more acutely, great. And here this morning, each one of us has been not asked, but commanded to worship you through your word in these next few minutes. And so Lord, I ask that you would help us to do that. Lord, help my mouth that pure water would come out of it, this miracle that water clean would come out of a dirty bucket, help our minds, that true worship would spring up out of them and within them, like tender shoots coming out of a dirty pile. Lord, cleanse our minds, cleanse our hearts, help us. This is life to us. This is good for us. We welcome your word, Lord, by your spirit, and we need it desperately. We need it in the times of our weakness, and we need it in the times of our strength. We need it when we are tired. And Lord, if it is that everyone here be tired or perhaps many joyful and well-rested, Lord, we ask that you would Give what is good and pleasing in your sight. In your name, amen. Matthew chapter 26, reading the first 13 verses, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, you know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 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. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. We have a story this morning which is given a very rich context, and that context is both the Passover, which we discussed hopefully with some help and some length last week, but also primarily the destruction which the Jews were intent on giving to Jesus. And so as we read of this woman pouring out her oil upon Jesus's head in this great expression of beauty and of love toward Jesus, it is bookended between these two stories, these two paradigms, if you will. The one of the chief. the other of Judas. And as we have read, it is upon this occasion, upon the occasion of the anointing of this, of Jesus Christ, of this anointing of the woman with this oil, it's upon that occasion that Judas decides that he is done, that he's going to walk away, that he's going to sell Jesus, his life, for a mere 30 pieces of silver. And so to rightly get to the heart of this story, I think it's good for us to recognize how the writer frames this. The duty of all of us as we sit under the Word of God, as we read the Word of God, is that we would be stirred on to worship through it, that through seeing the truth that God has for us and recognizing its beauty, that it would shape our minds, that it would come to us, and it would in us stir up affections and love for God. that we would see God better, more clearly, His work more fully, and that that would come to us like the sound of music. You know, music stirs up your mind into a certain state of emotion. Well, the Gospel ought to be like that. Jesus ought to be like that. or a certain fragrance, you smell it and it stirs you up to a certain thing. Well, God's Word ought to be like that. And one of the ways that the Scriptures are always taking our minds and conforming it into the image of Christ is by placing the truths within narrative, within story. And so as we come to see the truths, we look at the stories that are there and try to glean what the Holy Spirit is communicating to us, and this story starts off in the palace of the high priest, or if you will, the palace of peril. Jesus wants you to start thinking of this story first here with the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered together. Now, what should the chief priests, the priests of the priests, and the elders of the people be doing on the day before the Passover? What should they be engaged in doing? Well, doubtless, they should be engaged in serving the people, helping them, preparing them for the Passover, encouraging them, as we saw last week, removing the leaven from their house and getting ready for this solemn occasion, right? Certainly, the priests were going to have much work to do during this Passover feast. Many sacrifices to be offered, many lambs to be killed. And so there was much to be done. And here we see that the chief priests retreat to the palace of Caiaphas to plot the killing of that great Passover lamb, Jesus. Now, what an irony this is, is it not? that on the night of the Passover, the night when it ought to be this symbol of the removal of sin, the great redemption that God has done, that these chief priests and these elders are plotting murder. And this murder is not the murder of a mere man. Yes, a man, wholly a man, but a man sent by God that is God himself, Jesus Christ, the Passover lamb for his people, will be slayed at the hands of these men. And so here, these men have taken refuge in this palace. And this makes us think, does it not, of the state of the nation at this time. That Jews, as we've seen, were meant to be this people for God, and yet here, they show themselves to be nothing other than one of the nations, do they not? I'm thinking of Psalm 2 right now. What does Psalm 2 read like? Forgive me for not having a bookmark, but Psalm 2, why do the nations rage? And what? The people's plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves up against the Lord. The rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. That is, the cords of God, the bonds of the anointed one. But what? He who sits in the heavens laughs. He holds them in derision. What is God doing as these chief priests and these rulers, these leaders of the nation plot against the anointed of the Lord and strategize and plan? What is God doing in heaven? He's laughing at them. He's laughing at the plottings of these people. He's thinking, he's saying, what a silly thing to be doing. At the very scheming of these men, the redemption of our souls is being made. What a profound thing. What a profound sovereignty God has over the thoughts and intents of the hearts of the wicked, that He would bring your salvation to you today through the hands of such evil men. Back to our story then. These men plotting, as Psalm 2 has said, against the Anointed One. And they do it here in this palace. They have taken retreat from the eyes of the world. in this place of luxury, they said, let us not put him to death at the feast, lest there be an uproar. And I want to note, as we come to the end of this section, the deceptiveness of wealth that is here. And I do not say the evil of wealth. It's important to say, all throughout the Bible, God has actually blessed many of the patriarchs, the men that we look to for examples, as well as positive and negative, but he blesses with wealth. Abraham was a wealthy man. David was a king of a nation. There were many wealthy people. And yet the Bible is very clear, there is a deceptiveness about wealth. There is a way in which wealth takes our minds and does not help our walk. It can be quite a hindrance. And here, I think this is important, not only because the theme of wealth in this passage, right? The woman is going to break a flask of great value, but Judas is going to go in search of wealth for himself. We know, as we'll get to, Judas is stirred up against this breaking of the flask, the using of the ointment on Jesus. Judas is angry at this because he used to carry the purse, right? He used to steal from it, and he's not going to get the wealth that he wants. So wealth is clearly at play here in this picture as we think of the story of Jesus going to this house of love, but the chief priests plotting, rather, against Jesus in this palace of peril, and it is no coincidence that it is in this palace. Notice how wealth, then, is a cover or a hedge for darkness, is it not? Not many could plot a plot against Jesus without it being known, but the wealthy could. The wealthy could convene the most powerful men, and there they could plot their schemes of darkness. how true it is for us then also, that we can, to the eyes of the world, cover over much wickedness with wealth. And certainly we've seen this with leaders, but I would have you look primarily in your own life and after the lives of your brothers and sisters. Are there ways in which we have kept ourselves from the transparency of being there with one another because our wealth is enough that we have no need for dependence on anyone? If I would do something, if I would perhaps choose to, let's say I would rather not prioritize the Lord's Day and the morning assembly here together. I'm preaching to the choir. Everyone is here assembled in the name of the Lord. But let's say we wanted to decide, well, I don't have to prioritize that. There is a way that wealth could help with that. Oh, I'm off and traveling. I'm off and away. I can only be gathered with the people maybe once in a blue moon. Wealth can cover much, but maybe more particularly to our context, right? There's ways in which our wealth will hide the wickedness that is in our heart rather than expose it. Notice also how wealth is flattering. There's this vain power that is there. They think of themselves as somehow perhaps better or ruling justly over these people, and yet they have no eye to what the vanity they are plotting is. Notice how it entices many to join them. In the moment when the love of this woman is being poured out on Jesus, Judas is going to reason in his mind, I would rather cast in my lot with them. That palace looks pretty nice right now when I'm in this silly home with a leper or a healed leper. Notice then that wealth is deceitful and how it ultimately defends their fear of man. This is the thing that they wanted to do. They wanted to plot Jesus's death, but they could not do it before the eyes of men, so they retreated to this place that they might plot this death of Jesus. And so it is that oftentimes we can disguise our fear of man with much wealth. It's the poor who have no pride to take in what they own, There's not much to hide, but it's the wealthy who can very much cover over what they most fear. They can appear very, the Bible uses language like fat and sleek, but maybe we would say something like well-dressed and well-educated. And they can cover over much, but at work in the heart of someone who is wealthy can be the fear of man. What does someone think of me? And so it is right for us to notice that in this parable, the Holy Spirit would have us understand that as these things are happening, there was a certain danger or a certain deception that accompanied the wealth of these leaders. But Jesus now meets in a house. In a house of Simon the leper. And we don't know much about Simon, but I think it's safe to say that it's likely Simon was one who was healed by Jesus. Simon was one who probably was formerly a leper. But even if it's one now, we understand that Jesus is now meeting with those who are poor, but nevertheless those who love him. And so looking away from this palace of peril, we look now to the house of love, not with the chief priests and the elders, but with the leper and the lady. Forgive me. And here, Jesus is coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And so I want us to gain something of this story, right? Jesus, very popular at this time. Jesus, very busy probably at this time. Jesus, highly sought after, is coming to Jerusalem, a very populous place, especially at the Passover. There is many, many people, but Jesus decides He's going to spend a rest here with this leper and with this lady. Now this lady is probably Mary Magdalene if the accounts are overlapped in the Bible. So this is someone who Jesus has loved dearly. And so put yourself in the position of this lady or of this man. You have this opportunity before the Passover to host Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the great Messiah of your people, the Savior of your souls. What a wonderful privilege it must have been. and how much you must have anticipated. And furthermore, these people doubtlessly had heard by now that Jesus had been speaking of His death for some time. Now, whether or not they knew his death was in the matter of a few days, I do not know. But I know that as they brought him in, they did not know when they would see him again. And perhaps you can think of this. We've all had friends. Perhaps they were moving. I think maybe a military family, or just a missionary family, or a family that you don't get to see much. And when you do finally get together with them, you treasure that. You know that this is something that is not going to happen often, and you look for ways to express your love towards that person or that friend. Well, how much more for this woman would she treasure this time with Jesus, this man who had done so much for her, who had raised her brother from the dead and had brought so much joy to her family and had loved them so dearly? And so Jesus comes to this house, Now, I wish not to say that this house is necessarily poor by financial standards. There were some means they could house or host, and this woman could afford some very expensive ointment. But nonetheless, the writer is clear that the home is emphasized here as a place of mean or humble love and affection. This is not a glamorous thing, this is rather a place where all the wealth that they have is employed in the affection and service of Jesus. And so Jesus resting here as he comes to the Passover is now faced with this gift of the Lady. in the house of love. And what is this gift? Well, she has a flask of very expensive, very fragrant, very delightful ointment. And she has perhaps been saving it, or perhaps she went out and bought it for this occasion. I don't know. Perhaps it was there, and it was her very own. It was given to her. We don't know, but it was treasured. And she takes it, and she wastes the whole thing on Jesus, a very lavish, gift and an act of true affection. Now, to understand why this act would come off with such repugnant disdain by the disciples, we need to picture how this would be. We need to understand something about the nature of this gift. And so I would do that by emphasizing two things. First, to emphasize that it is a lavish gift. Maybe you have received a gift like this at one time or another. Maybe it was an unexpected gift at a birthday or Christmas or a Father's Day gift or a Mother's Day gift. But I think all of us probably have received a gift at one time or another where we were just very much surprised by the wealth of the generosity that was given. It was far more than was necessary and probably more than you were comfortable with. Right? Well, that's something about what was going on here. Not that the gift is far and above what was appropriate for the occasion. I mean, this is Jesus Christ, and this is days before his death. What could be inappropriate for it? But it is, in the eyes of these disciples, a very lavish gift and something they are not comfortable with. Something that repulses them. And secondly, not only is it a lavish gift, it is a very personal gift. And I understand that this is a different culture, right? We don't have this habit. But still, I think there's something that you can understand if you would think about this. Say we're at a gathering. Maybe it was at our church fellowship, or it was at someone's home, and the body of Christ is together. And let's say one of the ladies decided to anoint one of the heads of one of the men who was not her husband. That would be very awkward. The anointing of oil and the running down, the wiping of hair on the feet. This would be very, very, very awkward. And my point is that this was a very personal gift. As this woman did this, this was not something that was very formal, but rather an act of great love and affection. And so there was some great disdain in the apostles' heart towards this. What is this woman doing to Jesus? Now, we might not think of this, don't think of this in a romantic way, but do understand that fragrance is often spoken of like that, great acts of love. You could turn to the Song of Psalms and think of how the Beloved speaks of the smell of her nard being with the lover, right? And this is something of what is going on. Here, this woman, Mary, probably perhaps the same Mary who comes to the tomb first with Jesus, she very much loves him. She loves Him dearly as her Savior. And so to the onlooking disciples, this is something they're not comfortable with. This kind of affection being expressed toward Jesus. And so they are troubled. But not only are they troubled, they are causing great trouble. Do you notice that? Because when Jesus responds, He says, why do you trouble the woman? So, get this in your mind now. The woman has expressed great affection, and the disciples have been somewhat repulsed by it, somewhat taken back by it, and rather than keeping the peace of the home, they have started to stir up trouble. What is going on? Put that away. Stop. This is not appropriate. And Jesus, the great defender of his flock, the great shepherd, the great lover of unity, steps in to defend this woman and says, leave her alone. Why do you trouble the woman? And then he tells them, what she's done, that is this thing that you're very uncomfortable with, this was a very beautiful thing, a very beautiful thing for her to do. It's as if Jesus says, as he says this, for you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Now I do not think this is a ritual that would have been recognizable as a burial ritual. It certainly was customary to put spices and ointments on a body, but likewise, ointments could be for other things as well, as we've just spoken of. But here, Jesus interprets this, or gives them great reason to think of this as beautiful, because he says, she was preparing this for my burial. It's like Jesus was saying, look, if I was dead, would you not think it's appropriate to bind my body with many spices as you would a beloved person? Or think of it in our context, right? If someone died, is it not appropriate to bring abundant flowers to their funeral and array them greatly? Well, imagine if a few days before someone died, Someone brought hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars of flowers and gave them. And Jesus says, look, you're repulsed by this, but if it was for my burial, this would be quite appropriate, would it not? Yes, indeed, she has done this for my burial. Jesus is pointing out to them the significance of what is going on here. We must recognize that this is a peculiar thing. This is Jesus Christ. None of us have touched Him. None of us have seen Him. None of us have the affection that this woman probably had for Him as a personal friend. None of us are in that state. But Jesus here wants to emphasize, this is a profoundly important thing. This sort of man is about to die. What could be more appropriate than such a lavish and personal gift? And of course, it's upon this lavish and personal gift that Judas, one of the 12 whose name was Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him to you? And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment, he sought an opportunity to betray him. Notice the vanity of this disciple's heart. How vain it is, for he wants thirty pieces of silver, but he cannot recognize the true beauty of the love of this woman. How desperate he is for greed. Notice, he is the one who is to deliver over the Son of Man, and yet he has been delivered over to the evil one, has he not? God has delivered him up to wrath. Notice, he is now caught in this savage pursuit for the blood of his master. He's now caught in this greed for 30 pieces of silver. And what is it going to cost him? His soul? The Messiah of the world? What a vain and terrible place to be. It provokes the question, how is it that a disciple who walked with Jesus, who lived with Jesus, who was with the disciples, who was there at this great gift, how does a disciple turn around? And it is that act of worship and love which provokes such hatred that it is, as it were, the final nail in his own coffin. It is that thing which ultimately gives him up, gives him over, and hands him over to the wicked one. How does that come to be? How is it that a disciple of Jesus comes to make that step? And this ought to come to us with some force or some feeling. I think many of us have had friends that we've seen go this way. We've seen them. They've worshipped with us, or they've been close to us, or they've been friends with us, perhaps from a distance. And we've seen all at once or slowly by slowly they turn their back, they betray the great goodness that they know, and they walk away from the Savior of the world. How does that come to be? Or think of it this way. Here we are, sitting with Jesus in this story, and there's 12 disciples at least, and 11 of them are going to persevere, but one will not. Nevertheless, all of them in this moment are greatly. indignant at this woman? How is it that they languish? That is, they're not thriving here with Jesus. How is it that disciples languish in the house of love? That's the question I want to ask for the rest of our time together, right? So these disciples are not in the palace with the priests. These are in the home of love with Jesus, and yet they're languishing, and they need Jesus's correction. Well, I have seven ways listed here that I think we can see from our text that are ways in which disciples like you and like me languish in the house of love. We languish in the house of love, first of all, when the values of our hearts are not appropriately placed. That is, the way you rank what is good and important, what is beautiful and ugly, the way in which your heart places certain affections on things and withholds affection from things, that is fundamentally not right. That's a very general statement, but it is the starting point. Here, this woman has given a great personal and lavish gift, and yet these disciples don't have the place for it. They are not able to see it as beautiful as they ought to see it. And so they seem to have a category, though, for this mercy, right? What's the excuse they give? This could have been sold and given to the poor. That is, they want to see good things done, or they give themselves this excuse, but they failed to be able to see that peculiar good which is being done here to Jesus. And there is a danger of this also, brothers and sisters. There's a way in which we can be particularly motivated for the poor, for the needy, for the good things of this world. And rightly so, because this is true religion, as James says. And nevertheless, if we fail to be able to see and treasure the very beauty of what's happening here, we're going to miss what Jesus is doing or what we ought to be knowing. That is, there's a true beauty here in the house of Jesus as we sing His praises, as we receive the gift of His Word and the sacraments together, and we speak with one another, that you should not discount. There is great treasure here to be had, to be seen as beautiful. And don't let anyone come and say, well, are you really a Christian? I mean, really. How many people have you healed recently, or have you paid for their lodging recently, or how many hungry people have you fed? That's not, and there may be some needed correction if your heart is hard towards those things, but my point is here, first of all, Jesus has a category for lavish and personal healing. gifts, or signs of affection, or worship towards his name. And we ought to also. Second, though, the second way in which a disciple languishes in the house, and more particularly, is a judgmental heart. Notice, it's upon this act that the disciples sit back, and they're unwilling to be softened towards it. They're unwilling to see it as beautiful. And I think probably we've experienced this thing, have we not? We're living a Christian life, we're interacting with people much the same as us, and then we run into one Christian or another who is just very much stirred up in a way that almost repulses us. It's almost like we take offense at how much God is doing through them. Maybe you've felt that before. I don't know how particularly it might be. It may be something that is not necessarily a matter of sin in your own life, but it's just God has particularly worked. Maybe one person is particularly given to Sabbath rest and is just very meticulous about it. Or perhaps another person really, really, really has a heart for the poor. And while they worship, they have just poured themselves out for Jesus in this way. Or maybe someone else is just flowing with words of encouragement, and they're just very, very direct or able to speak freely of the things of God in ordinary conversation. And it can be almost repulsive to us sometimes. Like, I don't know how to speak with this person because he's just so much Jesus. Or I don't really know how to take this person's life as beautiful because it's not something I even recognize. Like, I couldn't do that with my life. I don't feel like I could give all that up for Him. I don't think I could live in that way. And so we almost repulse at what the Holy Spirit has done in the life of another person, rather than letting that person stir us up to love and to good works. is that not what these disciples ought to have done? As they're repulsed by this act of love, this lavish gift, they ought to have said, oh, what a beautiful thing this is. They ought to have welled in their hearts to see the great need of their affections towards Jesus, rather than having such disdain for it. Thirdly, a critical posture. And this happens in very much the same way as a judgmental heart. But I'm going to apply this less interpersonally and more corporately, right? It is very possible for us to sit here together and seeing our brother or our sister worshiping in full voice, loving the things of God, being stirred up to confess sin, or being brokenhearted and tearful over their own sin, or all of these things which the Holy Spirit truly does work in our presence, it is possible to sit there and to be quite critical of what is happening. That is, to receive the sermon that is spoken as disorganized, or to receive it as ill-intended, or to receive one another as disordered lives, or as people that somehow rub you the wrong way, or how you have no need to interact with. And all of your interactions with God's people slowly but surely become interactions of critique. In your heart, there is never something there to admire, something according to the truth to love, but there is always something to see as fault, something that needs tweaking, something that needs adjusting, something that is not right, something, and it grows into a critical flaw. And brothers and sisters, we've seen it happen. We've seen it happen. Slowly but surely, each thing becomes a matter of critique rather than rejoicing with the truth and loving what is there to be loved. So third was a critical posture. Fourth, improper or misunderstood vision of ministry. And this is similar to one we said earlier. But what I mean is, again, thinking of corporate work together, these disciples very much wanted to direct the focus Or at least they gave the excuse of the focus towards feeding the poor. But here Jesus welcomes the gifts in his name. And what I want to say about this is we must be clear about what the mission of the church is. God has commanded the mission of the church to go and make disciples in his name. Now, does being a disciple of Jesus include feeding the poor and having compassion towards the poor? It does. And teaching them to do so is important. But lest that eclipse the true mission of the church, we must be clear in our minds that there is something truly beautiful about laying down our lives for the body of Christ, giving great gifts for the body of Christ. Again, the world wants to condemn for saying that you're not doing enough for all the other things, and I want to say First and foremost, your responsibility is toward the people of God, that you would love them truly, that you would stir one another up, that you would be participating in making and maturing disciples in the name of Jesus. And so don't let the corporate worship, or assembling together, or little acts of service, taking care of our grounds, or serving in our finances, or bringing food and meals, or anything that you are doing, putting together bulletins, and serving in music, and all the things that I can look around and see names and faces doing, don't let those things seem minimal or unimportant, rather, Pour yourself out for Jesus like this woman was, and let yourself rejoice in the other one who is doing it. Let yourself see the mom or the dad or the brother or sister who is making great, giving up great things. Let your heart rejoice in that and be spurred on in that. Let yourself see that as beautiful, that your heart might be spurred on to more and greater things in the service of the kingdom. and that you might not be one like Judas who takes that final occasion to say enough is enough. Fifth, oftentimes these things start to compound and we start to impose expectations on other things, right? Judas had an expectation that this money would be used in a particular way. Likewise, we can come together and have expectations. Well, I would expect the church to be doing this for me, and it's not. And I would expect the church to be serving me in this way, and it's not. And I would expect to be stirred up in this way, and I'm not. And I would expect these things. Where can I go to find a church that checks my boxes? And this, again, is that heart which is not aligned with what Jesus would have his disciples the heart that's not aligned with Jesus, nor is soft to what Jesus is teaching. Rather than thinking of what am I to expect, what elicits my approval, we ought to be thinking, what is it that elicits Christ's approval? What is it that is beautiful to Jesus? Could it be that Jesus takes peculiar glory when a congregation of three people, maybe they're all elderly, are faithful to one another? and stewarding the gifts that God has given to one another? Rather than think of all that is lacking, think of all that God is doing. Think of all the beauty that God says is there. And rather, let your heart go out in this way, not imposing self-serving expectations on others. But then perhaps the final capstone, the sixth thing, and we'll come to a seventh, but the sixth thing that I think is most clear in here is an unwillingness to be corrected or rebuked in this matter. Notice, 11 of the disciples. will be corrected. 11 of them will take Jesus's words when he says, why do you trouble the woman? She has done a beautiful thing. And he goes on to proclaim the beauty of that thing, which had formerly stirred them up to evil thoughts. They will take that correction, and God will use it in their life for good. But one will not receive that correction. One of them, when he's called out, when he's shown the evil intent of his heart and his inability to see as beautiful the things that God sees as beautiful, when he's corrected in that way, he turns and says, where's my money? I'm out of here, and I'm intent on killing this person. A heart that bristles or hardens when it's touched with correction is the heart of a Judas. We must take that seriously with one another. You know, correction doesn't always come out as strong as rebuke. There's a way to read Jesus as rebuking here, but there's a way in which it's merely a question. Why do you trouble this woman? The thing that she did was beautiful. Why does that upset you about the church? Isn't it a beautiful thing that so-and-so is doing such-and-such? Why do we complain so much? Is it not true that God has given us all that we need for life and godliness? Why are you so judgmental? Is it not true that this person has given up much in their station in life? We can talk like this with one another, you know. We can ask these questions. Maybe there's good reason or not, but a simple question can go a long way in a tender heart. A simple provoking question. Have you thought of this? Why is it that you respond this way? If a heart is tender, a heart can be kept for Jesus. And what a great thing that is. And so, finally, I think perhaps the way of summarizing all of these would be a seventh point, but a disciple languishes in the house of love when he finds personal acts of love for Christ repulsive. That is, bold faith or strong emotion or seemingly unnecessary prioritization of the things of God When all of those things, which are good and beautiful acts of love toward Christ, provoke our hearts to anger or make us repulsed, we know there is at work a sure root of bitterness. And that root of bitterness can grow strong until it leads to something like this, Judas walking away from his Messiah. And so, let us here take account of the fact that these gifts are given to God's people not only for one person, but for many. When you pick up and do one little thing, when you serve in one little way, and you do it with joy and delight because you are, as it were, pouring oil on the body of Christ, an ointment on the body of Christ, you realize that is one way in which God is going to stir up the body to greater affection. Jesus Christ could say, do you see what a beautiful thing this is? Why do you judge her? Why do you judge him? And so we ought to let these things, these gifts that God gives us, that is, the acts that people do, they're like gifts to us. Not only gifts to God, but they're gifts to us. We ought to let them spur us on to love and devotion rather than bristling at one another. Rather than finding in our hearts resentment because one person in his station can give much and another person in their station can give little, we ought to just marvel and say this is a beautiful thing God has given to each according to their ability. Let my heart rejoice and let my affections be poured out in like manner. And if Christ's body was of such value and provoked such affection before His death, How much now as he is one resurrected and victorious over death. So as I think about this last point as we close, my thought is how do I apply the pouring of oil on Jesus's body now? We don't have his flesh and blood with us and there's a uniqueness about this situation. Jesus points it out. You will always have the poor. This is a special time. You have me with you. But I think the point here is the picture of Jesus, if before his death he can certainly receive the gifts and blessing of death, how much more after his death, after having accomplished salvation, after having received the crown of glory, how much more is he worthy of all these things? And the closest thing that I can see to Christ's body here on earth is the assembly of the saints together. So, this doesn't mean it has no ramifications for your homes, but I do think particularly this has to do with the body of Christ as we see it interacting here on earth in the assembly of the saints, and how much worth is there in it. So maybe think of it like this. It's often the case that we are stirred up by the grandeur that we see in a place. If we go to a church and it seems like things are really firing on all cylinders and everybody's happy and there's so much busyness being done, we think, yeah. This is a place that's worth pouring my time in. It seems rewarding, it seems fulfilling, this seems like something I can do. But if we come to a church that is exceedingly small and dark, and the saints are depressed and gloomy, and then we say, yeah, this probably isn't a place worth pouring into, what have we said about the body of Christ? That it's not worthy of this? That any toil or affection given to something like that would somehow be an ugly thing? No, brothers and sisters. Christ's body is a beautiful thing. It just is. This is what he has left his church on earth to be and to do. And here, our affections, our heart ought to go out in such a manner. So I do think it's important that we take this narrative, peculiar as it is, to say this is a one-time kind of thing. Notice the glory that Jesus proclaims to her. This woman's story will be told throughout the rest of the world. Wherever the gospel is said, this woman's story will be told. That's a peculiar privilege. That's a peculiar blessing. That's a great and grand blessing. And yet, is it not true that in very analogous ways, all the service that the saints do is service that is then proclaimed elsewhere? That one body stirs up another, that one person stirs up another. There is great blessing here proclaimed in who Jesus is and in loving him for who he is. The grand argument today, costly acts, personal acts of love and service are not repulsive things. They are beautiful things given to the body of Christ. And how does a disciple languish in the house of love? He languishes by having a judgmental heart, a critical posture, misaligned understanding of ministry and expectations of others, an unwillingness to receive correction. And in all these things, ultimately, the path may lead to one who is a Judas. And yet we have great hope, do we not? Jesus Christ here holding on to many as he corrects them and gives them a heart for the things of God. So let's pray. Lord, thank you for this story. We read it as a story, and just by meditating on it, just by dwelling on it, by seeing the beauties that are there, we have been taught what beauty is. We've been taught something about what Jesus values and treasures. And we've been taught something about our own hearts, how oftentimes we are prone to be repulsed at that which God calls beautiful. And we need correction, we need instruction, we need love. We need one another to spur each other on. I pray that through this word, you would work these things in the lives of one another. That we would be spurred on to see as beautiful the things that are beautiful. that we would love Jesus primarily, that he would be the object of our affection. And how is it that we may love Jesus while your body is not with us, Lord? Well, certainly your spirit is with us, and your spirit is peculiarly with your people, and your presence is peculiarly there when they are assembled together. And so by this, Lord, may we exalt and worship you. We pray. Oh, Lord, we pray that you would keep every soul here from being a Judas, that you would keep every soul, no matter how small or how great, from that point at which they would say, it's not worth it. 30 pieces of silver is more value to me than all the affections and all the glories and all the blessedness of this Jesus. Lord. Remove from us this wicked heart, I pray, in your name. Amen.