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The Good News of Jesus

02/07/2010 - What a Waste!, Mark 14:1-11

Next Sunday is Valentine's Day. Can you believe it, February 14 already? Of course, that shouldn't surprise us since it seems like every store puts up their Valentine's display the day after Christmas! And as soon as Valentine's Day is over everything will go green to get us ready for St. Patty's Day and after St. Patty's Day it will be Easter and on and on it goes.

But I've been getting a bunch of emails and hearing more and more radio ads trying to convince me to buy flowers or candy or cookies or perfume or something for that special someone in my life. And if I'm smart, I will! And guys, if you're smart you will too. Don't say I didn't warn you!

And some gifts are more expensive than others. Certainly perfume can get pricey. This week I discovered the four most expensive perfumes in the world. In fourth place is Chanel No. 5. It's called number 5 because it was part of a series of perfumes that was created for Coco Chanel back in 1921. It's the perfume of the stars and the top selling fragrance of all time. In fact, a bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold every 30 seconds and you can buy 15.2 oz. for a mere $1,850, which actually is a good deal when you see the prices of the others coming up.

I couldn't pronounce the French name of the third most expensive perfume so let's skip over that one to number two which is actually called Clive Christian No. 1. The perfume is an extravagant combination of Indian jasmine, mandarin, and sandalwood. It comes in a handmade 2 oz. lead crystal bottle with a 24-karat gold-plated sterling silver neck topped with a solitaire diamond all for $2,350 for 2 oz., which makes it the most expensive perfume you can buy off the shelf and the one worn by Katie Holmes for her wedding to Tom Cruise.

But none can compare to Clive Christian's Imperial Majesty. It's the most costly smell in the world created from 200 rare ingredients and poured into the most expensive perfume bottles anywhere decorated in 18 carat gold and topped with a 5 carat white diamond. Only ten bottles of Imperial Majesty have ever been made and Clive Christian owns five of them. I guess there's not much of a market for 16 oz. of perfume that costs $215,000.

Now if you're interested in the details about how to get some Imperial Majesty for your sweetheart this Valentine's Day you can see me after we're done and I can give you all the details that I discovered this week, but I'll probably talk to you about the mortgage we have to pay off first!

This morning we continue our journey through the gospel of Mark with a story about perfume, very expensive perfume that some argued was wasted on Jesus. If you have a Bible turn with me to Mark 14:1-11.

Now if you've been here the last month or so you know that we just survived three weeks of teaching on Mark 13 which some have called one of the most difficult chapters in the New Testament. In it Jesus describes the destruction of the Jewish Temple, the judgment that was to come on the Jewish nation, and the tough times that were ahead for his disciples in the not too distant future. A lot of heavy duty stuff was coming down in the next forty years and history tells us that it all happened just like Jesus said it would.

But if the storm clouds are gathering over Jerusalem in Mark 13, then they are certainly gathering over Jesus in Mark 14. Because the fate that Jesus predicted for the Temple, that it would be destroyed at the hands of its enemies, is exactly the same fate that Jesus himself is about to experience. His temple is about to be destroyed just as he said it would in John 2:19, 21 "Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days ...." ²¹But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

Jesus was going to be killed and he knew it. In many ways Mark 14 begins the steep climb to the cross. From this point on Mark's story is almost completely focused on the coming crucifixion of Christ. If the end was near for the Jewish Temple, it was even nearer for Jesus.

And just like the Roman general Titus didn't want to destroy Herod's Temple in AD 70, so the chief priests and the teachers of the law and even Pilate himself didn't want to destroy Jesus, at least not during Passover week. But it happened. And once again we see the sovereign hand of God in control over all of these chaotic events which always gives me hope that God's sovereign hand is in control over all the chaotic events of our world or even all the chaotic events of our own lives. God's script is being fulfilled just as it had been written.

Look at Mark 14:1-2, Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. ²"But not during the Festival," they said, "or the people may riot."

Remember, this is Passion Week, Holy Week, the last week of Jesus' life. And now it's Wednesday, two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

The Feast of Passover began at sundown on the 14^th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan. It did then and it still does today. It always corresponds to the full moon in that month. The Hebrew calendar was a lunar calendar and so on our calendar Passover falls differently every year. Last year, Passover was on April 9, this year it will be on March 30, and in the year Jesus died scholars believe that it fell on April 3.

The Festival of Unleavened Bread began with Passover and then lasted for a week. So for seven days the Jewish people were not to do any work and they were to eat only unleavened bread. The whole week was set aside to remember how God had miraculously delivered his people out of bondage to slavery in Egypt.

Passover time was freedom time. It was a time when nationalistic fervor ran hot. It was a week that every year threw a spotlight on the fact that the Jews were not completely free, but in bondage to Rome. And Passover would be a great time for a new Exodus that would set them free from Roman rule and that new Pharaoh called Caesar, which all made Rome very nervous. So each year extra troops were sent to Jerusalem to be quartered in the Fortress of Antonia overlooking the Temple. The Romans knew that at Passover time anything could happen and so they took no chances.

Passover, the Feast of Pentecost in May, and the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall were the three annual feasts or festivals that the Law required Jewish men to celebrate in Jerusalem. And so they would come to the holy city from all over the world bringing their families and their sacrifices with them.

It was the dream of every Jewish person to eat at least one Passover in Jerusalem before they died. Josephus, the historian who witnessed the destruction of the Temple, recorded that at one Passover as many as 265,500 lambs were slain. And since the Law required that each lamb feed a minimum of ten people there must have been close to three million people in Jerusalem. The place was mobbed.

The last act of Jesus' life was played out in a city crammed with people from all over the world. Passover was the biggest stage Jesus could have chosen for his final showdown with the religious and political authorities. And they knew that, which is why they didn't want to arrest him and kill him during the festival because things could get ugly. There were tons of people around and there could easily be a riot. But once again we see the hand of God at work as these events unfold.

Look at verse 3, While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

It seems all week long Jesus had been commuting back and forth from Jerusalem to the little village of Bethany. That's where Lazarus lived and also where Simon the Leper lived. Simon is a very common Hebrew name, Peter's name was Simon, there was Simon the Zealot another one of the apostles, Simon of Cyrene the man who carried Jesus' cross, Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7, but this is Simon the Leper.

We don't know much about Simon the Leper. In fact, this is the only time he's mentioned in the New Testament. But how would you like to have your name linked with a terminal disease especially the stigma of leprosy which to many in that culture meant that you had been cursed by God? We know Jesus healed lepers and Simon the Leper must have been one of those he healed. Otherwise he wouldn't be living in a house in Bethany because lepers were quarantined and separated from the community.

And while Jesus is reclining at Simon's table which is the way they ate in those days, leaning on their left elbow and eating with their right hand, a woman comes up behind him with a jar of very expensive perfume made of pure nard.

Nard was precious oil that was found in the root of a certain plant that grew in the Himalaya Mountains and was imported all the way from India. This was a very unique and expensive bottle of fumes that may have been an heirloom, passed down from generation to generation as the family inheritance. But she breaks it and pours it over Jesus' head. And when she does you could have heard a pin drop and seen a few jaws drop too.

Look at verse 4, Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.

This unnamed woman, whom John in his gospel calls Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, takes a pint of perfume he says and drains the whole thing on Jesus. Now this wasn't Imperial Majesty worth $215,000 a bottle, but it was worth a year's wages.

Think of what you make in a year? That's how much this bottle was worth. At the bottom of the page in my Bible there's a footnote that says it was worth 300 denarii. A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer at that time, so 300 denarii was about a year's worth of income. Some have suggested that in today's economy it would be worth about $30,000. Apart from my house I don't own anything, including my cars, all three put together, that's worth $30,000. That was a lot of money.

Again it's John who tells us that is was Judas who piped up and said, "Why this waste of perfume?" which, by the way, are the first recorded words we have anywhere coming from the lips of Judas and they certainly have an edge to them. John goes on to add in John 12:6 that, He (Judas) didn't say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

"This jar should have been sold and the money given to the poor so I could've taken my cut too." That's what he meant! And the other disciples were like, "Yeah, he's right. What are you doing, Mary? Are you crazy? What a foolish thing! What a waste! Right, Jesus?"

Of course, they all assumed that Jesus would agree with them, but he doesn't. Look at verse 6, "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

Wow! What a response! Jesus wasn't on board at all with what they were saying. He actually quotes Deuteronomy 15:11 that says, There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward those of your people who are poor and needy in your land.

"Time out! Back off!" Jesus says, "Stop hassling her! She did a beautiful thing for me. You can help the poor anytime you want and you should be openhanded toward them, but you won't always have me around." In other words, there's a time to help others who are less fortunate and there's a time to worship. And this is the time to worship.

Somehow Mary got it. She understood the urgency of what was going to happen to Jesus. The disciples were way too wrapped up in themselves and their own agendas to come to grips with the fact that Jesus was about to die. The bridegroom was going to be taken away. His temple was going to be destroyed. They didn't get it, but Mary did.

She probably didn't know when, but she sensed the end was near. It was customary in that culture to wash and anoint a dead body before burial and that could take hours, but there would be no time for that to happen after the crucifixion. Jesus was buried quickly before the sunset on Friday night. And so this served as the anointing that prepared his body for burial ahead of time. And ever since then Jesus has made good on his promise that wherever the good news is preached throughout the whole world this story will be told in her memory.

And so just like the widow who gave her last two mites to the Temple, everything she had to live on, the investment that these two women made keeps on paying dividends two thousand years later. Somehow in the gospels it seems to me like the women always get it, but the men don't ... at least right away!

And I think there are some lessons here for us as we strive to follow and serve Christ. First, I believe that nothing we give to Jesus goes unnoticed whether it's our time, our talents, our treasure, nothing. Whatever we give to Jesus is noticed and will be rewarded.

In Matthew 10:42 Jesus says, And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, truly I tell you, that person will certainly be rewarded.

I believe that cup of cold water could be a lot of things. I think it applies to gifts given to the work here at Valley View or food given to PACS and Schwenksville and other agencies, clothes given to the shelter and the Salvation Army and Purple Heart, items given to Liberty and Goodwill and other organizations, donations made to Haiti and other needy places, monthly gifts sent to support children through World Vision or World Relief or Compassion International and I could go on and on. Be openhanded toward those who are needy in your land.

And those are just the tangible gifts we give not to mention the time we spend serving in all kinds of ways and using the talents that God's given us for the work of his kingdom. Jesus sees it all. In fact, in Matthew 25 we read that Jesus even notices things we do that we don't even notice. But all of it will come out into the light when Christ returns to set up his kingdom.

Second, I believe that nothing we give to Jesus is wasted. That's what everybody in the room thought was happening here. Why this waste? But that's not what Jesus thought. The $30,000 that came out of the bottle that day was not wasted on Jesus. In fact, Mary is still receiving a commission on it two thousand years later.

Someone has said that the best thing we can do with the most expensive thing that we have is to give it to Jesus because nothing that we give to Jesus is ever wasted. Did you hear that? Let me say it again. The best thing we can do with the most expensive thing that we have is to give it to Jesus because nothing that we give to Jesus is ever wasted. I believe that's true.

But let me warn you, if you ever feel prompted by the Spirit of God to do something extravagant for Jesus, reckless for Jesus, out of the box for Jesus, be ready for that same reaction often from people that really care about you. You will be criticized. Not all of us are called to pour Imperial Majesty over Jesus' head, but if we see someone else doing it we need to respect it and not be critical of it.

The story ends with the stark contrast of Judas Iscariot. Mary was "wasting" her money on Jesus while Judas wanted to make money on Jesus. Look at verse 10,Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

We're going to hear a lot more about Judas in the weeks ahead. But this is a turning point for him. He's now become an informant and crossed over to the dark side. In a city that had swollen to almost three million people during Passover week he's going to be valuable ally to those who want to find and arrest Jesus.

And next week when we look at the Last Supper, the first Lord's Table, we'll feel the tension in the room when Jesus says, Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me - one who is eating with me. And speaking of the Lord's Table that's where we're heading right now.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.