1 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
An Act Without Moderation
Intuition
Jesus Christ is worthy of our devotion. There is nothing we can give him that would put him in our debt. He has radically outgiven us. He gave himself, his blood, his life so that we might live. He is the great Rescuer and is therefore worthy of our devotion.
Though we know this about Jesus, what this woman did for him is still astonishing. Intuitively, we understand she stands as a shining example of allegiance to Jesus. Across cultures and centuries, this woman's act of worship challenges us. It pleads with us. It calls us to a more devoted life. It beckons us into sacrifice and praise and adoration of Christ.
One reason her act stands out in this way is its total lack of moderation. This is what the people present struggled with when they saw her that day. They couldn't tolerate such extreme devotion. To them, the money could have been given to the poor, and this woman should have thanked Jesus less extravagantly. Many carry this spirit today. We cheer extreme devotion to careers, physical health, musical genius, athletic endeavors, relationships, wealth accumulation, the pursuit of knowledge, etc. But we struggle when someone wants to radically devote themselves to Jesus. Many a young person who's voiced a desire to serve God as their profession has felt the ire of the moderate. You could be anything -- are you sure you want to waste your life on that? We should get better at being moderate where it's foolish to be extreme and extreme where it's foolish to be moderate.
But this is where the woman's story is dangerous. She is so decidedly devoted to Jesus, and her act of worship is so full and rich and instantaneous and demanding and impossible, that we might easily tune her out. She poured out spices on Jesus worth a year of wages. It's too much for us. It's too radical. So, before she has a chance to speak to us, we move on. Appreciate her? Yes. Emulate her? Impossible.
It is this danger I want to avoid today. I hope to show you a bit of how she grew into this devotion toward Jesus. Rather than hope for an instantaneous moment where our hearts produce radical devotion for Christ, I hope we can see ourselves as ever-growing in allegiance to him.
Proverbs 4:18 (ESV) — 18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Slowly, daily, bit by bit, we can become more devoted to him, and this woman's example nudges us in that direction.
The Setting
Before getting into all that, however, I should spend a moment recounting the backdrop of this episode. Mark bookends her beautiful story with two gruesome ones. On the front end, the religious leaders, two days before the Passover, determine to kill Jesus sometime after the Passover crowds dwindle. On the back end, Judas sells Jesus out for a fee, waiting for a moment to privately deliver Christ to those same religious leaders.
These events help us know we are in the final days of Jesus' life. The religious leaders plotted, and within a couple of days Jesus would be nailed naked to the cross.
And the theme of this section is one of abandonment. First, Judas abandons Jesus. Mark draws attention to the odiousness of Judas's act by pointing out he was "one of the twelve" (10). It would be a friend who betrayed our Lord.
But the abandonment of Christ didn't end with Judas. Each one of the disciples eventually fled from him. Even Peter, the Rock, the one who said he'd never deny Jesus, abandoned him in the end. By the time Jesus got to the cross, he was utterly alone. Abandoned by his nation, his friends, and his disciples -- all went astray (Isaiah 53). Even the Father separated himself from the Son because Jesus had to die for our sin alone (15:34). No one else could do the work for him.
The Gift
But there was one woman who stood as a pillar of devotion to Jesus even in the darkest of times. She wasn't one of Jesus' twelve disciples, but a woman who admired Jesus when she could. She did not receive thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus but gave a year's worth of wages to anoint Jesus. She did not sell him out like a slave but served him as her savior. And she is not remembered, like Judas is, for a notorious act, but for one Jesus himself called "a beautiful thing" (6).
How did she do it? How did she become so devoted to Christ?
1. She Thanked Christ For The Past
The episode occurred in the house of someone close to the woman, a man named Simon (3). He may have been a friend or even a brother. Matthew also tells this story in his gospel, and he joined Mark in calling the man Simon the leper (3, Matthew 26:6). Because leprosy would render someone ceremonially unclean in that society, there's no way Simon would have hosted a little shindig unless he'd already been healed of his leprosy.
Hey, wanna go to my friend's house? He's doing BBQ!
Sure. Who are they?
Oh, Simon. He's great. And he has a highly contagious, permanent, and untreatable skin condition.
It seems likely Jesus had cleansed Simon of his leprosy. Now he had become a homeowner in Bethany and a friend of our woman.
But she was likely also thankful to Jesus for making himself accessible to her. Everything about the episode speaks of Jesus reaching those on the outside while those on the inside reject him. The religious leaders and Judas, men who should've been on the inside, rejected Jesus. Even the other disciples didn't understand Jesus' value system or identity when they rebuked the woman's gift.
But the outsiders got Jesus in this story. Simon the leper. This female follower (in an age that didn't value female disciples). Even the city itself -- Bethany and not Jerusalem -- all speak of Jesus making a path for the outsider.
Many moderns pride themselves on holding noble ideals like human rights and equality. But atheism, natural ("God is not involved in any way") evolution, or secular humanism never produces these values. Rome and Greece never produced such thoughts. Jesus Christ had to come to earth and make it plain that all members of the human species are equal in his sight. Like committed Darwinist Richard Rorty once said, the concept of universal human rights came from "religious claims that human beings are made in the image of God. This Jewish and Christian element is gratefully invoked by free-loading atheists like myself." We get our hope for outsiders to be brought inside from Jesus.
But there is one more thing she thanked Jesus for on that day. It's a big one, and it's not found in our text. I've refrained from drawing your attention to it up until now because it's not the basis of Mark's story. The detail he omits is her name, but John's gospel tells us this is Mary, one of Lazarus's sisters. And this dinner was hosted after Jesus raised Lazarus back to life. Both Jesus and Lazarus were the guests of honor.
So this woman, Mary, is overwhelmed with thanksgiving at what Christ has done. He made the unclean clean. He brought the outsider inside. He gave the dead life.
If you want to grow in devotion toward Christ, you must thank him for all three today. He still makes the unclean clean. He still brings the outsider inside. He still gives the dead life.
When we lose sight of Christ's glorious work, we will inevitably fall short of Mary-like devotion. But when the work of his cross is ever-present in our hearts, thankfulness flows, and devotion blooms.
Celebrate Jesus every day of your life. If you are in Christ, if you have trusted in his finished work on the cross, you are clean, you are inside, and you are alive in him. Rejoice.
2. She Trusted Christ With Her Future
The issue the others had with her gift was its enormity. They couldn't believe she gave him something worth three hundred denarii (5). A denarius was a day's wage for a common laborer, so, excluding the Sabbath, three hundred denarii amounted to one year of wages.
That is one valuable gift! Mark tells us it was an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly (3). It was made from a plant found in India, which made it a rare and valuable import to Israel.
How Mary came to possess this flask of ointment is unknown. Women in that culture were usually excluded from careers that could earn enough to make such a purchase. Some have wondered if Mary had received it as a dowry earlier in life. Others have suggested her family was wealthy, and this was an heirloom. And some have wondered if this was her way of saving for the future. Many people in that culture would buy items like this ointment as a method of savings, small objects they could hide, and then produce for sale at the right time.
However she got ahold of this valuable item, it's clear she trusted Christ with her future. With a year of wages in the bank, one could easily begin to trust in their material goods to get through life. But Mary did not want to trust her riches, but Jesus, so she laid it all out before him.
She did not pour out a drop or two, but broke the flask and poured it over his head (3). In a moment, all that wealth, all that value, was gone. She did not hold back her worship but gave Jesus her all. She came in the spirit of King David, who had declared he would not give to the Lord that which cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). Her sacrifice would be worth much because Jesus was worth more.
But think of the trust involved in this level of devotion. As she broke the seal, cracked the flask, and began to pour, I wonder what she thought. Her trust was transferred at that moment -- from the lifeless contents of an alabaster flask to the living, breathing Son of God.
When you put it that way, her decision made all the sense in the world. Though everyone there rooted for moderation, she made the wisest decision she could. With God the Son sitting in front of her, she calculated he would take care of her future much better than the most robust bank account. Dead currency could not lead her like her living Lord.
And as you walk with Christ, moments large and small will come along. The question in these crossroads will be who do you trust? Do you trust the stuff or the equity or the markets or the paycheck or the "responsible thing to do"? Or do you trust Christ?
3. She Worshipped Christ For His Person
The grumbling circulated throughout the room. John's gospel tells us Judas -- the greedy punk who pilfered from the money box -- started the grumbling. He didn't want to give a penny to the poor, but he thought it would be a great way to cast doubt on the wisdom of her gift. "Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor" (4-5). Then they scolded her (5).
This is often how people are. Build a new sports stadium -- super. Build a modest new worship center -- what a waste.
Trick out our living rooms with state-of-the-art technology -- how fun. Buy a new projector for the church -- couldn't we get the cheaper one?
Buy a new SUV for the family fleet -- absolutely. Buy a new van for the youth ministry -- can't they use our old one instead?
Churches have felt the brunt of the scolding spirit found in Simon the leper's house since forever.
But when those men that day said there was a better use for the money, they demeaned Mary, but they also demeaned Jesus. But there is no position too high for him. He is to be preeminent and above all things (Colossians 1:18). This is why Jesus defended her, saying, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me" (6-7).
Don't misunderstand Jesus. He was not indifferent to poverty. He was poor! Nor was he apathetic towards helping the poor. The Bible he authored, the life he lived, and the church he left behind all testify to his care for those with less. No, this is not a Jesus vs. the poor argument. It's an always vs. not always argument (7). Mary -- call it woman's intuition -- knew what they did not. Jesus would not always be around. Poverty, of course, would.
Now, Jesus is the only one who could make such a bold claim. It is a round-about claim to divinity. He had told the scribe the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:). The second is to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:). Caring for the poor is part of that second commandment. But it is superseded by the first. Love God with everything you are. And that's what Mary was doing that day. She loved Jesus. She knew he was worthy of such extravagant love.
Do we know this about Jesus? Do we act as if he's worth the first of everything in our lives? He is. He is worth the first day of the week, the first of each day, the first of our income, and the first of our devotion. And he certainly isn't worthy of the leftovers.
4. She Served Christ As Best She Could
Jesus went on to defend her by saying, "She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial" (8). This is a fascinating statement from Jesus. In it, we learn something about Mary. Her action was the response to a question: What can I do for Jesus? What could I do?
She was not one of the twelve, so she could not do what they did. She was not a prophet, so she could not do what prophets do. She was not a religious leader, so she could not do what they could. She was not Peter or John or Judas or James. She was not Jesus' mother or Lazarus or Simon the ex-leper. She was Mary -- and as she scanned her own life and Jesus' heart, she realized something. Jesus is about to die. I perceive it. I am going to anoint him with burial spices before he dies. I can do that.
As Jesus said, she did what she could.
Too many spend their time in the realm of ideals. They create images in their minds of the ideal actions of faith and discipleship. If I were this or that I would follow Jesus in this or that way.
But the life of devotion is not built on dreams but absolute realities. Who we are and what we are able to do. Not who we wish we were and what we wish we could do. Too much time is spent daydreaming about all we'd do for Christ if our situation were different -- or if we were different. Instead, like Mary, we should ask, what can I do?
By the way, when you do what you can do, watch out. Door after door might open. Soon, you'll find yourself doing more than you ever dreamed.
5. She Loved Christ For His Cross
What she did was anoint Jesus' body beforehand for burial (8). The gospels present Jesus telling his disciples often, especially near the end, about his impending death. But how did Mary know? The gospels present her as always at Jesus' feet. Here, in worship. At Lazarus' death, in prayer. And in Luke's gospel, in study (Luke 10:39). She listened to Jesus teach and teach, all while her sister Martha stayed busy around the house. I think it was during these teaching sessions she gained insight into Jesus' coming death.
Though she could not possibly have known the full ramifications of his death, Mary loved Jesus for what he was about to do. She anointed him for his grave. Already, she was grieving and mourning his death. And I think she trusted Jesus had to die. I think she had listened to him enough to know that God was in control in even the darkest of moments.
To grow in devotion to Christ, you must appreciate the cross. In our modern time, many have attempted to dilute the cross. For instance, some have said Jesus came only as an example of the perfect man. He was killed for being so wonderful, and we should copy his wonderfulness. But he didn't die for anyone's sin; he didn't consume the judgment of God for us. But this only takes away from Christ. Others have said Jesus' death unleashed salvation upon all humanity no matter what people believe. But these universalist dreams only serve to dilute the power of the saving work of Jesus. He does not force his costly blood upon anyone. Salvation is a gift; it must be received. Others have loved Jesus for his gracious stance towards the downtrodden and disenfranchised. They love his attitudes towards power and poverty. But they don't like what the cross says -- that we have all fallen short of God's glory, that the keeping of God's law could never save anyone, and that we will perish without Jesus. But this is the message of his death. And Mary, for whatever she knew about it, loved it.
Conclusion
So Jesus rejoiced over her devotion. He said, "Truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her" (9). When I was a boy, I remember being so impressed with how long my dad could hold his breath underwater. I remember times in my grandparents' swimming pool I was pretty sure he had died, and then -- BAM! -- he sprang out of the water. And I always had my little waterproof to 10 meters digital Casio watch timing him in the background. His time became my benchmark.
Forever, Mary serves as a benchmark of devotion for Christ's church. And her devotion paid off. She made the best and wisest investment she could. And here we are, today, remembering her. Let's continue to do so.