As furnished in, in presence of thy foes, I lift thou dust with oil anoint, and thy cup overflows. Goodness and mercy all mine, in God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be. You may be seated. People of God, we sing from Psalm 23 and not only is that is a beloved psalm and prepares our hearts to hear direction from the Lord our shepherd. There's also a reminder in that psalm that to anoint a head with oil was something which was done. That's not really something we do nowadays. I've never seen a head anointed with oil. Personally, probably you have not either. But it used to be really quite common in the days of the psalmist, in the days of Jesus. And so we turn to Mark chapter 14. And before we read Mark 14, I'll just note that this is one of those times, there's a handful of times when we read the four gospels and we see this, where we're not sure how many times Jesus was anointed. There are women who anoint the feet of Jesus, the head of Jesus, and there are four different passages about this. One in John 12, one in Luke 7, one in Matthew 26, and one in Mark 14. And sometimes it's debated. Is this all one woman? who is named in John 12, is this Mary? And she anoints both his head and his feet. And sometimes they talk about the feet, sometimes they talk about the head. Is this two different women? Is this three different women? And it's sometimes a little bit hard to tell. And so you might hear a sermon on Mark 14 and the pastor will say, well, this unnamed woman, she's Mary. I think Again, I won't say any more about this once we get into this. I think it's actually three different cases of Jesus being anointed, which again, anointing was quite common in the ancient world. That's actually not all that strange. And so this is, say, the unnamed woman. This is not Mary. I think John 12 is a different incident a few days earlier. And so just with that being said, you can read those passages. It's one of a few or a handful of times we have things like this in the Gospels, but we turn to Mark 14 and we will read the anointing of Jesus by the unnamed woman. And we'll read also through verse 11. And this is our passage, God's word this morning. Mark chapter 14, beginning at verse one. It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him. For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. 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 anointment of pure nard, very costly. And she broke the flask and poured it over his head There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you. And whenever you want, you can do good for them. but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 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. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. So far the reading of God's holy word. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are those who work for the kingdom and there are those who work against the kingdom. of God. The passage before us gives two extreme examples of this, both with a reference to money. One is the example of an extravagant gift, an extravagant gift, oil poured on the head of Jesus Christ, an extravagant gift from an unnamed woman. The other is far from being unnamed. He has a common name, and so it's not just Judas, it's Judas Iscariot. It's not just Judas Iscariot, it's Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, far from being unnamed. He is fully named and well known. And rather than giving a beautiful, heartfelt gift to Jesus Christ, he plots to accept a gift in betrayal of Christ. One will always be remembered as the woman who did a beautiful thing for the Lord, our Savior, as Jesus himself prophesies in verse nine, and as this very sermon is one of the many fulfillments of that prophecy. The other will go down as a rebel against God. Judas Iscariot being a name that fits in the history of the name of the worst of rebels along with Cain or Ahab and Jezebel. The theme of this morning then is that as we see money being used in this passage, but of course we could substitute that word money for many things. Your use of money on this earth speaks to your view of the death of Christ. And certainly the death of Christ is very much part of this passage as well as we get closer and closer to the climax of the Gospel of Mark. And so we'll look first at one extreme, the extreme of extravagance Blessing of an extravagant gift upon our Lord verses 3 & 5 then we'll look at the divine defense Jesus Christ gives of her action, and then we'll look at finally the other extreme and Looking at if you're looking at the notes you can add verses 1 & 2 in the parentheses there 1 & 2 10 & 11 and together for the third point. So first, the first extreme, the extreme gift, and this is oil, expensive oil, oil from India. The spices of India, the rich spices of India. Well, what is nard? Nard is taken from a root which is native only to India. So we have this expensive, fragrant oil, which has traveled a long distance. There's no Amazon. There's no Amazon to easily deliver packages across the sea, although even today, if you ship something over very long distances, that can even increase the price a little bit. No, no, no, they were ancient trade routes, but to have An expensive, rare oil perfume from India. This is expensive, extravagant stuff. Nard from India. For its preservation, it was sealed in a flask, which was kind of rounded at the bottom and then had a long neck. And then it was sealed, and that's what kept it preserved. And so in order to pour it out, you would break that long neck. and that would break the seal and then you could pour the ointment out. And so the woman has the expensive oil of India and she breaks the flask, end of verse three, pouring it over the head of Jesus. And then as soon as she does this, she is surrounded by those who are indignant, almost certainly the disciples, even though they are not named here. They are indignant. They do not appreciate this action. Their words fly out against her. Why was the ointment wasted like that, they say. Oh, that old saying which scripture never defends. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me. No, no, no. Scripture never says this. Scripture says words like this. Psalm 41, beginning at verse five, my enemies say of me in malice, when will he die? And his name perish. And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words while his heart gathers iniquity. When he goes out, he tells it abroad. All those who hate me whisper together about me. They imagine the worst for me." Words spoken. to you, words spoken loudly about you, words whispered quietly about you. These are words of malice. These are words which even when empty, as the psalmist here says, even when not true, become spread about and bring great persecution Even my close friend, Psalm 41 verse nine, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. This is all contrasted with the Lord, who is gracious to me, the psalmist says. Verse 13, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting, amen and amen. Why is this? Because the Lord God speaks always truth, speaks always what we need to hear, speaks always that which would save us or point out to us that we are sinners in need of saving. So different from the words of the world. So different from the words, the gossips, the whispers, which are heard or not heard. The tongue of man is quick to cut down. Here they did not understand. They did not understand the heart of this unnamed woman. They did not understand, even the woman did not understand, as we'll see in our second point, the significance of who Jesus Christ is and what this is doing, what this is preparing him for. What words have been used in an attempt to cut you down? Even those who are younger have already started to experience this. Aren't words already full of hatred in middle school? And certainly for one who would do an extravagant thing for the Lord, Even the disciples, much less the world, does not understand this. Why would you do such a thing? To devote your time and your money and your affection to politics or to otherworldly things is so often considered to be good, considered to be a faultless pursuit, but to have complete devotion to Christ and to His Church, how foolish this is often seen to be. Who would want to do unseen service in the church? Who would want to volunteer to clean a church? Who would want to serve the church in really any way, at any level, seen or unseen? Dedicating your time, your energy, your strength, much less of money. All these things are considered foolish and wrapped up together. How often do the tongues of the world not understand, but rather mock the life of the Christian who would be a faithful servant to God. That very phrase, right? The world cannot understand it. And even fellow Christians sometimes do not understand when they would see a brother or sister in full commitment of service to God. Maybe for the Christian, the reason for that is different from the non-Christian. Maybe the disciples were indignant because they could not give such a gift. It doesn't say, but we know how the human heart works, don't we? But people of God, when the tongues of your very brothers and sisters or the tongues of the world come against you for serving Christ, even serving Christ extravagantly, Do not let it cut you down. Pastor Ryle said this, the praise of Christ at the last day will more than compensate for all we suffer in this world from unkind tongues. But they try to defend their being indignant. And they seem to have a good reason. Because first the words to cut down come, right? So it doesn't start with anything rational. It starts with cutting. And then you're gonna try to defend these cutting, unkind words. And so now they get to the defense. And what do they say? They say, look, she could have sold this for more than 300 denarii. What a great gift to the poor this could have been. A denarius is about a day's wage. A 300 denarii, we're looking at close to a full year's wage. What a gift this could have been. This is the time of the Passover, which was a time which was focused on giving gifts to the poor. It's a little bit like December is to us. When do most non-profit organizations receive the most donations and these kinds of things and ministries for the poor? Well, December usually. December is kind of a month of giving. Well, Passover is There's some parallels in that sense. Passover was a time of giving to the poor. And so they might even be thinking, this is, we're in the time of Passover. Look, this should be for the poor, right? They're trying now to defend, to defend their quick indignation, their cutting indignation. And they seem to have a point. But of course, this brings us into our second point, that Christ will defend the woman. And Christ, instead of starting with the cutting words, immediately starts with the words of defense, a defense of her very heart. She has done a beautiful thing. Why trouble her? This is the first thing which must be said. And Jesus will get to talking about the rational, shouldn't this have been used to the poor, but he's gonna start with this first. You cut her down first, I'm going to defend her and build her up first. Why do you trouble her? Leave her alone. The tongue can be used to cut down, the tongue can be used to defend. People of God, what does our tongue jump to? What's the first thing that comes out of our tongue? Jesus jumps to defend her. She has done a beautiful thing to me. and then he gets to the quote-unquote rational part of this. Verse seven, for you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them, but you will not always have me. See, in Luke chapter 25, Jesus was sitting in the synagogue and he spoke about how there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. But Elijah only helped one widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, but only one was cleansed. What was the point of Jesus? The point of Jesus was that he could fulfill the prophecy of being one who brought healing He could be the one who gave sight to the blind. And that didn't mean that he had to give sight to every single blind person. It is simply impossible. It was impossible for Elijah and Elisha, two of the greatest Old Testament prophets. It was impossible for Jesus in his first coming onto the earth. For though he was God, he was also a man. He could only be in one place at a time. Now when Jesus comes again, then all disease, all suffering, all tears are wiped away. The second coming of Jesus Christ is the only thing that can wipe all this away. But as long as we live on this sin-cursed earth, not Elijah, not Elisha, not Jesus, not you, no one can get rid of all these things. There will always be poor. Now that does not mean never help the poor. The very Old Testament passage which is referenced from Deuteronomy 15 says, for there will never cease to be poor in the land, therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother. In other words, this doesn't mean never help the poor. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's referencing Deuteronomy 15, which in context makes it clear, no, there are poor, help them. But the point is, we cannot pretend that any one person or any one organization or even many people in the world acting together could ever remove poverty. It's simply impossible. We live in a sin-curse world and you cannot expect to be able to eliminate these things. But me, I will not always be here. So of course this has a very specific reference to Jesus Christ even being on earth, but it has broader application as well. For in the same way, we are not Elijah, we are not Elisha, we are not Jesus. You cannot expect to remove all this pain and suffering of this very city, much less the world. That would be an impossible burden. Now this is a divine defense, and it shows even divine foreknowledge. Because in verse 8, Jesus said, she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. One of those things Jesus could only know if he was both truly man and truly God. The woman didn't know this. The unnamed woman does not know that Jesus is only days away from his death, but Jesus does. He's also hinting at something. hinting at something in verse 8. He's saying explicitly that he will die, that he will be buried. He's hinting at the fact that he will die as a criminal because of the ordinary custom, the ordinary pattern was that if you died, you would be anointed. That would be something which happened around the time of your death. But Jesus is even making an implication here, is even hinting at the fact that he will not die a normal death. There will be no time, there will be no way to do the ordinary custom of anointing the body. He must be anointed beforehand. Why? Because he's going to die as a criminal. He's going to die on a cross. He's going to die through the suffering of crucifixion. There's going to be no time for that which is ordinarily done. He must be anointed beforehand. And that brings us to thinking about the greater defense of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What's the image of Zechariah 5? That we're in a courtroom and we're guilty. The high priest, Joshua, is standing there and he's guilty. He's full of dirty rags, even though he's the high priest. He represents all the people. He's a sinner. Who can stand in his defense in the royal courtroom? The Lord, Jesus Christ. How does the New Testament explain this? That word paraclete often translated helper. Our Holy Spirit is called our helper, but that word can even have a specific legal connotation to it. And so John also speaks about how Jesus is our paraclete. Jesus is our helper. He's the one who makes our defense. What is that defense, ultimately? The defense, ultimately, is being on that cross, dying that criminal's death, and saying, I will take your sins, the sins of my beloved people, upon myself. I will take the wrath of God, which is justly to be poured out upon you, because you are all sinners. And I will take it upon myself, because I am the one who is without sin. I am the only one who can give you a perfect defense. who can even stand in your place, who can take your sins away. I not only defend the unnamed woman, I defend your very soul. I will die a criminal's death. And for all who believe in me, I die for you. A divine defense is what we need. A divine defense. is what Jesus gives, repent, turn away from yourself, look to him, look to this defense, look to this death on a cross, taking away your sins, putting them upon the divine defendant. Do you see why no gift is too extravagant for Jesus and His bride? Do you see that now? When we understand the sinfulness of sin, when we understand what Jesus Christ has done for His people, How can we not extravagantly give our time, our energy, our strength, our money for Him? It is not wrong to give money to the poor, not at all. But when a heart is grateful to Jesus Christ for what He has done, It is a beautiful thing to give to Him, to give a small amount or an extravagant amount, whatever we are able. She has done what she is able to do. She has done a beautiful thing. And this will be remembered. This will be remembered. This was an unnamed woman. What acts of service Beautiful, grateful service from the heart. Perhaps extravagant, perhaps not. Have you done for your Lord and Savior? What have you done that you are able to do? And it's not the amount which really matters in the end. I mean, just a little over a chapter ago, at the end of chapter 12, we read about the widow's mite, and that was a beautiful thing, right? What is the widow's two mites? Some quick math shows that it's about one 10,000th of this gift of pure nard. So we might say $2 versus $20,000. What gift? What strength? What service do you give? Give it willingly from your heart. Give it in service to the one who has given his very life, his very blood for you. And it's beautiful whether it's $2 or 20,000. It's a beautiful, whatever strength you have to give. And again, I'm filling in the blank with other words, right? Strength, energy. Money is in this passage. Time, don't we all have time? Don't we all have time? How much time do you give? Do you give your time extravagantly to God? Do you give your energy extravagantly to God? These are the kinds of questions which we can ask ourselves. But always, always the heart is what makes it beautiful. whether it's the $2 or the $20,000. The other extreme is not to give to Jesus, but to plot against Him, to betray Him. The first couple verses and the last couple verses We've read before about the desire of the Scribes and Pharisees to seek Jesus Christ, to trap him. Even 11 verse 18 said to destroy him, which was starting to get at that implication of even that they would want him put to death. So we need not elaborate here, but we see for the first time explicitly the word kill. They wanted to kill him. Now they did want to avoid a riot. It's not easy to estimate ancient populations, but we think perhaps the population of Jerusalem would go from 50,000 to when all the Israelites who descended for the time of Passover would come, it would increase to 250,000. And all kinds of different ideologies and ideas, so you've got the hot-headed Galileans in town, for example, They want to avoid a riot, they want to do it in stealth, ideally after the Passover. Of course, the plans of man come to nothing, don't they? They wanted a private death, but God died, Jesus Christ on the cross. while the Passover time was still there, while there were still many there to witness. They wanted to stop the mouths of the disciples, but God knew that the death of Christ would be that which is proclaimed forevermore. They needed to do this in stealth, so they recruited a trader. They were glad to give him money, Luke 22, verse five says. They gave him 30 pieces of silver, Matthew 26 verse 15. This is not a tiny amount. 30 shekels is about 90 denarii, so a few months wages, not nearly as extravagant as the alabaster, as the nard and alabaster, but. It's blood money. It's money directed at the very destruction of Jesus. Again, God turned these plans for His glory. But this kind of thing, devoting time, energy, money against God and His church is so common It is the other extreme. These are extreme examples in our passage. Judas, on the one hand, an unnamed woman with an extravagant gift on the other hand. But the point is, what direction is your service going toward? What is your view of the death of Christ? Are you, even unknowingly, as this unnamed woman did, doing something which is beautiful, which prepares Jesus Christ, again a very specific application here, but bringing it more to today, are you doing something which lifts up the beauty of the cross? which displays the beauty of who Jesus Christ is, which gives the honor which is due to him because all honor is due to him? Or are you doing that which would be an act of rebellion? Are you doing that which would see the death of Christ as something which you would want in the sense of God's church being harmed? your soul being harmed, another soul being harmed. God takes this evil plot and turns it for his glory in such a way that it almost becomes difficult to express it in the language of our day. But how do you see the death of Christ? Do you see it as that which is beautiful, or do you see it as just something to be tossed aside, to be discarded? Perhaps even as something which never really happened, as some would claim. And when you serve, when you put your strength, energy, time, money towards something, what is it? Is it building up Christ and what Christ has done, or is it tearing down Christ and what Christ has done? Notice again, we spoke a little bit about this last Sunday evening. It's not man or woman that makes the difference. It's not skin color or ethnicity. Judas Iscariot was a Jew. He was part of the inner circle of the 12. It's not rich or poor. We've considered the widow's two mites versus the unnamed woman's alabaster nard. No, it is not these things. It is the heart. And is the heart directed for God in His service or directed against God in rebellion? People of God, that is the question to answer. Look to Jesus Christ and know the beauty of what He has done. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, our Lord, make us to serve you, to serve you extravagantly, to serve you, to serve you from our hearts. Even that, as forgiven sinners, we might one day stand before you and be told, well done, You have done beautiful things for me and to me. Direct us. As the potter molds the clay, make us to be these kinds of servants. In Jesus' name, amen. Let us, people of God, stand to sing number 502. Number 502, let us stand together to sing. and words and doings, all my days and all my hours. When my hands were poor, His bidding left my feet running. Jesus only, let my lips speak for this praise. Early to rise their gems of beauty cling to human toys of dust. Oh, and wonder how amazing Jesus, glorious King of Kings, If you would remain standing, our closing blessing and addiction from the Lord our God will be followed by the doxology 567. Let us hear the blessing of our God. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. ♪ He's God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Grace in all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Grace in above ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Good job, Charlie. Okay, now it's your turn. Yay! No, no, wait, wait, wait. Hey, Mr. Russell. Oh, Mary, I didn't recognize you. Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey. Yeah, that's okay. That's, that's, I got the smile. I'll take that. What, Mary? Mary, your shoes aren't dry. Here, Grandpa.