The Week that Changed the World: Palm Sunday
John 12:1–10 NKJV
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”
Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,
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We now come to our observance of Holy Week, in which we remember the week that changed the world. It is traditionally observed starting with Palm Sunday where the triumphant Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey to the accolade of the crowds who strawed both their own outer garments as well as palm branches. This morning, children will parade down the aisles of the church waving palms and hinging “Hosanna.” The palms will later be burnt, and the ashes used for next year’s Ash Wednesday.But what if I tell you that this was not the first event of Holy Week. We as Westerners begin the day at midnight like the Romans did. For practical purposes, we begin the day when we rise from bed. It would only seem natural for us to think that the Triumphal entry begins Holy Week. But the Hebrew Day actually begins at sunset on what we think is the day before. So what event happened at sunset on what we call Saturday and the Jews “Sabbath.” Jesus and His disciples were lodging at what the Gospel of Mark says was a house owned by Simon in Bethany, who was probably the husband of Martha, who in turn was a sister to Mary And Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. It was with these friends in the Village of Bethany that Jesus spent His last Sabbath on earth, resting up before what would prove to be the most momentous week in human history.
We all know that God established the Sabbath to give our bodies and minds rest from labor. Jesus would need all that physical energy for that week where it would be drained along with His life-blood. As we could see from His fainting under the burden of the cross, that this rest was needful.
Another aspect of the Sabbath was upon reflection and prayer. God Himself availed Himself of this time of reflection on the seventh day in which he reflected upon what He created and declared it good and very good. God repeated this idea of rest daily when He communed with Adam in the cool of the day in His palace garden of Eden in which He had placed Ada
m and Eve to care for. So this idea of God’s creation of the heaven and earth is implicit in the Sabbath itself.
Evening had come. The Sabbath was over, and the new day came. The reflection of the previous week and recovery of strength was over. A new week was begun, a week which would change the world forever. It would begin with the evening meal with His host, family and the disciples. Cooking was forbidden during the Sabbath Day, so this was the first opportunity to eat hot food. Normally, this would not be noteworthy in itself. What would be eating a meal be in comparison to the Triumphal entry? did Jesus eat breakfast before setting out on this journey as well. does it matter.
However, it is what happens at the meal which is significant. During the meal. Mary took a alabaster flask of very valuable spikenard, broke the neck of it and began to anoint Jesus’ feet and wipe it off with her hair. The fragrance filled the place. This was more than extraordinary hospitality such as washing the feet of the guests with water and wiping them with a towel. We would have a foot washing later in the week, an ordinary thing which has great meaning in the light of this week which changed the world.
Spikenard was often saved up to anoint the bride for the day of her wedding. Maybe this was in Mary’ hops chest. At any rate, she broke it and lavished it upon Jesus. Interestingly enough, there would be a wedding proposal in this week in John 14 in which Jesus says He was going to make a room in His Father’s house for His bride and would return to receive His bride unto Himself to abide with her for ever.
One more thing is also of interest here. The verb to “anoint” here is not the more usual Greek word of anointing, from which the title “Christ” (anointed one) comes. Rather it is a verb which comes from the word “myrrh.” Myrrh is a burial spice, and before the week was over, His body would be anointed with a princely amount of myrrh in preparation for Jesus’ burial. This link is specifically made when Jesus tells Judas that this was done for His coming burial.
Another thing which would come to sad fruition in the following week was the betrayal of Jesus. Judas, who is called a thief who held the moneybag thought the 300 pieces of silver would be better off in the money bag he carried for Him to abscond with later. Many have tried to redeem Judas thinking that He was trying to force Jesus’ hand to showing himself to be the Messiah everyone was expecting, of which Jesus seemed strangely reluctant to do. within a few days, he would sell Jesus for ten cents on the dollar.
In doing so, he would play the role of Ahitophel. Ahitophel was the most reused advisor of King David who betrayed David which would have led to David’s death apart from God’s intervention. David laments about this betrayal in Psalm 41:9:
Psalm 41:9 NKJV
Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
The specter of Judas; betrayal is alluded here by John adding the words “who would also betray Him” to his description of Judas in this text. This tells us that it was this event concerning the use of the spikenard which led to the betrayal. Matthew and Mark also say as much in their accounts by placing this anointing next to Judas reaching out to the Chief Priests to get money to betray Jesus. Judas ate bread with Jesus this night. the next time He would eat bread with Jesus would be at the Last Supper when Judas, who reclined next to Jesus in one of the two seats of honor would receive bread dipped into a bitter sauce from Jesus and eat. After this, Judas would go out and finish the deed hatched at the meal on the night before the Triumphal Entry. Judas would then leave in the night to betray Him.
When we come this evening’s service to the Triumphal Entry, we need to keep all the things we have studied this morning. We have been tipped off that the Jesus whom the Jews expected was not the Messiah they expected. He was, of course, but not in the way they expected. The cheers would become cries that Jesus should be crucified. The week that would change the wold begins with rejection and betrayal. This is a beginning of emotional upheaval. We will look at several incidents which happened during this week that changed the world as we go through our Holy Week services.
Now that we have set the proper context for Holy Week by showing that it properly begins with the anointing of Jesus for burial, we will be in the proper frame of thought to understand the other events about to unfold. The week begins in the shadow of death and ends with the dead body of Jesus in the tomb while He rested on the Sabbath. We will look at the Triumphal entry, the cleansing of the Temple in the context of the cursing of the fig tree. We will look at Jesus teaching in the Temple, the meaning of the widow’s mite, the Last Supper, arrest, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus. Stay tuned.
(For more details on the anointing of Jesus for burial can be found in the sermon "Jesus Anointed for Burial" in my sermon archive.)
