Journey to the Cross--Bethany

The Journey to the Cross: Beginnings at Bethany Spring Valley Mennonite; February 28, 2021; Selected portions of John 10-12 The two greatest holidays to Christians are the celebrations of the birth of Jesus and of the resurrection, Christmas and Easter. In the Gospels, Matthew and Luke each have two chapters speaking of the birth of our Lord, while Mark and John pass over the birth events completely. By contrast, each of the four Gospels contain multiple chapters on the events leading to Jesus' death and resurrection. The Gospel writers devote 31 full chapters describing these events. Therefore, attempting to put emphasis on what God does, as we approach the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, I feel it is appropriate that we spend the next few weeks exploring the events leading up to the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Together we will be taking a journey toward the Cross, stopping at various significant places on that road. In the next weeks we will be lingering at the gates of Jerusalem, in the Temple, the Upper Room, Gethsemane, the various scenes of the Jewish and Roman trials, Mount Calvary, and finally complete our journey at the Empty Tomb. Each of these places has a story to tell, and the people who were involved had their lives changed as they interacted with the Savior. As we consider the events leading up to the sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross, we are again convinced that the timing of these events fit into a carefully orchestrated plan. It is a divine drama in a series of acts that leads to nothing less than the redemption of mankind. We clearly could call it "The Master Plan". Jesus was born to offer Himself as the final sacrifice for sin. His death and resurrection accomplished the redemption of all those who would believe. This morning we begin our journey only two miles from Jerusalem, a place named Bethany, the home of Jesus' dear friends Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. I. THE EVENTS AT BETHANY It is near the Season of Passover in Jerusalem; the Jewish month of Nissan that corresponds to our March and April. To fully grasp the significance of what happened at Bethany in the days immediately before Jesus' death, we need to go back a few months from these events to November/December, to the Feast of Dedication, what we now call Hanukkah. This feast, although not commanded in scripture, had become part of the Jewish calendar. This celebration commemorated the cleansing of the second Temple by Judas Maccabeus in the second century B.C. The Jews had won a short-lived freedom from the Syrian/Greek Empire, a freedom lasting only around 100 years before the Romans took over. This feast was the occasion for Jesus to make a straightforward statement about being the Messiah. We read about this in John chapter 10, vv. 22-30 (READ). This is one of the clearest passages in the Word regarding Jesus' claim to be God. Of great significance is the response from His enemies in v. 31: the Jews picked up rocks to stone Him! And they would have carried out their murderous plan, but it was not the time or place, nor the method by which the Lord was to die (Jesus expressed it by 'My hour is not yet come'). So, Jesus, as He often did, was able to fade away into the crowd. Verse 40 tells us that Jesus and the disciples went away to a place across the Jordan, near where John had baptized many, perhaps even our Lord. They were there a few short weeks when Jesus receives a message from Mary and Martha: "Our brother Lazarus is sick; come quickly". But what did Jesus do? He delayed a few days, and then began walking back toward Bethany and Jerusalem. His disciples responded to His decision, with fear, reminding Jesus that the Jews were determined to kill Him. This fear was then replaced with resignation as Jesus was not to be dissuaded. Thomas expressed this feeling with the words, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." The time of His sacrifice for the sins of the world was drawing near. We remember when Jesus arrived at Bethany; Lazarus had been dead for four days. His sisters couldn't understand why Jesus had delayed saying, "If You had been here, He would not have died." But there was a reason Jesus delayed: Jesus desired to work a great miracle which would attract both belief, on the one hand, but would galvanize the determination of the Jews to murder Him. Lazarus was well-known and respected, many prominent Jews came to pay their respects at the grave, and these Jews were there to witness the raising of Lazarus. II. BELIEF AND UNBELIEF This miracle created great belief (read John 11:45-46) We wonder who these were who believed. Certainly, the faith of Mary and Martha was strengthened, as was the faith of Lazarus himself! This was no "near death experience"; he was dead four days when brought back to life. Can you imagine the stories of heaven he could tell? As a result of this miracle, clearly witnessed by dozens of mourners, many believed, including many prominent Jews. Could it be that the Jewish leaders were not so concerned when the masses of common people believed in Jesus, but when some of the leaders of society believed, they were moved to action? They could no longer be half-hearted about eliminating Jesus. Read with me the proceedings of an emergency meeting of the Jews after the raising of Lazarus (vv. 47-57). Especially notice the words in v. 53: they planned together to kill Him. The chief priests were Sadducees and rarely agreed with the Pharisees on anything; they did agree that Jesus had to be eliminated. Their stated fears were two-fold: first, that wide-spread belief in Jesus would undermine their own power, and secondly, the Romans would recognize their loss of leadership and influence and would take away their positions. Caiaphas makes his famous statement then (vv. 49-51). Clearly, the raising of Lazarus moved the Jewish leaders' plans to kill Jesus into high gear. But Jesus was nowhere to be found. It wasn't yet time. III. THE REACTION TO BETHANY'S EVENTS After raising Lazarus, Jesus again retreated from public ministry to concentrate on being with His disciples, again for a short period of time, perhaps only days in length. John 12:1: Then Jesus returned to Bethany a few days before Passover. We remember that Passover was one of three required yearly feasts the Jews were required to attend. Along with Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles in fall, Passover attracted great numbers of visitors, as Jews from all over the Roman Empire made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus estimated number of people gathering annually for Passover to be as high as 2.5 million! Even if he was exaggerating somewhat, that means there were a lot of people there! We remember that many of these visitors stayed an additional 50 days to observe the Feast of Pentecost. Thus, they were present when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers gathered in the upper room. Thousands of those from all over the Roman Empire became believers as the Church was born on the Day of Pentecost. Again, we see the perfect timing of God. Passover commemorated the deliverance from Egypt. In the last plague, the Angel of Death passed over the Jewish households which had slain a lamb and applied its blood to their front doors. The sacrificial lamb through which the sons of Israel in Egypt were delivered from death was a type-an example of Jesus Christ and how His blood would rescue believers from eternal spiritual death. The parallels of the Passover Lamb and our Lord are numerous; we remember John the Baptist's testimony as he pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. One of the main points we must see from these events is that the timing was exactly according to the divine plan of God. Jesus' death-the very day, the very hour was predetermined. Jesus' death was no unfortunate accident; John 10:17-18 states, "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken if away from Me, but I lay it down on my own initiative." Jesus said, as recorded in John 12:23: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." So, it was Passover season, and Jesus led His disciples back to Bethany. And it was there that an extraordinary event occurred, one that has special application to us. IV. JESUS ANOINTED FOR BURIAL While in Bethany, Jesus was given a special dinner in His honor; Matthew 26 tells us it was hosted by Simon, a man whom Jesus had most likely healed from leprosy. The dinner itself is significant for what happened there: Follow along as I read John 12:1-3. This event is spoken of in the gospels of Matthew and Mark in addition to here in John. Mary anointed both the head (Mark and Matthew) and the feet (John) of Jesus. John adds that she wiped his feet with her hair. Historians tell us that Jewish women did not let their hair down in public. This action would have been viewed with astonishment and probable disfavor. But Mary was not concerned with the opinions of others. She was focused on showing her love and devotion to her Lord. Remember at an earlier time that Mary, instead of helping serve a meal, was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to His teaching. In that culture, women kept to the background, or were involved in serving as did Martha. It was contrary to the customary roles of women for Mary to be sitting at Jesus feet listening. Jesus, in commending Mary in both these occasions, demonstrated that His followers would often need to be counter-cultural. At this banquet, we again find Martha serving. Don't be too hasty in condemning Martha, as serving is obviously Martha's gift. In the earlier meal it was not wrong for Martha to be serving, but she was doing it with the wrong attitude, feeling sorry for herself. Have you ever thought that you were the only one working while everyone else was just sitting around? That was how Martha was feeling! Jesus commended Mary for her devotion to Him, her love which drew her to His feet. Martha was so preoccupied with feeling sorry for herself that the joy of her serving was blocked. One could serve and listen also. Once again we observe Mary's devotion to Jesus; this time it motivated her to a magnificent extravagance; she took a container of a most costly perfume, the scripture identifies it as spicknard, and anoints Jesus' head and feet with it. Spicknard was imported from the region of India, and one of its most common uses was for anointing bodies for burial. It was highly aromatic (the house was filled with the fragrance) and able to mask the odor of death. Often people would buy this perfume and store it away, saving it for their own burial. I would point out something very important regarding Mary's action. It would take a strong movement within, perhaps an overwhelming emotion to motivate Mary to make such a sacrifice. My point is that she went ahead and did it! She was moved to take advantage of the opportunity, and she "pulled the trigger"! She carried through with her thought. It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I was thinking this week if I could be judged by all the good things that I have thought of doing, I would be right up there with the late Billy Graham! But good intentions so often are never implemented. How often we get distracted and the urge is forgotten. Mary didn't talk herself out of this great and extravagant act of devotion. We need to learn to follow through with those good intentions. Make that phone call. Write that check. Extend that invitation to dinner. Go see that lonely person. Volunteer for that position. Just do it, as Mary did. Follow through! Both Mark and John record that this perfume was very costly, worth 300 denarii. A single denarii was the standard daily wage for a worker. And while it may not be exactly equal if we translate this into today's wages, but to give us some sense of the value, if we take 300 days at the current minimum wage of $7.25, the total will amount to something like $17,000! What an extravagant action! If your boss gave you a year-end bonus equal to your yearly wages, would you turn around and give it away to charity? Would you take your entire Christmas bonus and put it in the Salvation Army kettle? Notice that Mary didn't just pour out a bit from the vial, but she poured out the whole content of the vial. Continuing to read: (vv. 4-8) Most of those at the dinner thought this was extremely wasteful. Notice who was leading the criticism: Judas! Mary was being scolded for wasting such wealth, but Jesus came to her rescue, saying she had done a good thing, and would be remembered wherever the gospel would be preached. And today as we examine this passage, Jesus' prophesy is being fulfilled. We are remembering what Mary did. What motivated Mary to such a sacrifice? What moved her to give such an offering to our Savior? Perhaps she was remembering with gratitude Jesus giving her back her brother Lazarus from death. Perhaps she, better than most, was expressing appreciation for His words of life. Perhaps she had insight that Her Lord's death was near, and it was appropriate to anoint Him for burial. The Gospel author Mark, in describing this incident records a significant remark by our Lord; In Mark 14:8 Jesus said, "She has done what she could." Mary used what she had to honor and bless Jesus. If we had been there, perhaps we would have agreed that this was over-the-top extravagance. But Jesus gave His approval. I think sometimes we think God approves of our frugal ways when it comes to supporting His work. God certainly spared no expense in providing for our salvation! Generosity is one of the marks of a mature Christian. I have said many times that a person's spirituality can be measured by his checkbook, for his use of money speaks eloquently about what he considers important. Mary put the Lord first. We might assume that the family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus were wealthy. The ability to spend almost a year's wages on perfume indicates that. But the principle of generosity does not depend on the level of our wealth. Mary did what she was able to do. We remember Jesus' teachings about the widow's mite. Our question today is this: Are we doing what we can do to honor the Lord? I am convinced that Mary's motive was her intense love of Jesus. She recognized that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. He also was their friend who expressed care and love. And that love motivated her generosity. V. THE GREAT CONTRAST BETWEEN MARY AND JUDAS Notice that it was Judas who led the criticism about this extravagance. John gives us insight into Judas' motives in his opposition: he was a thief who embezzled the funds from their treasury. I wonder if Jesus' rather stinging rebuke was directed at Judas. I wonder if his wounded pride was a bit of the reason that, as Mark tells us, Judas immediately went to the chief priests and arranged to betray Jesus. I believe that God would have us notice the great contrast between Mary and Judas and their attitude toward using what resources we have for honoring the Lord. Mary was moved to great generosity; Judas wanted to steal the money for his personal use. How do I view my resources? Do I see myself as a steward for all that God has given me or do I see myself as owner? Mary received the blessing that day. Over 2000 years later we speak of her extravagant expression of love and devotion. Such devotion should motivate us do what we can for the Lord. That is my hope during this season. All these events took place according to the divine timetable of God. This banquet was on Saturday evening; the next day Jesus rode into Jerusalem as many in the crowd proclaimed Him as the Messiah. That will be our next stop in our Journey to the Cross. 1