Sermon Tone Analysis

As we come to Mark 14-16, we have come to the most important event in all of history.

These next chapters focus solely upon the Cross of Calvary and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The cross is the central theme of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Jesus’ substitutionary death is foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament: in the promised deliverer of Genesis 3:15; in the animal God killed to provide a covering for Adam and Eve (3:21); in the acceptable sacrifice offered by Abel (4:4); in the ram caught in a thicket that took Isaac’s place on Mt.

Moriah (22:13); in the Passover lambs that were slain in Egypt (Ex.

12:6); in the entire system of Levitical sacrifices (cf.

Heb.

10:1–13); in the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness for healing (Num.

21:8–9; cf.

John 3:14–15); and in the concept of the kinsman-redeemer (cf.

Ruth 4:14).

The cross remains central in the New Testament, where it is the focus of all four Gospels.

The book of Acts is the proclamation of the cross throughout the world, from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

The Epistles are saturated with the theology of the cross and its practical implications for believers (cf. 1 Cor.

1:17–18; Gal.

6:14; Eph.

2:16; Col. 2:14; Heb.

12:2; 1 Peter 2:24, etc.).

The book of Revelation looks back to Calvary, portraying the Lord Jesus as the perfect Lamb who was slain to make redemption possible by His blood (5:6, 12; cf.

13:8).

MacArthur, J. (2015).

Mark 9–16 (p.

267).

Moody Publishers.MacArthur, J. (2015).

This morning we are going to begin with the final Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

This is the most important celebration of the Jewish people.

And in this final feast we will find those who are the Friends or Foes of Jesus.

Text: Mark 14:1-11

1.

The Passover; 1-2

The Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread was a time of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage (Exod 12).

This was the Jewish “Independence Day”.

It included the slaughter of the Passover lamb, whose blood on the doorpost 1,400 years earlier had caused the “death angel” to pass over each home where he saw it, sparing the life of the firstborn in that family.

[Pictures Christ substitutionary death for mans sin]

The Passover was observed on the 14th day of the first month which is the Jewish month Nisan and corresponds to our April.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread started on the 15th of the same month and lasted for 7 days.

Two things are relevant about these verses.

God’s time table for His Son to be sacrificed for the sins of mankind was going to take place exactly when He appointed it.

This would be in two days from that long Monday Jesus had, making it a Wednesday the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

2. In a time where the religious leaders should be leading the people in praise and

thanksgiving to God they were devising a plan of how to kill Jesus.

Though their

motives are evil, God can use that plan of evil to promote His good, salvation!

2. Friends; 3, 6-8

Friend is a word used too loosely today.

The word has two different definitions scripture.

[Rea’] casual acquaintances such as work associates, neighbors or those you come in contact with publicly but not privately.

[‘Ahab] one who loves and is committed to you regardless of circumstances

Jesus was with friends [‘ahab] in Bethany having a meal with them.

Simon the Leper- we really know nothing about him except that he opened his house to feed Jesus and fellowship.

More than likely he was a man who had been healed by Jesus of leprosy, he was clean, but the name stuck with him.

Friends fellowship in eating a meal together.

Having someone eat with you in that culture was to consider them a part of your family.

I believe a large part of ministry building is taking time to fellowship with one another at the dinner table.

Friends are people who know all the bad about us and love us anyway.

Jesus ignored the stigma of leprosy and loved this man.

We need to ignore the stigma’s placed on people in society and love them as Christ does.

[woman in adultery]

A Woman- some believe this is Mary the sister of Martha [ref.

John 12].

Whoever she is she considered Jesus her friend and she showed him thanks in an act of sacrificial love by anointing His head with oil.

Within that flask was a substance called “spikenard”, or just “nard”.

It is a red-tinted ointment that is drawn from a plant that grows in India.

It was a perfume that was used in the embalming process.

It was so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford to purchase it.

We are told in verse 5 that it was worth “300 pence”.

This is a year’s pay for the average worker.

In today’s economy, this gift was worth around $20,000.000.

It was an extravagant gift which made it a sacrificial gift.

This woman took the most precious thing she had and gave it to Jesus in the most significant way, in an act of anointing.

The oil used for anointing the head cost only a mite, the smallest coin in circulation.

But the oil she used was the oil used by kings, and they used it only drop by drop.

This woman emptied her flask to anoint the King of Kings!

This woman placed the value of her friend Jesus, above the value of everything else in her life.

We can learn from her act of love!

Are we totally committed to Jesus in extravagant love and worship?

Is Jesus more valuable to us than the things we possess in life?

Have we reached a place in our walk with Jesus where we no longer care what others think about us? [v. 4, wasted]

Are we willing to suffer shame if it brings Jesus glory?

[v.5, criticized]

[6-8] Jesus rebuked those who troubled this woman for she had done a “good” work for Him.

The word Christ used for good is not agathos which speaks of moral goodness, excellent benevolence [God].

He chose to use the word kalos which means coming from an attitude of love, being appealing and pleasant.

She anointed Him for burial.

Friends act on others behalf, out of love!

3. Foe’s; 10-11

Foe- enemy or opponent.

In this setting there are three groups that are foe’s.

The religious leaders in v.1, the indignant disciples in v. 4-5, and Judas in v.10-11.

Religious leaders- they hated Jesus and wanted Him dead because He was diminishing their power over the people, destroying their profits from the temple merchants and exposed them as the hypocrites they really were.

Indignant Disciples- feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment: There may have been more than Judas that felt this way.

They felt the money could have been used in a better way.

Jesus could have fed the five thousand with two hundred denari.

Here are three hundred denari … no wonder the disciples sitting there saying, “Why all this waste?”

[When we as christians begin to earmark anything we give to the Lord’s ministry at Westview, we become indignant to the work of ministry as a whole and a foe of God]

Judas Iscariot- Why did Judas offer to betray Jesus?

Why did this man who walked with Jesus for 3 1/2 years become his enemy/foe?

Suggestions have been made, each of which may contain an element of truth:

(1) Judas, the only non-Galilean member of the Twelve, he may have responded to the official notice.

Iscariot possibly refers to Kerioth a town in Moab.

(2) He was disillusioned by Jesus’ failure to establish a political kingdom and his hopes for material gain seemed doomed.

(3) His love for money moved him to salvage something for himself.

(4) Ultimately he came under satanic control.