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v. 1-2 Jesus tells His disciples that
He will be crucified in 2 days at the Passover Feast. It was a lamb that
was killed at the first Passover when God delivered His people from slavery
in Egypt. A perfect lamb was killed and its blood was applied to the sides
and the top of the wood of the door frame, forming a cross. And when the
death angel approached he would ‘pass over’ those homes where he saw the
blood applied.
Every year thereafter the Jews would
celebrate Passover and sacrifice another spotless lamb...but this year it
would be the sinless, spotless, perfect Lamb of God, Who came to take away
the sins of the world.
He would die a volunteer. He would give His
life. No one would take His life from Him, and even death would not be able
to hold His life down for long! But evil men had their own plan to kill
Jesus. And in the end they thought they had done just that...but you can’t
keep the God Man down!
II. The Arranging of the Cross – by
men
v. 3-5 Perhaps 2-3 million had
gathered in Jerusalem for the feast, and many were fans of Jesus. Many were
from Galilee where He was very popular. Many of these had lined the streets
just a few days before singing His praises as He rode into town. So these
religious leaders said, let’s not cause an uproar, let’s wait ‘til after the
Passover when all these people go home. But you can’t foil the plans of
God. He’s still in full control even when circumstances seem they couldn’t
be any worse. And God is orchestrating everything according to His plan,
and indeed, Jesus is right, He’s going to be crucified at Passover in 2
days.
III. The Anointing for the Cross – by
Mary
A. A lovely act.
v. 6-7 This happened at Bethany, a
retreat spot where Jesus sometimes went to rest or get away from it all. It
seems that Christ spent His days that final week in Jerusalem and His nights
in Bethany. Simon was likely a leper that Jesus had healed, and he’s
putting on a dinner. This Mary is a deeply spiritual woman that we always
find at the feet of Jesus when we hear about her.
It was a custom in those days to anoint a
special guest with just a few drops of ointment or perfume on their head and
feet. It was an act of courteous kindness. Hers was a precious ointment
that the gospel of John indicates was worth a full year’s wages. She uses
not a few drops, but pours the entire contents out lavishly.
Great Christians have appeared in all ages,
and they have one thing in common – they live their lives w/ a reckless
abandon when it comes to expressing their love for Jesus. They sacrifice to
such a degree that they are sometimes criticized for it.
Ill.—you see some face painter going
overboard at a football game and you say, “that’s great, they’re a fan!”
But you see someone get excited about Jesus and say, “good night, they’re a
fanatic.”
Ill.—it’s like our deer hunters...they
approach their hobby w/ a reckless abandon. They spare no expense. You
have to have the right gun, clothes, truck, camper, the deer tags, and you
can’t go out there w/out a scent so genuine that you probably collected the
sample from Bambi herself! They’ll spend big money, but no matter, you
gotta get that deer! Some of the guys wanted to take me one year, and I
know about 4 o’clock, I see it every afternoon...but they introduced me to
another one I never knew about! But no matter, you gotta get that deer.
You’ll hike for miles, refrain from speaking, eat grubs and worms, but it’s
all for such a great cause!! Rain, snow, freezing temperatures...these all
pale in comparison to the prize that may be won by day’s end!
I’m not criticizing you if you choose this
odd way to unwind! I’m saying, would to God we could get so excited about
serving Him, not in drudgery, out of duty, but w/ the same reckless abandon.
B. A lowly attack.
v. 8-9 This sounds more like something
the Pharisees would usually say, but it was His own disciples, the ones who
were supposed to love Him supremely. How did they get such a warped
perspective?
John 12 reveals Judas was behind this
selfish attitude. There’s a few in every crowd, and you cannot listen to
them. They are faultfinders, who look for what’s wrong in everything, not
what’s right. They are the chief critics, and feel it is their calling to
throw cold water on the fires of others. At the heart of their problem is
the fact that they don’t want to get serious about serving Jesus, and they
don’t want you to either. They never intend to give their very best to
Jesus, and they don’t want you to do it either, because it makes them feel
badly about themselves, and it puts them under conviction.
They called Mary’s sacrifice a ‘waste.’
That’s how the world looks at it when we tithe, or give a big Easter
offering. That’s how they feel about us when we get up on their sleep in
Sunday morning and go to church...what a waste! The real truth is that
whatever is not done for Christ is the real waste. I mean, you could make a
million dollars, but if you live for yourself, for your house and cars,
boats and RVs, your life was a waste! You can find fame and fortune, or go
to school and get more degrees than a thermometer, but if you don’t live for
Christ then your life was a waste.
It’s interesting that Jesus later calls
Judas the ‘son of perdition’. Because the word perdition could be literally
rendered “waste.” The man who is calling this act of worship a waste is
named by Jesus, the son of waste!
In v. 9 Judas says, we could have given this
money to the poor.
John 12:6
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief,
and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
v. 14-16 30 pieces of
silver may have been the equivalent of what we would call ’20 bucks’. It
was the price of a slave. Judas has been in hell for about 2,000 years now,
or, for about a dollar per century! Some say it was more like a few month’s
wages, but clearly, even if so, it proved not to be worth it, even for lost
Judas, who in the next chapter gives it back to the chief priests who gave
it to him, and went out and hung himself!
C. A loving approval.
v. 10-13 Jesus says that anything done for
Him is not a waste. There’s a lot of ways in today’s world to waste time
and money, but when it comes to giving time or treasure to God, it’s nothing
but a good investment!
v. 12 How did Mary have such
insight? Usually such an anointing would be done after the death of a
person, not before. But Mary knew His body would never see corruption! How
could she be so in tune with what was about to happen? She spent her time
at the feet of Jesus!
Don’t be afraid to go overboard for Jesus.
It should be a privilege to be called a fanatic for the Lord! What we do
for Jesus, what we give to God...these are things of eternal value.
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