What a Waste
Mk. 14:3-9 AMP
Mary’s family was not wealthy.
Mary’s Alabasters box was filled with precious oil valued at 300 denarii.
A Denarii was about $0.17.or a whole days wages.
This so called waste was valued at a year’s wages for a common worker.
MK. 14:3
According to scripture when she broke the seal the disciples thought this was such a waste.
Waste simply means giving too much.
1. Why give a dollar when a quarter will do
2. Waste means you give something too much for something too little.
3. It means the one who is receiving the something is not worth so much.
Let’s look at this question from two angles. Judas and the other disciples
They all thought it was a waste.
Jn. 12:4-6 AMP
“But Judas Iscariot, the one of His disciples who was about to betray Him, said, why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii [a year's wages for an ordinary workman] and that [money] given to the poor (the destitute)? Now he did not say this because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief; and having the bag (the money box, the purse of the Twelve), he took for himself what was put into it [pilfering the collections].”
Judas: A typology of the world.
a. We could manage better with the money: give it to charity, some social service, and help people in a more practical way.
Why pour it out and waste it on Jesus.
To the world the service for the Lord and giving of yourself to Jesus was a pure waste. Living for the Lord is such a waste. You can do better for yourself.
b. It is too much to give; To give all of your live to the Lord!
WHEN YOUR EYES HAVE BEEN OPENED TO THE REAL WORTH OF THE LORD, NOTHING IS TOO GOOD FOR HM.
The Rest of the disciples. You would think they knew better.
But both Mt. 26:8 & Mk. 14:4-5
It tells us they thought it was a waste too. They were moved to indignation in saying,
Mt. 26:8
“And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, for what purpose is all this waste?”
Now here is the whole question of waste, and of what the lord is after.
Today even among Christians there can be found much of this spirit that wants to give as little as possible to the Lord and yet get as much as possible from Him.
The Lord wants us to be used, yes, but what he is really after is that we pour all we have of ourselves to Him, and if that be all, that is enough.
The question is not one of working for Him, but of being of service to Him, of ministering to the Lord.
OUR alabasters box is filled with a precious thing. OUR whole life.
YOU need to break it and give it all to the Lord.
To the world that is a Waste, but that is what God wants.
MK. 14:6-7
What are we doing for the Lord today?
AT THE EMPTY TOMB did the women, who came with their anointing oil and spices to anoint Jesus body, anoint Him? NO
Only one succeeded. Mary. Before Jesus died.
We can’t wait, for if you wait you might be too late.
Mk. 14:8
Mary had given her all. All she could do, no more.
She did it. The Lord will not be satisfied with any less but all you can do.
The whole point is a life laid down at the feet of Jesus.
In this scripture Jesus was facing His death and burial.
Today He is preparing us for His crowning day where all will acclaim Him Lord of Lord and kneel at His feet.
Anoint Him now. Not with a material oil but with your love and your life.
Mk. 14:9 .
With the preaching of the gospel the Lord is out to have a result that corresponds with Mary’s action here. That is, for people to come out and pour all that you have on Jesus. That is what he is after.
Jim Goll, who wrote the book Wasted on Jesus, says it this way,
“Mary is bent on wasting her life on her Lord – the God who loved her and forgave her – and she doesn’t care who knows about it or what anyone else thinks… As we realize more and more who we are as sinners, and as we recognize the magnitude of what Christ has done for us, the more our hearts will rise up in us like the heart of Mary of Bethany. We’ll find ourselves saying, “Lord, I want my life to be a drink offering, poured out upon you.” Wasting our life on God is a doorway to greater intimacy with Him. I’m tired of boring church and mundane Christianity, how about you?
The whole question is, it seems that I am giving too much for too little and that is waste? Others have so much, yet they give up nothing.
What are we after? Mere usefulness.
Breaking that alabaster box filled the room with an odor.
Whenever you meet someone who has really poured out their live for the Lord, Immediately you will smell the aroma around them.
The odor which filled the house that day still fills the church today. The fragrance of giving all to Jesus will never pass away.
• What are you ‘wasting’ your life on?
• If you live your life for Jesus and the Gospel, you will never regret that decision!
Mark 8:34-38 NKGV
“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Nate Saint said, “People who do not know the Lord ask why we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget they too are expending their lives, and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”
WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
