Extravagant Love: Cultivating a Devotion for Christ

Good morning, church.

For example, although Easter was about ten weeks ago, today’s text marks the beginning of the long passion narrative. It recounts Jesus’ activities during what we call “Holy” or “Passion Week.” In this passage, we witness the preparation for the event we remembered during Easter 10 weeks ago: the crucifixion and resurrection. This preparation involves the anointing of Jesus by a woman in readiness for his burial.

Not only is Jesus being prepared for his death, but this act of devotion from the woman should feel familiar to us. Remember the widow and her two copper coins in Mark 12:41-44? Jesus receives and praises her for her sacrificial offering. We see Jesus again praising and needing to defend this woman who has given such a costly offering to the Savior.

In addition to the storyline and how it contributes to Mark's narrative, we find ourselves again in another "Sandwich." If you haven’t been with us for this series, we have seen a literary feature of the Gospel of Mark, which we call “Markan Sandwiches,” where there is an interruption to the story and then a return back to the story. In our case, we see that our story begins with the Chief Priests and Scribes plotting to kill Jesus, then the scene of anointing Jesus by this woman, and then back to the Chief Priests in verses 10 and 11, but this time, with Judas coming to them who had decided to betray Jesus.

Our text has many aspects or layers to it, but what certainly shines forth is the display of extravagant love from this woman, which is then contrasted by the religious leaders who want to kill Jesus and with the Disciples who still don’t see Jesus for who He is and scold the woman for wasting the expensive ointment.

This text raises the question of whether there is such a thing as too much devotion to our Savior. Is there such a thing as being too much a follower of Christ? Our text answers this question with Jesus’ own words. Church, I have not only experienced the joy of delving into and discovering the connections of this passage to the rest of the story of the Bible but also the conviction that comes from looking at the extravagant love displayed by the woman that foreshadows the love displayed by Christ on the Cross.

The outline for this sermon is in the back of your bulletin. In four movements, we will examine the extravagant love on display here.

Extravagant Love is Public and Costly (14:1-3)

Extravagant Love is Criticized (14:4-5)

Extravagant Love is Memorialized and Useful for the Gospel (14:7-9)

Extravagant Love is Contrasted with Betrayal (14:10-11)

My hope is that we will walk away not only with a self-examination, which I think our text calls us to but also with our affections stirred toward Christ, who has displayed the ultimate extravagant love on the Cross.

Before we look at our text, let us pray. >PRAY

1. Extravagant Love is Public and Costly (14:1-3)

If you still have your Bibles open, read verses 1-3 with me again and notice the harsh interruption between verses 2 and 3.

Mark 14:1–3 “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.”

The Setting

As mentioned already, verses 1 and 2 serve as the setting for our text, and what we find is another instance of the religious leaders plotting to destroy Jesus. Interestingly, this is the last time Mark highlights that they were plotting against Jesus, meaning this was not only a brainstorming session, but they had made up their minds that Jesus had to die.

Mark wants us to know that this meeting between the Chief Priests and the Scribes was only a couple of days before Passover. Passover is a sacred observance that the Jews keep in remembrance of the 10th plague, which occurred when the nation of Israel was enslaved people in Egypt. This was when God punished Egypt by killing all of the firstborn but “passed over” the homes of those who had sprinkled the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. It was this last plague that resulted in Pharoah letting the people go.

This celebration was problematic and political because it was about deliverance from oppression and resulted in Israel becoming its nation. For the Romans, who were over the Israelites at this time, you can imagine how these celebrations could inspire Israel to revolt from Rome, making the Romans a bit reluctant of the whole celebration. Stakes and emotions would be high during this week, and because of fear of the people and of Rome, these leaders of Israel decided to wait to destroy Jesus until after the celebrations.

The Anointing of Jesus by the Woman

It is in this context that we transition into the meat of our Markan Sandwich and witness this woman publicly express her love and devotion to Jesus, making the contrast between the setting where the Jews are plotting to kill Jesus and this unnamed woman anointing Jesus with a very costly ointment even more jarring.

Matthew and John also mention this woman who anoints Jesus, but they both identify her as Mary from Bethany. Mary is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who was raised from the dead (John 11:45-12:11; Matthew 26:1-16). So, from now on, we will refer to this woman as Mary.

Neither of the accounts tells us why Mary came in and anointed Jesus the way she did. Maybe it was due to the miracle of raising Lazarus, or perhaps she realized that Jesus was the Messiah. We don’t know why she did it, but I think Mark wanted the readers to see the messianic significance of her action in anointing Jesus with this expensive ointment. Especially when we consider that the word “Christ” or “Messiah” means anointed one; that is who Jesus is; whether Mary understood it, we don’t know, but we do know that the religious leaders did not see that. In a few moments, we will see that the disciples still have not seen it. Yet it seems that Mark wants us (the reader) to see it by pointing us to these Messianic undertones in this scene of the woman anointing Jesus.

Public and Costly

Before we move on, I want to make sure we acknowledge the public and costly nature of this woman’s sacrifice to Christ. She did not wait to perform her sacrifice in secret; she did it publicly and was committed. Her sacrifice was costly (we will see how much in the following verses).

Her act of extravagant love leaves no doubt to us and those present there that she is committed to Jesus. There is no question that she loves Christ. The nature of her devotion should cause us to examine ourselves and our devotion to Christ. I am hesitant to say that we need to do more. For instance, I’m reluctant to say that we should evangelize more, that we should pray more, that we should give more, that we should fast more, that we should do more _______. Certainly, those are good questions to ask ourselves.

But our salvation is not based on our actions. Yet, the text calls us to ask the question. Is there such a thing as too much devotion, and what does my devotion to my Savior look like right now? As followers of Christ, it is good for us to take the warnings of Scripture, examine ourselves, and determine where our true affections lie. This was Peter’s charge in 2 Peter 1:5-8

2 Peter 1:5–8 ESV

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter’s call is for love and faith to increase in the life of the believer. For godliness to increase. Therefore, we must ask ourselves, is my relationship with my faith based on convenience, or is it based on a commitment to Christ? The question is not of quantity. Remember the widow with the two coins? Her offering was merely two copper coins, whereas this woman’s offering was equivalent to a year’s salary, yet our Savior gladly received and praised them. Where do your affections lie, and whether those affections can be seen publicly, or whether they cost you much or nothing, may indicate where your affections lie.

2. Extravagant Love is Criticized (14:4-5)

Moving into the next movement of this display of extravagant love, we see that it is criticized by the disciples themselves. Read with me again verses 4-5.

Mark 14:4–5 “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.”

The other Gospels helped us identify who this woman was; we see that they also provide a bit more specifics about those who were indignant. In John 12:4-5 we read that it was Judas who spoke up and expressed anger toward the display of devotion from Mary. It is here that we learn the value of this ointment. A denarius was known to be a day’s wage. So if there are 365 days in a year and the flask's worth was more than 300 denarii, we could estimate that it was worth an average year’s salary. To help us contextualize this event. The average salary in our country is about $60,000. Mary came in and anointed Jesus with it and saved none for anyone else.

When we realize this ointment's value, we see how extravagant this act of worship really was.

This section of the disciple's criticism reveals two realities when we witness a display of love this way.

Criticism is expected

First, we see that criticism can be expected, especially when those criticising don’t understand who Jesus is.

I think of businesses that choose to close on Sundays. It is very rare these days to find many who still do this, and so for those who chose to close their doors and keep the day sacred unto the Lord, criticism is to be expected. Chick-fil-A is a big brand (although other small businesses do so as well, like Trolley here in town) that has been criticized for this decision, saying that they are losing so much revenue due to their decision. Of course, someone who does not value Christ or the Faith will come to this conclusion. They see it as a wasteful decision. When we are devoted to Christ, criticism is to be expected from the outside world.

You don’t have to be a business owner to experience this criticism. Sacrificing your Sunday morning to church 52 times a year is often criticized. Tithing, sharing your faith, and not participating in celebrations contrary to your faith. They are all foolish to the world, and we can expect them to respond indignantly (like the disciples do).

Reveals our values and love

Second, we see that witnessing a sacrifice like this reveals the heart of both the one giving and the ones who witness it.

It would be like when I was a teenager, and my mom would reprimand me by taking away something I cared about, like, say, my phone. I once thought that I could outsmart her by saying, “I don’t care if you take my phone or not; it doesn’t bother me.” Thinking she might give it back and punish me with something I cared less for. Instead, she said, ok, let’s take out the SIM card and cut it in half, and I’ll call the provider and cancel your line tomorrow morning. I would then respond, begging her not to do that and to go back to the original punishment.

That’s kind of the response we see here from the disciples, specifically Judas. You see, he isn’t mad at Mary; he is angry at the “waste” of the ointment. Maybe he thought, why give up the whole bottle? There are better ways to use those funds than to waste them on Jesus.

His reaction to the offering of the ointment was very revealing of his own heart.

You may think, well I haven’t witnessed anyone give their year’s salary to a ministry or to a church. But what about when we hear of a young family going overseas for mission work like the Wards or the Russells? These families are giving up much by going overseas, and we see where the affections of their hearts lie, but what about ours? Do we think of their decisions as foolish, or do we respond with admiration, love, and support for answering their call from the Lord? The answer to these questions may reveal the condition of our hearts.

3. Extravagant Love is Memorialized and Useful for the Gospel (14:6-9)

We have seen how Judas responded to Mary’s offering, but let’s see how Jesus responds. Read verses 6-9 again.

Mark 14:7–9 “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.””

Before we look at how Jesus memorializes Mary’s act and plans to use it for His plan of redemption. We need to spend just a few moments on Jesus's statement about the poor.

Jesus and the Poor

It’s important to note that Jewish Law calls God’s people to care for the poor. In Deuteronomy 15:9-11 we find this command. For the sake of time we will just quickly look at verse 11. Deuteronomy 15:11

Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Here in Deuteronomy, the reality of those in need is the thrust behind the command to generosity and charity is the poor in the land. This is, in part, why Christian organizations get behind social justice movements with the goal of blessing the community. Yet, what I think sometimes gets distorted is when we replace Jesus with Social Justice.

Here, Jesus is not condemning the act of giving to the poor (whether that was Judas’ motive is questionable), but He is saying, I am more important than even caring for the poor. I know that sounds striking, and I don’t want to diminish the act of benevolence that we are called to and of which we see Jesus himself as an example. He cared for the poor, fed the hungry, and healed the sick, and his Earthly ministry was a life of ministering to those in need.

Yet, there is an important principle here: that even a good thing, like caring for the poor, is not more valuable than our Savior. Therefore, we must not replace our service with the Savior but rather revel in the Savior and serve Him joyfully. It is obvious that Judas did not see Jesus's immeasurable worth, which is further affirmed by his betrayal.

Memorial and Useful

Moving to Jesus’ words about Mary’s act of devotion, he calls it beautiful and defends her actions. He receives this anointing and attributes it as preparation for his burial. He is again prophesying His imminent death AND thinking about the ministry that will continue after His death.

When Jesus speaks of her sacrifice, he does two things. He memorializes it by saying that what she has done will be told in her memory. Today’s reading is evidence of Jesus’ promise. We are still talking about her display of extravagant love. Second, Jesus plans to use her act for the Gospel. Notice what Jesus says,

Mark 14:9 “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.”

Jesus is focused on the mission. He is thinking about the mission He will entrust the church with, which is to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world. Even before delivering the Great Commission to the disciples, He is already thinking about and speaking about the Gospel going forth to the whole world, and He uses Mary’s act of devotion to this end. Jesus is prophesying the Gospel (which includes his death and resurrection) to the nations as he describes how He will use Mary’s offering of this costly ointment.

When I think of how Jesus memorializes Mary’s act and how He uses it, even now, for the Gospel, it makes me think of missionary biographies. I think of Jim Elliot’s biography called “Shadow of the Almighty,” which is the story of him with a group of missionaries attempting to evangelize to the Guarani people in Ecuador and is then killed by these people.

There are many old missionaries and pastors who lived in hard times like Bonhoeffer and others, who God has used to encourage and challenge my faith, just like He has done for me in studying this scene between Mary, Judas, the religious leaders, and our Savior.

4. Extravagant Love is Contrasted with Betrayal (14:10-11)

We then move into the last movement of our text with the bottom of the sandwich and witness a betrayal.

Mark 14:10–11 “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.”

Judas, who was one of the twelve disciples who lived with, ministered alongside, and witnessed all the miracles of Jesus, decides to betray Jesus and makes it known to the religious leaders who want to kill Jesus. Judas’ decision to betray Jesus resulted in making the enemies of Jesus glad. Mark doesn’t tell us Judas’ motive, but likely it had to do with money. John 12 and 13 tells us that Judas was the treasurer of the disciples and a thief. However, we could guess that greed was at least a culprit in Judas’ decision.

What is clear is the contrast Mark highlights between the betrayal of Judas, a member of Jesus’ inner circle, and Mary, someone who was not part of the inner circle but honored Jesus for all He was worth. Mark serves us a sandwich contrasting devotion and hatred.

But even in the treachery, God is still sovereign. In the beginning, we see that the Chief Priests wanted to wait until after Passover to kill Jesus because of fear of a riot from the followers of Jesus and because of the problematic tension it would bring to the Romans. Yet, God orchestrates it so that Jesus dies in His divine timing. They may not have wanted to kill Jesus during Passover, but God’s sovereign plan is for Jesus to die during Passover and become our Passover Lamb, as Paul calls him in 1 Corinthians 5:7

1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Why is Jesus called the Passover lamb? If you remember the story of the plagues, for the 10th plague, God asked Israel to kill a lamb or goat and sprinkle the blood on the doorposts of their houses to mark it as one to be passed over, and they were spared. Jesus became the Passover lamb for us. For those of us who have been washed by His blood, on judgment day, God’s wrath will pass over us because of the sacrifice of Christ.

When we consider the extravagant love displayed by Mary, it is appropriate to examine how we express our devotion to our Lord and Savior, but this isn’t a question of how much devotion do you express. Rather, I think the Messianic tones of this text, the mention of the Passover, and the planning of killing Jesus during Passover all point us to the cross, the ultimate expression of extravagant love.

It is there that we orient our affections toward.

We look at the amazing display of worship from Mary, and see it something we can admire and aim for. Yet, it does not compare to the display of love on the Cross, that Jesus died for the ungodly, that He took on the wrath of God via a method of execution that was reserved for non-citizens because of how gruesome it was.

Jesus hung on a Cross and that act of extravagant love should stir our hearts. Church, we should not consider the cross and be indifferent about it, we should not consider the cross and quickly move to another thought. We should be moved with conviction, with awe, with humility that God would offer up His only Son to die for one who does not deserve it.

I titled this message Extravagant Love: Cultivating a Devotion for Christ. We cultivate devotion for Christ by looking to the Cross and the ultimate expression of extravagant love and stand amazed and wonder how God could love a sinner condemned unclean. He took my sins and my sorrows and bore them to Calvary.

Brother and sister, when we look to the cross we cultivate a devotion for Christ. And we can be assured Jesus paid our debt in full, and we say, “How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior’s love for me.”

_________ comes up now to for our closing prayer and benediction.