Extravagant Perfume

John 11:45-12:11

Welcome! This is a welcome forward, to 2013. But it is also in a sense a welcome back, back to the incredible book of John. We began going into the book of John back in January of 2012, in which we spent a month looking at John Chapter 1. We took some time with other series after looking at John 1, but in April and May we went up through John 5, and from August until October, we continued in John up through most of John 11.

Today I want to begin by pointing out some recurring themes we have seen in the book of John so far. Starting from the very beginning of John: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood [overcome] it. – John 1:1-5

In that last verse, it talks about how Jesus came to Earth to shine, to illuminate the truth about who God is and who He, Jesus is, God and Man, life and light, but that, in general, the Jews did not accept Him, and even tried to actively suppress or overcome Him. This is further highlighted in John 1:10: 

He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. – John 1:10-11 

This theme has been repeated again and again in John. Even back in John 2, after changing the water into wine, Jesus went to Jerusalem and overturned the tables of the moneychangers at the Temple. The Jews, angry at this, demanded to know by what authority He did this, and Jesus told them, destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days. He meant His body, but they did not recognize, understand, or accept Him. Later, in John 5, on a Sabbath Jesus healed a paralytic, simply telling him to pick up his mat and walk. Again, despite the miracle, the Jews would not accept Him, making a big deal of the Sabbath, becoming even angrier after He referred to God as His Father. In John 6, Jesus miraculously fed the 5000, and later, after crossing the Sea of Galilee, told the crowd that He was the Bread of Life, explaining it was His flesh. Again, the crowds rejected Him, as did many “disciples.” In John 7, Jesus taught at a feast in Jerusalem, and again they rejected Him and tried to seize Him. John 8 is almost entirely filled with the people arguing against what Jesus was saying about Himself. At the end, Jesus told them, “Before Abraham was born, I AM,” and with that, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus slipped away. And then in John 9, Jesus healed a man born blind, and this time they argued with the man who had been healed, who simply said, in response to their questions, “Whether He is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” After they threw him out, Jesus came and revealed Himself to him. John 10, again, is almost entirely filled with Jesus teaching followed by the people arguing against Him, refusing to believe Him or accept Him, and again they almost stoned Him and again they tried to seize Him.

And so, as it says, His own did not receive Him. Now, there is another theme we see in John, expressed in the following verses of John 1: 

Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only [only begotten], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:12-14 

I would express this theme as a journey, a journey of growing faith as the disciples see Jesus’ miracles, as they listen to His teachings, as they simply live with Him and see what kind of Man He is, a man totally unlike any man who had ever lived. Jesus was without sin. He was love. He was humble. He was not only a man, but the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. To see Him was to see the glory of God, veiled in flesh. The disciples largely saw the same things that those who rejected Him saw – they were there at the same discourses, the same miracles, but they, unlike the others, received Him. More and more they were believing in Him. More and more they realized they were seeing the glory of God. Finally, in John 11, Jesus comes to the place where Lazarus has been buried. He has been dead for four days. Jesus told Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” And then He had them roll away the stone and He called out, “Lazarus, come out!” And, miracle of miracles, Lazarus obeyed, 100% alive. 

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. – John 11:45-47a 

In these verses you see both themes of John back to back. On the one hand you see many people believing in Him. But on the other you see people, looking at the same miracle, and demanding that there be a response. 

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” – John 11:47b-48 

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” – John 11:49-50 

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take His life. – John 11:51-53 

This, by the way, is a supreme example of irony. It was better for them that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. They had no idea how much better it was for them! But it would only help those who turned to faith in the One they were about to pierce.

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead He withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where He stayed with His disciples. – John 11:54 

And so this brings us to where we concluded in our series last October. Jesus had withdrawn. There were no more public miracles, because they wanted to kill Him and His time had not yet come. During this time, Jesus focused on His disciples, teaching them, growing their faith, helping them to know more about who He was and how they should live. This went on until it was about time for the holiday of Passover, the holiday in which people would come to the Temple in Jerusalem from all over for the sacrifices required by the Law. Here is what happened: 

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t He coming to the Feast at all?” But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest Him. – John 11:55-57 

Was Jesus going to come? Yes. And He would be the sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice for sin, dying in our place. The rest of the book of John deals with this short time, days, over which this and subsequent events happened. Jesus was now on foot, with His disciples, going towards Jerusalem. But before arriving in Jerusalem, He was going to make a stop in Bethany, a small town a few miles outside of Jerusalem. This stop is the topic of the first part of John 12: 

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. – John 12:1 

I love this passage so much that we are going to take it one verse at a time for a while. Although it is possible that advance word was sent that Jesus would be arriving, it seems more likely that He simply showed up. Maybe it is incongruous of me to ask this, but what would you do if Jesus showed up at your house one afternoon with a bunch of disciples? Would you worry about the state of your house? Would you worry about the behavior of your children? Would you worry about what to serve Him? Maybe a fairer question is how you would react if suddenly the President were to show up at your home – maybe not. But imagine – the press have come too, and TV cameras are rolling, filming your reactions, your children, your home, everything.

I have you think about this for two reasons – one is that it is a pretty fair comparison to what was happening in Bethany. Bethany wasn’t much of a town, not famous for anything except now for one thing – it was the place where Lazarus lived. The Lazarus, the one who had been dead for four days but now was quite alive, thank you very much. But the only reason Lazarus was famous was because of the One who had raised him from the dead, Jesus, and here He was! Jesus, who had seemingly disappeared for months, not being seen in Jerusalem or anywhere else for that matter, was here, in Bethany, with His disciples. You can be sure that everyone in the whole town dropped whatever they were doing when they realized Jesus was there.

The other reason I have you think about this is that, well, Jesus, the one and the same, does in fact show up at your house. He shows up at your work too, and He has even shown up here at church. The God of the universe is not unaware of anything we do. He is listening to my message right now, which makes me a little nervous. He can hear your thoughts, whether they are about this passage of Scripture or whether your mind is wandering to thoughts of work, or what you are going to have for lunch, or girls, or whatever you are thinking about. I just mention this because I think it is healthy for each of us to remember, from time to time, that He is watching me. Well, back to our account. Jesus is in Bethany.

Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. – John 12:2 

What did Martha do? She served, of course. You probably remember the account of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42, in which Martha is doing all the preparations while Mary is simply sitting at Jesus’ feet. In frustration, Martha asks Jesus to make Mary help her. And Jesus’ gentle rejoinder is to tell her that she is worrying about things she doesn’t need to worry about, and that Mary “has chosen what is better.” Hopefully this time around Martha has at least partially learned not to become hopelessly frazzled over the meal preparations. There are times things simply have to be done, and serving can be a way of giving to Jesus; in fact, we are all supposed to be “servants” of God and servants of one another. I don’t think Jesus’ previous statements to Martha meant that she shouldn’t serve, or even that Mary didn’t have to help out; He was speaking about the state of her heart, which was resentful and angry even in the presence of Jesus. Anyway, Martha served. As she had come to better know who Jesus was, I can imagine she served with joy.

And at this meal, Lazarus himself was there. Lazarus had learned what it meant to be “saved” by Jesus before He ever went to the cross. His “salvation” was not yet eternal, but I can only imagine how thankful Lazarus was of this Man and more-than-a-man that had done the impossible for him. And the question it drives for me is “How much more thankful should I be?” He has saved me eternally. And not just to have more of the same life that we have here on earth, but the real life, the zoe, the wonderful life beyond imagining that is to come, the life with Jesus, where at the beginning He wipes away every tear, and after that the only tears there may be will be tears of endless joy. And so they were reclining at the table, in the customary way at the main meal of the day, and we can only guess at what the conversations were about. 

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. – John 12:3 

If I had an unlimited budget and could film this scene, if I were to use the style of Peter Jackson, I would start panning up the mountains, up and up, into the Himalayas, where I would find a humble person slowly and carefully picking the rhizome of a certain plant. The root of the plant is crowned by several stems, each about 2 inches in length and about as thick as a finger. To these the fibrous tissue of former leaves adheres, and they have the appearance of miniature spikes or ears, somewhat like corn, except that they are down at the root line. These “fingers” are what are collected to make the nard perfume. The nard itself is a thick liquid extracted from these spikes. Only a little comes from each spike. If I were filming this, I would show the extremely long travel from the Himalayas, perhaps on camel, through India and down into the Middle East. I would show it being sold along the way, eventually being prepared into the final form. Nard was normally stored in alabaster jars with lids, partly because the alabaster jar was also a pricey item, but more practically because it was sure not to leak the precious perfume and because it was able to completely seal in the pungent odor. Often wax was used to hold a lid in place and make the connection airtight. But imagine following this process until it was in final form, and then, probably purchased by Mary’s parents, saving it as a dowry for her eventual marriage. When a woman was married, she would often take a bit of the nard and put it on her husband’s feet at the time of the marriage consummation; most might be saved for the next generation, unless the family was particularly wealthy.

Now we don’t know that this is why Mary had this expensive perfume, but it is a very plausible reason. If so, it makes it even more astounding that Mary would take it and pour it all upon Jesus’ feet. In so doing, she was basically giving the most valuable thing she had, the thing that would enable her to be married someday, and giving it as an act of pure worship to Jesus.

What was going on in Mary’s heart? She simply loved Jesus. It was a pure love, a love that combined the feelings of her heart with the work of the Holy Spirit, who no doubt prompted the action that Mary took. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. He was God. He was worthy to receive all praise, and all honor, and all glory, and she gave her best to Him. She didn’t calculate the cost. She was simply giving Him everything, because He was worthy of everything, and so much more.

Now imagine how everyone else reacted. Just total shock! It was shocking that she would even approach Him; the tradition was that the men reclined at the table while the women were behind them. It was shocking that she would put anything on His feet, that she would use the expensive nard, and it was beyond shocking that she would use all of it; this was unthinkable. The fragrance was overwhelming; probably the whole town of Bethany could eventually smell it. And it seemed like such a waste – it was dripping off of His feet, falling to the ground, and so Mary uses her own hair to try to keep more of it up on His feet, making an undignified mess of herself in the process. She didn’t care. She didn’t care at all what anyone thought of her or her actions, only Jesus. And He accepted her sacrifice of love. 

But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. – John 12:4-6 

In Mary’s act of worship we see the second theme I mentioned earlier today, that of people believing in Him and responding to Him from that belief. But here, even in the Twelve, we also see that first theme, that His own did not receive Him. Back in John chapter 6, when many disciples were deserting Him, Jesus revealed that He already knew that Judas would betray Him, saying, “Yet one of you is a devil!” Judas had seen the miracles, heard the teachings, and been with the disciples for a long time. And yet He was duplicitous. He was skimming from the money bag; that is, stealing. And he was also quite adept at false religiosity, at being a hypocrite. He appeared to be so caring of the poor, when, in fact, all he really cared about was himself.

And what a shocking contrast to Mary, who had almost certainly spent far less time with Jesus than Judas, who was less educated than Judas, and who, in terms of that culture at that time, we could say was only a woman. The culture viewed women this way, by the way, but Jesus never did.  He treated them with honor and respect, and was no respecter of what the culture said about people. He praised non-Jews, served the lowliest of the low, and called a spade a spade even when dealing with the religious ultra-elite. And this case was no exception. 

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.” – John 12:7-8 

Jesus does not agree with Judas as to the rebuke of Mary, but instead rebukes Judas, telling him to leave her alone. Yes, Judas was correct as to the value of the sacrifice – a years’ worth of 12-hour days of wages, gone. But not wasted! Mary loved Jesus, and she had followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit, which had given her a special honor, although one she did not yet understand (nor did anyone else, except for Jesus). Jesus knew that it was only a matter of days until He died on the cross, and to perfume His body in preparation for this day was one of the greatest honors that any person could ever have. Ever!

And then Jesus addresses Judas’ fake reason, even though He probably knew that wasn’t Judas’ real reason. Yet He responds anyway for the benefit of us and those there in that room – this was an exceptional moment, and although it was good to provide for the poor, this moment would never come along again. And soon, Jesus would no longer be with them in body, and the opportunity to worship Him in the flesh would be gone.

Jesus could have gone on to say to Judas that “you will not always have you, either.” Judas was going to be dead only a little time later than Jesus and his death would not result in resurrection three days later, but only in, ultimately, the unimaginable pain and regret of everlasting separation from God. But what a contrast! In reality, Mary was preparing Jesus for His death, but Judas was preparing to kill Him.

As far as we can tell, Judas did leave Mary alone, after all, the pragmatic Judas I am sure figured that the nard was already wasted; it was too late. But Judas had an opportunity to repent, not just of his attitude, but of his stealing, but, like those other Jews who had rejected Him, repenting was the last thing Judas wanted to do. Judas had no idea his time was about to run out. And neither do those today who hear Jesus’ call and reject His voice. Their time can run out at any moment as well. 

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in Him. – John 12:9-11 

And so the stage was being set – many were talking to Lazarus (“Yup, I was dead. Yup, Jesus raised me back to life.”) and to Jesus Himself, who was there. A combination of Lazarus’ testimony and seeing Jesus face to face, seeing His wisdom, His heart of love, His character, and feeling the powerful draw of the Holy Spirit, many were coming to faith in Christ.

And the chief priests, those who had already made plans to kill Jesus, added Lazarus to their target list. Part of me really finds this incredible. Are you really going to kill someone Jesus raised from the dead? Don’t you think He could do it again? Maybe you should pick on somebody else!

 

But as a side note, when you reveal to others what Jesus has done and is doing in your life, you too become a target, not usually of people, at least not here, but of spiritual “principalities and powers,” and you should not be ignorant of this. That’s OK, though; this is how you know you are doing something right.  

I have a final thought, and then we are going to do something a little different. Obviously we should be more like Mary and less like Judas. I think we all know what it means to not be like Judas – not loving money instead of Christ, not loving your sins instead of Christ, and not being a hypocrite instead of loving Christ. But what does it mean to be more like Mary?

 

Deuteronomy 6:5 says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength.  Deuteronomy 11:13 says to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul. The heart comes first. It also comes first in Deuteronomy 13:3, Deuteronomy 30:6, and in Matthew 22:37, where Jesus Himself says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.” The heart also comes first in Mark 12:30, Mark 12:33, and Luke 10:27.

Mary did not do what she did because she heard a good teaching and mentally decided that it would be a good thing to do. She did it because she loved Jesus with all her heart. The action followed her heart. I don’t know what extravagant love of Jesus will look like in your life. It might mean that you give sacrificially. It might mean that you overcome your fear of talking about your faith and simply start doing it at work and to your friends. It might mean that you go on a mission trip. It might mean that you become the husband you are supposed to be, or the father you are supposed to be, or that you forgive the person you said you would never forgive. There are countless ways extravagant love of Jesus can find its expression in this world, in your life.

So I don’t know what it will look like for you, but I do know that it starts from the heart. If your heart for Jesus has grown cold, do not settle for this! Pray that God would make your heart burn for Him the way Mary’s did. Listen to the Spirit’s promptings, whether it is to be more involved in fellowship, or more real in your prayer life, or more serious about quiet times, or whatever it is. But do not settle for a cold heart.

Mary had a glimpse of the goodness and love and mercy and forgiveness of God, and that glimpse was enough to make her give up a princely sum on something that the world would say was beyond foolish. May we all get Mary’s glimpse; may we all see our Savior with Mary’s eyes, so that we would love Him as she did.