in Israel and very expensive. And it wasn’t just an ounce or a few ounces, John said it was a pound. It would have had the consistency of a thick oil; almost an ointment.
So this was an item that, if a person purchased it or it was given to them as a gift would use it very, very sparingly, if at all. It was the kind of thing a woman treasured and only used on special occasions.
But do you see what is happening here? Martha is serving, as is her God-given nature to do. And now Mary is serving her Lord in a very different way, but it is a service and a sacrifice nonetheless. The thing is, it is a service done directly from the heart and not for attention or praise, but just a burst of pure love from the heart of a grateful friend.
Now as I said, we don’t know how much forethought went into this act of Mary’s. She may not have even had a plan in her head when she picked up the perfume; it may have been an impulsive move.
On the other hand, Jesus had talked openly about His impending death at the hands of evil men. Did she consider that if the Romans took Him to die she might never see Him again and might not have the opportunity to do anything for Him regarding His burial? We can’t know, can we?
But look at what Jesus says in verse 7, and we’ll go back to that later but just take a glance now and see that He said what she did was for His burial.
In Matthew 26:12 the Apostle quotes Jesus as saying she did it to anoint Him for burial.
Whatever Mary’s personal thoughts and intentions were though, I think what we’re also seeing here is honor being given to the Son from the Father.
You see, it was custom, when someone died, to bathe the body and anoint it with fragrant oil, then wrap it in the grave clothes for burial.
Mary could not have known how events were going to fall together at the end of this week. She couldn’t have assumed that Jesus would die in the afternoon and have to be taken down and quickly buried before the sun went down and Passover began.
But the Father knew. And I think that once more honoring and glorifying the Son, God the Father inspired Mary and filled her heart to bursting with love for her Lord so that she just opened this container and poured it out on His precious head that would wear the cruelest of crowns, and the shoulders that would bear the sins of the world and the feet that had so beautifully carried the good news to Mount Zion, and thus that for which there would be no time later was done in advance out of the Father’s love and Mary’s gratitude, for Jesus’ honor.
Then she wiped His feet with her hair, and this is why I think that to some degree this was a spontaneous act. She didn’t think ahead to have a towel handy. In addition, Jewish women just did not let their hair down in front of men. It just wasn’t done. But I don’t think Mary was even aware of anyone else in the room. It was just she and her Lord, and His precious feet needed to have the excess oil rubbed in or off, and so she used her hair to do it. This was just plain, pure, unashamed love, folks.
John says the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. She gave Him all of it. I wonder how many people have ever just poured out love for Jesus with abandon, without calculation, without measure; just poured themselves out in some fashion or another, in one way or another.
Remember the widow’s mite? Small as it was, she gave her all. So it’s not the size of the gift that matters and it’s not the cleverness of the act or the level of talent involved. What matters is that it pours forth from a heart of love and gratitude just for who Jesus is.
Don’t answer me…when was the last time you just told Jesus you love Him?
A CALCULATED DEMONSTRATION OF HATE
Well, I questioned my own use of the word ‘spontaneous’ and now I’ve used the word ‘calculated’, and again I wonder if it is just the appropriate word.
I think it is, and I’ll explain that, but I also think that I could borrow that word ‘spontaneous’ back and use it here in reference to verses 4 and 5 also.
Because in sharp contrast to this wonderful, pure love poured out so lavishly by Mary, we suddenly have thrown in our faces this spontaneous demonstration of greed and hypocrisy and black hatred, for Mary and for Jesus and probably for everyone in the room.
“But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?”
You know what? Judas Iscariot has to be the most pathetic person who ever lived. I’ve seen movies and I’ve heard teaching that portrayed Judas as a patriot for the nation of Israel; a zealot who thought Jesus was going to raise an army and destroy the Romans, and when that didn’t happen he was disappointed so in a moment of depression and desperation he betrayed Jesus and was sorry for it later.
I don’t believe it. I do believe he thought Jesus was going to defeat Rome and make Himself king; they all thought that. But there were no noble motives or intentions in Judas. He was a thief. He was a slimy little sneak thief who got himself appointed treasurer of the group and pilfered the money he was entrusted with.
And I want you to be certain to notice that John said, “…who was intending to betray Him”. Judas was already intending to betray Jesus, and yet here he was at this dinner being given in Jesus’ honor, reclining at table and pretending to be one of the guys. He was pathetic!
Do you know why he was so upset that she wasted the nard instead of donating it to the cause? Because this would have been his last opportunity for a big nest egg before everything fell apart and they were all scattered to the four winds, and he wanted to make his break with a full purse.
He wasn’t concerned about the poor, says John, he was a thief!
Now here is where we have to take our claws out of Judas for a minute and think about something. Judas had been with Jesus as long as all the others. Judas had witnessed the miracles, Judas had heard the teaching, Judas had watched Jesus best the Pharisees at every turn with His divine wisdom and His powerful words. Judas had been the recipient of Jesus’ love and concern and care for over three years!
Don’t ever think that just because you’re in the church and close to Jesus and His people that your proximity alone makes you all right. You need to repent. You need to have new life given you from God. You need the indwelling Holy Spirit. You need to have what you cannot get but that only God can give through His Son Jesus Christ.
Judas Iscariot is proof that a person can be perceived as one of the inner circle of the church, a friend of Jesus and His people, one of the guys to emulate, and yet be filled up with bitterness and deceit and hatred and hypocrisy and loathing for God and all that is Godly.
Ask God to examine your heart and reveal what He finds there to you. Ask Him to do what only He can do – remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek 11:19) and keep you in His everlasting care. We far too easily deceive ourselves and let ourselves be deceived. Don’t get to the end and find out you’ve lived a sham. Know for certain that your faith and love are real and anchored in Christ; and submit yourself to His sanctifying care.
Jesus rebuked Judas for his outbreak. The language guys tell me this was a stern tone being used when He said, “Let her alone”. “LET HER ALONE”.
And even though He knows Judas is phony He explains anyway. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me.
Now that is not saying that Jesus didn’t care about the poor and it is not teaching that we shouldn’t care about the poor.
He was telling Judas and those present that as a matter of priority at the moment, her act of worship for her Lord was timely and appropriate, and there would be all the time in the world later to do good for the poor. Not that Judas had any intention of doing anything at all for the poor…
A MULTITUDE OF RUBBERNECKERS
Verse 9
“The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.”
They came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus. What does that tell you? It tells me that for them Lazarus was on the same plane with Jesus. They were both just celebrities to gawk at.
These are probably the same people from 11:56 who were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another, as they stood in the temple, ”What do you think, that He will not come to the feast at all?”
See? There have always been looky loos and rubberneckers who glean some vicarious worth for themselves by watching and hanging around celebrities. It didn’t start with motion pictures and television.
Sadly, these were the same folks who the very next day were waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
And they were the same people who four days later were shouting “Crucify! Crucify Him! Let His blood be on our heads and on our children’s!”
Fickle, uncommitted, only momentarily interested, ready to run and see the next spectacular sight that comes along, disconnected, characterless, gawkers.
And I will guarantee you that churches all over our land have many, many people who are just like them. They are there to watch. Jesus watchers. They stand to sing, they sit to listen, they mingle to fellowship, they go home… and Jesus has never done a work in their heart. They go on unchanged and unmoved and untouched and unsaved and they don’t even know that the Word they hear week after week has made and is making no progress in them because they are only gawkers, and if Jesus and His people get boring enough they’ll move on to the next entertaining thing to stimulate their lifeless little minds.
Don’t be a gawker; be a Christ-follower and go where He leads and do what He instructs and partake in the life He gives.
A BAND OF MURDERERS
Well, the last group we look at today is found in verse 10.
But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also;
Now this is funny. It wasn’t funny for Lazarus if they got him, but the situation is kind of funny.
You see, the chief priests were Sadducees. The main doctrine of the sect of the Sadducees was that there is no resurrection. They taught it openly and loudly and debated with other Jews about it and everyone knew that the chief priests didn’t believe in the resurrection.
So in Lazarus they had a real problem. They had to either change their entire system of theology, or take the easier route and get rid of the evidence against their theology.
Wouldn’t common sense dictate that they change their minds and even be happy about it? Hey! Guys! Jesus raised a guy four days dead back to life over in Bethany! You know what that means? It means we’ve been wrong all along. There is a resurrection, there is life after this life, and apparently this Jesus is the One who gives this life. Hey, I’m outta here! I’m taking off my Sadducee robes and putting on some Happy-u-see robes because there IS a resurrection!
No! They are embarrassed by this turn of events and they desperately want to figure out a way to rebury Lazarus. Do you see how willful unbelief distorts the mind and blinds the heart?
They were jealous. Many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. Well, let’s see.
They could stay around the Sadducees and spend their days talking about death and doom and obliteration, or leave and follow this Man who teaches that He is the Resurrection and the life and then proves it by resurrecting people.
I don’t know why the Sadducees wouldn’t see the better choice but it looks like a pretty easy decision to me. How about you?
Well, there’s the picture. A final dinner to honor Jesus and what a gathering. People who love and serve Jesus, people who hate Jesus and want Him dead, people who are neither hot nor cold, loving or hating, just gawking and taking up space – folks so unstable they can be swayed by every wind of doctrine, one minute honoring Jesus with their lips, the next believing the deceptions of the false teachers and denying Jesus with their desertion of truth.
Where do you fit in? Of which group are you, really? I encourage you with the greatest of urgency to examine yourself and be very, very certain that you are of the group that has received the love of the truth so as to be saved; who honor Jesus with your love and your life and your service in His name.
Because there’s another dinner coming up in honor of the Lamb and I really hope to see you all there.
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ ” Rev. 19:7-9
