21 February 2016
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Mark 14:1-9
Mark 14:1-9 (NIV)
1 Now the Passover and the Feast 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 Feast," they said, "or
the people may riot."
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the
home of a man known as 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.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one
another, "Why this waste of perfume?
5 It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and
the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.
6 "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you
bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help
them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body
beforehand to prepare for my burial.
9 I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached
throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of
her."
-- in Today’s Christian magazine,
Pediatrician David Cerqueira tells the story of a little girl in his wife's
Sunday School class -- His wife had prepared a lesson on being useful and told
the children that everyone can be useful in serving God -- There was a short
moment of silence, and a little girl named Sarah spoke up. "Teacher, what
can I do?" she said. "I don't know how to do many useful
things."
-- Mrs. Cerqueira had not
anticipated that kind of response, but she quickly looked around and spotted an
empty flower vase on the windowsill -- "Sarah," she said, "you
can bring in a flower and put it in the vase. That would be a useful
thing."
-- Sarah frowned. "But that's
not important."
-- "It is," her teacher
said, "if you are helping someone."
-- Sure enough, the next Sunday
Sarah brought in a dandelion and placed it in the vase – and every week after
that, she continued to bring a flower – Sunday after Sunday
-- when her pastor found out about
it, he put the vase in the main sanctuary next to the pulpit -- that Sunday he
gave a sermon on the honor of serving others, using Sarah's vase as an example
-- he congregation was touched by the message, and the week started on a good
note...
-- But later that same week,
Sarah's family discovered she had leukemia -- David Cerqueira was her
pediatrician, and he did his best to explain to Sarah's parents that nothing
could be done to save her life -- He writes, "I don't think I have ever
had a more difficult conversation than the one that night."
-- Eventually, Sarah became
bed-ridden – she couldn’t leave her home and she lost most of her weight – her
family knew the end was near
-- one Sunday, as the pastor neared
the end of his sermon, he suddenly stopped speaking -- His eyes grew wide as he
stared at the back of the church, and everyone turned to see what he was
looking at -- It was Sarah -- Her parents had brought her for one last visit --
She was bundled in a blanket, a dandelion in one little hand.
-- She slowly walked to the front
of the church where her vase was still perched by the pulpit -- She put her
flower in the vase and a piece of paper beside it -- Then she returned to her
parents.
-- Four days later, Sarah died --
At the funeral, the pastor showed Dr. Cerqueira the note Sarah had left -- It
said, "Dear God, This vase has been the biggest honor of my life.
Sarah."
-- As you
may know, we are in the season of Lent -- this is the 40-day period between Ash
Wednesday and Easter when Christians historically have prepared themselves for
a closer relationship with Christ
– for new believers, Lent was a
time of education -- of learning about Christ and what it means to be a
Christian prior to baptism on Easter morning
-- for the faithful -- for those
who had already received Jesus as their Lord and Savior -- it was a season of
soul-searching and repentance -- a time of reflection on their relationship
with Christ – a time to repent of their sins and to rededicate their lives to
Christ at Easter
-- so Lent is a season of
commitment – a time to honestly examine where you are in your relationship with
Jesus, and to make a commitment to Him with your life
-- last
week we talked about true biblical repentance -- about turning from our sins
and relying on the power of God to help us repent and live a life of victory
through him – we talked about how we cannot repent in our own strength, but how
repentance is a surrender of ourselves to God and a reliance on God’s power in
us through faith
-- This
week, we will consider the next step after repentance -- namely, giving
ourselves fully over to Christ and living a life of service for Him
-- so let’s
look at this passage together and see what we can learn from this story that we
might apply to our own lives and our own relationship with Him
II. Broken and Poured Out (Mark 14:1-9)
-- look
back at verse 3-4
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the
home of a man known as 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.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one
another, "Why this waste of perfume?
-- in this passage from Mark, we
read about the anointing of Jesus at Bethany -- I don’t want you to get
confused because there are actually two anointings of Jesus recorded in the
Bible
-- in the book of Luke, we read of
an earlier anointing of Jesus by a prostitute, but that is not the same event
that Mark is talking about here -- in Luke’s account of this earlier anointing,
a prostitute anointed Jesus with her tears and washed His feet with her hair --
in this account, the woman breaks a jar and pours aromatic oil or perfume over
Jesus’ head and then wipes His feet with her hair -- in the first anointing,
there was no perfume, but here there is
-- also, these are different women
-- the first woman was a prostitute -- but the woman who anoints Jesus here in
Mark 14 is not a prostitute -- John tells us in John 12 that this woman is
Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus – in John’s account of this event in his
gospel, John gives us more information and tells us that Lazarus was at the
dinner with Jesus, reclining at the table— and that Martha was assisting in
serving the meal
-- one more
difference -- the anointing here in Mark 14 takes place at the end of Jesus’
ministry on earth -- two days before the Passover -- this would have taken
place during holy week, shortly after Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on
Palm Sunday – and Mark tells us this anointing took place at the home of Simon
the Leper
-- the other anointing occurred
early in Jesus’ ministry at the home of Simon the Pharisee, not Simon the Leper
-- similar names, but different people -- different places -- different times
-- different actions with different meanings
-- so even though the names and
actions are similar, they are not accounts of the same event -- I just wanted
to make sure you didn’t mix up the two stories in your head as we looked at
this
-- So we read in this account that
Mary came to the supper at Simon the Leper’s home and brought with her an
alabaster jar of a very expensive perfume -- more than likely this was actually
an oil that would’ve been put on the skin for cooling as well as for aromatic
purposes
-- it was very common in the hot
and dusty climates of the world, such as the Middle East of Jesus’s day, to
anoint travelers with oil because the oil keeps the skin cool and it also
provides perfume to help mask the sweat from the day’s travels -- this is still
a common practice in much of the Middle East and India today
-- typically, in Jesus’ day, the
host of a meal would provide these oils to his guests, but in this case Simon
the leper had evidently not given Jesus or the other guests any anointing oil
or provided water so they could wash their feet
-- Mary must’ve noticed this, and
so she took it upon herself to anoint Jesus -- remember that Mary lived in
Bethany where this meal was taking place, and it is not unlikely that when she
saw that Jesus was not being honored as He should have been, she went home and
retrieved her most precious possession, the alabaster jar containing a very
expensive perfume
-- Mark tells us that Mary came
into the meal and broke the jar and then poured the perfume on his head -- John
expands on this in John 12 and tells us that after she anointed Him with the
oil, she wiped His feet clean with her hair
-- why did Mary do this? -- why did
Mary anoint Jesus in such an extravagant way? -- what is the meaning behind her
actions?
-- She was
making a statement about her commitment to him and about His value to her --
she desired to see him honored above all -- and when he was not honored as he
should of been, Mary took it upon herself to honor him in the only way she
could at the time -- she honored Him by giving Him her very best
-- she gave all she had to Jesus --
in all truth, she gave more than the oil to Him -- she gave herself -- not
caring what the others thought of her, she went into a meal that was only for
men -- breaking the social conventions of her day -- and humbled herself before
Jesus, anointing him and wiping his feet with her own hair like a slave
-- remember, this is not a
prostitute doing this -- this is a woman of means -- a woman of wealth in her
community -- the oil she possessed wasn’t just a common, anointing oil, but, as
Mark says, it was a very expensive perfume that wouldn’t have been owned by the
poor or the common people in that day
-- but Mary did not consider her
reputation or standing in the community to be anything of value -- by this act,
Mary was demonstrating that Jesus meant more to her than her own reputation --
Jesus meant more to her than anything she possessed -- to Mary, nothing in the
world was as valuable to her as Jesus -- to the point that she broke the jar
and poured out the perfume on Him and then humbled herself in the presence of
her family and friends and took on the persona of a slave just to serve Him
-- the people who witnessed her act
complained that the pouring out of the oil was a waste of money -- it should
have been sold and given to the poor -- Mark tells us the oil was worth a
year’s wage -- what is the value of that in our day? -- $20,000? -- $30,000? --
more?
-- when is the last time you
offered to Jesus something that extravagant? -- when was the last time you
offered yourself to Jesus in the same way Mary did?
-- which brings me to my next point
-- I think this passage is about more than the simple act of anointing Jesus --
I think the intent of this passage and the importance of Mary’s actions revolve
around the two phrases in this passage: broken and poured out
-- when Mary broke the alabaster
jar, it was irretrievably broken -- it could never be used again -- having been
broken, it was given completely to Jesus, and could never be given to anyone
else again -- it was offered up to Him and Him alone
-- By breaking the jar, Mary was
demonstrating her total and full commitment to Jesus -- she was giving herself
solely to him, regardless of what the world thought of her -- by humbling
herself before him in this way, she was presenting herself to Him as a broken
vessel
-- in doing so, she poured out her
life to Jesus, dying to self, and served him with all her heart, soul, mind,
and strength -- this is a progression in Mary’s spiritual life -- where before
we saw her reclining at Jesus’ feet, learning from him in Lazarus’s home, now
we see her giving herself completely and wholly to him -- where before she was
content to learn about Jesus, now we see her broken and poured out for him and
for his service -- piety has been replaced with a sanctified life ready for
action in service to Christ
-- I don’t
think it’s happenstance that this account of the anointing of Jesus by Mary is
juxtaposed right next to the story of the Last Supper in the Upper Room
-- all of
us here have participated in Holy Communion before -- and as we tell the story
of Jesus and his sharing of the bread and the wine with his disciples in the
upper room on that last night, what words do we always share together?
-- “This is
my body, broken for you -- this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for
you and for many for the remission of sins” -- you see what Jesus says there?
-- This is my body, broken -- this is my blood, poured out for you -- broken
and poured out -- the same words that Mark uses to describe Mary’s
anointing of Jesus
-- and when
we share communion together, we always remember Jesus’s command to His
disciples: “do this in remembrance of Me -- as often as you take it, do this in
remembrance of Me”
-- do what
in remembrance of him? -- Is Jesus only referring to the act of taking the
bread and the wine or is he referring to something more when he tells us to do
this in remembrance of him?
-- I think
Jesus is referring to more than our participating in this sacrament -- when
Jesus tells us to “do this” in remembrance of Him, I believe He is telling us
to be broken and poured out for Him just as He was broken and poured out for us
-- while the sharing of Holy Communion is a means of grace whereby we join
together with Christ and each other spiritually, I believe Jesus intends for us
to use this sacrament as a catalyst for action -- to rise from His table and to
be broken and poured out for others in His name, empowered by His grace and His
Spirit
-- just as
Mary demonstrated the breaking of her life by humbling herself before others in
his presence and pouring out herself in service to him, we are called to go and
do the same in remembrance of Him -- in honor to Him -- as a commitment to Him
-- I believe this passage in Mark
is a call to serve Jesus by being broken -- by dying to self -- by submitting
our lives to Him -- and to serve Him by pouring ourselves out for others in His
name
III. Closing
-- broken
and poured out -- this is the essence of the Christian life -- Paul indicated
as much when he wrote in 2 Timothy 4:6, “I am being poured out as a drink
offering…”
-- we are called to do more than to
come to church on Sundays and to share the sacrament of Holy Communion together
-- we are called to empty ourselves of our self -- to die to self -- to take up
our cross -- to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit -- and to go forth in Jesus
name, carrying the good news of Christ to this world.
-- We do this by serving others in
Jesus’s name -- by giving ourselves extravagantly to him -- by living for him
with our whole life, and by pouring out ourselves for others through service in
His name, so that they may come to know him as we know him.
-- as we continue on in this Lenten
season of reflection and repentance and recommitment to Christ, I want you to
spend some time thinking about this concept of being broken and poured out for
Jesus
-- we’re going to close by sharing in Holy Communion -- and as we take of the bread
and the wine, I pray that you leave His table and you go forth to be broken and
poured out in His name for this world
-- so let’s close in prayer, and
then we’ll share communion together
-- let us pray
--------------------------------------
1 David Cerqueira, "Sarah's Vase," Today's
Christian, March/April 2008, adapted from Evangel magazine, December 2005. From
a sermon by C. Philip Green, We Want To See Jesus, 4/14/2011
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