Mary Anoints Jesus - Mark 14:3-9
And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.
6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
This is a message primarily focused on the subject of worship. Sometimes worship is expressed in song or the spoken word, other times it is expressed in deeds or actions which is what we see here but let me say this - worship is ALWAYS! It is ALWAYS first and foremost and expression of the heart – If it’s not from the heart it’s not true worship! This comes out in the first commandment of the law – that we are to worship the Lord our God with all our heart! At this point I would like to read from Psalm 96:1-9
Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!
Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
4 For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
7 Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
Give to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Give to the LORD the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts. 9 Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Now we know from Johns gospel that it was Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus who worships Jesus by anointing Him with oil. To anoint someone either means to officially choose them for a specific purpose or to pour oil upon them. You remember the Lord told Samuel to anoint David as King – what did Samuel do? He poured oil over his head signifying that David was Gods anointed, His chosen man to rule over His people Israel.
It’s easy to get confused nowadays since there are many who use this term “anointed” in a very loose, and I would argue - in a very reckless way – you will hear charismatic preachers talking about a Pastor who has a “special anointing”, or some great leader who has “THE anointing”. Do yourself a favor and just tune most of that out because most of the time its just a way of exalting a man beyond measure. But back to the subject of Worship.
What does worship look like? What are some of the characteristics of true worship? Jesus spoke of worshipping in Spirit and in truth so true worship comes from the heart, it comes from your Spirit. It also engages the mind for true worship is done in truth, so we must know the one true God and our mind is to be focused on Him, on who He is and what He has done. You cannot worship a God that you don’t know anything about. We will also see in Mark 14 that true worship is almost always expressed by actions and usually involves some sort of sacrifice.
Mark 14: 3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.
This event takes place around a week before Jesus is crucified, he is in the town of Bethany, home of Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead. The word of his resurrection has spread to Jerusalem so it almost a certainty that the people of Bethany were well aware of Jesus and His ministry as well as the claim that He was the Messiah.
We see that Jesus and the disciples were invited into the home of Simon the Leper.
We know nothing about this man except that as a leper he would have been separated from the people so it’s reasonable to assume he was healed by Jesus sometime prior to this event. As Jesus sat at the table Mary came having an alabaster flask of very expensive oil. The flask was an expensive item in and of itself and the oil even more so, in fact the oil was worth about a year’s salary so this oil to us would be as valuable as a brand new car and what does Mary do? She breaks the flask and pours it on Jesus’ head!
In Johns gospel he gives us more detail that she also poured it on His feet and then wiped His feet with her hair. This may seem unusual to the contemporary reader but the point is she was willing to give anything, she was willing to sacrifice anything, she was willing to do anything and humble herself in this act of worship.
The question we must ask ourselves is this - what are we willing to do? %75 of Americans identify themselves as being Christian. 8 years ago it was %80, that’s a pretty sharp decline in only 8 years! But %75 in a country of 323 million that’s somewhere between 240-250 million people who claim to be Christians! If that’s anywhere near accurate then why aren’t churches filled? Why are so many churches struggling financially? Why do so many have such a hard time finding volunteers?
I can promise you every church is this country wants more people to attend, more people to give, more people to serve, more people to pray and on and on and on. Are there 245 million Christians in the United States? I don’t know, I doubt it! One thing I do know is that there are not 245 million people worshipping!
Someone might ask what can I do? How can I serve Christ? Is Christ here? The church is here and the church is His body, if you want to worship then obey, serve, work, witness, give – there isn’t a shortage of labor – There isn’t a shortage of work to do, there is however a shortage of workers! Let me put it this way – Were trying to build the Kingdom of God here but too many people are calling out sick and it’s hard to get things done!
Someone might say but that’s the job of the Pastor and the Deacons, it’s the job of the Evangelist, teachers and Missionaries – they’re the ones who are supposed to do all the work, they’re the leadership, let them do it!
That’s like going into a factory or a warehouse and sending all the workers home and expecting the supervisors do get it all done themselves. Now I’ve been in those environments and that sounds pretty good, but it could never work! You need everyone involved to get the job done.
Well Mary was willing to do whatever she could, some today might fail to see the significance of her actions and that should come as no surprise after all the apostles failed to see the significance of her actions.
4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.
Now isn’t that always the way! No good deed goes unpunished, or so they say! I want to encourage you, if you have tried to do the right thing and you were criticized for it or if you went out of your way to help someone and they not only didn’t thank you maybe they repaid you with evil – Consider yourself blessed! You might say, I don’t feel blessed, that doesn’t sound very encouraging!
Well Jesus said in Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven - You have an airtight promise from God you will be rewarded – in heaven and possibly in this life to. But what if a person fails to worship? What if they fail to love and serve the Lord? The scripture says that you reap what you sow, Mary was sowing good seed. It wasn’t appreciated by the others in that moment but she was going to obtain a harvest.
6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.
I like this verse because we see Jesus coming to her defense. Nobody else was coming to her defense but Jesus was there to be her defender. 1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
This is just a thought I had, If Jesus is our advocate when we sin, how much more when we are found faithful? So Jesus comes to Mary’s defense by saying LEAVE HER ALONE! Verse 7 - For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.
Now that statement “the poor you will always have with you” is unfortunately true. No matter what we do, no matter how the world “progresses” there will always be poor people and Jesus isn’t saying they don’t matter. He is not saying don’t help them or don’t pay attention to them what He is saying is that this is a unique situation. Your time with me is coming to an end, the poor will always be with you but “Me you do not have always.” Jesus continues -
8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. There is no need to read anything into this – when people died back then and were buried, time was of the essence, they prepared to body with fragrant oil and spices for obvious reasons. The question comes up, did Mary know what she was doing beforehand? That is, did she do this knowing Jesus was about to die. Many commentators will say she was most likely unaware, whatever the case we don’t see any procrastination – she has the opportunity to worship and serve in the most humble and intimate way and she does it!
Too many say, I will serve God but not today! I will get right with God but I want to have my fun first. I will get saved, maybe on my death bed – The problem with that is this – with procrastinators, tomorrow never comes for its always a day away. Today is the day! Now is the time! Mary wasn’t willing to sit back and do nothing she loved Jesus and she was going to show it! That’s the worship and service God is looking for!
Jesus then says - 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
That is exactly what is happening right here, right now at this moment. The Gospel is being preached and Mary’s act of adoration and worship is being told as a memorial to her. She will always be remembered in this way. On earth she will be remembered and in heaven she will be rewarded. That’s quite a stark contrast to Judas who was the one who was initially angered when she wasted this precious oil – at least the way he viewed it.
It was not wasted. She will be remembered for her love, she will be remembered for her worship, she will be remembered for her works. Next week we will look at this subject more but let me leave you with this question – How will you be remembered?
Will you be remembered for your love or for your lack of love? Will you be remembered for your faithfulness or your lack of faithfulness? Will you be remembered as someone who loved, worshipped and served the Lord or will you be remembered as someone who was more along the lines of Lukewarm?
I would say this – How we are remembered will likely line up very closely to how we are rewarded. Someone might say, It’s too late for me - I can’t undo the past. Well you would be surprised but the most important thing is what are we willing to do here and Now! Let’s close in prayer!
