Family Devotion

their Bibles and turn back once
again to John chapter 11. I say once again because I think
we’ve been in the chapter six weeks and this is our final foray
into John chapter 11 at least for this season as we turn the
corner and course directly into John chapter 12. And I would
just have you ponder because it really came even to me as
a surprise. And I’ve been coursing through
this and reading and rereading sections and looking at my outline,
outline of the gospel of John. And I want you to realize the
significance of where we are at this juncture. We are just
days before the triumphal entry. where Jesus enters in as a triumphant
king, as it were. Townspeople laying down palm
branches, perhaps their cloaks, chanting, receiving Christ warmly. And within a week, they put him
to death. John skips over a lot of material
here. A lot of material that the, other
gospel writers provide an abundance. The gospel writers tell us, particularly
Luke, that during this quiet period where Christ has retreated,
he cleanses lepers, he talks about his return, he teaches
a number of parables, He gives lessons on divorce and rich and
poor. He tells that incredible parable,
the parable of the vineyard owner. And so it’s not as if nothing
has transpired, but for God or for John’s purposes here, he
takes it in rapid fire fashion. And we find ourselves literally
standing at the doorstep of Christ’s passion. Jesus had coursed through
Jericho. He has taken a break. He has
retreated, as it were, and now he is coming back into the teeth
of the machinery, as it were, the Jews who had literally set
a trap for him, who lie in wait for Christ to do him ill. We pick it up, and for our purposes
today, I’ve got a portion of scripture that I want us to focus
on. And it starts in John chapter
11, as I said, verse 55. We’ll go all the way down to
verse 13 of chapter 12. John records, now the Passover
of the Jews was near. And many went up to Jerusalem
out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
So they were seeking for Jesus. And were saying to one another
as they stood in the temple, what do you think? That he will
not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and the
Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was,
he was to report it. So that they might seize him.
Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So
they made him a supper there and Martha was serving, but Lazarus
was one of those reclining at the table with him. Mary then
took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the
feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was
filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot,
one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said,
why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to
the poor people? Now this he said, not because
he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. And
as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.
Therefore Jesus said, let her alone so that she may keep it
for the day of my burial. For you do not always have the
poor with you, for you always have the poor with you, but you
do not always have me. The large crowd of the Jews then
learned that he was there and they came. Not for Jesus’ sake
only, but that they might also see Lazarus, he raised from the
dead. But the chief priest planned
to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him, many
of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. On the
next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast when they
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches
of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began to shout,
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king
of Israel. It’s a very dynamic scene. Jesus
had just raised Lazarus from the dead. It created such a firestorm
that Jesus chose in his divine wisdom to retreat into the wilderness
with his disciples. because there were those that
were looking to put him to death simply for doing this miracle. Jesus retreats, but not for long. The synoptic writers record in
full what transpired during this season. John does not, and John’s
gospel moves deliberately toward the cross, deliberately toward
our own redemption. John moves along quickly, even
beginning here at the close of chapter 11, advancing directly
into chapter 12 with a very poignant scene. It’s the scene of the raising of Lazarus. He returns
to the scene of that incredible episode. And he comes back to
the same family. Mary and Martha and Lazarus to
his dear friends, his beloved friends. And his beloved friends
essentially live out for us what Christianity should look like. His beloved friends model each
in their own way what I would call family devotion. It is the
entire family converted to Christ and the entire family living
out what Christianity should look like. They are collectively
and individually a model of Christianity. We’ll come back to that in a
moment, but I want to take you back to verse 55 if you would.
Back to verse 55 where it records, now the Passover of the Jews
was near and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country
before the Passover to purify themselves. I want you to remember
the significance of this feast. This is one of three great pilgrimage
feasts. Eight days of remembrance, eight
days of celebration of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people,
the sparing remember of the firstborn of Israel, a solemn time of deep
worship, recollection of God’s power and His grace in sparing
the individuals of particular families. And it was a time that
really should have been a time of great humility and a great
season of oneness. And yet, this is a time where
murder is literally being plotted, conceived, with regards to Christ himself.
And so we find it shocking, really, that in the midst of this Passover,
where it was to be this time of solemn celebration, many had
gone up. It drew perhaps the largest crowds
of the year. The weather was appropriate,
and so many came from the countries The city and the streets were
said to be literally filled with people. It is just prior to the Passover,
but there’s one little detail that most people need to take
care of. That is to purify themselves. This is not unlike our confession. And I remember years ago when
discussing the whole element of our service, the order of
our worship service, We were remiss in having confession in
the midst of our worship service. Almost halfway through, we decided
that we would now confess our sin. Now, there’s nothing in
scripture that prescribes a specific order of service, if you will.
But to us, it seemed reasonable that as we approach the worship
service, if we are going to worship correctly, We would pause, confess
our sin as we are led to do, week in and week out, and pray
for the grace of God to worship Him more appropriately. Well, in a very similar way,
the Jews had a very prescribed way of celebrating the Passover,
and it included what was called purification. Any kind of defilement, And there
were many ways of becoming defiled, but any kind of defilement made
keeping the Passover impossible. And so there were all these ceremonial
washings, these habits of rites, if you will, of purification,
in order to expunge these acts of uncleanness. And Jews were
fastidious about these. They were almost superstitious
about going the extra mile to make sure that they were pure,
to make sure that they had been purified in order to celebrate
the Passover. The book of Leviticus, if you
read through the book of Leviticus, there are just dozens and dozens
of ways that a Jew could end up defiling themselves even accidentally. And on top of that then, the
Pharisees added to this in their strictness that was almost legendary. Remember, Jesus scrutinizes them
and criticizes them because they strain at a gnat. Here’s what
Jesus meant by that. They believed that if a bug,
a gnat, fell into your drink and therefore died, one would
have to strain that out lest he be defiled by the dead body
of a bug. I mean, just ridiculous extremes.
But if one was found to be ceremonially unclean, then they knew that
God’s law had prescribed a series of cleansings so that
they could celebrate the Passover properly. Exodus 19. Just listen,
just a couple of verses from a number of different passages.
Exodus 19 says, the Lord said to Moses, go to the people, consecrate
them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments Let
them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord
will come down to Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
And so there was this idea of consecration, sanctification,
setting apart the people for a pure and holy purpose. Numbers
9 addresses it as well. The Lord said to Moses, speak
to the sons of Israel saying, if any one of you or your generation
becomes unclean because of a dead person, And so to touch a dead
person, a dead animal, was to become defiled. Remember the
scene where Jesus criticizes them for being like whitewashed
tombs? He says that, you know, you’re
whitewashed, you’re painted white, you look all pristine on the
outside, but inside you’re full of dead men’s bones. Do you know
why they painted the tombs white? so that somebody on a journey
wouldn’t happen through town, sit on a rock that just happened
to cover a tomb, and therefore become defiled completely accidentally. He goes on, Numbers says, in
the second month on the 14th day at twilight, they shall observe
it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They
shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of
it. according to the statue of the
Passover, they shall observe it. But the man who is clean
and not on a journey, yet neglects to observe the Passover, that
person shall be cut off from his people, for he did not present
the offering of the Lord at its appointed time.” So in other
words, the Passover was very clearly given by God, very strictly
maintained, and only embellished over time by the Jewish religious
leaders. Second Chronicles records a very
brief turn of the same thing, the purification. There were
many in the assembly, Second Chronicles 30 verse 17, there
were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves,
therefore the Levites went over to the slaughter of the Passover
lambs for everyone who was unclean in order to consecrate them to
the Lord. This is very serious business. This is not just playing church.
Most people took this very seriously. But if you think of it, here
we are just a week away from the Passover, And for some people,
it would take a week to consecrate themselves, that they were so
defiled or had done something so horrible that the law prescribed
up to a week of purification. Now, wouldn’t that include the
plot of murder? And yet here are these Jewish
religious leaders included in this, in this now, on their part,
hypocrisy, with murderous intent, going through the motion, purging
themselves of every other known sin. In Matthew’s Gospel, it
records that Jesus said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear
beautiful, but inside are full of dead men’s bones. That’s what
they were, hypocrites. One pastor said of them, he noted
how particular men sometimes are about forms and ceremonies
and outward correctness while they coolly plan and execute
enormous crimes. Such was the Jewish leadership
They’re literally plotting Christ’s murder, and as we’ll see in a
moment, not only Christ now, but Lazarus as well. They’re
literally plotting this crime, all the while washing themselves
of it, allegedly, through this purification process. Glenn,
stand at verse 56. So they were seeking for Jesus,
and I don’t take this to mean that this is the Jewish religious
leaders exclusively, but those who had heard of this fantastic
miracle, those who had heard of Christ and some of his teachings,
they were looking for him, meaning, I think, all the people that
were coming into Jerusalem were fascinated and taken with Christ,
searching for him. They were seeking for Jesus and
were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, what
do you think, that he will not come to the feast at all? There
are really two questions here. What do you think? And will he
not come to the feast or will he not come to the feast at all?
They were wondering aloud, is Jesus really not going to come?
Shouldn’t he be here already like the rest of us? They knew. They knew because, as the passage
unfolds, they were supposed to report if they saw him, so that
the Jews, the Jewish religious leaders could arrest him. They
were seeking him so that they could turn him in, many of them. Some were seeking him out of
curiosity. Some were seeking him out of
genuine interest, but some of them were seeking him in order
perhaps even to gain a reward. Verse 57, now the chief priests
and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he
was, he was to report it. This was an order. This was a
command, and to become complicitous made one guilty. And they could be charged, they
could be excommunicated, or even worse. What this verse tells
us is the reason for their doubt that Jesus would come at all.
He’s not really going to come here, given the fact that there
are so many people here, and everybody here is under the order
to report Him. If they see Him, He’s not going
to come, is He? Jewish religious leaders were
lying in wait, and maybe they had kept back the news of the
death sentence that they had already rendered. But most knew
that he would be arrested on sight. Most knew that they were
supposed to turn him in if they saw him. So that’s the background. And we come into verse 1 of chapter
12. Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to
Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. The Passover that year began
at sunset on what was called Nisan, the month of Nisan 14,
which would have been a Thursday. This is six days prior to Nisan
8, when Jesus, or rather Josephus,
records that pilgrimage began to flood into the city of Jerusalem. Now, if the year is AD 30, as
we believe it is, Nisan 8 would be Friday, March 31st of that
year. And so we can assume that Jesus
and his disciples come into the city, come into, rather, to Bethany
in the outskirts of the city on Friday evening, just prior
to the Sabbath, the start of the Sabbath, one week before
the events of Christ’s passion. One just excellent commentator
laid out this very careful, if you will, a week outline, one
week’s outline rather, in Christ’s life. Here’s what he says. On
Saturday, he dined with Lazarus. On Sunday, he rode in Jerusalem
publicly on a donkey. The day when the Jews used to
take out the lamb from the flock for each family. This is their
Passover lamb. On Monday he went to Jerusalem
again and cursed the barren fig tree. On Tuesday he goes again
to Jerusalem and speaks for the last time to the people, returning
as he sat on the Mount of Olives and delivered that incredible
discourse recorded in Matthew 24 and 25. On Wednesday, he remained
in Bethany. On Thursday, he went to Jerusalem,
ate the Passover, dedicated the Lord’s table. And
this very same night, he was taken before the priests, arrested. On Friday, he was crucified,
and the rest you know. It’s now just a week. before
his death. Bethany will become his home
base. The synoptic writers record a coming and going from Bethany.
It’s more than interesting here that twice in this section Lazarus
is referred to almost as a nickname, Lazarus whom Jesus raised from
the dead. This was a big deal. This got
everybody’s attention, not just the Apostle John, not just the
apostles. not just Lazarus and his sisters. This was how Lazarus became known,
Lazarus, the one Jesus raised from the dead. But what flows
from this passage in the opening of chapter 12 is just remarkable
because we see this incredible family whom Jesus loved living
out Christianity as it is meant to be lived out. I’ve entitled it Family Devotion,
where you have a model of Christianity, not only in microcosm, in the
individuals here, but the individuals collectively living out what
Christianity is supposed to be, supposed to look like. The first
one that he addresses is Martha. And from Martha we see, just
plainly, unheralded service. Unheralded service. We know that
this is Martha. We know that this is her giftedness. We know
that this is what got her in hot water. Not so much her service,
but her fastidiousness and her complaining that Mary didn’t
bear the same gift. Look at verse two. So they made
him a supper there and Martha was serving. You know what? Martha
has left off complaining. This doesn’t record anything
like what was presented to us in Luke’s gospel, chapter 10,
where Mary is casually sitting, as it seems, at the Lord’s feet,
enjoying herself, while Martha is in the kitchen laboring, and
she complains about it to the Lord. Here, her heart has been
corrected. Here, she embraces fully who
she is in Christ, what she’s called to do, what is noble service,
and it just says they provided a meal. We know that Mary, Martha, Lazarus
are all there, a man named Simon the leper. He’s not mentioned
by John, but as we’ll see in a moment, he is mentioned by
Matthew and Mark. It’s a friendly celebration.
It’s a joyous celebration. hospitality at its finest. And it’s also, in a sense, a
disregard of what the Jews had said. The Jews command that anybody
who knew where Christ was should turn him in. That would have
been known to Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They would have
heard that Jesus had fallen into a difficult spot with the Jewish
religious leaders. So they hole up in this man’s
house, Simon the leper. Perhaps there was even a security
issue where they chose a new location. And what better location
than Simon who had been healed of leprosy. He was probably all
too willing to host this dinner. One commentator suggested that
the idea readily suggests itself that this supper was prompted
by love for the Lord, specifically his gratitude for the raising
of Lazarus. That’s plain. That’s plainly
evident here. And also for the healing of Simon
who had been a leper. But it’s as if the commentator
misses the very plain evident truth that Mary was a benefactor
not just of Lazarus’s raising. Martha was a benefactor, not
just of seeing Lazarus raised from the dead. We cannot possibly
forget, can we, the gratitude in the heart of each one of these
people, the apostles included, that they believed in their heart
that they had met the Savior, the one who had come to pay for
their sins. No wonder a feast is an order,
a celebration. It’s not, by the way, A lot of
times Martha takes heat because it’s always Mary worshiping and
Martha is just busy doing other things. It’s not that Martha
or Lazarus for that matter didn’t worship. Of course they did. Can we even imagine that Martha
could not bring herself to worship the Lord Jesus Christ after the
testimony that she provided? Remember back in 1127? Glance down at that verse, if
you would. Jesus asks her if she believes
that He is the resurrection, and she says, Yes, Lord, I have
believed. You are the Christ, the Son of
God, even He who comes into the world. That is worship. It’s
verbal worship, but it is a heart commitment to Almighty God. in what he had provided in Christ.
Of course, Martha worshipped and Lazarus as well. Can we even
imagine, we’ll interact more with Lazarus in a moment, can
we even imagine after coming to the realization, and remember,
first he’s got to shake off, you know, whatever kind of fog
there was, can we even imagine after coming to the realization
that he had literally been raised from the dead by Jesus Christ. Can we even imagine that he wouldn’t
have lived out the remainder of his days on earth in humble
gratitude towards Jesus? But here it’s recorded that Martha
is serving. That’s not a bad thing. It’s
not that she doesn’t worship. In a sense, this is the expression
of her worship. I love the way Tozer clarifies that we have this tendency. We have this tendency in our
lives to separate everything out between the sacred and the
secular. And coming to church, that’s
worship. Especially singing, that’s worship. Giving, I guess,
suppose, the argument could be made that giving is part of our
worship. Certainly listening to the sermon
is part of our worship. The rest of the week, that’s
just secular, or is it? Tozer makes the point that all
of life becomes an act of worship, and Martha’s service in this
regard is worship. This is why we admonished the
saints several months ago, remember, as we coursed through Ephesians
4. You have all been gifted. You have all been given grace
gift. In fact, I would say a package
of gifts. Usually it’s not just one thing
that you’re gifted to do, but many. And you’re admonished to
use those in the service of the body of Christ. Just as we have
many members in one body, and all the members do not have the
same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ,
individually members of one another, And since we have gifts that
differ according to the grace given to us, let us each exercise
them accordingly. You know what Jesus says in this
regard? Serve. That’s what Paul’s telling
us to do. That’s what John is acknowledging
as he looks at Martha’s life. Serve. You want to live like
a Christian? Serve. Peter. writing in his epistle says it
this way, as each one, not whether, as each one has received a special
gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. In other words, let’s talk, literally
piece by piece, the manifold grace of God. It’s gonna come
in many different shapes, many different gifts, many different
ways that those things are gonna manifest themselves. And he says
that in order to be a good steward with what you have been given,
there’s only one thing to do. Use it, serve, do something. You think I’m off base here.
Jesus is about to enter into one of the most poignant moments
in all of his ministry. Remember in the upper room, he’s
celebrating the Passover, celebrating the Lord’s Supper, instituting
the Lord’s Supper, and he pauses in the midst of that to wash
his disciples’ feet. And he basically uses that as
an object lesson. A reminder that there is nothing
below us, nothing beneath us, nothing too undignified for us
to do, that if the Lord Jesus Christ can wash his disciples’
feet, can we not serve? Let me ask you this morning,
how is your service to Christ? Because that’s ultimately who
you serve. You might be in charge of this or that, and you know,
it might be a small particular part of the ministry of this
church, but ultimately you’re not serving children, you’re
not serving other adults, you’re not serving people, ultimately
you’re serving the Lord Jesus Christ. You’re exercising your
giftedness for Him. What do you do for Him? How do
you serve in His church, which by the way is the most precious
institution on earth in God’s eyes? A lot of times people get,
they misunderstood Ephesians 5, and they think that marriage
is the highest institution. Marriage is used to illustrate
the church, Christ’s bride. How do you serve in His church?
The most precious institution on earth in God’s eyes. How do
you care for his people? They’re his flock. They are the
people for whom Christ died. Do you serve like Martha? Selflessly? Humbly? this unheralded service
for which she got no award, no recognition, no accolades. Jesus didn’t ask for a round
of applause at the end of the evening for her service, her
faithful hard work in the kitchen at all. That’s how most of Christianity
is going to be, isn’t it? All of life becomes an act of
service. most of what we do is going to be seen by nobody other
than God himself, isn’t it? In fact, isn’t that the purest
form of worship in this regard, the purest form of service, doing
so as only God himself sees us laboring? How is your service? But there’s another family member
and another element that is being modeled here, not only Martha’s
unheralded service, but Mary’s unprecedented worship. It just
is what it is. There’s nothing like this that
even comes close. Even for us to duplicate this
in this day and age is impossible because the Lord Jesus isn’t
here. Look at verse three. At Mary’s selfless act, unprecedented
worship. Verse 3, Mary then took a pound
of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of
Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled
with the fragrance of the perfume. We touched upon this very scene
a few weeks ago. I want to take you to Matthew’s
gospel. This situation is recorded not
only here in John’s Gospel, but it’s also recorded in Matthew
and Mark. There is another incident that
took place in Luke chapter 7, and I told you several weeks
ago, I believe that’s referring to a completely different scene.
That’s Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman, who is anointing Jesus’
feet. It may have served for Mary,
Lazarus’ sister, as a model that if it’s good enough for this
sinful woman to do this, how am I, a wealthy woman, above
that? Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 26. This is where we get a lot of detail, and I think
there’s enough detail here where, as you lay them over one another,
you can see that these are referring to the same incidents. John,
Matthew, and Mark were in Matthew chapter 26. And if you would, jump down to
verse six. Now when Jesus was in Bethany
at the home of Simon the leper, this is where we learn that this
was at Simon’s home and not at the house of Mary and Martha
and Lazarus, a woman, Matthew leaves are completely undefined,
so does Mark, a woman came to him with an alabaster vial of
very costly perfume. She poured it on his head. Now there is a distinct contrast
from what John records. We’ll come back to that in a
moment. It’s not a problem. She poured it on his head as
he reclined at the table, but the disciples, more than one,
in John’s gospel, it’s only Judas that complains about this. But
Judas’ complaint seems to have gone viral, doesn’t it? The disciples
were indignant when they saw this and said, Why this waste? For this perfume might have been
sold for a high price and the money given to the poor. An exact
echo of what John records. But Jesus was aware of this and
said to them, Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a
good deed to me For you always have the poor with you, but you
do not always have me. That’s exactly what John records. For when she poured this perfume
on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Now, in John’s
gospel, it hints at this, this anointing for burial. Matthew
and Mark make it absolutely clear that’s what Mary was doing. She
was anointing Christ for burial. We’ll come back to that thought
in a moment. Only Matthew and Mark record this remarkable statement
in verse 13, a commendation of this woman. Truly I say to you,
wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this
woman has done will be spoken of in memory of her. It was a
remarkable scene. This is an unprecedented act
of worship. The sinful woman did likewise,
but for a wealthy woman. And to expend this amount of
energy and this amount of wealth in an act of worship was absolutely
unprecedented. This nard, this pure nard, it
was an aromatic herb that was grown in the Himalayas. And so
just the fact that it was so far away and that it had to be
transported, by the time it got to its sales point, It was very
expensive. We call them, in our day and
age, essential oils. I always wonder if they were
essential, how come I’m just now hearing about them? But that’s
what this is. It’s this very aromatic, special,
you might even just call it an oil, an ointment. As I pointed out a moment ago,
the synoptics both mention exactly what Psalm 23 mentions, right?
The oil poured upon the head coming down, the anointing of
the head, that was the typical act of anointing. There’s not a conflict here.
It’s a pound. 16 ounces, if you will, of this
liquid that was poured on the head. What it’s going to do naturally
is flow down over the body. That’s exactly what Jesus says.
She has anointed my body, not just my head, nor just my feet,
but literally over the head, trickling down to the floor where
we find Mary dabbing his feet with her hair. It was an act
of utter humility on Mary’s part. Jesus, as I said in a moment
ago in John chapter 13, Jesus will take this same posture at
the feet of each of his disciples, including Judas, washing their
feet. This was the position of a slave.
And part of what Jesus points out there in John chapter 13
is, Everyone knew their feet were dirty. Everyone knew everybody
else’s feet were dirty, but only Jesus took the part of a slave
to serve his fellow disciples. We’ll come back to that passage
in a few weeks. There wasn’t a conflict here. The whole body
has anointed and it trickles down over Christ until Mary is
literally at his feet, dabbing his feet with her hair. Many people wondered about the
motive of Mary. Many people tried to equate her
with Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman of Luke 7. I don’t believe that this is
her. When you talk about motives, I think one pastor nailed it
when he said, The motive of Mary was evidently strong and grateful
love for Christ, not only from what she had learned from him
for her own spiritual benefit, but also from what he had done
for her brother, Lazarus. She felt that there was nothing
too great or too good to do for him. Her feelings made her anxious
to do her master the highest honor, regardless of expense. How sad, the contrast. The contrast
is Judas and his greedy assessment of this. Look at verse four.
Here’s Mary doing the most selfless act imaginable, pouring a pound
of this expensive perfume over Christ’s head, dabbing his feet
with her hair, and she rises to criticism. But Judas. One of his disciples, who was
just the first among many, his complaint went viral. As I pointed
out a moment ago, he was intending to betray him, said, why was
this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to poor people? Mark and Matthew point out that
others took up this complaint. John is the only one that says
that Judas is the one that initiated the complaint. Maybe it was because
the disciples and Christ, they were so poor, they literally
lived by the means of what other people could offer them, taking
offerings from town to town, dependent on other people’s hospitality. And in that sense, from a human
perspective, we can understand Judas’s complaint. Even if we
don’t agree with it, we can understand where he was coming from. This
was a very extravagant act. It literally represented about
a year’s wage for the average working man. What we don’t see,
as we might tend to empathize with Judas’s complaint, What
we don’t see is Judas’s heart. Why did he bring this up? Why
did he criticize this? It sounds so noble. That’s true. Why don’t we give to the poor? And you hear that from time to
time with regards to church buildings and church projects. Why not
take that money and give it to the poor? But Jesus knew his heart. Jesus
knew exactly why Judas had done what he did. Look at verse six. Now he said this, not because
he was concerned about the, but he just talked about the poor,
not because he was concerned about the poor. He wasn’t really
concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. And as
he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.
Well, guess what? If we don’t put that 300 denarii
in the offering box, there’s not going to be anything for
me. That really is what was in Judas’s heart. It wasn’t a genuine
concern for how we use our funds, the wisdom to do that, do it
well, honoring to the Lord, glorify God in the use of our money.
That’s what it sounds like. What’s interesting is this is
the one place in all four of the gospels where Judas is identified,
literally shown to be of poor character even prior to his coming
out. He’s called here, literally,
a klepto in the Greek. A thief, that’s what the word
meant. John Chrysostom, the great preacher, said it this way. A dreadful thing is the love
of money. It disables both eyes and ears
and makes men worse to deal with than a wild beast. Allowing a
man to consider neither conscience, nor friendship, nor fellowship,
nor salvation. You know what’s interesting?
Is that Matthew and Mark’s gospel take Judas from here and they
follow him right to the chief priests. You see what Judas realized
is that his money tree was done here and that he needed another
source of income. And so he goes to the chief priests
and sells Christ, remember, for 30 pieces of silver. Despicable. Well, Christ knows his heart
and Christ offers this very sobering defense of Mary. Look at verse seven. Therefore,
Jesus said, let her alone. Stop this. Let her alone so that she may
keep it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor
with you, but you do not always have me.” What is remarkable
here is not only that Jesus explains Mary’s act as an anointing, a
readiness for his own burial, But Jesus acknowledges that Mary
knew this. Mary is on board even before
most of the apostles are on board. Mary is aware that Jesus’ life
is going to be taken from Him even before His closest friends. She sees the hostility. She hears
the hatred. She knows the plans. And she
takes it upon herself to give Christ this incredible act of
worship knowing that it is serving as his burial anointing, which
by the way, never happened. Jesus was never anointed as his
proper just prior to his burial. When a person died, they were
anointed with oil for obvious reasons, then placed into the
tomb. That didn’t happen with Christ.
It was all too rush, rush. Remember the next day, The ladies
rushed to the tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother
of Jane, Salome, they brought spices so that they might come
and anoint him. But it was too late because Jesus
was already raised. Jesus says, leave her alone. She’s done the right thing. She
has anointed my body for burial even before anyone else has acknowledged
that it’s even a possibility. Mary did the right thing. In
responding according to the need of this moment with this incredible
act of worship, unprecedented. Worship is an important part
of a Christianity, isn’t it? And as I already said, worship
isn’t just what takes place on Sunday morning for that hour
or hour and a half, what have you. Worship is everything that
we do. Worship is our response to what
God has done in our life. John Calvin said, worship is
the most important matter with which we have to deal. We should think a lot more about
our worship. We should think a lot more about
how we worship and why we worship and who we worship. John Murray,
the great commentator and pastor said this, God alone is to be
worshiped. Do you know what’s interesting
in our day and age? Really, for the first time that I can see
in church history, we worship our worship. We want a particular
kind of expression of worship, and therefore we worship our
worship, when ultimately it’s God that is to be worshipped,
and Him alone. He goes on to say, when we come
together it is to worship God. Everything else rests upon this.
Whatever we may do in worship, if it is not directed to the
worship of God, no matter how decorious, how embellished our
exercises may be, it is not worship. And I would suggest to you that
there’s a lot of activity done called worship that is not worship. Jesus said it this way, remember
in John chapter 4, true worshipers must worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. And so there is that intellectual
element, there is that, not only the emotional element, but an
intellectual element. We need to know why we do what
we do. Mary knew exactly what she was
doing. Mary knew exactly the moment.
and knew that she must respond according to the need of the
moment. One pastor said it this way,
worship is all that we are reacting rightly to all that He is in
all of our life. Mary took this one great opportunity
for the one that had not only raised her brother from the dead,
She knew that he would die again and be raised again. But Mary
knew that Jesus had saved her soul. Mary knew that Jesus had
paid for her sin. And there was nothing, not even
this incredible unprecedented act that was too great. May I ask you, how is your worship
of Christ? Do you express your gratitude
for your salvation every day? Do you thank Him for dying on
your behalf? Do you praise Him for His limitless
grace toward you? Family devotion. A model of Christianity. Not only Martha’s unheralded
service, and Mary’s unprecedented worship. But there’s a third
person, Lazarus himself. And we see from Lazarus unlimited
communion. I want you to look at this quickly. Lazarus is unlimited communion. Look at verse two. It just notes
there that Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table
with him. Now some commentators pointed
out that they wanted to be sure to fit Lazarus into this story
that, you know, John was very careful to make sure that we
knew that Lazarus was there and he was eating to prove that he
was back to life and hungry and in a body and he’s alive. I think it has much more to do
with the focus upon the friendship that Lazarus had with Christ
a friendship and a reverence of Christ that no doubt had deepened,
right? After Jesus had raised him from
the dead, can you imagine what that would have done to their
relationship? And here’s Lazarus in the most
comfortable, most precious spot that he could ever be in. He
wanted to be near Christ. Not only his fellowship with
Jesus, but his identification with Jesus. Look at verse 9.
The large crowd of the Jews then learned that he was there, Jesus
was in town. Jesus is only two miles away. Let’s go. And they came, not
for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus.
And there are the looky-loos. There are those that are interested
only for their own curiosity. There are those that are genuinely
interested. There are those that are interested
only for nefarious purposes, but they came. They came in droves. And if there was ever a time
to bug out, now’s your time, Lazarus. Now’s your time to disavow
your friendship with Jesus. Now’s the time to declare yourself
just an innocent party in this resurrection thing. Lazarus has no intention of disavowing
Christ. Lazarus is very comfortable being
right next to Christ, identifying with Christ. Are we? There are
times where I’ve seen people almost ashamed to pray in public. Ashamed to name the name of Christ.
Ashamed to take a stand on some particular doctrine or some particular
point. Ashamed, fearful of identifying
with Christ, not Lazarus. Lazarus was in communion with
Christ and that meant not only fellowship with Christ, sitting
at the table with him, identification with Christ, but it also meant
ultimately suffering with Christ. Look at verse 10. And here it
comes full circle, doesn’t it? The chief priest planned to put
Lazarus to death also. Because on account of him, many
of the Jews were going away. Their church is shrinking. We
must do something. They were believing in him. You
see, no longer is it expedient. Remember that word from last
week? It was expedient that one man die. Now it’s two. The plan has to expand. Lazarus
has to be taken out. He has to be killed and quieted.
Who’s next? None other than Augustine noted
this. That if Christ, that it was as
if they believed that Christ couldn’t raise Lazarus a second
time. But they also ignore that Christ
could raise himself from the dead. Jesus isn’t afraid of their
schemes. Lazarus might have been able
to disavow himself as an innocent party in this whole plan. Lazarus
might have been able to say to the Jews and get out of this
by saying, look, I was dead. This man came along and raised
me from the dead. I want no part of this. Lazarus
also could have just run away. But he didn’t disavow himself
from his Lord, the one who saved him and raised him. In fact,
he was ready to die. He was ready to die again, wasn’t
he? Because he knew that he would be raised again. May I ask, not only how is your
service to Christ, how is your worship of Christ, but as Lazarus
modeled here for us, how is your communion? with Christ? How is your fellowship with him?
How is your identification with him? How is your willingness
to die with him? Is he everything to you? Let’s
pray. Our merciful king, we humble
ourselves in your glorious presence. And we do thank you and praise
you for this precious passage of this sweet and beloved family. A family that you dearly loved
and dearly loved you, but also for us modeled Christianity. Martha in her service, Mary in
her worship, Lazarus in his communion with his God. Lord, examine our
hearts. And if there are those in our
midst who do not know this Christ or do not know him in this way
and love him in this way, it’s not Christianity. Many go through
the motions. But Lord, you have called us
into all three of these expressions of love for the Savior. Lord,
examine our heart, we pray. We pray that you would course
these attributes through our own life. Make us a testimony
to those around us as these three were to us. We lay these things
before you and we pray them in Jesus name. Amen. If you would take your hymnals
as we close.