Sermon Tone Analysis

MARY’S ALABASTER BOX

Text: Mark 14:1 – 11

Good Morning!

Welcome to The Baptist Fellowship!

I want to take a minute to remind everyone that next week, Easter Sunday, we will be collecting for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

Please focus on the screen as we watch this short video clip.

So remember, our goal is collect at least $1000.00 to give to the Easter offering.

So please come next week ready to give as much as the Lord is leading you to do.

Today Palm Sunday!

Traditionally today starts off the Holy week.

This week many Christians around the world choose to take each day and remember the journey of Jesus to the Cross, to the Grave, and to the Resurrection!

We have chosen to have special services to remember 3 of these days.

Today, Palm Sunday, to remember Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, this Friday, to remember Christ going to the Cross to give His life for the sins of the World, and next Sunday, Easter Sunday, to celebrate the Resurrection, when Christ defeated sin and death and Hell for all eternity.

Today, Palm Sunday, we traditionally hear sermons about Jesus selecting the donkey to ride into Jerusalem on, or about the owner of the donkey and his willingness to give it away.

Or we hear about the crowds of people shouting HOSANNA to the KING while laying down palms in the streets as Jesus entered Jerusalem.

Or we hear about Jesus telling the religious leaders that if the people do not shout and worship, then the very Rocks will Shout and Worship!

However, this morning I want us to take a look at an event that took place the friday before the triumphant entry.

I want to talk about someone that is perhaps overlooked in this sequence of events leading up to the Holy Week.

I want to look at the events in Mark Chapter 14 that take place in a Leper’s house named Simon.

Someone once said that worship is the act of sacrificially giving to Jesus something that is precious to us.

What would that be for you?

Your money?

Your time?

Your job?

For the woman described in this scripture, it was a container of very expensive perfume.

Let’s look at her story.

This story takes place just before Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.

Sometimes, historians back in Jesus’ day didn’t write things in chronological order; they ordered events together to show a comparison or contrast of some sort.

Mark identifies the place as the house of Simon the Leper in Bethany.

We know almost nothing about this man, but evidently, he had suffered from leprosy, and Jesus had healed him.

Mark doesn’t mention the name of the woman, but John identifies her as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

John says that Martha was serving at this gathering and that Lazarus was sitting with Jesus.

Their presence in the story has caused some to believe that Simon may have been their father, or at least a close relative.

Jesus is the guest of honor at this gathering, and as He sits and eats, Mary enters the room with an alabaster box of perfume.

Scripture identifies this perfume as spikenard, which was a very expensive fragrance imported from India.

In verse 5, this small container of perfume is valued at three hundred pence, which was the equivalent of a year’s salary for a common worker.

Some believe that this perfume may have been Mary’s dowry.

If that is true, it was probably all that she really possessed.

It was customary to wash the feet and anoint the head of a guest in your house, but Mary goes above and beyond.

John says that she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair.

She then breaks the container and pours all of its contents on Jesus’ head.

Immediately, the disciples begin to criticize her.

One gospel records that Judas is the most vocal.

They claim that Mary has wasted this precious perfume, and that she should have sold it and given the money to the poor instead.

Could you imagine how Mary must have felt?

After pouring out everything she had as an act of worship, she gets criticized and ridiculed by the disciples of Jesus.

I am sure that her heart must have been broken just like the alabaster box that had contained her perfume.

But Jesus puts a stop to their criticism.

He tells the disciples to leave her alone, because she has done a good work for Him.

He says that they can help the poor anytime they want, but that they will not have very many more opportunities to show their love for Him in person.

Jesus had told His disciples on several occasions that He was going to Jerusalem to be put to death, and now He claims that Mary’s act of devotion will serve as the anointing for His death.

Although Mary probably didn’t intend for her actions to be interpreted this way, the custom was to first bathe and then anoint the body of a dead person.

After the body was anointed, the flask that contained the ointment was to be broken and laid with the body in the tomb.

Jesus knew that He would be put to death as a criminal, and that He would be buried without the proper anointing.

Jesus goes on to state that wherever the Gospel is preached that Mary’s act of devotion would be discussed and remembered.

We are part of the fulfillment of that prophecy here today as we look at this Scripture.

As I studied this passage, I learned several things.

First, the alabaster box of ointment contained something that was very precious, but as long as it stayed in the container, it didn’t benefit anyone.

John says that when the perfume was poured out upon Jesus that its fragrance filled the house.

Jesus called the act a good work, and the original Greek actually means “a beautiful thing.”

God has given each one of us a spiritual gift.

It may be great faith, acts of service, hospitality, teaching, or some other gift.

But if you keep that gift to yourself, it benefits no one.

It is your responsibility as a Christian to figure out what your gift is, and then to use it for the glory of God and the benefit of those around you.

What good is the gift of preaching if you never preach?

What good is the gift of leadership if you never lead?

Practice your Gifts that God has given you!

As we get better organized and begin to grow, we will be starting our discipleship classes.

The second part of that class is called Discover your Spiritual Gifts.

The entire purpose of this class is to help you discover what your skills and gifts are and how to use them for the Kingdom of God.

Hopefully we will be able to offer this class before the end of this year.

When Mary wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, she walked away smelling like Jesus did.

When we use what we have for Jesus, others can sense that we have been with Him.

If your gift is mercy, you display the mercy that Jesus showed to us when He died in our place.

If your gift is evangelism, then you display the love that Jesus has for sinners.

The use of our spiritual gifts causes others to sense Jesus’ presence in our lives.

Produce Christlikeness all around you!

I also learned that Mary couldn’t do much, but she did what she could.

That’s what Jesus said about her in verse 8. Mary couldn’t keep the Jewish leaders from falsely accusing Jesus.

She couldn’t keep the soldiers from crucifying Him, or the crowds from mocking Him.

But she could show her love and devotion by sacrificing the most precious thing that she possessed.

You may be sitting here this morning thinking, I can’t teach, I can’t sing, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, but too often we focus on what we can’t do instead of what we can.

So what if you can’t teach?

Not everyone is meant to be a teacher.

Can you call someone on the phone and invite them to church?

Can you go and visit someone who is in the hospital?

Can you call someone and encourage them or pray with them?

Can you decorate, or organize, or clean, or cook, or draw, or write?

Pour Yourself out for Christ!

Each of you have a gift, a skill, an amazing and precious something to pour out for Christ.

For us to accomplish great things in God’s kingdom, we must all work together, doing whatever we have the ability to do.

Jesus told the disciples to leave her alone and to stop criticizing her.

Prohibit yourself from Putting Down others for their acts service!

We must never disregard or devalue anyone else’s acts of service.

The sad thing is that I see Christians do that all the time.

I have heard preachers get into the pulpit and criticize those that sing praise and worship music because it is a style that they do not like.

I have heard people complain about preachers because they don’t speak a certain way or because they use a version of the Bible that they don’t like.

The people who do these things are just like the disciples in this story…too busy complaining about others to worship their Lord and Savior.

I would like to make a comparison.

Mark includes this story here to contrast it with the story of Judas.