Anointing The King

Intro

From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to the end, He taught the Good News - or the Gospel.

Mark 1:14-15 “14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

And what is this good news? That people, having broken our relationship to God, have a means of forgiveness, restoration, and renewal. We were created to bear the image of God, but we corrupted it instead. The Good News is that Jesus came to restore us to that purpose - for His glory!

This Kingdom is marked by repentance, faith, and fidelity to the King. Today we’ll look at one who exemplified and modeled that.

Pray

Mark 14:1–11 ESV

1 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” 3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And 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.” 10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

We see in this passage at least three groups of people interacting with Jesus. These people betray and deny Him. They consider Him and question Him. And then there’s one who is sold out for Him.

Mark presents us here with a Markian sandwich. He does this several places in the book. Where He places one element in the middle of another to contrast and comment on each. Here, plotting and scheming to kill Jesus is interrupted by a gathering of closest friends for dinner, and that gathering is interrupted by this anointing by this woman.

Let’s look at these examples given in this passage. About what they say about Jesus, and what Jesus says about them.

The Enemies.

The first group are those who see Jesus as outside their world view. They aren’t on Jesus’ side, He is on the other side. They think by rejecting Jesus they are obeying God. They think that they are doing what is best by rejecting, plotting against, and killing Jesus.

But their own motivations betray their elegance. They feared the people not God. They sought to arrest Him by stealth, not in the open as would be right. And they sought to kill Him despite knowing they were unable to find any honest testimony against Him.

They cast Jesus in the mold of their own design and did not recognize who He actually was.

One contingency of this group was the Chief Priest and the scribes. They had the training and background to recognize the Messiah. they had the means to inquire about Jesus’ claims, teaching, and miracles.

They were given the honor of authority at the one time in history when the Law they loved would be fulfilled. But seeing the one for whom the Law was made, they looked at Jesus directly and rejected Him.

The other individual in this group is Judas Iscariot. Probably the most notorious person in the Bible, at least by our reconning.

Have you ever had a job that you felt competent at, and had a coworker who had been there at least as long as you have. They seemed to ‘get it’, to understand what they were doing and why. Then you come across a situation that seems obvious to you, and they just blow it? “How did you not see how that was going to go?”

Judas is that guy! He seemed to know what was going on. Knew all the lingo, responded the right way. But when it came to truly trusting Jesus, he just completely missed it.

Judas had first hand, prolonged experiences seeing and hearing all that Jesus proclaimed. Yet, somehow, he would betray Jesus. If for love of money, or because Judas would not let go of his preconceived notions of the Messiah, Judas chose sides - and rejected Jesus.

In this passage, Jesus doesn’t address this crowd directly. But there is one response Jesus has that does address them. This crowd that cast Jesus out - that ‘othered’ Him - plotted to Kill Jesus. Jesus’ response wasn’t defiant. Wasn’t even contradictory. It wasn’t indignant. It was purposeful.

Mark 14.8 “8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.”

Jesus knew they were out to kill Him. And His response to seeing the traitor in His midst? He acknowledged their success, and thanked the one who prepared Him for death. If Judas was expecting a conquering military King in Jesus, can you see how this would have come across to Him?

“We must fight! And the Messiah will win and reign! If He’s resigned to death, He’s no Messiah of mine!”

There are two applications here. Two warnings.

We can know all the right stuff about Jesus, but still be opposed to His work. We can be opposed to His work actively like the scribes, or we can be opposed passively like Judas who while he walked WITH Jesus, was standing AGAINST Him.

That Jesus gives Himself a ransom for many. That included us in our rebelion. And it includes that person you know who is most opposed to Jesus. That person in not beyond the Gospel, He gave His life freely for them too. Let’s give the Good News a chance in their lives too!

The Engagers.

I struggled what to call this group. But I think that’s informative too. These are the disciples - surely they are more that just engaging Jesus. They’ve left all they have, stayed with Him win others have left, recognized Him as Messiah. True.

But they also are about to deny Him and disbelieve Him, and mock testimony about His promised resurrection. They’ll be resigned to head back to work instead of believe. And here, they fail to see what Jesus had promised coming to pass. All it took was a jaded question from amongst them and they began discounting Jesus as an unworthy King.

They had moments of certain faith. Of following, learning, growing, and performing the work of Jesus. But from here, things will get worse before they get better.

Here, they scold the woman, express indignation, and grumble at the ‘loss’ of anointing Jesus. It might not be all of them. And it might not have been their first response. But they were swayed by idol words.

So I call them engagers here because that is what they are acting like at this moment. Not disciples or apostles, and not deserters or deniers. They are engaged with Jesus, but also willing swallow deception.

But this same group will solidify in their faith, taking hold of what they had been given, and they would change the world. By the power of the Spirit, in the name of Jesus, for the glory of the Father!

Praise God We are what He sees us as, not how we act! Jesus gently corrects them, reminding them of what was important, beautiful, and necessary.

What strikes me here is who easily it would be to get royal offended. From Jesus’ perspective, He’s about to die for the sins of the world and the ones who are supposed to tell everyone about it are casting their indignant look in your general direction and saying ‘not worth it.’ I can tell you how I would have responded. Well, maybe not in church! HOW DARE YOU!?!? Ya’ know what? I’ll just get another twelve disciples. I’m not worth it? Well you’re unworthy!

But then, that’s why I need a savior and Jesus WAS that savior! This is the meekness of Jesus on full display. Not drawing lines, but drawing them back to Himself.

Do you find yourself just engaging with Jesus without following Him sometimes? Have you devalued Jesus in your response to Him? Well, I have too.

Hear now the response Jesus gave to these waffling disciples.

Repent - Stop what your doing. See where you departed and return. (“Leave her alone”)

See the beauty of worship - recognize the wonder of giving God the honor He deserves. (“She has done a beautiful thing.”)

Don’t take for granted an opportunity to honor Jesus (“For you always have the poor with you… But you will not always have me.”)

Remember the Gospel - Refocus on what matters. (“And 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.”)

Jesus is always calling us closer. Calling us to return. Calling us home. Repent, worship, honor, follow.

The Sold Out.

Finally, we have one person left. Peter? No. James or John? No. Andrew? No. Who is the example to follow in this passage? This passage just calls her a woman. If we look at John’s account of this event, she is identified as Mary the sister of Lazarus.

She has reason to be radically commited to Jesus. Her brother was dead, and Jesus raised him to life. There’s a personal connection! But all the disciples were friends of Lazarus too.

Mary believed what Jesus said. And she acted accordingly. She didn’t act expectedly, or conform to social protocol. She didn’t weigh the cost/benefit, or look for another way to be obedient. She just did.

And what did she do? She poured about a years wages our over Jesus’ head. Again, looking at other gospels, it was not a tiny jar, but about a pound. Mark says she poured it on His head. John says on His feet. A pound of ointment would be more that enough for both.

The ointment she used was nard - a spice from India. It would have been mixed or infused in the oil and stored in a sealed jar.

There are a few things going on here, and I’d like to bring them to our attention. Mary WAS being sacrificially honoring to Jesus. Nobody could miss what she was doing. It cost her financially, and it made a statement she couldn’t take back. These are true, but what is the statement she’s making?

We don’t anoint people these days. There might be a few denominations who do, but it’s not common. Then, it was common. There were several anointings that carried different contexts.

Ordinary Anointing - This was just hygiene. It was dry, and people couldn’t bath as often. They didn’t have skin lotion. This isn’t what was going on here. You certainly wouldn’t use extremely expensive oil for it either.

Religious Anointing - This was used to set something apart, to consecrate it. One main way that was seen was a new kings ascending to the thrown. The anointing was done by a priest who would anoint the king to acknowledge God’s setting them apart for leadership and responsibility for God’s people. That anointing was always done over their head.

This seems to be what Mary had in mind. Whether she did or not, it’s what Mark in alluding to. Remember, Jesus ministry began with “Repent, for the KINGDOM of Heaven is at hand.” And here, at the end of His ministry, He is ready to take His seat. To be set aside before God to the leadership and responsibility of His people.

What is so interesting here, Mark points to Jesus’ being anointed as king, but records Jesus’ response in Mark 14:8 “8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.”

In this, Jesus connects His taking His place as King and His death. They are one and the same.

Look at every other king in wold history. Those two events defined the length of their reign. But Jesus’ reign has no end. His Kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting.

But there was a rebelion that meant this kingdom was divided. God’s power and authority was not diminished, but His creation was separated from Him because of sin. God always had a plan to bring us back to Himself. His goodness expressed in His commitment make right again what He had made good in the beginning.

So God, the creator, became the creation. He could purchase us back by representing us. We could only choose Him if He was a man like us. And so He would be the payment for our sin, the cost of our rebelion is the lifeblood of Jesus. And so In His death, He regained the rebelion of creation.

Quoting from the book of Hosea, Paul says

1 Corinthians 15:54–55 ESV

54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

In His death, He defeated the power of rebelion and bore the cost of guilt. Again and again through the gospels, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is like… It’s starts small, it’s personal, it’s value is hidden, it’s worth loosing everything else for. It’s right at hand.

For Jesus, His death was the moment to reestablish His permanent authority in His created order. The grave and a crown - in one moment.

And so Mary of Bethany is the example for us in this passage. She had the right perspective of Jesus, the right commitment to Him, and the faith to move her to action. If her actions that night were worth Jesus calling them forever memorable, let’s take note!

Her actions are directly connected to the gospel. They declare the Good News Of Jesus:

She acknowledged His authority

She humbled herself

She offered all she had

She worshiped The Lord

Accepting the Good News of Jesus is the most important thing we can do. But how do you do that? How do you share that with someone else? There is no certain prayer that forgives our sins - there is only faith in Jesus.

God created all things good, but we have rebelled. That rebelion is called sin.

The cost of sin is death. That is the world’s greatest problem. It’s our greatest problem.

That’s the news. The good news is...

Jesus - who is God in the flesh - lived a sinless life, then took on Himself our punishment for our sin.

And we have but to acknowledge our need of forgiveness, and Jesus’ authority over us. The Bible asks that we do that publicly - that we announce or proclaim it. We are literally proclaiming our allegiance to God and denouncing our rebelion. It’s a spiritual proclamation.

Mary proclaimed it at dinner. I pray you have as well. If you have any question about what it means to follow Jesus, I invite you to come talk with me while we sing this last song.

Pray