Most people in our culture seem to think that it’s okay to be religious so long as you don’t take your religion too seriously. Many people today treat religion and faith as a kind of hobby, as if some people are into stamp collecting, some people are into building models airplanes, and other people are into religion. In this way of thinking, religious faith something you do on your spare time, something you do for recreation to relax. That much religion most people in our culture can accept.
But when someone starts taking their faith seriously, that’s when people get worried. When people start to let their faith influence their decisions and their lifestyle choices—who they vote for, how they spend their money, how they raise their kids—that’s when people get nervous. People start whispering words like “fanatic,” “zealot” and even the dreaded word “fundamentalist.” Many people envision people of faith as wide-eyed fanatics storing up extra food and water in their garage while they await Armageddon with guns in their basement.
So when we say that our mission as a church is to reach unchurched people with Christ’s love and to help them grow into fully devoted followers of Jesus, that makes some people a little nervous. “Just get them cleaned up, a little religious, just enough to be good for society, but not fully devoted.” “Fully devoted followers” sounds too radical, too dangerous, too extravagant. Yet when it comes to the Christian faith, nothing less than full devotion to Jesus will do. In fact, the people being baptized today are making a stand to do just that, to live as fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. That’s what baptism is all about, a confession that faith in Jesus isn’t just a hobby or a side interest, but that devotion to Jesus is the consuming passion of the person’s life.
Today we’re going to talk about extravagant devotion. We’re returning to our series through the New Testament book of Mark called Following Jesus in the Real World. We started this series all the way back in the fall, and we took a break right before Easter and until last week. In this series we’ve been learning about how to live as Christians—as followers of Christ—in the midst of the everyday realities of life. We left off before Easter at the start of Passion Week, so we’re going to pick up our series in the 14th chapter of Mark. In the first eleven verses of the 14th chapter we’re going to see an unexpected example of extravagant devotion to Jesus, and how different people responded to that devotion. So take out your outline and turn to Mark 14:1.
1. The Religious Leaders (Mark 14:1-2)
We start by looking at the religious leaders’ growing hostility to Jesus in vv. 1-2. The celebration of the Jewish Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread forms the backdrop to the final days of Jesus’ life. These two holidays helped the Jewish people remember God’s deliverance of Israel from their slavery in Egypt thousands of years earlier. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were Israel’s version of “Independence Day”; it was their celebration of their birth as a nation and their spiritual and social freedom as a people. Back when Jesus lived, every year at Passover hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate this weeklong holiday of liberation.
Normally the city of Jerusalem housed about 65,000 people, just a little smaller than the population of Upland. But during Passover week, the city of Jerusalem was overrun by about 3 million people, roughly the size of Los Angeles. Could you imagine the entire population of Los Angeles coming to visit Upland for a week? Passover was also a time of social unrest, because during this time in Jewish history the nation of Israel was occupied by the hated Romans. Can you imagine an occupied nation celebrating its independence day with 3 million visiting pilgrims? It’s no wonder the Romans beefed up security so much during the Passover, because riots and violence were commonplace during this week of the year.
The religious leaders get together just before the Passover to plot how to get rid of Jesus. Their reasons for such desperation go back to Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when the crowds hailed Jesus as the promised king. The next day Jesus declared that the Jewish temple was barren and under God’s judgment, that the temple had outlived its usefulness and would soon be destroyed. When the religious leaders demanded to know on what authority Jesus was doing these things, Jesus in turn questioned their authority. What made matters worse is that these religious leaders could see that many people were devoted to Jesus, that Jesus wasn’t just a lone threat, but that he wielded growing influence with the people. Jesus and those devoted to Jesus threatened their security, their way of life, their very legitimacy. In order to stay in their position of prominence, they must get rid of Jesus before more people join in extravagant devotion to Jesus.
But they also know that the Passover is a tense time in Jerusalem, that the slightest provocation can cause a riot. And they know that their position with the Romans depends on keeping the peace, keeping the people of Israel under the Roman thumb. So they look for a sly way to arrest Jesus, a way that won’t spark a riot or disturbance.
Here we find one reaction to extravagant devotion. WHEN WE EXPRESS EXTRAVAGANT DEVOTION TO JESUS, SOME PEOPLE WILL FEEL THREATENED.
And the irony of all ironies is that it’s the religious people who are sometimes the most threatened by people’s devotion to Jesus. The chief priest and the teachers of the law—the professional clergy and the Bible scholars—are the very ones plotting the death of Jesus. Often it’s people who are nominally religious who feel the most threatened by extravagant devotion to Jesus.
When two of our earliest church members—Bruce and Bob Erickson—came to faith in Jesus in the early 1970s, they were filled with extravagant devotion. They were invited to teach a Bible study to the youth at the church they grew up in, so they shared the good news of Christ. Afterwards they were told by the pastor that they shouldn’t tell people that Jesus is the only way to God, and they were forbidden from teaching again. That pastor felt threatened by their devotion to Jesus.
During the 1500s many devoted Christians in England were arrested, tortured and killed by the religious authorities. A Christian pastor named William Tyndale dared to dream of translating the Bible into the English language so common people could have access to God’s word. William Tyndale was arrested and eventually burned at the stake by the religious leaders of England for it.
It’s hard for us to understand why it’s sometimes religious people who are the most threatened by extravagant devotion to Jesus Christ, but here we see that it’s nothing new.
2. The Woman (Mark 14:3)
The person who stands out as a model of extravagant devotion is this unnamed woman in v. 3.
Now it’s very important for us to distinguish this anointing story from another anointing that’s recorded in Luke’s biography of Jesus (Luke 7:36-50). Luke’s story takes place while Jesus was still in the region of Judea—prior to this trip to Jerusalem. In Luke’s story, Jesus went to a dinner party at the home of a Pharisee named Simon, and at that dinner there were several other Pharisees. Luke’s story is about a bunch of religious leaders investigating Jesus by inviting him to a meal. In Luke’s story, while they were eating dinner, a woman who had an immoral background came into the home and anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume. Then she washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and her hair as an expression of her repentance from her sinful way of life. According to Luke, Simon the Pharisee thinks to himself, “If Jesus were really a prophet, he’d know that this woman has a reputation as a sinner.” But Jesus doesn’t just know what kind of woman this is, but he also knows Simon’s thoughts. Jesus chastises Simon the Pharisee for his lack of forgiveness and commends the woman for her repentance. Jesus assures the woman that she has been forgiven of her sins, which leads Simon and the other Pharisees at the dinner to accuse Jesus of blasphemy.
Now Luke never gives us the name of the woman in his anointing story, and the rest of the New Testament is silent about her identity. However four hundred years after the New Testament was written a Christian named Ephraim identified Luke’s unnamed woman in Luke’s story as Mary Magdalene (Edwards 413). Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ followers from Galilee who had been set free from demonic activity (Mark 16:9). Ephriam had no biblical basis for his claim, but his speculation stuck. This is why Mary Magdalene is pictured as a prostitute in Christian art and music, even though there’s no biblical support for that idea. That’s Luke’s anointing story.
This anointing story in Mark happened much later than Luke’s story, which indicates that it’s an entirely different event. Now you should know that anointings during special meals were fairly common in the ancient world, so it shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus was anointed during a meal on more than one occasion. This anointing story is recorded not only in Mark, but also in Mathew and John. This event happens during the last week of Jesus’ life while he’s in the town of Bethany, just outside the city of Jerusalem. To make matters more confusing, this anointing also happens at the home of a guy named Simon; but this Simon isn’t a Pharisee, he’s a former leper. Simon the leper is throwing a dinner party for Jesus and for Jesus’ disciples, according to John’s account of this same story.
And the Mary who anoints Jesus in this story isn’t an immoral woman with a shady past, but it’s Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus. In fact, some people think that Simon was Mary and Martha’s dad, since Mary and Martha also lived in Bethany. But this is Mary from Bethany, not Mary Magdalene or the unnamed immoral woman from Luke’s story. And there’s no indication from the Bible that Mary of Bethany was anything but a virtuous, committed follower of Jesus. So while the earlier anointing is about forgiveness of a sinful person, this anointing is about extravagant devotion to Jesus and preparation of Jesus’ body for burial.
Most Christians confuse these two anointing stories, but if we really want to hear what Mark is telling us we need to keep the two different stories separate.
Now this Mary comes in while Jesus and his disciples are having dinner with a guy named Simon the Leper. It’s most likely that Simon is a former leper, perhaps one who had been healed by Jesus (Evans 359). And as they’re eating, Mary comes in and anoints Jesus with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume made of pure nard. No it’s not lard, it’s nard. Nard is an extract from an oil that comes from a rare herb found in India (Edwards 413; Garland 515). Sometimes it’s called spikenard, and it was very expensive in the first century.
Just by way of contrast, the most expensive perfume you can buy today is made by a London based manufacturer called Clive Christian. Clive Christian’s 1872 perfume costs $1,820 for ten milliliters, the equivalent of two grand for two tablespoons. And of course you get a white brilliant cut diamond on the neck of the bottle. In contrast to Clive Christian’s 1872, Mary’s perfume was worth an entire year’s salary for a day laborer, perhaps as much as $30,000 in our currency. Some Bible scholars also believe that Mary’s perfume was a family heirloom. This would make this expensive jar of perfume Mary’s most prized possession. Whoever gave Mary the perfume gave it to secure Mary’s future, to give her something to use to get ahead in the world.
Imagine Mary as a little girl dreaming of how she’d use the perfume. Perhaps she’d wear some of it on her wedding day, or she’d sell it for her husband and her to buy their first house. Maybe she’d use the money to buy a farm or finance her children’s college education. Or maybe she’d keep it and pass it on to her children, for their future. How many ways she must’ve imagined breaking open that alabaster jar of perfume. Yet until now she’s kept it sealed, until now.
Why’d she do such an extravagant thing? I mean she poured out her future, sacrificing her security and her family’s security just to anoint Jesus. I think she did it because she knew Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed One. By anointing him she’s confessing her faith and devotion in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Just as kings of old in ancient Israel were anointed by prophets and priests in private before they took the throne, this woman uses her most priceless possession to anoint Jesus as her king.
This woman is the model of extravagant devotion in this section of Mark. WHEN WE EXPRESS EXTRAVAGANT DEVOTION TO JESUS WE WILL RECOGNIZE JESUS FOR WHO HE TRULY IS.
Extravagant devotion is called for because Jesus is an extravagant Savior. He poured his life out for us, so it makes sense that following him means pouring our lives out for him. Ultimately we express extravagant devotion to him because he deserves nothing less.
You’ve got to understand who Jesus is to pour your whole life out for him. If you’re unclear on who Jesus is, then you’ll find yourself holding back from your devotion to him.
Back in the 1970s when we were buying this property as a church, we had to pay off the loan in three years. The time came for the final payment to be made, and we were $20,000 short of what we needed. Our church gathered together to pray, and Pastor Gary was instructed by the Elder Board to write the check even though we didn’t yet have enough money. Then in the eleventh hour, one family in our church felt God calling them to extravagant devotion. They gave their children’s college fund to the church so we could make that final payment. I’m sure some people thought they were taking all this devotion and generosity stuff a little too seriously, forfeiting their two sons’ college education. But this husband and wife understood who Jesus was in their lives, and they knew that if Jesus wanted their sons to go to college, he would provide the funds. And sure enough, we made the payment because of their extravagant devotion, and they were able to put both their sons through college some years later.
You can’t be devoted to someone you don’t understand or know, so you’ve got to know who Jesus is to devote yourself to him extravagantly.
3. The Bystanders (Mark 14:4-9)
Jesus’ dinner companions were unimpressed by Mary’s devotion. Look at vv. 4-9. This response would understandable if the dinner companions were critics of Jesus, like the Pharisees in the earlier anointing recorded in Luke’s gospel. But John’s account of this same event in Bethany tells us that the dinner companions speaking here were Jesus’ twelve apostles! They look at Mary’s extravagant devotion as a waste, as flushing her future down the drain. John’s account tells us that it was Judas Iscariot who says that it could’ve been sold and given to the poor, and then John adds that Judas was the treasurer and often stole money from the treasury.
They speak harshly to her, telling her that what she’s just done is a stupid, impulsive waste. All the apostles can do is add and subtract the numbers, but they can’t see the love and devotion behind Mary’s action.
Jesus quickly comes to her defense, that she’s done a beautiful thing. In the Greek, he literally says, “She’s done a good work.” Far from being stupid or wasteful, her extravagant act of devotion is a good work.
Jesus’ words here about the poor isn’t intended to give us an excuse to neglect the poor. Clearly caring for the poor is an important issue in both the Old and New Testaments in the Bible. But Jesus is making sure we have first things first, that we’re devoted to Jesus first, and only then can that devotion spill over in our care for others. First we must love God with our whole hearts, and only then can we love our neighbor as ourselves. Love for God always comes first, because only by loving God first can we love our neighbor in a godly way.
Jesus commends Mary’s act, not just because of its value, but because it came from her heart. He says, “she did what she could” (v. 8). It’s helpful to compare Mary’s sacrifice here with the sacrifice of the poor widow who gave her last two copper coins in the temple two chapters earlier in Mark (Mark 12:41-44). In chapter 12 of Mark, Jesus commended the widow, saying, “This poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty” (v. 43). Clearly in both of these events, the issue is the heart of the person who gives, not in the monetary value of the gift. Whether it’s two copper coins or a priceless jar of perfume, what counts is giving what we have, what we are able.
Jesus also views the anointing as preparing his body for his burial. In many ways, Mary’s pouring out of her priceless perfume foreshadows Jesus’ act of pouring out his priceless blood. Both acts were viewed as a waste by others, but both were acts of extravagant devotion, Mary’s as devotion to Jesus and Jesus’ as devotion to us.
It’s interesting that in this story, Mary is the only model of devotion to Jesus. The religious leaders are threatened, the apostles of Jesus are critical, and, as we’ll see in a minute, Judas is treacherous. Mary alone stands as a model of fidelity, of faith, of devotion. This is true of Mark’s gospel in general. While all the men run for their lives when Jesus is arrested, the woman stay close by. The women are the ones who return to prepare his body for burial. The women are the first ones who see the angel and the empty tomb, and the women are the first ones to proclaim the resurrection. In a society dominated by men, this is incredibly significant.
What we find from the bystanders is another reaction to extravagant devotion. WHEN WE EXPRESS EXTRAVAGANT DEVOTION TO JESUS WE WILL BE CRITICIZED.
Jesus’ apostles couldn’t see that the value of Mary’s act wasn’t in its monetary value, but in the spirit in which it was given. When a gift is given out of extravagant love, the gift giver doesn’t stop to think about the price.
When I was thinking about this story, I thought about a scene from the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. At one point in the story an elf who possesses immortality named Arwen gives up her immortality because she’s in love with a human named Aragorn. He protests that she can’t give up, it’s much too valuable. Her family doesn’t understand, and many criticize her for her extravagant devotion to Aragorn, much like the apostles don’t understand the extravagant devotion of Mary to Jesus.
I know of a church in Orange County that spent over a million dollars to build a bridge so people could get to their church easier. Some Christians criticized them for building that bridge, protesting that it could’ve been spent the money on helping the poor or sending out missionaries. But the bridge was built out of extravagant devotion to Jesus, believing that Jesus is the one who was leading them to build the bridge so they could reach more people in their community with the good news of Jesus Christ. That church put up with the criticism of fellow Christians because in the end they had to be obedient to their devotion to Jesus. If you don’t like being criticized, then the path of extravagant devotion to Jesus isn’t for you.
4. Judas Iscariot (Mark 14:10-11)
This leads to a final response to the woman’s devotion in vv. 10 and 11. There’s a contrast in the text between Mary and Judas that drips with irony (Garland 516). Mary comes from outside the inner circle, yet she’s filled with extravagant devotion. Judas comes from within the inner circle, yet he’s filled with treachery. Except for the kiss from Judas later in the chapter, Jesus receives no other expressions of love during his passion week except Mary’s extravagant gift. Judas is willing to sacrifice Jesus to obtain financial rewards for himself, while Mary seizes an opportunity to sacrifice financial rewards out of her love for Jesus. And both Judas and Mary are remembered for what they did. How many little boys are named Judas Iscariot by their parents? Contrast that with the many little girls named Mary.
Why did Judas betray Jesus? Mark doesn’t speculate about what motivated Judas. I think the key is Jesus’ comment about the anointing preparing Jesus for his burial. Apparently it’s finally sunk in that Jesus is going to die, that he will face death at the hands of the Romans. Perhaps in Judas’ mind that was a betrayal of Jesus’ earlier belief that God’s Kingdom was breaking into the world through Jesus. Perhaps Judas thought by forcing a confrontation between Jesus and the religious and political authorities, that it would force Jesus to use his power to bring in his kingdom. Or perhaps Judas has reached a point where he wants out, where he’s tired.
But this is only speculation, and the Russian author Dostoevsky is correct when he says that the causes of people’s actions are usually much more complex than our explanations are (cited in Garland 522). Both Luke’s gospel and John’s gospel tell us that the devil is the one prompting Judas to betray Jesus, as you can see depicted in the painting on the screen.
So Judas makes his deal, and from that point on pretends to be a follower of Jesus as he looks for an opportune time to hand him over.
Here we find out a final thing that happens when we express extravagant devotion. WHEN WE EXPRESS EXTRAVAGANT DEVOTION, WE WILL EXPOSE INSINCERITY IN OTHERS.
The extravagant act by Mary exposed the insincerity within Judas. Now Mary didn’t set out to expose Judas’ insincerity, but her act of extravagant devotion naturally contrasts with Judas’ act of treachery. I suppose this is an unintentional consequence of extravagant devotion to Jesus, that when you’re passionate about Jesus it can’t help but expose insincerity in people who are Christians in name only.
Conclusion
Being a Christian is being a man or a woman full of extravagant devotion to Jesus. After all, the word “Christian” means “Christ follower.” It’s not just picking up religion as a side hobby or putting a fish symbol on your car. It’s pouring out our lives onto Jesus, laying ourselves bare under his Lordship.
I found this vow from a Vacation Bible School curriculum that I felt captured the essence of Mary’s anointing of Jesus. “I will do the best that I can with what I have where I am for Jesus’ sake today.” Is that a commitment you can make today? That’s extravagant devotion to Jesus.
