Easter Upside-Down March 21, 2021

Introduction

Over the next four weeks we will talk about how Jesus turns things upside down. And we will see that no one can truly turn the world upside down like Jesus.

In the video we just heard Mary shared how Jesus turned a dinner party upside down. His response to what Mary did was upside down to an extraordinary extent. And it was such a crazy moment in that time and culture that we're still discussing it 2000 years later.

So today we will look at Mary's encounter with Jesus. This is Mary of Bethany. You can find it in John 12:1-8. You can also read it in Matthew chapter 26 and mark chapter 14.

We talked about Mary’s story a little bit last week today we're going to take a bit of a deep dive into her encounter with Jesus.

OK now that we've read this story. Let's unpack it. This happened right in the days leading up to the ultimate upside down moment known to us as Easter. Jesus and his death and resurrection happened only days after this story.

Mary was the sister of Martha and Lazarus and they lived in the village of Bethany which was close to Jerusalem. Of all the people in the Bible Mary was the one person we know who chose to sit and listen intensively when Jesus spoke.

You probably remember the story of Mary and her sister Martha and Lazarus. They loved Jesus. Martha cooked meals that made Jesus and his disciples feel at home. In the earlier chapters of the book of John we understand Mary's deep love for her brother Lazarus. In fact between Mary's love for Lazarus and Jesus love for Lazarus we see Jesus weeping at the death of Lazarus.

John 11:32–35 ESV

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.

This encounter in John Chapter 11 changed the life of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And here in this chapter we find Mary again emotionally and totally dedicated to loving Jesus. She knew that Jesus had spent his time loving and serving others . She knew that he gave without concern for himself. In John chapter 12 we see a celebration meal to honor Jesus.

To the Jewish people the evening meal was special. And we will talk more about that in a minute. But in this case this meal was a chance to celebrate the fact that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Did you see the story earlier when Martha had prepared a meal for Jesus:

Luke 10:38–42 ESV

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

by the time we get to John chapter 12 Martha is again preparing a meal but Mary is not going to allow her sister to be outdone in showing love for Jesus. Although Jesus confirmed and affirmed Mary earlier when she just sat as feet showing love ... although he affirmed this Mary wanted to bring something now to show her love for Jesus.

Mary’s Gift

Mary decided to do something. She took a jar of perfume that cost a small fortune. Everyone must have stopped and gasped at what happened. This wasn't common. This was the kind of generosity that someone shows and other people see it and say that's generous but a little bit foolish.

Here's a little bit of background ........this ointment comes from the Himalayan mountains in the region around Tibet and India. It's extraordinarily costly because of how hard it was to get there. It had to be brought by camels through the mountains in clay jars. Or rather alabaster jars. This made the ointment and the containers both very valuable.

There's a good chance that the net worth of Mary all the money she had in the world she held in her hands with that jar. John 12 mentions 1 pound of nard in the Roman scale of measurement that's about 12 ounces or roughly the size of a Coca Cola can. Judas values it at around 300 denarii. A denarii was a unit of money back then. 300 denarii was roughly what an ordinary person made in one year.

Can you imagine giving away something worth a year salary? I remember picking out or ring for Ashley and hearing the logic that you could spend one or two months wages on that ring and that sounded extraordinarily high back then. I can't imagine an investment of something that costs a year's wages!

Judas knew the price of everything but failed to realize the value of anything

A sad irony is this: Judas knew the price of everything but he failed to realize the value of anything. Jesus made the point that the poor would always need care. In fact the town where they held this meal was called Bethany. The word Bethany means House of the poor. Jesus loved the poor and cared for them.

Jesus knew that he would only be in the presence of his friends for a few more days. And really also Judas complained here not because he cared about the poor. He wanted to embezzle ... use the money for himself. Mary new that anything spent investing in worshipping Jesus would be worth the cost. It would be worth the expense.

OK this dinner party took place just six days before the Passover. The next day Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey with the cheers of thousands. The end of the week would involve Jesus marching to his crucifixion carrying a cross. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what was coming would turn the world upside down. Jesus knew that Good Friday with all of its blood and gruesomeness would come and with extraordinary courage ... The courage of a lion he would face it with the humility of a lamb.

All that was coming but tonight Jesus just wanted a moment with this friends.

You know how much it's sad how bickering and fighting can ruin even the best moments. How you can be on an extraordinary trip of a lifetime and end up fighting with your loved ones. Mary wanted to show extravagant love to Jesus as a friend.

You know though, Mary did all this in a time when women didn't let their hair down in public. Doing this would be indecent. When Jesus was anointed by Marianne she dried his feet with her hair there was a sense of shock in the people's reactions. And culturali they should have been shocked.

But you know what I love about Jesus. He sees peoples hearts. He comes to the rescue of Mary right away. He made sure that his disciples knew that what she was doing was right and pure and good. She was vulnerably serving him and Jesus turned the situation upside down and protected her.

both Matthew and mark talk about Mary anointing Jesus head with oil. If you think about it, a King would be anointed with oil on his head. However John says that it was his feet that were cleaned and then she let down her hair to wipe up the excess and dry his feet. During that time the feet were the humblest part of a persons body. Think of all the dirt and the sandals. On the other hand a woman's hair was the most glorious part of her body. Even the Bible talks about a woman's hair being her glory.

One question that people ask is how in the world is it possible for mark and Luke to talk about Mary annointing Jesus’ head and for John to talk about Mary anointing Jesus feet. Well in that day when you ate at someones house you ate at a big U shaped table. You would lay down on your side and stick your feet out straight kind of behind you behind the person beside you. In that case it would be relatively easy for married to walk up and anoint Jesus head and then anoint his feet because your feet would be exposed. As opposed to our dining room table where everyone's feet are hidden under the table in that day your feet would be extended out beside you or behind you and therefore accessible to servants to wash your feet.

Murray was a sister to the owner of the house. This job of taking care of peoples feet would have fallen to the lowest servant in the house. But Mary wanted to show the greatest love for Jesus.

Look at how John Matthew and mark all talk about the place where Jesus and his friends are at.

John 12:2 ESV

2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

Matthew 26:6–7 ESV

6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.

Mark 14:3 ESV

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.

All three of these different accounts talk about Jesus being at the table. There is a Jewish term for this and it goes like this:

mikdash me’ at (pronounced phonetically like Mick-dosh Me-ought.)

Basically this is translated as a little sanctuary or a mini temple. You probably heard the western phrase a man's home is his Castle. Mikdash meowt is the eastern way of saying this. This is one of the most sacred spaces where friends connect and people connect with God.

I love how Brennan Manning puts this in the ragamuffin gospel:

In the Near East, to share a meal with someone is a guarantee of peace, trust, fraternity, and forgiveness—the shared table symbolizes a shared life. An Orthodox Jew’s saying, “I would like to have dinner with you” is a metaphor that implies, “I would like to enter into friendship with you.” Even today an American Jew will share a doughnut and a cup of coffee with you, but to extend a dinner invitation is to say, “Come to my mikdash me-at, the miniature sanctuary of my dining room table, where we will celebrate the most sacred and beautiful experience that life affords—friendship.” That is what Zacchaeus heard when Jesus called him down from the sycamore tree, and that is why Jesus’ practice of table fellowship caused hostile comment from the outset of his ministry.

In this cultural context the best place to worship Jesus was right at the table. This was the place where Mary would be closest to God ... it was at the table. This was where marriage worship would prepare Jesus for the upcoming burial but also gives Jesus’ disciples a glimpse to how he would serve them later he would wash their feet.

Jesus describes what she did here:

Matthew 26:12 ESV

12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.

One of the biggest expenses in that day associated with a funeral was the ointments and perfumes to mask the smell of a decaying body. Remember when Martha encountered Jesus at the tomb of her brother. She said Lord there will probably be an odor.

John 11:39 ESV

39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

Now there's a chance that Mary understood that she was preparing Jesus body for his approaching death. She was the one who listened intently to him. We don't know what Mary knew an entirely what she intended. But Jesus speaks so perfectly about Mary’s actions:

Mark 14:8–9 ESV

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.”

When someone does an act of extraordinary love for Jesus born out of a heart that desires to know and serve him Jesus receives that love and shows compassion.

So how can we apply this to our lives?

Mary worshipped Jesus with everything she had period she loved extravagantly. When it comes to worshipping God it's not about equal gifts but it is about equal sacrifices. When we give sacrificially out of what we can give Jesus sees our hearts.

Mary wanted to prepare Jesus ... she prepared him for a burial. But in her generosity she also prepared her own heart.

Mary wanted to prepare Jesus for a burial that would come after the cross. But she was also preparing herself for the feast , the Passover that all Jews celebrate. Passover celebrates God's Salvation of the Jewish nation.

What do we need to do today to prepare our hearts and lives to celebrate the Passover lamb? Jesus is the Passover lamb and he was slain for the sins of the whole world.

How can you prepare your hearts in the days leading up to Easter? What can you bring as a sacrificial gift of love to God?

What is something that is extraordinarily precious to us that we might give to God as a an act of worship. Not giving to God to get a tax write-off or bragging rights or some sense of spiritual growth but to express an intimate love for and an abandonment to serving Jesus.

What if we saw our dinner tables as our own mikdash milt ... our mini temple?

What if we made the space around our tables a truly sacred space where we are connected with friends and family about what really matters every day.

I hope that each of us combined sacred spaces in our homes and in our lives where we slow down and enjoy what God has done for us. I hope we can take time to worship God by sharing meals and FaceTime and time with those that we love. As we celebrate and thank God every day in our lives we worship him. And by loving God intentionally and generously we might just turn our own lives upside down this Easter.