Of Plots and Perfumes Mark 14:1-11

Intro

Mark 14:1–2 “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, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.””

Our passage opens with Mark resuming the storyline of the conflict between Jesus and the Sanhedrin. These religious leaders have been working to cook up a scheme to kill Jesus since alll the way back in Mark 3, when Jesus asserted his authority over the Sabbath. That was a direct affront to their own authority, and Mark 3:6 says “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”

Jesus went about his ministry, but this hatred of the religious leaders serves as an ominous backdrop for the intervening chapters. After his actions in the temple where he cast out the money changers, Jesus issues a parable that they rightly udnerstood to be against them and so we find in Mark 12:12 “And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.”

And now here as we went into the final few days of Jesus’ life before the crucifixion Mark picks up that theme and sets the ominous ton. The story of the perfume is sandwiched between two sections that speak of the plot to kill him.

A few things that are worth noting that helps us understand the strategy of the religious leaders.

Notice first that it says that this is two days before the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. This was a Jewish holiday that commemorated the Lord’s deliverance of the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. It was one of those festivals that involved many people traveling into the area to participate in the festivities.

Yesterday was thunder over Louisville. In 2022 there was an estimated 851,000 people in attendance, with a significant portion of that on the Kentucky side, but there are still tens of thousands that come to the Indiana side of the river. The population of Jeffersonville, Indiana is only around 50,000. Imagine what life would be like if 100,000 extra people were in town, not just for a one-day event at the river, but a city-wide festival that lasted for a full week.

That is not that far off from what Jerusalem experienced for the Passover festival. A city of around 60,000 people, getting anywhere from 100-200k visitors. Things tend to be a little chaotic.

Just like there is increased police presence when we have thunder, there is increased security in Jerusalem, not only because of the influx of people, but an influx of people who are not just nominal Jews, but the most passionate about their faith and their heritage. Historically, there had been riots and revolts triggered at events like this, as the people grew tired of Roman rule and desired their freedom.

So the Roman authorities are on high alert, and the religious leaders, who desperately want Jesus to disappear, and who rather like their position as leaders, are also shrewd enough to say…let’s wait until after the festival, because if we do something prior, we might spark a riot, and then its curtains for us in our positions.

Notice is says in the ESV that they were seeking to arrest him by stealth. That word for stealth is defined as “taking advantage through craft and underhanded methods. Deceit, cunning. treachery.

Which makes us ask the question. If they were so convinced that what they were doing was the right thing to do, why did they have to pursue underhanded means? Why the stealthiness? Why the disreputable practices?

This is the way those who have agendas and designs that are motivated purely by self-interest operate.

If they had a clean conscience and had pure motives, there is no reason for concealment!

As it is they keep to the shadows. They speak and act and move strategically. They use underhanded means to accomplish their ends. This highlights for us the evil of prioritizing self-interest.

The Evil of Prioritizing Self-Interest

Friends, this is tactic is alive and well in the world today. This is partly why Jesus has commanded us to be alert! Many churches have been subverted by ungodly men because they came in secretly and sowed seeds of doubt and division without making a big scene.

I know of churches who hired dishonest pastors. They held theological convictions that were at odds with the church, but withheld that information. Over time they subtly introduced their ideas and eventually sought to change the doctrinal position of the church.

You might say, but what is he was right, and the church had bad doctrine and he was working on them for good. You don’t accomplish good things by underhanded and dishonest means. We don’t get to do the wrong things for the right reason. We must do the right things for the right reason.

Sometimes its not even false doctrine. It’s just about power in the church. I can recall having a conversation with someone once who was keen on me doing something that would benefit them and the direction they wanted some program to go. I was a teenager at the time and my parents had some oversight of the thing I was being asked about. Rather than talk to my parents, they sought to influence me.

They had an agenda. They had their own self-interest.

They were pursing underhanded means to accomplish the goal.

But this is the danger we all face when all we are concerned about is our own self-interest. If other are less important than myself, if I’m the only one who knows best and everyone else is just messing things up, then clearly I need to do something and if that is through underhanded means, so be it. It’s for the greater good, after all.

Dangerous thinking.

The religious leaders had evil designs. Evil motives. The were only interested in their own self preservation, and as a result they resorted to underhanded means.

While they plot Christ’s death, someone else is honoring Christ.

Mark 14:3–9 “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. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 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. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 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 in the house of Simon the leper, which is likely someone that Jesus healed and who would have been familiar to the original audience. And he comes an unnamed woman with an alabaster flask of pur nard.

Alabaster flasks were made of a soft mineral rock that could be carved into ornate shapes. They were very costly in themselves and only used for things like the most expensive of perfumes, which is what this woman has in her pure nard. Nard was an aromatic plant grown in the Himalayan mountains. Pure Nard oil would have been very strong—and very costly, as the text itself notes.

This woman comes in, breaks the flask, and pours the oil over Jesus’ head.

This was an extravagant display.

According to the custom of the day, it would have been a shock to see a woman enter where the men were dining

It would have been a shock to see her break an alabaster flask. She could have simply poured some out! but no, she was intent on using all the contents.

It would have been a shock that the oil was pur nard.

Thus the reaction of some of the disciples. The text says they were indignant. They were angry! Why?

Verse 5 says they thought it could be sold for more than 300 denari.

How much is a Denari? 1 days wages.

Over 300 Denari? nearly one year’s wages.

To put this in perspective. I look up what the median household income for the city of jeffersonville is. Median household income in Jeffersonville is a little over 60,000.

Can you imagine what you would have thought if someone came in and dumped 60 grand worth of perfume on someone’s head??

My guess is that we would all be indignant. What are you doing! It’s worth so much money! Why are you being so wasteful!

And the end of vs 5 says they scolded her. Berated her.

But Jesus says. stop. leave her be. He give four reasons why and then a blessed result.

First in vs 6 Jesus says She has done a beautiful thing for me. many translations simply translate this as “she has done a good thing”. One commentator wrote that Mark has two words that he could use to communicate that something was good. The first word emphasizes the moral rightness of an action. The second word emphasizes the beauty of something. He went with the second option. Jesus said, this was a beautiful thing that she did. Why is it beautiful?

Jesus says you always have the poor. You can help them any time. My? I won’t always be around in the flesh.

Jesus point was not to take away from the importance of serving the poor. His point was on the limited amount of time he had on earth.

What she did was good and right and beautiful because of the limited opportunity for it.

Jesus goes on to say that She did what she could.

This phrase should not be taken to mean that Jesus saw what she did and concluded that it was insufficient, but hey at least she did what she could. The idea is more that she exhausted herself for the sake of Christ. She gave it all. Everything she had was given for this act.

She anointed my body beforehand for burial

Therefore she is blessed and remembered.

The Blessing of Prioritizing Honoring Christ

The Evil of Prioritizing Self-Profit

Here we have Judas now following the pattern of the religious leaders and not the two women that Jesus just praised at the end of chapter 12 and here. They gave of themselves. Judas is seemingly motivated by greed and self-profit.