John 12 Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
It’s Father’s Day and every year it comes with the same challenge for the kids: what do you get for dad? Because dad already has everything. He makes more money than you and just buys whatever he wants.
And what could you get for the one who’s spent so much of that on you? Throughout your life he’s always been the one who got you things:
Food
Clothing
Housing
Toys
What do you give the person who’s given you everything?
That’s the challenge Mary faces in John 12:1-9. Jesus is her Lord, the Christ, the Son of God, who’s just given her back her brother Lazarus from the dead. What can she give in return?
What can we give to Jesus who gave everything for us?
The Context
The Context
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
Jesus’ signs have reached a climactic point
He’s announced the coming of the kingdom with new wine
He provides true bread that gives true satisfaction
Heals a blind man to show how he guides us out of the dark
All summed up by his claim to be the resurrection and the life
Not everybody wants that life
Religious leaders have put their foot down - Jesus dies
They want to kill Lazarus at the end of the story
6 days to Passover and the Lamb of God is about to be slaughtered
But they won’t be able to take Jesus’ life
He lays it down as the good shepherd
To give us eternal life, Jesus needs to give his
Mary wants to give something to him
Mary’s Gift
Mary’s Gift
3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Anointing Jesus with Nard
From India in the Himalayas
Pound’s worth - 12 oz. soda can
So much that it fills the whole house
Verse 3 - It’s expensive
Verse 5 - 300 denarii
A full years wage
Take a full year’s wage and pour it out on a single night
That’s Mary’s gift for Jesus.
But not everyone that night is thrilled with Mary’s gift. Judas Iscariot brings up a very practical concern that I think plenty of us can sympathize with.
Judas Interrupts
Judas Interrupts
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
What a waste!
We feel wasteful spending money on
This perfume is the height of Hedonism and waste
We sympathize - sounds righteous!
Two problems with Judas’ objection
Jesus isn’t having it - leave her alone!
He’s Lying
6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Judas is a thief!
He doesn’t care about the poor
He only wants a bigger bank to steal from
The contrast
Mary gives
Judas takes
And Mary gives much more than perfume, and Judas is wanting to take more than just money.
What Mary Gave
What Mary Gave
Her gratitude
The last time we saw her she was breaking down in tears at the feet of Jesus
This could have been the first holiday without Lazarus
Lord’s Supper with Amelia
3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
She might have just given away her dowry
How could Mary give less? Cheap gift illustration
Her pride
John singles out the feet - job of the lowest slave
Washing with her hair
Her glory in 1 Cor 11:15
Possibly as a sign of complete devotion
This act becomes a confession
A sweet-smelling sacrifice
Fills the house - more than a detail
Used to describe the OT sacrifices
Mary’s sacrifice has been accepted, because she gave everything to the one who gave everything.
What Judas Tried to Take
What Judas Tried to Take
More than Jesus offered
Jesus’ promises never fit the bill
Bread of life? He’ll take cash
Light of the world? Judas sees dollar signs
Jesus isn’t the resurrection and the life - he’s a stepping stone to the good life
The honor that belongs to Jesus alone
He’s saying Jesus’ isn’t worth the honor that Mary gave him
He wanted to convert that honor into cash and take it for himself
When we want more we tell Jesus he isn’t enough
We call him a liar
He can’t satisfy our needs or desires
He can’t offer the life I want
Despite Jesus offering everything - it isn’t enough for me
Jesus and the Poor
Jesus and the Poor
7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Jesus isn’t having any of what Judas is serving. Leaver her alone! She’s offered this in respect to my burial.
And then he says “For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
This has suffered from some very poor interpretation unfortunately. Some are out there who say “Well the poor are always gonna be here, so why bother helping? Poverty can’t be solved, so I won’t do anything about it.”
Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 15:11
11 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.’
God wants his people to care for the poor
Deuteronomy 15 talks about the Sabbath year
Be generous even in the face of great loss
If Israel was to do this:
4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.
Poverty is solved in the kingdom of God through a radical generosity and trust in God.
God cares about the poor
Psalm 68:5
I can pull 21 verse that give the command to care for the poor
God says give special care to them, protect them, be generous to them.
Jesus says he’s more important than them.
Anyone you hold dear:
Your wife or husband
Your children
Your parents
Your friend who’s been through everything with you
Even yourself
Jesus is worth more.
Application
Application
Are we in a give or take relationship with Jesus?
Sometimes we don’t want to give
We just want church services
Don’t ask me to do more than show up
Forget bible studies and inviting people
I don’t want to give up my time to show hospitality
Don’t ever ask me to do anything extravagant
Unless it’s explicitly commanded in black and white and then I’m only doing the bare minimum
Sacrifice a year of my life?
Go across the seas for missionary work?
Take in a poor person?
If we’re not giving, we’re taking
Jesus isn’t worthy of anything extra - just the bare minimum
Because everything else belongs to me
We’re taking all of those blessings that are to be used in service to God and sacrificing them to ourselves
So give!
