John 12.8 – part I
July 20th 2014
Milk
Welcome welcome.
If you have not been with us before we have a very deconstructed approach to doing church.
We pray.
We sing the Word of God put to music.
We sit in silent reflection for a minute.
Then we study the word of God verse by verse – it’s taken us 14 months to get through the first eleven chapters of John so obviously this is not a race.
So let’s pray and go from there. When we come back John 12 verse 1
PRAY
SING
Alright, so we left off last week by finishing chapter 11.
Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and we noted that chapter 12 launches us into the final days and hours of the Lord’s life.
The Gospel of John is interesting in the fact that almost half of it is spent in the last days of the Lord as He heads toward the cross.
So let’s read our verses for today beginning at verse 1 of John chapter 12.
We’ll read through to verse eight but we will only cover the first . . . three.
John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,
5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.
Okay, back to verse 1.
1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
So we are six days out from the Lord’s triumphal entry into the City of David.
We know (from the narrative of chapter 11) that after raising Lazarus from the dead the Lord retired to Ephraim and “walked no more among the Jews” because since raising Lazarus they had set their minds to killing Him.
And again, we come to more of the movie script type writing style of John.
Last week, after describing Lazarus being raised to life, John “cut” (so to speak) to a new scene (and location) where the Sanhedrim had gathered together to figure out what to do with Him.
It was here that Caiaphus, the high priest at the time, prophesied that Jesus needed to die.
John then “cuts” to a scene in Jerusalem where says Jews from all over were beginning to gather for the Passover feast.
In this setting it seems some of them were talking among themselves and wondering if Jesus was going to show up (since the religious rulers had essentially put a price on His head).
So here in chapter 12 John “cuts” to what Jesus is doing while the Sanhedrim and Jews had gotten together in Jerusalem – He was residing in a place called Ephraim, a wilderness town – and then six days before the Passover festival in Jerusalem we read that He makes a “pit stop” (so to speak) back in Bethany where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived.
(verse 2)
2 There “they” made “him” (Jesus) a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
John doesn’t mention where “there” is in this verse but from the other accounts of this event (recorded in Matthew 26 and also in Mark 14) we know it was at the house of a man named Simon the Leper.
Now, in all probability Simon was NOT a current leper and I think we can confidently say this for a couple of reasons.
First, it was against the law to eat with lepers and it’s doubtful that any Jew would have been sitting in there with an “active” one (so to speak).
Additionally, I seriously doubt that the merciful Lord would have been able to restrain Himself from healing Simon on the spot if He was an active leper – and that mercy of the Lord’s would have flowed both toward Simon himself and then toward everyone else who was eating with Him! I mean . . .
Can you imagine trying to bite into a leg of lamb while sitting across from a person with an active case of leprosy? (open arm, eyeball hanging out . . . tongue missing . . .)
I would suggest that Simon the Leper would be better named “Simon the one who was healed of leprosy” and he was probably a leper Jesus Himself had healed.
We might allow ourselves to imagine that this dinner was sort of a gathering of those who had been materially blessed or healed by the King and Simon the Leper could have been one of them (as Lazarus certainly was).
Let’s quickly read the other brief accounts of this dinner in Matthew and Mark.
The Matthew account 26:6-13 says:
6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
Mark says
Mark 14:3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.
7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
From these two additional narrratives we learn some added features to the story.
First, we learn that the ointment was contained in an alabaster box.
We also learn that the woman (who John reveals is Mary, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus) placed some of the costly material upon the Lord’s head or the Lord (where John only mentions His feet).
Now, remember to mention one (the eet) and not another (His Head) is not a contradiction (as critics of the Bible like to suggest). It would be like someone asking you to describe me in a sentence.
Some of you would write:
“Well, old Shawn is one handsome man, full of charm, and a sweet disposition”
while others may write,
“He dresses badly, has strange hair and couple lose a couple (HUNDRED) pounds . . . “
and both accounts would be absolutely correct!” (especially that first one) ?
So no contradiction, just added information.
We’ll try and incorporate all of these factors into our narrative here in John as some of them are very significant.
(Okay, back to John 12 verse 3)
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
From what I can tell this must have been somewhere between our 12 and 16 oz. and the product was known in Hebrew as nard or nerd.
It is mentioned in Song of Solomon as being very valuable and essentially having all the properties of perfume.
Apparently is comes from the root of an Indian plant named the “Nardostachys Jatamansi,” which is of Valeriance family and grows in the Himalayian mountains.
And from what I read it has a lot of hairy spikes that shoot out from one root and for this reason the Arabs call it “sunbul Hindi,” – “the Indian spike.”
Therefore we get the word Spikenard for the product in most translations. Some just say nard.
To sort of put the situation into our day and age it would be like a not so well off woman purchasing a very, very expensive perfume with the Lord in mind, saving it carefully, and then at this moment coming forward and pouring all of it upon his head and feet and then wiping some of it off of his feet with her own hair.
In some ways we could read a bit of romance or intimacy into this narrative – but the writers never suggest this so we ought to probably resist the temptation.
Not to say that Jesus was being romantic but the act, to me, seem to be one of utter devotion on the part of Mary. And when good women are devoted to something they give their whole heart.
Imagine the scene, my brothers and sisters. There at the table sits Mary and Martha, who Jesus loved – His friends.
There was Lazarus (to whom Jesus had given new life) sitting right there among the living, with his friends and family.
There was Simon who was once a leper, whose house it was. The disciples were there. And they were on their way to Jerusalem where Jesus was going to suffer an inexorable death.
I’m certain that Mary knew that His going to Jerusalem was a certain death sentence for the Lord and in her mind, at least from what Jesus says, she was performing this in anticipation of His demise.
Mary actions were extremely symbolic, driven by faith and love and focused on nothing but Him.
Like all of scripture, there are spiritual lessons in this account that cannot be denied.
(beat)
As I read and re-read this account I began to wonder what my reaction would be to the physical presence of the Lord in my life right now?
I imagined that Jesus actually comes to Salt Lake and meets me by surprise one morning – let’s say on a day when I have got a lot of really pressing things to attend to.
Would I drop everything – everything – to be with Him, to revere Him?
Where would I take the Lord to lunch, for instance, and then what would be my motive for taking Him there? Would I hit the Burger King? La Cai?
What do I do when the cell rings during the meal – would I answer (you know, holding a finger up to him) “Hold that thought, Lord juuuuuust a minute . . . I’ve gotta take this . . .”
Would I let Him talk or would I do all the talking?
I wonder if I would start to resent Him I He put demands on me I had not anticipated?
“Hey Shawn, could you take me out to the airport?” Sure Lord.
Hey hey, Shawn, before we go to the airport could you stop by the post office? I’ve gotta get some stamps.
“Nooooo, problem Lord.”
(beat)
Hey, hey, hey Shawn, can I turn on some salsa music while we drive . . . I love that stuff.
(Teeth) Sure Lord!
The exercise is of course not meant to be literal but the literalness of it helps reveal our mindset (our heart-set) toward Him, doesn’t it?
See, we are, whether we realize it or not, in the exact same place as Mary today but our devotions and worship and attentions to Him are in His name, and for His person, and the Gospel for which He gave Himself as it is done to others we are doing it for Him, as Him.
And while we aren’t in a position to physically anoint His physical body we are in a position to bless the Body of Christ . . . through love – which is a verb, which is always an action.
Just as Mary was moved to action physically, to lavish a treasure or thing of great value upon the King, we are all in the same exact position every minute of every day aren’t we?
With our love and devotion (for Him) aimed and applied at others IN HIS name . . .
Of course to our brothers and sisters,
Of course to our friends,
Of course to our neighbors,
But more than ever to our . . . enemies.
The picture fulfilled is this – she is pouring a precious fruit of the spirit upon the Lord in preparation of His death and we are doing the exact same thing – pouring the fragrant fruit of the Spirit upon others (listen) in preparation of their deaths.
In other words by and through acts of love and forgiveness and kindness we are assisting others (even enemies) to ultimately die (to their flesh) as a means to more fully live by the Spirit (and to therefore do the same to their family, friends, and enemies).
Can you see the picture can you see how it works?
It’s all here in this simple physical picture of Mary anointing the Lord. But there is so much more.
We have to note (from the information taken from Matthew and Mark) that this costly perfume was held in an alabaster box. At first glance this might seem like a non-event.
In the historian Pliny the Younger’s writings (book 13 chapter 1) he said that some apothecary and beauty products were kept in the boxes of alabaster to keep the products from spoiling or weakening.
As long as the box remained in tact the product inside stood a better chance of remaining in tact.
Got that?
But once the alabaster was broken (beat) (and apparently alabaster is a type of white almost translucent marble that could be made really thin) the contents were paradoxically weakened (by expose to the elements) and made strong (by the fact that they were then applied.
We might think of such containers in our day like cracking an egg.
By choosing to break this presumably beautiful alabaster container open a couple things occurred:
First, the external container was ruined, broken, and rendered useless.
Second, the Lord with blessed by its aromatic contents.
And Third, the aroma of the wonderful perfume filled the whole house.
But take note – one thing had to be broken and rendered useless for the Lord (and the others in the house) to be blessed by the contents.
There is precedence for this concept in many areas of scripture.
Going back to a familiar story in the Old Testament we have another similar event.
Remember?
Three hundred men, hand-picked by Gideon were going to war against the combined armies of the Midianites and the Amalekites that are described in scripture as being so numerous that they looked like grasshoppers.
And we read in Judges 7:16-21
16 And he (Gideon) divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers (or jars of clay), and lamps (or torches or firebrands) within the pitchers.
17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!
21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
Again, the method used to frighten the large amassed Army was to make lots of noise and terrify them with light that would suddenly shine forth.
But, like this alabaster box that held this beautiful fragrance, the jars had to be smashed before the light could shine out.
Later in this very chapter Jesus is going to say something that dovetails into this concept. He say:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
Ever meet someone who has been so broken by their life circumstances or the choices they have made where the light and aroma of God just pours from their very presence.
I have. Some are right here in this room.
There is a fragrance to them that fills the human heart. There is a light that readily shines out from them because their jar of clay has been so radically smashed.
It’s not the way religion works. That’s an entirely different story and approach.
Did you know that religions approach to brokenness dates all the way back to the garden of Eden?
See, religion says, When you have messed up cover the cracks by any means necessary. Look and play the part and not only will others look upon you as evidence that it’s possible to truly live perfectly, but you will even begin to believe your own presentation.
But scripture makes a principle very clear – a person has to first be broken and completely exposed before the light and fragrance of God can truly work its work in them, and on others.
We remember Adam and Eve what they did when they were found naked, right?
They ran out into the presence of the Lord who was calling for them and they were naked and ashamed before Him, and in utter brokenness and honest transparent they cried out to Him:
“Lord, forgive us we have sinned! We are so lost in our lives! Save us!”
No . . ?
No, they chose religion of every sort by making themselves some Armani suits of figs as a means to hide the fractures in their soul and the shame they internally experienced.
They wanted to appear “with it,” “intact,” and “not so bad after all.”
Instead of allowing the alabaster box to break, instead of allowing the Jars of clay to be smashed (which is so embarrassing) they chose to fill the cracks, to hide, to try and deceive even God!
(beat)
From what I’ve been told the word “sincerity” has it etymological roots in the pottery industry.
It seems that when potters throw or create vessels and then dry them in a kiln some have a tendency to crack. And back in the day a cracked vessel (especially if it bore water) was of no use.
Apparently some unscrupulous merchants would dip their cracked pots in melted wax (“cera” in Latin) which would fill the cracks and if a person purchased a cracked but wax coated cistern it would hold water . . . for a while . . . until the wax melted and then the vessel proven useless.
As a means to reassure customers honest merchants would put up signs that read
“sine” (without) cera (wax) “sine-cera” sincerity – without wax.
The point being is while the world and religion and almost everything else wants people and products to be whole (or at least to appear whole) God paradoxically wants His children broken.
Without breakage all that exists in fallen man is . . . pride.
Now if Christianity (from an intellectual sense) is ANYTHING it is highly paradoxical isn’t it?
Think about it –
“We are exalted by being brought low?”
“Weak things glorify God Almighty?”
“We die in order to truly live?”
“We are strong in weakness?”
“We gain by giving ourselves away?”
“We rejoice in suffering?”
“We are great by being servants?”
Well the presence of brokenness in Christianity is not only highly paradoxical, it is greatly misunderstood, isn’t it?
I would suggest it is greatly misunderstood because it is so bloody paradoxical and our natures, our flesh, is so inclined to the opposite approach we all experience great difficulty hanging onto why true brokenness before God AND man is what allows for the distribution of the greatest light and fragrance to the world and God’s heart.
Allow me to go back and attempt a brief explanation.
Under the Law of Moses, brokenness or broken things were NOT considered a good thing (in most cases).
Broken skin was a sign of leprosy and banishment ensued for the bearer until it cleared up and was made whole.
Offerings had to be whole. Listen to what the Lord said about the condition of an offering (in Leviticus 22:24):
“Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut . . .”
And then when it came to men entering the temple as priests to make offerings, God said:
Leviticus 21:18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous,
19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.”
So outward imperfection was not allowable in things offered or in people making the offerings. This was all picturing perfection of spirit in the Messiah to come.
Over and over again God reprimands the Nation of Israel for breaking the Law, breaking the commandments, breaking their covenants because under the Law physical and moral perfection was the call of the day.
Looking back we know what that system produced when it was placed in the lives of fallen human beings, don’t we?
Pride and judgment and by the time Jesus walked the earth He was surrounded by the results of that economy – either people were “whited sepulchers full of dead dried bones” or they were broken vessels by sin and deformity that had no chance of community among the culture.
Being consistent we have to admit that while the Law demanded physical perfection God has always wanted His people to be broken from the heart, didn’t He?
Psalms 51:17 says it well:
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Isaiah 57:15 says
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Numerically, it seemed like few members of the House of Israel understood that the demands of the Law ought not translate to hardened hearts but broken ones. In the end we see that the presence of the law produced an attitude and cultural environment that made this broken spirit and contrite heart almost impossible for most adherents.
What was God to do? Something so radically paradoxical it is still missed by some otherwise very astute Christians.
He saved us by His grace and by and through this method is now GLORIFIED in . . . human weakness NOT human strength.
This premise is so illogical to the natural man, so repugnant to moralists, so contradictory to what people want to believe God demands that most of us continue to try and appeal to Him and relate to Him and please Him and Represent Him through human strength.
It’s a lie.
The excuses are plentiful. We justify all the approaches in a thousand ways to Sunday but in the end, God sent His Son into this world to save it.
He saved it – not us. As long as we are in this flesh we are sinful to some extent or another and there is nothing that we could do to honor God than to look to Jesus and keep the alabaster broken.
Keep the light shining OUT from our broken, worthless vessels.
See, the Law was logical. Religion is logical. There’s no paradox – Man has to earn His way to heaven, Man has to at least “appear” righteous. No brokenness (especially over sin) allowed. See the absence of brokenness conveys the absence of sin. And so we spruce everything up as a means to appear sinless.
Even God didn’t approach the world this way through His Son, did He?
He could have. Our Messiah could have been born in wealth, had the best formal education, been extremely refined and inviting, and physically strong and handsome right?
But God with us was born in a manger, had no place to rest His head, was a Nazarene, then a Galilean, and then they called Him a Samarian.
He was physically lowly, like a dried reed come out of the ground, of no reputation, possessing nothing of which Man would desire of Him.
To the outward whited sepulchers of His day this Galilean Messiah was utterly reprehensible.
Then He ate with sinners (but obeyed the law to perfection). He was loyal to all (but was betrayed by His own). He loved in every situation (but was hated in return.) He had every right and bit of power to wipe His enemies off the face of the earth (but He forgave them).
And for us He submitted to a death of utter humility and shame, becoming sin (though He had no sin) our Lord, our King, our God was ultimately stripped, beaten beyond recognition, left naked and alone and hanging from a criminals cross outside of the city walls.
And when the Roman soldiers stabbed Him in the heart to see if He was really dead, water and blood poured forth from His utterly broken heart and filled the world with an endless, immutable, eternal fragrance of love and light.
And now, as followers of the King, here comes the wild incomprehensible part – not only are people acceptable with flat noses and wounded stones and moral failure – it is these very lost, broken, souls who glorify God Almighty.
When Men (and their religions) are strong financially, politically, and form an army of unbroken soldiers, God is not glorified, Men are.
But the loving, saving, God is glorified when people (broken by sin, broken by trials, broken by difficulty) continue to openly, humbly seek Him, and share Him amidst weaknesses and brokenness that He has forever overlooked by and through the sacrifice of His broken Son.
For this reason we have 1st Corinthians 1:27 saying:
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
We could read on into 2nd Corinthians 12:9 where God plainly states:
“for MY strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Because HE is always true and faithful (when we are not.)
Because He is forgiving and longsuffering and patient and kind when we have mucked the water up so much we can’t see straight.
Because He is shown to be ultimate strength when His followers show ultimate weakness.
What he wants from His children is a broken heart, because such hearts of utter humility shine His love brightest.
Mary’s alabaster box was an outward emblem of Mary’s heart. Before everyone present she broke it open, and poured the contents out upon our Lord without reservation.
In her act or breaking and pouring, which Jesus said would be spoken of forever, we today can see the utter love and devotion she held for the Lord.
Next week we’ll see what happens when people choose to be open books for Christ. They get criticized.
Q and A?
