Mark 14:1–11

Why do the leaders of the Sanhedrin want to arrest Jesus by stealth?

Here they are in Jerusalem, in the middle of the Passover celebration, moments away from the great feast. The city is abuzz with people from Jerusalem, from Judea, from Galilee — many of whom believe Jesus is something special. The Sanhedrin knows that arresting him in broad daylight could start an uprising. So they want to kill Jesus, but they want to wait until there aren't so many eyes around, when the masses have left.

Their intention was to kill Jesus after Passover. But as verses 10 and 11 will show, Judas comes and provides them an opportunity to arrest him in the garden, and in a way he forces their hand. They did not want to arrest Jesus at this time, and yet Judas made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

By the overruling providence of God, Satan entered Judas, Judas betrayed Jesus, and the betrayal of our Lord took place earlier than these politicians wanted. So Jesus is killed while Jerusalem is full of people, at the height of the Passover feast. And then he rises from the dead.

In every way, the counsel and scheming of these religious leaders falls apart. The rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against his Anointed, but he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Sanhedrin want to silence Jesus and end his movement. What they end up doing is glorifying him, making him high and lifted up for the world to see. The placard above his head will read King of the Jews. He will be wearing a purple robe and a crown of thorns.

In Acts 2:36–37, Peter addresses a crowd in Jerusalem as though they had all seen what happened to Jesus — and they are cut to the heart. In Luke 24:18, on the road to Emmaus just after the crucifixion, a stranger is asked whether he is the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know what has happened. Everybody was talking about the death of Jesus, and many were testifying that he had risen.

Man schemes and plots, but the purpose of the LORD stands. They want to work in the shadows, but the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is brought into the light for all to see. Ironically, in attempting to silence him they secure his victory. Because of their foolish and evil plotting, there will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Imagine it. All the men are reclining and eating at the table, and here comes Mary with an expensive stone flask. She walks over to Jesus, snaps the neck off the flask, and pours a pound of it over his head. The smell was so strong that the whole house was filled with the fragrance. Perhaps everyone wondered what she was pouring on him — but the smell gave it away. It was pure nard.

You can imagine the shock on everyone's face. She snaps the neck off the stone container, and instead of one or two drops, a pound of it pours over the head of the Lord and down to his feet. This nard was very expensive, probably a family heirloom with sentimental value. And she smashed the flask, which means it could never be used again. She poured it all out for the glory of Jesus.

I can't help but think about Psalm 133:1–2 — the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. And so Jesus, the King on his couch, is anointed by Mary.

John 12:1–11 records that Mary took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped them with her hair, and that the house was filled with the fragrance.

Taking the accounts together: she anoints Jesus' head, the oil runs down his robes, and then she takes her hair and wipes his feet with the ointment.

Hair is a woman's glory. The feet are the lowest, dirtiest part of the body. What Mary signifies here is that her best — her own glory — is as rags next to the beauty and glory of Jesus.

I can't help but think of John the Baptist, who said he was not even worthy to untie the sandals of Jesus. Jesus is so much higher and greater than us that even the best of men are not worthy of his feet. In the Exodus, when God showed Moses his glory, he only showed Moses his back. It was all Moses could handle without dropping dead.

Just after Jesus' burial, the women come to anoint his body. But he is no longer there — see Mark 16:1–6. He was already anointed, and now no longer in the grave.

Judas seems to be the primary complainer here. He doesn't see a woman giving a gift to Jesus; he sees 300 denarii poured out on Jesus' head, and he is angry, because that is money he thinks should be in his pocket. So, to line his own pockets, he rallies the other disciples and spins this beautiful act into wastefulness and a lack of love for the poor.

There are so many people like this in the world.

Here is an example I have seen play out a few times. Aging parents decide to take a cruise, to go on a vacation — and one of the adult children is upset, because Mom and Dad are burning through the inheritance.

There are people for whom everything is about money. They invite you over for food and calculate how much you eat. You show up at the party and they add up what your purse and shoes cost. You take a vacation and they tally it. You buy a house and they look up the price online. Proverbs 23:6–8 says not to eat the bread of a man who is stingy, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.

This is bad company. The time you spend eating with them will make you sick. What Solomon is saying is that their gifts are not really gifts of blessing; they will later become a source of bitterness.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 tells us that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, and that people will be lovers of self, lovers of money.

Augustine saw the mechanism behind this. Pride happens, he said, when the soul abandons the God to whom it ought to cling “and becomes a kind of end to itself.” Then this: “By craving to be more, man becomes less.” The very lifting up, he says, was already a fall. The moment a person becomes a lover of self, he is already losing himself to his vices, becoming lost in money and greed. This is Judas.

Here this woman — seemingly Mary from John 12 — is giving a precious gift, like the wise men, to the King of kings and Lord of lords. All Judas can think about is how much money he could have made had she given it to him instead.

So here is the twofold warning: be careful about the company you keep, and be careful about the kind of company you are.

Please hear me, loved ones. If you find yourself always thinking about money — what other people have and what you don't — you are on a very slippery slope. Did you know Jesus talks more about money than he does about prayer? This is one of the great snares of humanity. We are told that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Money itself is neutral; it can be used for good or for bad. But a love of money will lead you into all sorts of evil.

And if you find yourself obsessing about money, go to the Lord about it first, because you are in an idolatrous relationship and may need to repent and break some bad habits.

Take hatred as an example. If you are angry at somebody — say someone has really wronged you — one of the fastest ways to get over your anger is to start praying for them. It is hard to stay mad at somebody you are praying for. In the same way, it is hard for money to keep its grip on you once you become a giver.

Change your identity and your habits into those of a giver. Be generous with your time, generous with your resources, support the church financially — and then let it go. If you do something for somebody, do not expect it to come back. Treat your generosity as an act of worship unto the Lord. Fairly quickly, your relationship with money will begin to change.

Judas thinks he knows how this woman should spend her money. Something I have realized over the years is that people are very opinionated, and very generous, with other people's money.

A few years ago the Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson, bought his offensive linemen very nice watches for Christmas, and he caught criticism online for it — that the money could have gone to local communities instead. It annoyed me. Who is anyone to tell somebody how to be charitable?

We are seeing the same instinct in the socialist movement in this country. They want to tax the rich. They want student loan forgiveness — which comes from the taxpayers. They demand rent forgiveness, which means they demand the generosity of property owners. They want free healthcare and free education, which means the people who spent years and years earning their degrees will have to take pay cuts to provide it.

People are very generous with other people's money. This is the heart and the selfishness of Judas.

Consider the logic. If John 12 describes a different event, then this one is not nearly so shocking, because apparently a number of people have 300 denarii worth of nard lying around. Both anointings prepare Jesus for his burial. And the disciples grumbled in exactly the same way twice.

Jesus says it is an anointing for burial, so that should be our primary understanding. But there is also an interesting connection in John's Gospel with Mary.

The Mary at the garden tomb is of course a different Mary from the one here in John 12. But both seem to be a picture of the church, and both have an interesting connection to the Song of Solomon. Nard is mentioned in the Old Testament only in the Song of Solomon:

“While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.”Song of Solomon 1:12

The lover in the Song of Solomon is described as a king, one whom the woman anoints with nard. So Mary here, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is described like the woman of the Song, who anoints her lover.

Then, at the end of John's Gospel, Jesus rises from the garden tomb. There is temple imagery there, and Garden of Eden imagery. And here is the interesting part: the Song of Solomon ends with a woman in a garden, calling for her beloved. In John, the woman finds him — Mary Magdalene finds Jesus in the garden and holds on to him. So especially in John's Gospel, the Marys serve as a picture of the church.

Then there are the carnal spectators, who do not understand, and who look at this as a waste. Please hear me: this world often views piety as a waste, as bonds and shackles.

I remember having a conversation with my old neighbor years ago. His wife and his kid used to drive him nuts, so he would sit on his back deck after work, chain-smoke cigarettes, and play Clash of Clans on his phone for what seemed like hours. Sometimes I would go and talk with him, and he often spoke to me as if I were in some sort of Christian prison — as if my devotion were keeping me from the good life that he had.

Think about it. If a man or woman devotes their time to a career, to worldly pursuits and possessions, nobody points a finger and calls it wasteful. If a man spends 50 years climbing the corporate ladder, his Friday nights at the bar, his Saturdays on the boat, his Sundays at the golf course, nobody bats an eye. But let a man or woman devote themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ — they won't get drunk, they won't cheat on their spouse, a young person won't have sex before marriage, they are at church on Sundays, they are home with their families more, they dress modestly — and suddenly this person is a fanatic, under legalistic bondage.

Do you see? This world has very strong opinions about what is worth a person's time and affection. It has no problem with too much wealth or power or sex or influence. It has a problem with too much religion, too much love for Jesus.

But don't listen, loved ones. Never seek your validation, or derive your worth, from the approval of man; it will consistently fail you. Pursue Christ and the things of Christ, and let men say what they will.

To be blunt: how foolish and pitiable it is when someone believes that chasing money or sex or worldly approval is greater than living for the One who made him. I say this all the time, but you will never meet a happy selfish person. Yes, it is nice having money, nice having nice things — but that will run its course. Living for the Lord, pouring your oil upon him, holding nothing back — this is the good life. For it is better to give than to receive, and in his presence is fullness of joy.

And set personal satisfaction aside for a moment — think about what Jesus Christ is worth. You can never give too much to the One who saved your soul. Think about how much he has done for you. There is nothing too costly to give him.

Maybe a question we should ask ourselves from today's text is this: is there anything too costly to give to Jesus?

“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?”Psalm 116:12

The more we behold the glory of God, the face of Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation — the more we grow in godliness and in the knowledge of the glory of God — the more we wish we could offer him.

Loved ones, the older I get and the more I understand, the more I wish I could do. The more I think about not wasting the time I have left, the more I long not to waste my talents, my money, my affections on the things of this world. I want to step into eternity having broken the alabaster box, having snapped the neck off the fragrance bottle, holding nothing back from our Lord.

The disciples here stand in contrast to Mary's faithfulness, to her disciple's heart. And here is something we see in politics all the time — public manipulation 101: find the perfect victim to advance your agenda.

Notice that the disciples are plainly in sin, and that Judas wants to line his own pockets. Instead of being honest about his greed, he finds the perfect victim to advance his cause. Look at the poor, he says. Think how many homeless shelters we could have built, how many meals we could have served.

Manipulators so often pull out the worst cases, the most vulnerable, and exploit them for their own power. But Jesus looks right through it and tells them to leave her alone.

He is not indifferent to the sufferings of the poor. The Bible is full of admonitions to show mercy to the poor and to care for the downtrodden, and Jesus is not changing his stance here.

What he is saying is that there will always be poor people to lift out of poverty, always someone to give to — but the Twelve will not always have Jesus. He was about to die and ascend into heaven. The poor will always be there to help; Jesus will not always be there to anoint. Now is the time to pour oil on his earthly body, for soon he will be gone. When he is gone, then you can turn to the poor.

This is similar to Jesus' teaching about fasting in Mark 2:19–20: that there will come a time to fast, but not while the bridegroom is present.

One of the questions I have is this: did Mary understand that Jesus was going to be killed soon? I think she did. Women in the Gospels often had more spiritual insight than the men, especially in Luke's Gospel.

Jesus says, wherever the gospel is proclaimed, in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Why is what she has done worthy of such commemoration?

Perhaps because she expended such a lavish gift upon Jesus. In that regard she is an example of faithfulness for the whole church to follow, and I believe that is the main thing. This woman stands as a picture of true discipleship.

But there may be something more. She appears to be the first person to realize what the gospel truly is. This is the last time Jesus says gospel in Mark, and the context is his burial. So it could be that she is the first to grasp that the gospel is centered on the death of Jesus. Perhaps her lavish gift is not the only thing we should remember, but also her spiritual insight — she may well have recognized that Jesus was about to die, and that this was part of the good news.

I don't know. But either way, we are to remember the beautiful thing our sister has done.

Remember, the Sanhedrin wants to kill Jesus, but not until after the feast. Now, two days before the Passover, Judas provides them an opportunity — a convenient time — to arrest him in the garden. In a way, Judas forces their hand. He made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

It should also be noted that Judas was not approached — Judas went. This was a calculated betrayal, and one he meant to profit from.

Judas failed Jesus. But in the garden, so did many of the disciples. They all ran away; Peter denied him. Judas, however, is especially condemned — not only because Satan entered him, but because he was a thief, and because he premeditated the arrest of Jesus.

There is a big difference in the Bible between someone who sins in the heat of the moment and someone who plans out evil. Peter denied the Lord because in that moment he was a coward. He wanted to stand with the Lord, but his fear got the best of him. Judas manipulated and schemed; for days he plotted. That is a different thing, and an especially evil one.