Let’s begin this morning with a multiple choice question:
If you could become any one of these four people, which would you choose?
(a) The richest, most successful businessman in the world;
(b) The most popular, most attractive movie star in the world;
(c) The president of the United States;
(d) A poor orphan in southern Africa.
Which do you choose?
Some of us might have a hard time choosing between a, b, and c; but is there anyone here this morning who would pick d?
Let me change the question: You now have the same four choices, except if you choose a, b, or c, you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. If you’re the aids orphan, you do. Which do you choose now? Is the choice hard?
Do you see what I’m asking? How much is Jesus worth?
• Is knowing Him worth more than all of Bill Gates’ fortune?
• Is knowing Him worth more than all the fame or power of a movie star or a president?
Today we are going to look at Mark 14. This passage is like a play - there are four main characters or groups of characters, all revolving around Jesus, but they all look at Jesus in different ways.
They all attach a different value to Jesus. The characters are:
• The chief priests and the teachers of the law (v.1)
• An unnamed woman (v.3)
• Judas Iscariot (v.10)
• The other disciples (v.17)
The passage divides itself into FOUR scenes.
Now the context of Mark 14 - this is the last week of Jesus’ life. From the very beginning of His ministry there has been conflict with the chief priests, but now it is all coming to a head. Jesus has cleared the moneychangers from the temple - implicitly saying that those who are responsible for the temple - the chief priests -- are not doing their job.
Scene 1: The Chief Priests and their Associates [read 14:1-2]
At this time, Passover was the Jewish festival most widely attended. We don’t know how many Jews who lived in surrounding areas and other countries flooded into Jerusalem, but at least a few hundred thousand, and possibly more than a million. Among these would be many who had heard Jesus speak, and many who had welcomed Him so gladly on Palm Sunday.
So the chief priests want to avoid arresting Him during the festival – not to preserve the sanctity of the feast but to minimize opposition to their move. That’s why “they were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.”
They are preoccupied by their own plans. They’ve heard Jesus’ teachings, they’ve seen His miracles. But they were so bent on doing their own things and fulfill their desires.
HOW MUCH IS JESUS WORTH? Jesus meant nothing to them. Getting what they want is all that drives them. Many of us may not remove Jesus from our lives in that way, but we have actually literally removed Him from our lives – we don’t talk to Him, we don’t come to church, and we don’t read what He says. He has nothing to do with us. Jesus meant nothing to us! We may not admit it, but we’re living that way.
Scene 2: At Simon the Leper’s House, with an Unnamed Woman [read 14:3-9]
The next scene was a surprise. To the woman, Jesus meant everything to her.
Picture the scene: Jesus and his disciples, possibly with other guests are eating at the home of Simon the Leper - presumably a former leper whom Jesus had healed. They are reclining around the table, as was the custom, lying with their feet away from the table, resting on their left arms, using their right hands to eat. The table is short, perhaps a foot high.
During the meal a woman enters the room carrying an incredibly expensive jar of perfume. She not only opens the jar, but breaks it – the fact that it was broken means she intends it to be given entirely for Jesus! The whole room was filled with the aroma.
John’s account also tells us that she does not stop at his head, but pours the perfume on his feet, and wipes those feet with her hair.
The plant that produces nard at this time was grown only in the Himalayas, and so the perfume is very expensive. If the stated value of 300 denarii (a year’s wages) is accurate, this would be about S$25,000 today. Nard was literally a gift for a king.
No wonder someone complained. John tells us it was Judas who started it – and then the disciples chip in. He rebuked Mary for this waste. But Jesus accepts this offering, and silences her critics.
HOW MUCH IS JESUS WORTH? An entire year of your time and work; a year’s salary.
Priceless! He is the KING in my life.
Scene 3: Judas and the Chief Priests [read 14:10-11]
You can see where his heart was. He has been thinking only about money. He will get it at all costs, even if it meant betraying Jesus.
Chief priests are delighted, their problem is solved. They wanted to arrest Jesus somewhere quiet, away from the crowd. Now Judas can inform them of the right time, at the right place.
Matthew tells us the amount of money they offered him: 30 pieces of silver, probably a few thousand dollars. According to the OT, this is the price that the owner of an ox would have to pay the owner of a slave, if his ox killed the slave. So Judas sells Jesus for the price of a slave.
In this culture, to be betrayed by one "who is eating with me," who "dips with me in the bowl" was considered particularly treacherous. To eat with someone implied friendship, trust, and an obligation to help and protect. So by speaking of their eating together, and saying that the betrayer is "one of the twelve," Jesus is emphasizing the greatness (enormity) of the evil of what is happening.
Judas was loved by Jesus, taught by Him and traveled with Him for three years. But now, he sells the most precious friend in the world for the price of a slave.
The woman offered the price of a King’s worth to Jesus. Judas received the price of a slave for Jesus.
HOW MUCH IS JESUS WORTH? Just a few thousand dollars. The price of a slave. Jesus is only important to him as long as he needs him.
We make use of Him. He is of worth only if He is useful to me – when I am sick, when I need help…
When life is good and everything is fine, and I’ve gotten what I want, then He is of little worth to me.
Frankly, that’s the mindset of many nominal Christians, or carnal Christians. Only when they needed something, some help, then you’ll see them rushing back to God, to church.
Listen to what Jesus said in 14:21 “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
For what he does, Judas’ name will be remembered, for all times, as the traitor, the betrayer of the Son of Man. Yet in contrast, Jesus’ comment about the woman was: “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (14:9) She too will be remembered. Her name too will live for all time, but in a completely different way.
Scene 4: Jesus and the Disciples, at the Last Supper [read 14:12-21]
They were the ones who would eventually understand Jesus and sacrifice their whole life for Him.
Right now, they were still struggling to understand what was going on. They were His faithful followers. Jesus instituted the Last Supper, and revealed to His disciples in the clearest way so far, that He is going to die – body broken, blood shed - for them and redeem them from their sins.
It was here that we have the clearest DEFINITION of His worth.
Well, I can say that Jesus is of worth to me because He can heal me from my sicknesses, He can help solve my life problems, He can give me comfort when I am sad, He can provide what I need…
He can do 101 things for me! But that’s not where His true worth lies.
E. V. Hill preached on “When was God at His best?”
• Creation – He spoke and things come into existence. Let there be light and there was light. He creates out of nothing!
• Egypt – when He delivered 2mils pp out – 10 plagues – splitting of the Red Sea. Look at the power of God.
• Christmas – God incarnated Himself, coming into a small planet Earth, born in a manger, the One who carries the Universe is being carried by human hands.
• Cross – He suffered and died for mankind, that’s the greatest act of love ever imaginable. The whole of human history has been divided by the cross. We take our reference from the cross.
• No. God was at His best, when He enters my life and dwell in my heart! The moment I accepted Jesus Christ, He enters my life. He dwells here. My life was forever changed! He turns me right-side up, and removes my sins. As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed my sin from me (Ps 103:12).
He can be on the cross and nothing happens to you. You may still be in your sin, with great unbelief in your heart, and nothing has changed. Jesus has already died on the cross and rose again, but we still walk down the street not changed and not saved. Why? Because I did not receive Him by faith!
But the moment you accept Jesus Christ, you’re completely changed. A new creation! Not even a remaking of the old, but entirely new!
That defines His worth! He changed my life, completely inside-out, right-side up.
We must see that all the time! And treasure Him!
Conclusion
Which characters in these few scenes do you identify with? Are you sold out to Jesus?
Or are you just sold out? The woman was sold out to Jesus. Judas was sold out.
What’s the price tag you give to Jesus? Is He really precious to you?
How would you express your love or devotion to Jesus today?
Consider what is your “jar of perfume” today? Do you have one that you’re still holding on to?
Or are we like Simon’s dinner guests - calculating, "Oh, that’s too much to give to Jesus! We’ll give him our worship on Sunday, and a tenth of our income (maybe); that should be enough.”
Actually, you don’t owe him something. You owe Him everything.
Each time we take the communion, remember you owe Him your entire life!
Somehow, in giving to Him we find ourselves receiving much more in return. God bless us with real love, joy, peace – the things that the world craves for but cannot find. No wonder Jesus says He came to give us an abundant life.
* * * * * * *
What the circumstances we’re going through, whatever man tries to do in our lives, rest assured that Christ is still in control, and everything, every single act, can only be carried out through His sovereign will. Isn’t that comforting?
Mark clearly presents Jesus as in control of the situation. Jesus is not surprised by anything that happens.
• The chief priests are trying to move secretly, on the sly, but Jesus knows their plans and arranges matters so that His arrest does not take place until He has finished His other works.
• Judas thinks he is fooling the other - and he succeeds in fooling his fellow disciples. But Jesus knows of the betrayal, and lets Judas know that He knows.
• Even the preparation of the Last Supper was His doing - to see a man carrying a jar of water is an unusual event, because in their custom, women carry water jars, not men. Jesus again showed us His sovereignty and foreknowledge of events.
So, yes, I would rather be a poor orphan in a developing country – and know Jesus - than the richest man in the world, and not know Him. What about you?
