Two Treasures

Mark 14:1–11 (HCSB)

1 After two days it was the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a treacherous way to arrest and kill Him. 2 “Not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be rioting among the people.” 3 While He was in Bethany at the house of Simon who had a serious skin disease, as He was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of pure and expensive fragrant oil of nard. She broke the jar and poured it on His head. 4 But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this fragrant oil been wasted? 5 For this oil might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her. 6 Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for Me. 7 You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have Me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed My body in advance for burial. 9 I assure you: Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.” 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to hand Him over to them. 11 And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him silver. So he started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.

Mark gives us an overview of where we will be going in these final moments before Jesus’ death.

He tells us that it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

He also tells us that they were looking for an opportunity to kill him.

To a Jewish mind hearing these words, sparks should be flying.

The Passover was a sacramental meal that involved the slaughtering of a lamb, remembering the covering of blood required to be protected from the wrath of God.

John 1:29 HCSB

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The stage has been set.

The pressure has built.

The interesting thing about pressure...

Pressure reveals things.

Pressure displays the strength of the item being tested.

Diamond formation

Pressure puts things to the test.

The pressure that has built will be highlighted in two different people.

One man is crushed by the pressure.

One woman cultivates the diamond of faith.

Two people.

Two Treasures.

This woman,

and Judas.

We are given a crystal clear window into the hearts of two of Jesus’ followers.

And what we see inside is what their heart truly desires.

The treasures of our hearts ALWAYS compel us to act, it is merely a question of how...

Treasuring Christ:

Man's whole created purpose is to bask in the glory of the creator and to use what he has built into the creation to build things and grow things and cultivate things that will glorify Him even more.

If we use our imagination of what life would have been like if Adam and Eve had not sinned, perhaps they would have traveled out of the garden down to Havilah, harvested gold God had hidden in the Earth, and used it to fashion beautiful ornaments for the garden of Eden.

They would have transformed the whole world into a place of such beauty that you would not be able to turn to turn your head in any direction without thinking about God in his sanctuary.

This would cause you to worship.

The whole earth has the express purpose of glorifying God.

This is what is intuitively known by spiritual beings that minister, before the throne of in heaven at all times in Isaiah, we are given a vision of the throne room in Isaiah 6

Where Seraphim stand before God, the Father Almighty and they call to one another “holy holy holy is the Lord of armies, the whole Earth is full of His glory.”

Every bit of creation is for the distinct purpose of glorifying God.

The Cost of Treasuring Christ:

One of the costs of treasuring Christ above all is that it will put you at odds with people who do not see the immense value of having Jesus as your brother and King.

“They glowered at her”

In God’s economy, our perceived value of things is upended by God’s interest in the heart.

Mark: An Introduction and Commentary ii. The Anointing at Bethany (14:3–9)

the attitude of Jesus both to this costly gift and to the widow’s slender gift was fundamentally the same. He regarded both gifts as priceless, but accepted such giving, whether directly to God or indirectly through him, as right and natural.

Mark: An Introduction and Commentary ii. The Anointing at Bethany (14:3–9)

We cannot in ourselves meet all the world’s needs, nor indeed is it God’s will that we personally should. This knowledge brings the tranquillity that characterized Jesus amid his manifold activity. Nervous strain is, after all, only a symptom of lack of faith in God, for it springs from the belief that nothing will be done by God unless we do it ourselves.

The aroma that is most pleasing to Jesus is the aroma of faith.

What is of real value to Jesus is faith.

But faith is not just thinking right thoughts.

Faith drives us to act.

Faith is linked tightly with works.

Faith in God equips us to do things that are upside down according to the world.

Things like blowing 40k on something that simply serves to exalt Jesus.

Without a second thought.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Mark 14:1–11)

Did he pour out his soul unto death for us, and shall we think any box of ointment too precious to pour out upon him

And here’s another thing we learn from the text:

Jesus not only esteems faith, he protects it.

Jesus protects our faith from attack.

Consider what he does when these men glowered at her and questioned her motive,

Jesus jumps to her defense.

They claimed that what she did was a waste.

Jesus says, “Leave her alone”

He counters them.

Not only was it not wasteful, but he gives it the honor of nobility.

He says that her action will be told along with the gospel all over the world.

Why?

Because the gospel reorients us.

The good news about Jesus and His kingdom re-calibrates us to the proper order of things again.

This means that if we are to follow Jesus, two things will be simultanesously true.

We must be prepared to have our world’s radically re-calibrated.

We must be willing to do what pleases God, even when it pleases not a single other person.

And you know what makes this especially difficult?

She wasn’t displeasing the pagan Romans.

She was displeasing Jesus’ own followers.

The only way you will be able to do what pleases God contrary to what even some Christians might have you do,

is if you are treasuring Jesus above all else.

Treasuring the world:

When we consider Judas we need to be careful to not simply right him off as the “bad guy” of the Bible

as if he is some lone wolf.

There is nothing “lone” about Judas.

Judas = Judah

God’s own people betraying him.

Judas is an individual who is acting out and portraying that hearts of many in Israel.

But not just those in Jerusalem.

Judas is the type of every person who has ever belonged to God and then walked away from him.

This is a terrifyingly sobering reality.

Judas had belonged to YHWH his whole life.

Judas was circumcised on the eighth day,

and spent his whole life literally bearing a sign on his body that he belonged to YHWH,

and when He meets YHWH,

he doesn’t understand Him and He doesn’t want Him, so He betrays Him.

It is foolishness to rather have the gift than the giver.

This is why it is so critical that we teach our baptized children what God is like and immerse their lives in His story.

Because if you don’t, then the fact they belong to Jesus in their baptism will only serve to drive them from God.

When you baptize your infant in the waters of baptism,

you’re not actually doing the baptizing.

God is.

There is a real relinquishing of your parental rights to God.

This child belongs to God now.

But he adopts them back into your family to raise them.

But they really belong to God now.

The question is,

will belonging to God prove itself to be a blessing or a curse to your child?

Teach your children to drink deeply from the waters of life,

and to value Jesus as the source of all good things.

To understand the folly of what Judas did,

imagine it this way...

How much value does a well bring in the desert?

Would you like to have a well that brings you cool water in the desert forever, or would you rather scrap the well motor for $200.

This is highlighted when we compare Judas actions with the actions of the woman.

What the woman did is equivalent to cladding the outside of the well in gold to distinguish it as the extremely valuable source of life that it is.

Israel cuts themselves at the knees,

and Judas is a type of all of them.

Judas lost sight of the reality that the creation serves the purpose of glorifying the creator.

Silver is valuable. But only in service to the King.

When we take the good gifts of God’s creation, and turn them into instruments for worshipping ourselves instead of worshipping God, we are turning our back on Jesus too.

The creation is powerful.

And in the hands of a human being made in the image of God, much can be accomplished.

Either for flourishing,

or destruction.

Example of music.

Music can be used to communicate truth

display beauty

harness creativity for good

OR

tell lies

tear down beauty

creatively sin

Example of money.

Money can be used to care for others

give an inheritance for your children

build things that honor God

OR

finance wickedness

hoard it away from our own families

build things that honor ourselves

Example of sex.

Sex can be used for building families

cultivating unity in a marriage

basking in the goodness of godly pleasure

honoring the body of another

OR

destroying families

damaging marriage covenants

harnessing pleasure for sin and self worship

destroying and degrading the body of another

Treasuring Christ turns the objects of this world into true treasures,

Treasuring objects turns them into idols fit for burning.

As we reach the end of Jesus earthly life and ministry,

we see that He is becoming the cornerstone of Israel

Some will adorn that cornerstone and build on it,

and others will be shattered on it.

What is the legacy of these two people.

The one who threw Jesus in the trash for temporary gain was disgraced and committed suicide.

The one who did the unthinkable to esteem the giver of all good gifts is remembered forever in the halls of our King.

I implore you to adorn Christ in your life.

Esteem Him before others.

Do not be ashamed of Him.

He owns the mountains.

He owns the seas.

He owns every flower that grows in the field and the galaxies in the sky.

He is worth your everything.

And He will not forget you and your faith on the last day.