Title: Jesus: The God Of The Least, The Last And The Lost
Text: Mark 14:1-11
Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were
only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the
law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 2 “But
not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of
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[a] 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,[b] 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 Truly
I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the
world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief
priests to betray Jesus to them.11 They were delighted to hear this
and promised to give him money. So he watched for an
opportunity to hand him over.
Intro Illustration:
Have you in your life as a follower of King Jesus ever made a
sacrifice of extravagant love? Can you recall a time when you
did something that really cost you? A time when you actually
went without something you really wanted because of a sacrifice
of extravagant love for Jesus?
Main
True followers of Jesus will not hesitate to worship Jesus with
great love & great sacrifice.
Big idea: call people to make big sacrifices to our Lord who is
worthy of all that we have and all that we are.
Sadly, we are good at giving Jesus our leftovers and hand-medowns.
• Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout
the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of
her.
• But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be
better for him if he had not been born.
• The Woman Did Not Care For Cultural Conventions
• While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of
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.
• Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another,
“Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more
than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor. And they
rebuked her harshly.
• She broke the jar
• Many will never have a problem with moderate, measured
devotion to Christ.
• “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her?
She has done a beautiful thing to me.
• For Jesus, an act has value according to its motive and intent,
not its material value.
• For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you
through his poverty might become rich. 2 Cor. 8:9
• Mary here has done three things:
1. She Did What She Could
2. Her Sacrifice Was Prophetic
3. Her Act Of Love Would Not Be Forgotten
• Mary found Jesus beautiful while Judas found Jesus useful.
(slide)
• Proximity Doesn’t Equal Piety
• Illustration about the doorbell; how we thought it was so
cool in the beginning, but now we don’t really care about it
anymore; but when I walked by another person who just
moved in, I saw how giddy they were; let us never lose the
awestruck wonder of who Jesus is, even though we have
been following him for a long time!
• Bethany, Simon the leper, The unnamed woman
• Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached
throughout the world, what she has done will also be told,
in memory of her (slide)
• The Gospel & Suffering Is Synonymous (slide)
• Judas Betrays Jesus For 30 Pieces Of Silver: “the value of a
slave accidentally gored to death by an ox (slide)
• Contrast between Mary & Judas graph
• God does not need you to be strong. He wants to be your
strength.
