A. We might oversimplify things by saying that the world is made up of two kinds of people: givers and takers, but there is some truth to that statement.
B. I love hearing stories about big tippers and I try to be a good tipper myself.
1. A man named Greg Rubar was a waiter at D'Amico’s Italian Market Cafe in Houston for 16 years and had been regularly waiting on one particular couple at the restaurant for eight years.
2. Then one day, the customers handed him fifty $100 bills ($5,000) as a tip.
3. The man told Greg, “I’m not going to be giving you a tip for a while. Take this money. Go buy yourself a car.”
4. The instructions to buy a car weren’t just random - the couple knew that Greg had recently lost his car when it was flooded in a thunderstorm a few weeks earlier.
5. The waiter had been taking taxis and borrowing his restaurant’s catering truck just to get to and from work.
6. Greg tried to return the money, but the couple refused, insisting he get a car with the cash.
7. That husband and wife were great tippers – extravagant givers.
C. But sadly, there are far too many stories of ruthless takers, robbers of all kinds.
1. The most famous benevolent robber is the legendary heroic outlaw named Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor.
2. I think that its ironic that there is a new investment app called Robinhood and people joke about it:
a. What’s the difference between Robin Hood and Robinhood?
b. Robin Hood is apt to steal while Robinhood is app to steal.
3. Unfortunately, most of the takers of this world are not benevolent, but are selfish and ruthless.
a. Like the robber who, when I was 10 years old, stole my bicycle, and did it while I was at my father’s funeral.
b. The culprit was never brought to justice at the time, but their time is coming.
D. Today, as we continue our sermon series: “Final Week, Eternal Lessons” about the final week of Jesus’ earthly life, we come to Wednesday – the middle of the week, hump day.
1. Actually, the biblical record of what took place on Wednesday is pretty scant and silent.
2. Unlike the other days of Jesus’ final week, today we aren’t going to focus on what Jesus did, rather we are going to focus on what was done to Jesus.
3. I want us to focus on what two people who were close to Jesus did to Him – one was an extravagant giver and the other was a ruthless taker.
4. We know for sure what they did, but we aren’t certain about when they did it.
5. The stories that I relate to you today, may have happened late on that Tuesday night, or may have happened on that Wednesday of Jesus’ last week – it is hard to be certain.
6. Matthew and Mark place these events two days before the Passover.
7. There can be confusion about how many different anointings of Jesus took place in his life.
a. I believe that there were two anointings of Jesus during His life.
b. One that took place a year or more earlier and is recorded by Luke in Luke 7, and it took place at the home of Simon the Pharisee.
c. And the second anointing took place during the final week of Jesus’ life and took place in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper.
8. So it was Wednesday, which means it is T-Minus 2 days until the crucifixion and T-Minus 4 days until the resurrection.
E. As we pick up our exploration of the events of that Wednesday in the final week of Jesus’ earthly life, we notice that Matthew and Mark both introduce the day’s happenings by letting us know that the Passover was approaching and the Jewish religious leaders were looking for a way to arrest and kill Jesus without causing a riot.
1. As has been Jesus’ practice all week, He spent the day in Jerusalem and the evening and night out in Bethany.
2. Let’s pick up the story in Mark’s Gospel: 3 While he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head. 4 But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her. (Mark 14:3-5)
3. This special dinner in honor of Jesus took place at the home of Simon the Leper.
a. We must conclude that Simon the Leper was no longer a leper, because if he were still a leper he would not be included in social gatherings with healthy people present.
b. Perhaps Simon was one of the many lepers whom Jesus had healed during His ministry.
4. In John’s account of this gathering, John mentions that Lazarus was present and his sister Martha was serving.
a. Since Bethany was also the hometown of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, it is not surprising that they might also be involved in this gathering, and that Martha would be assisting.
b. You will recall that Martha’s spiritual gift was serving, and that on a previous occasion she complained to Jesus that her sister Mary wasn’t helping her serve.
c. But it looks like she had learned the lesson that people have different gifts and that there are many different ways to serve, because shew was not complaining on this occasion.
5. How cool it must have been to be at a gathering of people where Jesus had demonstrated His power in many people’s lives.
a. A former dead man and a former leper were sitting there, and there were likely many other people there who had been changed or healed by Jesus.
6. We are told that they were reclining at the table, which is so different from the way we sit at our meals.
a. Rather than having chairs, their tables were low to the ground and were surrounded by benches, or were just cushions on the floor.
b. The participants would lay on the benches or cushions on their sides on one elbow with their heads near the table, and their feet away from the table.
F. As Jesus was reclining at the table with others, a woman with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume came and broke the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head (and feet according to John’s account).
1. John identifies the woman who anointed Jesus as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.
2. John tells us that the perfume was a pound of pure nard which was an expensive perfumed oil that was imported from India.
3. At that time, alabaster jars were sealed shut and the only way to get the contents out was to break it, and since there was no way to save it for later use, Mary used the whole amount on the anointing of Jesus.
4. It was such a powerfully scented perfume that John tells us the house was filled with the fragrance.
G. All three of the Gospel writers tell us that Mary received criticism for her actions by some guests.
1. Mark reported that some were expressing indignation to one another. (Mk. 14:4)
2. Matthew reported that when the disciples saw it, they were indignant. (Mt. 26:8)
3. John reported that the critic was Judas, the one who was about to betray Jesus. (Jn. 12:4).
4. All of the critics exclaimed that this was such a waste of this fine perfume, and that it should have been sold and the money be used to feed the poor.
5. John reported that Judas said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief who was the disciple’s treasurer and often stole money from the group’s account.
H. There was no need for Mary to defend herself against this criticism because Jesus immediately came to her rescue and defended her.
1. John records Jesus’ words as: “Leave her alone: she has kept it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (Jn. 12:7)
2. Mark records Jesus’ words as: “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for me. 7 You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body in advance for burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” (Mk. 14:6-9)
3. Let’s consider the points that Jesus made in her defense.
a. First, he said she had done a noble thing for Him – kings, priests, and prophets were anointed, and it was a noble thing to be anointed for those roles.
b. Second, Jesus said that they would always have the poor with them and they could do good for the poor whenever they wanted to, but they wouldn’t always have Him with them.
c. Third, Jesus said that she had done what she could – she couldn’t stop Him from being killed, but she had anointed his body in advance for His burial.
1. I don’t think Mary consciously knew that she was preparing Jesus for burial, rather I am sure she was just wanting to show how much she loved and appreciated Jesus for what He had done for Lazarus and for all of them.
2. I don’t think she really understood all that was about to take place and didn’t know that Jesus would be killed in two days and that there wouldn’t be time to prepare Him for a proper burial.
3. The Holy Spirit must have inspired her to do what she did.
d. Fourth, Jesus said that what she did would be remembered forever in memory of her because it will be told along with the Gospel story.
1. How cool is it that we are carrying out Jesus’ prediction this very morning – we are talking about what she did for Jesus in memory of her.
2. But what was it about what she did that was so important that it is to accompany the telling of the Gospel?
3. What Mary did that was so important is that she showed the disciples and us what real love looks like - Mary showed us what real devotion looks like.
4. True love isn’t calculating but is wastefully extravagant - true love spares no expense.
a. It is estimated that the value of that expensive perfume (300 denari) was one year’s wages – that is an extravagant gift indeed!
b. As Kyle Hogan, one of our former teenagers once said while giving the Lord’s Supper mediation: “Love is insane!”
c. True love can cause us to do things that others might call “insane”!
5. True love acts now when the need to act is now.
a. True love does what needs to be done when there is opportunity to do it.
6. The depiction of her love is so central to the Gospel story it will always be told.
a. One thing Mary’s act resembles is the love that was shown all of us when Jesus died on a cross just a few days later.
I. Sometimes we concentrate so much on our own guilt and the necessity of Christ’s sacrifice to bring about our cleansing that we forget how wastefully extravagant, how insane His death for us really was.
1. Paul reminds us in Romans 5, verses 8 and10, that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, and while we were His enemies.
2. God lavished us with the death of His Son – He poured out the precious perfume of His only Son’s blood for us – He spared no expense – He did what needed to be done.
3. But think about how risky Jesus’ sacrifice was and how wastefully extravagant it was.
4. Jesus’ sacrifice paved the way for our salvation, but there was no guarantee that anyone would believe and follow Jesus and be saved through His sacrifice.
5. Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t and doesn’t remove the free will that allows us to receive or reject Christ.
6. Mary did what she did with no guarantee of the consequences and the same is true of God offering His Son up for us.
7. Her act and God’s act were acts of pure devotion, pure love, and risky extravagance.
J. Both Matthew and Mark immediately follow the story of the extravagant giver with the story of the ruthless taker.
1. There couldn’t be a greater contrast between the loving devotion of Mary and the ruthless betrayal of Judas.
2. Mark tells us: 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him. (Mk. 14:10-11)
a. Mark tells us that when Judas approached the Jewish leaders who were looking for a way to arrest and kill Jesus, “they were glad.”
b. Can you imagine how giddy this must have made them?
c. They must have considered it such a stroke of fortune, or in their warped spirituality they likely saw it as a “sign or provision” of God.
d. Little did they know that although this was all a part of God’s plan, it was Satan who was pulling the strings in Judas’ heart and mind.
3. Matthew tells us: 14 Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him. 16 And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him. (Mt. 26:14-16)
a. This scene has been labeled “a cold business proposition” and Judas’ greed is evident from the fact that he went to them and asked them what they would give him to betray Jesus.
b. One wonders how little or much it would have cost to buy Judas’ assistance.
c. In response, those Jewish religious leaders offered Judas 30 pieces of silver.
d. Under the OT Law, this was the price to be paid for a slave who had been killed by an animal (Ex. 21:32).
e. It is also the price predicted by Zechariah the prophet (Zech. 11:12-13).
f. And Zechariah not only named the amount of money involved in Jesus’ betrayal, but he also said that it would be used to purchase a potter’s field, and Matthew later recorded the fulfillment of this prophesy (Mt. 27:6-10).
g. Judas took the money and began to look for the right time to betray Jesus, but Judas didn’t have to wait too long, because a perfect time and place for the betrayal came a little more than a day later.
K. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is surely one of the saddest narratives in all of human history.
1. His tragedy is both a mystery and a common occurrence – for it arose out of the conception, birth and growth of evil in a person’s heart, even as that person lived and walked with Jesus.
2. One of the things that makes Judas’ action so tragic is that he took a beautiful spring of opportunity (look how closely he was related to Jesus), and turned it into a raging river of wickedness.
3. The Scriptures do not go into detail regarding the motives of Judas that prompted this vile deed, rather we are just told about the covenant that he made with those who were intent on killing Jesus.
4. How in the world did Judas descend from a talented, aspiring apostle to a crafty, deceptive traitor? How did he change from a sincere, confident disciple of Christ to a conniving devil?
5. Was the change gradual and subtle, or sudden and overt?
6. Was it the extravagant wastefulness of Mary and Jesus’ defense of her that was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” for Judas that pushed him over the edge?
7. Was Judas’ love of money and his thievery the foothold he had given the devil into his heart?
8. Did Judas have a growing frustration and anger toward Jesus because of the disparity between Jesus’ conception of the kingdom being spiritual instead of physical, and Judas’ desire to force Jesus’ hand in revolt against Rome?
9. I guess we will never know the answer to all those questions on this side of heaven.
L. This act of betrayal is a two-sided drama: Judas makes up one part of it, and Jesus makes up the other.
1. Judas represents all that is bad in the story – avarice, treachery, failure to take advantage of the highest of privileges and opportunities, and the tragedy of allowing the devil to have his way with a person’s heart.
2. Jesus on the other hand, represents all that is good.
a. Jesus’ love does not easily let a person go – it is a love that stays when all others, even long-time friends, have left.
b. Jesus did everything that a holy God acting in concert with human freedom could do to save Judas, but Judas chose a different path.
c. Had Judas, like Peter, turned back to His Lord we would be holding up Judas as another example of a sinner who repented and returned to the Lord, like the prodigal son.
M. As we bring this sermon to a close, let’s consider the eternal lessons we learn from what happened to Jesus during Wednesday of that final week of His earthly life.
1. Let’s be inspired by the example of an extravagant giver, and let’s be horrified by the example of the ruthless taker.
2. And let’s resolve to be like the one and not like the other.
3. Let’s resolve to take every precaution to avoid becoming like Judas and to hold on to the sobering thought: “there go I but by the grace of God.”
a. None of us should ever think “it could never happen to me” or “I would never fall into a sin like that.”
b. Although our God is greater and more powerful than our enemy, we must always retain a healthy fear of Satan and sin.
c. And we must never play with any kind of sin or give sin any place in our lives, and our hearts and minds.
d. The old saying is true, “If you give Satan an inch and he will be your ruler.”
4. On the positive side, let’s resolve to love extravagantly like Mary.
a. As beloved children of God, we are called to imitate our God who not only loves extravagantly but is true love.
b. Can you imagine the difference it would make in our world if everyone loved like Mary and like our God?
c. Imagine if we loved others without calculating the cost, monetarily and otherwise, and what if we did for them what we could when it was needed?
d. If we loved that way, then certainly everyone would know that we are followers of Jesus, because that is how He loved us.
e. God loves us passionately, extravagantly and even wastefully, let’s love in the same way.
f. Learning to love that way means that we are pleasing God and fulfilling all of God’s commands, because God’s commands can be summed up in two – Love God and love your neighbor as yourself – all of God’s other commands hang on those two.
5. What changes or commitments do you need to make today in response to God?
a. I pray that all of us will hear God’s call and obey God’s commands.
Resources:
• Book by Max Lucado, “And the Angels were Silent,” Multnomah, 1992
• Sermon by Roy Terry, “In Memory of Her”
• Truth for Today Commentary, Matthew, Sellers Crain, Jr.
• Truth for Today Commentary, Mark, Martel Pace.
