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Jesus - Nothing is More Worthy - Mark 14:1-11

Sermon Series: Spare Me the Details - Just Give Me Jesus

Have you ever wrestled with devoting too much of yourself to something?  I have.  My wife and I got married in June of 2001.  Right after that we became season ticket holders for NC State football.  At that time the Wolfpack had a very charismatic coach named Chuck Amato and the best quarterback in the country, Philip Rivers.  The NC State fanbase (myself included) had never been so excited about football (NC State was traditionally more of a basketball school) and it was all that me and my buddies wanted to talk about.  But my devotion to NC State football took a toll on my wife and our relationship.  My wife began to feel like she was less important to me than NC State football was.  She felt like I was giving most (if not all) of my free time and attention to football and that she was stuck with what was left over.  After she came to me and expressed her feelings I realized that I had devoted too much of myself to football and not nearly enough to her.  I was going to have to make some changes and make sure that I did a better job of devoting more of myself to my wife and making sure that she knew she was of foremost importance to me.

To be honest most things in life just aren’t worthy of our greatest devotion.  They aren’t necessarily bad things, but in the end they aren’t things that have eternal significance.  It may not be bad to enjoy NC State football, but when we devote ourselves to things like that they can become ‘practical idols’ for us.  Whether we admit it or not they become objects of our worship.  Even in the case of our spouses we have to be careful.  Should we be devoted to our spouse?  Should we love and treasure them greatly?  Should we demonstrate that on a daily basis?  Absolutely!  But we must still be careful not to give our greatest devotion to our spouse.  He or she, just like us, is a created being who wrestles daily with sin and to make him or her our greatest treasure is to make him or her an object of our worship too.  We need to be careful about what it is that we fully devote ourselves to.  History and culture have offered us many options to choose from, but there is only one that will do.  Our passage this week speaks to this topic.

As chapter 14 begins the reader enters into a new portion of Mark’s gospel account.  We will observe as Mark moves forward from this point that he begins to turn his attention to the passion of Jesus (i.e. the suffering of Jesus) as well as the burial and resurrection.  Mark begins chapter 14 with the words, “It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.”  This is important for our understanding if we are going to understand why the religious leaders are behaving in certain ways.  More on that in just a second.  The second part of verse 1 says, “and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill Him.”  Mark’s gospel sheds some interesting light on the motivations behind the arrest, suffering, and ultimately the death of Jesus.  Notice first of all who some of the driving forces are behind it.  According to Mark it wasn’t the Jewish people as a whole who were seeking to destroy Jesus.  One of the groups that seem to have played a significant role was the religious leaders – the chief priests and the scribes.  Mark points them out specifically as those who were trying to arrest Him and kill Him.  But why?  That’s the significant question that we have to try to answer.  And while the answer to the ‘why’ doesn’t lie in these two verses, Mark has already provided the answer for his readers.  Turn back a few chapters in Mark’s gospel to Mark 11:15-19.  In those verses we saw Jesus driving out live-stock and merchants and overturning tables of money changers, all of whom had set themselves up in the temple, in the court of the Gentiles.  We noted earlier when we worked through those verses that Jesus was condemning the temple and what was taking place there.  The Gentiles’ place of worship and prayer had become a place of business and extortion where the merchants and religious leaders were taking advantage of those who had traveled to the temple to worship and offer sacrifices by using the convenience of purchasing sacrifices at the temple as a means to fill their pockets.  Jesus saw this taking place and judged both the temple and those who had been given charge of it.  Mark tells us in 11:18 that when “the chief priests and the scribes heard it” that they “were seeking a way to destroy Him.”  In the minds of the chief priests and the scribes there was nothing more worthy of devotion than religion and the temple.  The temple had become the centerpiece of Jewish religion and it was their job to maintain both the temple and their religion.  These men had devoted themselves to making sure that the Jewish people strived hard at being devout in their religion and they felt the only way of accomplishing that was through the means of the temple.  The Jewish people made great pilgrimages to the temple to prove their devoutness and to show their commitment to their religion.  The people had bought into the message of these chief priests and scribes.  So when Jesus spoke judgment on the temple and on the religious system, these chief priests and scribes couldn’t believe it.  In their minds nothing was more worthy of devotion than their religion and so they immediately began to seek ways to arrest and destroy this One who had spoken such awful judgment. 

There was one thing wrong with the assumption of the chief priests and the scribes though.  The Jewish religion and the temple are not the most worthy things of our devotion.  Jesus is.  Jesus is more worthy of devotion than religion.  In His life, ministry, death, and resurrection, He proved that He was and is God.  In His death and resurrection He proved that He was and is the One that we ought to be devoting our lives to.  He wants us to devote our lives to Him, a person, not a religious system or a place of worship. 

Still, the chief priests and the scribes didn’t have the discernment that they needed to see that Jesus was God’s Son.  Their devotion to their religion blinded them from seeing Jesus for who He was.  They saw no reason to devote their lives to Him, but believed the better thing to do was to have Him killed so that He would stop proclaiming such nonsense.  The timing would be difficult though.  For many, many thousands of Jews had journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And many of those thousands of people recognized the authority and power of Jesus.  If the chief priests and scribes attempted to openly arrest Jesus and put Him to death at that very moment they feared that the people would certainly rise up against them.  So they began looking for opportunities to do it quietly.

Mark interrupts his narrative about the plot to arrest and kill Jesus with an account of one who is whole-heartedly devoted to Jesus.  Notice that the setting has changed.  Jesus is no longer in Jerusalem, He’s not remaining in the temple, He’s not among the great religious leaders, and He’s not surrounded by the most devout of the Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem for Passover.  Jesus is a few miles east of Jerusalem in a town called Bethany, staying at the house of a once unclean leper named Simon.  Given that it’s just a few days away from Passover, it’s probably not the place most people would look to find the most devout disciples.  But this is where Mark tells us that Jesus is, reclining at a table, most likely sharing a meal and having a time of fellowship with His disciples.  Then half way through verse 3 something unusual happens.  Mark says that “a woman came.”  James Edwards comments on this saying that, “as a rule, it was a breach of etiquette for a Jewish male fellowship to be interrupted by women unless they were serving food.”  So in the middle of this time of male fellowship enters a woman and Mark tells us that she entered carrying something with her.  Mark tells us that the woman came in with “an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard” which was very expensive.  Mark will tell us in verse 5 that the ointment was worth more than 300 denarii.  That’s a lot of money – it was the equivalent to about a year’s salary.  So the alabaster flask of ointment had a great monetary value.  But when we take into account some of the other details of the text it may be possible that this ointment was worth even more.  During this time women, for the most part, were not permitted to have careers, which would have prevented them from earning a regular salary, which would have made it near impossible for them to purchase something so expensive.  So in this situation it was most likely that this alabaster flask of ointment was a family heirloom, which would mean that it probably carried a very large sentimental value as well.  The end of verse 3 tells us that this woman broke this very expensive flask of ointment – indicating the totality of the gift – and that she poured the ointment over the head of Jesus.  In verses 4 and 5 some of those who were present cried out with great frustration and displeasure, asking, “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.”  Then Mark says that those with Jesus “scolded her.”  It’s impossible for us to know whether or not those crying out with indignation were truly concerned about the poor or if they were using the poor as an excuse for their selfish desire to sell the ointment and then keep the money for themselves.  Whatever their motivation, one thing is clear in their cry – they believed the anointing of Jesus was a wasteful act.  And in speaking up in such a way these who were with Jesus demean this woman and her gift, but listen – they also demeaned Christ.  These men, in their proclamation, deem the woman to be foolish in her extravagance, but they also proclaim that Jesus is unworthy of such an extravagant display.  Notice the contrast between the attitude of this woman and the attitude of Jesus’ disciples.  The woman comes to Jesus, believing that He is the One worthy of greatest devotion and our greatest sacrifices and anoints His head with this incredibly costly ointment.  Jesus’ disciples, who are also present, don’t believe that Jesus is worthy of such a sacrifice and cry out in indignation and scold the woman for believing and behaving in that way.

In verse 6 Jesus speaks up and comes to the aid of the woman.  And in coming to her defense, Jesus shines some light on a couple of important truths.  Jesus first commands His disciples to leave the woman alone.  Then Jesus speaks to her actions and rather than condemning her, He says that “she has done a beautiful thing to me.”  But the disciples had missed this and are obviously in need of some explanation, so Jesus provides them with some.  Jesus doesn’t knock ministry to the poor – in fact Jesus had spent a good part of His ministry loving on and serving the poor.  Loving on and serving the poor is also a way that we, as Jesus’ followers, can be active in carrying out the second greatest commandment – to love our neighbor as ourselves.  But Jesus tells His disciples in verse 7, “you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them.  But you will not always have me.”  Fulfilling the second greatest commandment is a good thing to do, but fulfilling the second greatest commandment should never take priority over fulfilling the greatest commandment – to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Jesus is God’s Son and the greatest commandment extends to loving Him too.  This is in fact what the woman was doing – she was fulfilling the greatest commandment.  Jesus understood that and praised her for her actions in the very midst of His disciples. 

What’s extraordinary about this woman is not only that she seems to do a better job of fulfilling the greatest commandment than Jesus’ disciples, but she also seems to have a better understanding of Jesus’ teaching than His disciples.  Notice what Jesus says in verse 8, “she has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.”  Three times in Mark’s gospel Jesus has proclaimed His coming death (8:31-33; 9:31-32; 10:32-34), and yet we have not seen the disciples do anything in light of those proclamations.  It seems that His closest followers are either indifferent or that they have completely misunderstood what Jesus has said.  But this woman has both understood and acted on her understanding, and has come to anoint His body prior to His death.  In the midst of those who we would expect to understand the best, love the best, and sacrifice the most, stands a woman who has surpassed these men in all of those areas. So Jesus says in verse 9, “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.”  Her deed has demonstrated that she has rightly understood Jesus’ message of salvation and that it will only be realized through both His suffering and His death.  Her deed has also demonstrated the measure of her devotion to Jesus.  These truths make this woman an incredible example of discipleship and are the reasons that Jesus says she will not be forgotten as long as the Bible is proclaimed and taught.

In verse 10 Mark picks back up with the narrative focusing on the plot to arrest and kill Jesus.  But the plot doesn’t continue with the chief priests and scribes.  Mark resumes the plot by switching His attention to one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, whom Mark says, “was one of the twelve.”  This is an important distinction that Mark is making in light of the context and the narrative of Jesus’ anointing which we have just read.  An incredible act of discipleship and devotion was just performed by an unnamed woman who isn’t part of Jesus’ closest followers.  Now Mark turns our attention to one whom we are much more likely to expect an act of incredible devotion from.  But sadly, this isn’t what we find at all.  Notice in the language which follows Judas’ active role in both abandoning Jesus and betraying Him.  After Mark identifies Judas as one of the twelve in verse 10, he also says that he “went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them.”  Judas didn’t wait for the chief priests to approach him.  He wasn’t responding to their request.  Judas took the initiative and went to them.  Mark says in verse 11 that Judas’ act of betrayal actually delighted the hearts of the chief priests – that it was an offer that made them glad.  So they in turn promised to provide Judas with money if he did indeed follow through with this intention.  Mark then ends this portion of his gospel with another description of Judas active role in the betrayal of Jesus.  Mark says that Judas “sought an opportunity to betray Him.”  He began to actively seek out a moment when He could hand over Jesus to these religious authorities. 

What was most likely Judas’ motivation in His betrayal of Jesus?  Mark doesn’t exactly tell us.  But there is another passage that I think can help shed some light on that answer.  The disciple John records a story in his gospel account that many scholars believe is the same story.  Some of the details in the narrative are different, but those details change the story – it’s more that the different authors opted to supply different details of the same account.  In John 12:4-6 John writes, “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray Him) said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”  John tells us that Judas was incredibly devoted to money and himself.  And on this occasion when the woman comes in and anoints Jesus with something that could have been sold for a great price Judas couldn’t take any more.  His love and devotion for money and self drove him to betray Jesus.  Judas doesn’t seem willing to follow someone who would “waste” a sure profit on Himself.  That ointment could have been sold and that money used to feed Judas’ love of money and love of self.  Finally Judas’ devotion to those things took over and he chose them over Jesus.  But Judas will realize the foolishness of his choice later and recognize that Jesus is more worthy of devotion than either money or self.

The question that begs to be asked after considering this text is, “Who do we most resemble in this text?  Have we devoted ourselves to a religion or a church?  Have we devoted ourselves to money or self?  Or have we devoted ourselves totally and completely to Jesus?”  Money can’t deliver us from sin.  Self can’t do any work that would make us righteous before God.  Religion can’t reconcile us to God.  And no church can secure our eternal destiny with God.  But Jesus has accomplished all these things!  By shedding His blood and dying on the cross He has made deliverance from sin possible.  By living a perfect life of righteousness He makes His very righteousness available to us.  By paying the debt for our sin He can present us to God, reconciled with Him.  And by defeating death and rising again He made eternity with God in Heaven available to each person.  Jesus is the only one worthy of our complete and greatest devotion.  There is no one or thing more worthy than Him.

Small Group Questions for Discussion

1. Read Mark 14:1-2, 10-11.  As we examined these verses we emphasized that Jesus was more worthy of our devotion than religion, self, or money.  But those that we would expect to be the most devoted to Jesus (i.e. the religious leaders and one of the disciples) had in fact devoted themselves to those things instead of Jesus.  What are some of the things in our culture that people tend to devote themselves to instead of Jesus?  Do those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus ever devote ourselves to religion in place of Jesus

2. Read Mark 14:3-9.  As we examined these verses we emphasized that Jesus was the most worthy One of our devotion.  And in those verses we saw that demonstrated through the actions of an unnamed woman, who (while she did not fit the profile of one we would expect to be an extraordinary follower of Jesus) surpassed even Jesus' closest followers in her demonstration of her love and her understanding of His teaching.  Do we more closely resemble the woman who was willing to give one of her most costly treasures to Christ to demonstrate her love, or do we more closely resemble the disciples who get frustrated seeing others give such costly gifts?  Why?  Guys, are we leading our wives and the ladies in our church in our devotion to and service for Christ, or are they leading the way?  If we are not, are we okay with this or do we need to make some changes?  If we need to make changes, what needs to take place?

3. James Edwards wrote, “Faith and discipleship are not ideal realms, what we might like to be and do; they are absolute realities, who we are and what we are able to give.”  What will change about our faith and discipleship if we rightly understand that they are absolute realities and not ideals?

4. What step of faith does this passage of Scripture require us to take as individuals and as a small group?  How do we work this out on mission?

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