She did what she could... what are you doing?

Here we are again. And unless you are visiting with us this morning you are well aware that we’ve have been working through the Gospel of Mark, and we are in the final week. In the past 3 or 4 lessons we have seen Jesus in conflict with the religious authorities in Jerusalem. He comes into town with His disciples for passover week, and He starts by going to the temple. Well, when He gets to the temple He doesn’t like what He finds because people were buying and selling sacrificial animals and changing money. As Jesus puts it, the religious leaders had turned His Father’s house into a den of thieves. So, Jesus puts a stop to all that.

Well, scribes and chief priests get wind of this, and they start scheming up ways to kill Him, but they’ve got a couple problems to deal with. You see, it is Passover week in Jerusalem, and Jewish males where required to come to Jerusalem for Passover. This means that the city would have been packed with Jewish pilgrims from all over. And these massive crowds were creating a problem for them because Jesus was well liked by the people. In fact back in Chapter 11 verse 18 we read,

Mark 11:18 NKJV

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.

As this verse makes plain these men want to kill Jesus, but they know how popular He is with the crowds, and they are scared if they make a move against Him, it could lead to a massive uproar during the Feast week. They cannot afford to have that happen because Rome might step in and remove them from power.

So, the religious authorities first plan of attack is to send different groups to Him trying to ask Jesus the hardest and most difficult questions that they can think up. And you can be sure they weren’t sending the junior varsity. They were sending their best thinkers, their sharpest debaters, the brightest minds they had. And all the different groups they sent the Pharisees, the Herodians, The Sadducees, all had one goal. Trap Jesus in His words. If they could get Him to say something politically dangerous or theologically reckless, they could finally turn the crowds against Him or hand Him over to Rome.

And as we learned over the past few weeks this plan failed miserably. Jesus dismantled every trap they set. He answered every question with such authority, and clarity that His opponents walked away stunned and embarrassed.

Instead of exposing Jesus, every encounter exposed them. Their hypocrisy. Their ignorance of the scriptures. Their spiritual blindness. Then, after several attempts to trip Jesus up the religious leaders figure out that this plan is never going to work. In fact, after their last attempt Mark records “But after that no one dared to question Him”.

And remember all of this was happening in the temple during the Passover of week. And here is what I want you to see, the promised Messiah of the Jewish people, is standing in the temple. For generations they had prayed for this day. They had longed for the Messiah to come, to teach, to judge, to restore, to reign. And now He is here, in the temple, but instead of receiving Him with joy, the leaders reject Him. Instead of bowing before their King, they plot His death.

And so, after Jesus is rejected by these religious authorities He spends His final moments in the temple teaching HIs disciples. He tells them, “beware the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces. In other words, Jesus is exposing their pride, their love of recognition, their selfish motives, and their evil actions. You see, the scribes were in it for themselves, and Jesus is warning His disciples never to be like that. Jesus was teaching them that He never wanted them to become like the scribes who served, but who served with selfish motives. Jesus says, this is not the way.

And then, as if to drive the point home, Jesus points out a poor widow quietly giving all she has. Mark records that she gave two mites, which for us today, this would be like someone giving a penny. Her offering was basically worthless from a monetary standpoint. Simply put, what the woman gave had no material value. But listen to what Jesus tells His disciples.

Mark 12:43–44 NKJV

43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”

And after meditating, studying, and praying about this passage here is what I think Jesus was teaching His disciples in their final moments together in temple. I think He is saying, “men you think your service to me is going to be filled with power and glory and honor. You have this mental picture that following me is going to entitle you to an lifestyle that looks like the scribes life. You are picturing all of the ways that you are going to rule and be honored by the people. But I never want you to be like those scribes and pharisees. Beware the scribes they are prideful, self serving, and their actions are evil.

Instead, I want you to be like this poor widow, who is the only person in this temple that is worshipping God. This widow gave more than anybody in this temple. She gave everything she had in her devotion to God.”

In other words, Jesus is teaching His disciples that their lives were going to look like the poor widow’s life. There wasn’t going to be an glory, power, and honor in their earthly lives. No there was going to be shame, rejection, and death. Instead they would be required to give everything for God, including their lives. No, their lives weren’t going to look like the scribes. Their lives were going to look like the poor widow’s who gave everything in her devotion to God.

And right after this teaching Jesus departs His temple for good. Let’s read a couple of verses of chapter 13.

Mark 13:1–2 NKJV

1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” 2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

So, as the Messiah leaves the temple for the last time they look back and the disciples are marveling at how beautiful the temple looked. And we know from a well-known Jewish historian that the temple was a magnificent sight to behold. Apparently the temple was built with massive marble stones that were decorated with gold. And Jesus points this out. He says, “Do you see these great buildings (referring to the temple complex)”. Not one stone shall been left upon another”. In other words, Jesus is saying this entire temple is going to be torn down.

Now, I need to give you a quick history lesson and this is fascinating. Remember Jesus says, not one stone shall be left upon another. Well, in 70 A.D. Thirty something years after Jesus pronounces this judgment. The Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple...

Now, we can’t imagine how shocking that would been for the disciples to hear. This was the pride of the Jewish nation. This was God’s temple, and they would have thought it would be impossible for it to be torn down. And so naturally they have questions which Mark records in the next couple of verses.

Mark 13:3–4 NKJV

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”

These questions lead to what is known as the Olivet discourse, and it is Jesus’ longest and most comprehensive prophetic teaching recorded in the NT. In fact, I think it is fair to say that the Olivet discourse (the rest of chapter 13) is the foundation for how we understand understand end times prophecy. And I said all that to say this, if you are curious about what the rest of this chapter says. If you are curious about end times prophecy then you need to join us on Wednesday nights because that is when we are going to study the rest of chapter 13.

You see what I did there? I baited the hook… and then I left you hanging. I’m going to leave you with a cliff hanger.

And hopefully you’re curious enough, or maybe even just bothered enough to come on Wednesday nights and hear what Jesus says next about the last days. Because the Olivet Discourse isn’t just interesting… it’s important. It’s vitally important for Christians to understand the details of God’s future plan, and where we fit into that plan. And we’re going to unpack it, verse by verse, on Wednesday nights.

Ok, so there is my shameless plug for our Wednesday night Bible study, now let’s talk about this morning’s text. We are going to skip ahead to chapter 14. And this begins a new section in Mark’s gospel. Chapters 14 and 15 detail how the those in authority killed the Lord Jesus Christ. And in many ways Mark’s Gospel has been pointing to this event from the very beginning.

The religious leaders start opposing Him at the beginning of chapter two when Jesus healed the paralytic that was lowered down through the roof. In chapter 3, the Pharisees are start plotting His murder after He heals the man with the withered arm on the Sabbath. We are also told that Judas was going to betray Him in chapter 3, and in chapter 6 His forerunner, John the Baptist is murdered.

So, if this was a movie that you were seeing for the first time, you would defiantly be thinking things ain’t looking good for this Man. The foreshadowing is everywhere. Even if you had never read Mark before, you could see where this story is heading. The Christ is going to be put to death.

So when Jesus leaves the temple for the final time and pronounces its coming judgment, it signals something important: the time for His death has now arrived. The opposition has reached its peak. The leaders have rejected Him. The Messiah has left the temple. The very presence of God has left the temple. Now only judgment remains for this generation of Jews. And from this point forward, every step Jesus takes is leading Him directly to the cross.

Ok, with all that being said. We are ready to jump into our text for today. But first let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Let’s pray.

Picking up with the first couple of verses of chapter 14.

Mark 14:1–2 NKJV

1 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. 2 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”

Mark opens this new section of the Gospel with a time marker. He says, “After two days it was the Passover”. And that is literally what the Greek says, which comes across a little awkward in English, but the idea is that Passover is two days away. And I’ve mentioned this before, but let me mention it briefly here. The passover and the feast of Unleavened bread are technically two different feasts. The Passover was one day, and it is immediately followed by a seven day feast known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. However, it was very common for both of the feasts to be referred to as “Passover”. In fact, Luke explicitly says this whole week was commonly called Passover.

The most important take away for us right now is that Jesus is going to be crucified on Passover. And look what the rest of the verse says, “the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death”. The word trickery in the Greek means “deceitfully”. This means they are going to resort to lying and fraud to put Him to death. And look what verse two says, “but they said, ‘not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people’”. This is exactly what we were talking about earlier. They’ve got a problem. Jesus is popular with the people and they are scared if they arrest Him out in the open that the people might riot. They cannot afford to have that happen because Rome might step in and change the power structure.

Now let me point out another important detail in this passage. Notice verse one says, “the scribes sought how they might take him. That word sought appears at the beginning of this passage, and it also appears at the end of the passage. Let me show you. This is how the passage ends.

Mark 14:10–11 NKJV

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

So, the passage begins and ends with the word sought. First, it says the religious leaders sought to take Him, and now one of Jesus own disciples “sought” how they might betray Him. In other words, the passage we are getting ready to study is like a sandwich. It begins and ends in the same way, and it has some related material in the middle. Mark uses this “sandwich” technique throughout his gospel to form bookends around a certain subject. In other words, it highlights the context in the middle.

So the passage begins and ends with the same word “sought.” First, the religious leaders sought to seize Him, and now one of Jesus’ own disciples sought how he might betray Him. In other words, the section we’re about to study is structured like a sandwich. It opens and closes with the same idea (two pieces of bread), and the material in the middle is intentionally placed in between these two pieces of bread.

Mark uses this “sandwich” technique throughout his Gospel to highlight the text in the middle. The outer layers set the tone, but the real emphasis is found in the middle of the sandwich. In other words, he is using this technique to emphasize the meat portion of the sandwich.

And the contrast contained in this sandwich is striking. On one side, we have the leaders plotting His death, and on the other side we see Judas plotting His betrayal, but the middle of the passage reveals a woman who pours out extravagant love and devotion to Jesus. Mark wants us to see the difference. Mark wants us to see the difference. Surrounded by hostility and treachery, true worship shines all the brighter.

You see, jewelers place diamonds against black velvet when they display them. That is because the black contrast makes the diamonds shine even brighter. That is what Mark and the Holy Spirit do in this passage. They place the radiance of a woman’s love and devotion to the Lord against the dark plotting of the religious leaders and Judas to make it shine brighter.

Ok, let’s get into the “meat” of the sandwich.

Mark 14:3 NKJV

3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.

In Matthew and Mark’s account of this dinner we do not get the woman’s name, but John says it is Mary, Martha’s sister. And John also tells us that Lazarus is sitting at the table. And this would have been after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Mark tells us that they were at the house of Simon the leper, and I think it is a safe bet that Jesus probably healed this man of his leprosy.

So, I really want us to try and visualize the fellowship of this event. These are some of Jesus’ most loyal followers. These are the people that loved Jesus. Lazarus is there. Jesus raised Him from the dead. I’m assuming that Simon the leper doesn’t have leprosy anymore. So, here we are two days before the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we talked about darkness is pressing in from all sides. And here comes Mary and it says she “came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard”.

Now, I want you to understand the value of this perfume. You see, extremely expensive perfumes or ointments like this would be kept in an alabaster flask. And they would be completely sealed to keep the oil from losing it fragrance. And the fact, that Mark identifies this as spikenard let’s us know this was most likely a family heirloom. This would have been passed down from one generation to another, from mother to daughter. And this may have also been a security net for the family. If they ever fell on hard times they could have sold this to make ends meet.

And again, the flask would have been sealed, so it would need to be broken to be used, and that is what Mary does. She takes her precious family heirloom, and breaks the sealed flask and “poured it on His head”.

But listen to the reaction of the some of the dinner guests.

Mark 14:4–5 NKJV

4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

Verse four says, “some who were indignant among themselves”. The word indignant there means, to be become angered at something seemingly unjust or wrong. It can also mean to feel violent irritation, physically. And notice verse 5 says, they “criticized” her sharply. The verb translated criticized can mean to snort with anger like horses do. So, the point is this wasn’t a mild rebuke. These people were shaming her for “wasting” this valuable possession. And look what their reasoning was.

They say how could you have wasted that perfume. “it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor”. Three denarii doesn’t mean a whole lot to us today, so let me put this in terms we can understand. A denarii was about a day’s wage for a common laborer. The passage says, it could have been sold for more than 300 denarii, which means this spikenard was worth about a years salary. Think about that for a min. This woman just anointed Jesus’ head with one of her most valuable possessions. What a nest egg. What a rainy day fund. It was something that we would kept locked away in a safety deposit box as an emergency fund, and it would help us sleep better at night. We would be thinking ok, well I’ve always got that spikenard to fall back on.

What I want you to understand the gravity of this beautiful moment of worship. I want you to understand this is what devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ looks like. And it’s a type of devotion that we so often times fail to give the Lord.

You see, Mary had an amazing opportunity to do something beautiful for the Lord Jesus Christ. And she took it. She didn’t hesitate. But so often we hesitate. The opportunity comes along to serve the Lord and we say no. Maybe later when things are busy at work. Or yes we will give financially to the church just as soon as I get this promotion at work. Stop waiting. The time is now. We have limited time to serve the Lord.

Do what Mary did. She took maybe her precious possession and she used it for the Lord. She didn’t come up with a bunch of different reasons why she needed to hang on to it. She didn’t bust the vile put a drop on two on Jesus head and try and save the rest. She went all in. And once again in a book all about discipleship, Mark gives us a beautiful picture of what being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ looks like.

You see, Mary had a choice in this moment, just like we do when it comes to honoring the Lord. Mary, could have done nothing. Or, she could have poured a little on Jesus head, but she gave all. She gave her very best and all that she had. And this a choice every disciple is faced with. And here is the question we all need to answer.

Will I treasure Christ or something else?

You see, the question is will we place Christ above everything else in our lives. Will when sacrifice our time, our money, and our lives to worship Him. Or will we come up with an excuse as to why we need to save our precious spikenard and spend it on ourselves. Mary’s precious was this spikenard. So, let me ask you.

What is your precious?

What is you’re precious and are you willing to give it all to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there is a discipleship principle that we are going to see as we finish this passage, and I believe it is universal for all disciples. And this is the principle.

Discipleship always costs something now, but Jesus rewards it forever!

And this is something Mary’s critics don’t understand. They scold her for not using the money for the poor. And you know what is interesting about this. John’s account tells us who was leading the charge against Mary here. Listen to what John records in chapter 12.

John 12:4–6 NKJV

4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

You see, Judas could not fathom wasting something so valuable. In his greedy mind, this was a waste. And from the world’s point of view, giving up something so valuable to honor God is a waste. To the world, giving up a years salary or a year of your life to serve God is foolishness. But as believer’s we need to understand that every sacrifice we make, our energy, our time, our money… giving our very lives will be remembered by the Lord Jesus Christ, forever. Jesus, is coming back and His reward is with Him. Listen to the words of Jesus Himself recorded at the close of the book of Revelation.

Revelation 22:12 NKJV

12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.

And listen to how Jesus says, Mary will be rewarded for how she used her precious oil.

Picking back up a verse 6

Mark 14:6–7 NKJV

6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.

And this is what I want you to pay attention to,

Mark 14:8–9 NKJV

8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Because of what Mary did the Lord says in verse 9 that, “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her”.

How many untold millions have read this Bible story? How many lives have been changed by this act of worship? And guess what else. Jesus says, “heaven and earth may pass away but my words will never pass away”. I think we are going to be studying our Bibles for eternity. And that means that what this woman did for Jesus, just two days, before HIs death will be discussed forever. The citizens of the Lord’s eternal kingdom will always remember how she honored the Lord Jesus Christ.

This woman is such an outstanding example of what being a disciple means. She paid whatever price was needed to serve the Lord, even though it was costly for her. But the Lord will reward it forever!

One final point as I work to close. Verse 8 says, “she has done what she could”. Mary had a limited amount of time to use to honor the Lord. Mary, probably didn’t understand exactly just how little time she had with the Lord. He was soon going to be crucified. But Mary, used what little time she had and whatever resources she had to serve. The Lord said, “she did what she could”. Legacy, I want us to understand that our time is short. I think it is so much shorter than we realize. We must use whatever time and resources the Lord has given us to act NOW. If Mary had waited, she never would have gotten another opportunity. Don’t wait for the kids to get older, or work to calm down, or you’re health to improve. Do what you can and do it now.

Let’s close with the title of the Lesson.

She Did What She Could… What Are You Doing?