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As we come to look in the word of the Lord, there are a couple of Bible verses I’d like to share, and then we trust the Holy Spirit to point our eyes to the Lord Jesus. This is Proverbs 2:1-6, and I just want to call attention to the verbs: “If you receive My saying,” “If you treasure My commandments,” “If you make your ear attentive to wisdom,” “If you incline your heart to understanding,” “If you cry for discernment,” “If you lift up your voice for understanding,” “If you seek her as silver, search for her as hidden treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God.” But He wants us to seek; He wants us to search to desire. Thirst is the coin of God’s kingdom; if we are thirsty, He will not deny us. So, let’s come to the Lord.
Father, we thank You for Your word and thank You for Your indwelling Holy Spirit who always turns our eyes to the Lord Jesus. We pray again this morning that we might behold Him in a fresh way. We thank You that we can trust You to focus our attention on Jesus. We commit this session unto You in the matchless name of our Lord. Amen.
We’ve made it our determined purpose to focus our hearts on the Lord Jesus. Because of John 6:45, “It is written in the prophets, ‘They shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.’” If we’re taught of God, if we’re learning from the Father, the Bible says that we will come to Jesus. That’s how we know if we’re being taught of God. We have a desire that God be our teacher, and that’s the evidence.
Welcome to our little study. As far as our study is concerned, we have come to John 11, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. For the past several sessions we’ve been meditating on that prevailing revelation of Christ in chapter 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” That’s the revelation of Christ in chapter 11.
When Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, verse 43, “When He said these things, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’” That’s when He was the resurrection, calling him out of the grave. And when He commanded Lazarus to be set free from his grave clothes, verse 44, “The man who had died came forth bound hand and foot with wrapping; his face was wrapped around with a cloth, and Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him and let him go.’” That’s when He revealed Himself as the Life. Those are two aspects of one salvation; freedom from the grave, and freedom from grave clothes. When a person trusts Jesus for the first time, God reveals Himself as the resurrection; we were dead like Lazarus, dead in sins, dead in trespasses, and He called us forth. When a person finally receives Christ as His life, then he’s free from his grave clothes, free to enjoy the Lord. We call that the exchanged life. Those are the two aspects, deliverance from and deliverance unto, deliverance from sin, self, and deliverance unto relationship and union with our Lord Jesus.
In our last lesson we were focusing on the great truth that Jesus always deals with us as we are and where we are in order to bring us to the place where He wants us to be. The illustration of that was Mary and Martha, two sisters. In some ways they were the same but very much different. Even though they had the same problem, they both lost a loved one, a brother, and our Lord Jesus dealt with Martha in terms of who she was, and then dealt with Mary in terms of who she was. He always deals with us as we are and where we are. We called attention to the fact that He not only deals with us as and where we are, but at the same time He’s dealing with everybody around us. He’s dealing with our family and our neighbors and people we work with. He always deals with everybody at the same time.
I also pointed out that not only is He revealed as the resurrection and the life, but part of His revelation as the life is His sympathy. I called attention to that He’s our sympathetic high priest. In that connection I love Hebrews 4:14-16. I won’t read the whole verse, but just the expression, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, we can come with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” That sympathy was illustrated when Jesus wept with Mary. John 11:35, “Mary was weeping,” and even though the Lord Jesus knew that within five minutes she’d be singing and rejoicing and dancing, even though He knew that, yet He walked with her in her sorrow and He wept with her.”
There are a couple of other illustrations of that. Isaiah 63:9, “In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His mercy, He redeemed them, and lifted them and carried them into all the days of old.” In all your afflictions He’s afflicted, as well. He’s connected with us, He’s united to us.
When Saul was persecuting Christians, you remember what Jesus said, Acts 9:4, “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” See, when he was persecuting Christians, he was persecuting Christ. In all our afflictions, He’s afflicted. When we weep, like Mary, Jesus weeps, too. Jesus could have very easily told Mary, “Hang in there for five minutes. You are not going to believe what is about to take place. I’m going to raise your brother from the dead.” He could have said that, but He didn’t say that. Instead, He walked with her and He wept with her, and He always deals with us where we are. The Lord might plan to deliver you tomorrow, but today He’ll walk with you in your discouragement and your sadness, and in your sorrow. He always meets us where we are.
I want to enlarge a little on that sympathy by calling attention to verse 33, “When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, the Jews who came with her were also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.” When He saw her weeping, He was deeply moved. Wuest translates it this way, “He was moved with indignation in His spirit.” The Greek word is translated, “He groaned in His spirit.” It carries the idea, actually, of anger, that He was indignant; He was angry at something. It’s a wonderful blend of emotion, that Jesus could be sympathetic and weep, and at the same time be angry, be indignant. The question is what was He angry about? Why was He indignant? Most of my commentators suggest that their was a lot of unbelief at that time, and there were people there that didn’t believe, and that’s what made Him angry. I can’t make that my own. I’m not sure that’s what He was angry about.
Let me make a suggestion, and you can do with it what you wish. I agree there is mystery here, and I’m not sure we can give a final answer, but I’m leaning this way. 1 Corinthians 15:26, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” The reason I call attention to that is because death is called an enemy. Now, the sting is gone because Jesus took our sin, and one day He’ll destroy death altogether. No one knew this more clearly than Jesus. He knew the ravages that death, that enemy, made on His dear friend, Lazarus, before the stone was rolled away, and that upset Him; that made Him angry, to think that death would bring such sorrow to that family, and such sadness. He saw the sorrow that it was bringing to the loved ones that were left behind, and it filled Him with indignation. So, He’s both sympathetic, He cries with Mary, but He’s so angry at death. John 11:33, “He was deeply moved in spirit and trouble.”
It’s not wrong to weep when a loved one dies. It’s wrong to weep as those who have no hope because we have hope, but it’s not wrong to weep. Faith doesn’t turn us into stoics; it manifests the sympathy of Christ, and He’ll weep with you, but it also manifests His righteous indignation. I discussed this idea that Jesus was angry to Janet, and I think she got closer to entering into why He was angry than I did. She suggested that His anger probably was not against an event, like death, but against a person. Listen to Hebrews 2:14, “He Himself took part of same,” that is humanity, “that through death He might destroy Him that had the power of death, that is the devil.” What was Jesus angry at? I say that it’s maybe death, that it brought a lot of sorrow, but the devil has the power of death, and He’s probably very angry at Satan. More likely, when He saw the family and others sobbing and broken hearted, He was so angry at Satan. He’s about to destroy Him, as far as the record goes, but because Satan caused such profound sorrow at Bethany and to that family, that is actually Satan’s final blow at the Christian, and that’s the last time He’s ever going to touch us. By forgiving sin, the agony of death is gone, the sting of death is gone, but flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God, and so we have to pass through death.
I want to make a couple of other observations in John 11 before we go to John 12. I told you that He’s dealing with Mary and Martha and He deals with us and He deals with everyone, but He even includes His enemies. He’s dealing with them, too, and redemptively, but they don’t know it. They have no clue; they’re just living their lives and they don’t have a clue that God is controlling everything, and He’s using everything. He’s sovereign, so He even deals with unbelievers. This is illustrated in verse 46-50, in the case of Caiphas, the high priest, the son-in-law of Annas. John 11:49, “One of them, Caiphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account, it’s expedient for you that one man die for the people that the whole nation not perish.’” He was a high priest, and so he presided over the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court. The Pharisees were nervous because Jesus was getting too popular, and after the raising of Lazarus from the dead, His popularity increased a lot; people were really interested, and this is just before Passover, so there is a lot of people in town. The Pharisees feared that the large numbers might upset and threaten the Roman government. The Jews had been given a lot of liberties by the Roman government, but such a following, such an uprising might suggest to the Romans some kind of an insurrection, and they clamped down. Listen to verse 49, “One of them, Caiphas, who was high priest, said, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it’s expedient for you that one man die for the people, that the whole nation not perish.” You understand what Caiphas meant. He meant that our whole nation is at risk; they’re going to take away our privileges, and we’ve got to get rid of Jesus. That’s what he meant.
Listen to verse 51, “Now, he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might gather together into one the children of God scattered abroad.” Caiphas had no clue that he was giving a prophesy. He said, “We’ve got to kill Jesus; it’s better that He die than we lose our privilege.” The Holy Spirit used him to say, “It’s better that one man die for others.” He was prophesying the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus. It’s just an illustration. All things are redemptive. He had no clue that he was predicting the substitutionary death of Christ.
There is a powerful illustration of the same thing, and then we’ll get to chapter 12, and it’s Isaiah 10:6, and he’s talking about Assyria, that wicked, wicked nation. In verse 6, “I sent it against a Godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury, to capture booty, to seize plunder, to trample them down like mud in the street.” God said that He raised Assyria to trample people down like mud in the street. Now, look at verse 7, “Yet, it does not so intend, nor does in plan so in it’s heart. Rather, it’s purpose is to destroy and to cut off many nations.” Assyria’s purpose was to conquer the world. They want to go out and kill and plunder and destroy, but God sent them, and God is in charge, but they didn’t know it.
I like in this connection chapter 7:18 of Isaiah, “In that day, the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that’s in the land of Assyria, and they will all come and settle on the steep ravine, and on the ledges of the cliffs, and all the thorn bushes on the water in places.” Isn’t that interesting? It says for nations, they had nations, like Assyria and Babylon, and God whistles, like you whistle for a dog. God whistled and the whole nation comes. They have no clue, anymore than Caiphas had a clue what he was doing.
Now, when we get to the next chapter and we look at Palm Sunday, they were throwing their garments out in front of Jesus; they were throwing palms out, and the Bible says that they had no idea that they were fulfilling prophesy. They were fulfilling what Zachariah wrote in chapter 9:9, but they didn’t know that. How many times, at the cross, and we’ll see that later, all of a sudden a soldier got up and took a stake and took a sponge and ran to the cross and handed it to Jesus. That was prophesied that he would do that; he had no clue. I wonder what went through his mind why he suddenly decided, “I think I’ll go and offer Him something to drink.” He had no idea. God is sovereign and all things are redemptive, whether they’re enemies or whether they’re friends, He always deals with everybody where they and as they are.
Let me say a word about verse 54 before we leave chapter 11. “Jesus can longer continue to walk publicly among the Jews. This is after He raised Lazarus, but went away to the country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim, and He stayed there with His disciples.” We know right after the miracle of raising Lazarus, Jesus laid low; He went to this place, a city called Ephraim. This is the only mention of that city in the Bible; there’s no other mention of that city. No one knows where it was. It was near a wilderness and we know that. How long did He spend there after He raised Lazarus? Nobody knows. Bishop Ryle and some other commentaries think it might have even been months that He spent after He raised Lazarus. The only real clue we have is John 11:55, “Now, the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem.” How near? We’re not told at that point how near. We know our Lord Jesus was crucified during this Passover, so we’re getting close to the cross and we know that.
John 12:1 describes a feast where Lazarus was present. John 12:1, “Jesus, therefore, six days before Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead.” So, He raised Lazarus, and He went away to a city, for how long we don’t know, but now six days before Passover is the feast. The problem is Mark, also, describes the feast in Mark 14:1, “The Passover and unleavened bread were two days away, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and killing.” So, one passage says it was six days before Passover there was a feast, and another says it was two days before Passover there was a feast. It’s interesting that two days before Passover is also mentioned in Matthew 26:2 and it was right after the great Olivert discourse, and it says, “You know that after two days, Passover is coming.” So, He preached the Olivert Discourse, and two days later Passover is coming.
All of that is to say that the question remains that one feast was six days and one feast was two days, does that mean that Jesus was anointed two times in Passion week by Mary, two different times? Were there two different feasts, or is it describing the same feast? There are arguments for both. My inclination, I think there is less problem if you take it to have two feasts, but others would disagree with that. I’m not going to insist on that, but I’m trying to determine is how long was it between the miracle where He raised Lazarus and the feast where He and Lazarus were at the table together. I think it had to be sometime, a couple of weeks, I don’t know how long it was, but the point I’m trying to make is that Jesus did not raise Lazarus and then the next day have a feast. It wasn’t the next day; that’s all I’m trying to say. It was at least, I think, a couple of weeks in between.
With that we’ll leave John 11 where we saw Christ as the resurrection and the life, and we’ll come to John 12. John 12 is a very unique chapter because it is bringing to a close the public ministry of Christ. For three and a half years He’s had a public ministry and now it’s coming to a close, and from this time on He’s going to focus on those He called “His own”. Listen to John 13:1, “Therefore, now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come, that He’d depart out the world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Now, He’s going to be talking to His own, to the disciples, to His people. For three and a half years He’s ministered publicly and now we’re going to begin a private ministry. But John 12 is going to summarize the public ministry and be a transition into His new and private ministry. It’s a climactic chapter; it’s closing one door and it’s opening another.
I handed out a sheet and wanted to give you an overview of chapter 12, and even though on the sheet I focused on five divisions of the chapter, there are really three main stories; the feasts where Mary anointed Jesus, and then the record of Palm Sunday, and then the desire of the Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. Those three are the main stories in John 12. We’ll look at each one as a summary and a transition, and in each case we have a contrast. The first story contrasts this with this. The second story, Palm Sunday, contrasts this with this. The third story, the Greeks, contrast this with this. So, we’re going to look at the those three stories, the end of the public ministry, the beginning of the private ministry.
John 12:1-11, it was the feast given in honor of Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead, sometime after the miracle. Before we look at the anointing which is where we want to go, I want to give a couple of technical things, just because some might have questions, and I know some are listening by tape, and so on. John 12:1, six days before the Passover, He came to Bethany. What we know for certain is that this took place at Bethany. Since Mary and Martha have a prominent pkace in serving Jesus, we assume this feast took place at their home in Bethany, but that’s not 100% certain because of Mark 14:3, “While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper and reclining at the table, came a woman with an alabaster vile of very costly perfume of pure nard, and she broke the vile and poured it over His head.” That was in Bethany, but at the home of Simon the Leper.
There are many Simons in the Bible; it’s a popular name. Simon the Leper is not the same as Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7. There was an anointing there, as well, but it was a different time and different circumstance and different place. It’s not clear who Simon the Leper was. There’s a lot of guesses, but it’s not clear. Some think that was the father of Lazarus. That’s not clear. Some think that it’s another name for Lazarus, and that’ the disease he died of. That is not clear. Some think it was either the living or deceased husband of Martha. We don’t know who Simon the Leper was, but it really doesn’t matter if he was family or neighbor, as we know the feast took place at Bethany.
There are some similarities in the Mark record, and the John record; both stories show the resistance to the anointing, “The money could have been used better; it could have been used for the poor.” Both emphasize how costly the anointing was, the alabaster box of pure nard. Both records call attention to Jesus coming to the defense of Mary when she offered that offering. A couple of details that Mark makes and John doesn’t make, and that John makes and Mark doesn’t make. Mark says that she poured oil over his head, and John just says on His feet. John names Mary as the one who did the anointing, and Mark doesn’t mention the name of the person who did it. Both teach that there was an objection that it shouldn’t have been done. John alone names Judas as the main objector, verse 2, “They made Him a supper there and Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table.” The supper was for Jesus.
Do you notice that Martha is serving again. She’s always serving. When she had four people, Lazarus, her sister Mary, Jesus and her, she complained. Now, at this feast, there are not four people. There are the twelve disciples, there’s the Lord Jesus, there’s Lazarus, there’s Mary, there’s Martha, and there’s a bunch of other people, but she’s not complaining, because she had learned the great principle. Her problem wasn’t serving; her problem was complaining. All those details are interesting, but I honestly believe it’s not important if there is one feast of two, one anointing or two anointings. All of this they call scholarship. That’s where my commentaries go into all of this and they try to figure everything out. They miss the heart of God. I don’t care about that stuff; we need to see the heart of the Lord. It’s not important how many anointings there were. I don’t care who the leper was, if he’s a husband or a father or another name for Lazarus. We just know that Mary Magdalene is the one who anointed our Lord Jesus, and we can know all of those other things, and miss the Lord.
I remind you that John 12 is a climax; He’s wrapping up the public ministry, and He’s introducing the private ministry, and as John summarizes the three and a half years of the public ministry, in the main, He summarizes that after three and a half years what was the main treatment Jesus received? In a word it was rejection. John 1:11, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not.” It was rejection. Listen to John’s summary, John 11:53, “Then, from that day forth,” now it’s settled, “they took counsel together to put Him to death.” From that day on it was rejection. John 12:10, “The chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death, also.” They not only hated Jesus, but they hate those He raises from the dead. See, that’s a picture; they hate you, too. By the rejection by Judas, also it comes to a head. John 12:4, “Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him…” He made the decision and he is the one that said, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Judas had determined now to betray Jesus. That’s the treatment He received. After three and a half years, basically, it was rejection. Praise God for a verse like John 12:11 because there were some that did believe, but in the main it was rejection.
On the other hand, and I told you that there are contrasts, that’s the treatment He received; Mary is going to show the treatment He deserved. That’s the great contribution of this chapter, that pouring out of the pure nard on His whole body, His head down to His feet; that’s the treatment deserved. This is the heart of the first story in John 12, the contrast between the treatment Jesus received, rejection, and the treatment that Jesus deserved, this worship and service. By meditating on the anointing, which we’re going to do now, we can discover the treatment Jesus deserves. Mary anointed the Lord Jesus with her heart, with her love, with her wealth, with that costly perfume—pure worship.
Remember when our Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He made an interesting comment. John 4:10, “Jesus said to him, ‘Go, Satan, for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” I want you to see the connection between worship and service. They are organically connected. There is no service that is not rooted in worship. No true service, and there is no true worship that doesn’t lead to service. Worship and service are the same, and Mary is doing both. She is serving the Lord, and she worships the Lord. I pointed out that John 12 summarizes the public ministry by this contrast, the treatment Jesus received, and the treatment Jesus deserves. Mary’s unselfish pouring out of her heart shows the true meaning of worship and service.
Judas, John 12: 4-5, “Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?’” Judas, even though the Bible tells us, was a thief, he was pilfering, he was a hypocrite, yet his idea of ministry, even though he was a hypocrite, was to give it to the poor; it should be given to the poor. In another place he said, “Why this waste.” It’s interesting, in John 17:12 Jesus in His high priestly prayer said, “I’ve lost none except the son of perdition.” Perdition is the same word as “waste”; it’s the same Greek work. In other words, Judas said, “Why this waste?” and Jesus said, “You are the son of waste and the son of perdition.”
We can’t only blame Judas for calling it a waste. Listen to Mark 14:4&5, “Some were indignantly remarking to one another, ‘Why has this perfume been wasted, for this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” And they were scolding her. The disciples joined Judas in scolding Mary; they all had that same idea. As far as the record goes it was a lot of money. In verse 3, “Mary took a pound of costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.” That was Mary’s service. Commentators say that was over a year’s salary, and she took that and just poured it out on Jesus.
I want to look at verse 5 because this is the contrast, “That should have been sold and given to the poor.” That idea of being sold and given to the poor is a representative case; it’s a common approach to ministry. In other words, people think that’s what ministry is; the poor represent the needy; the poor, the needy. You ask the most instructed Christian, “Describe Christian service,” and pretty much they will say, “It’s helping the needy and it’s helping the homeless, it’s going to the sick, it’s visiting the prisoner, it’s dealing with the elderly, it’s helping the discouraged, it’s giving counsel, it’s providing money, it’s providing rent, it’s providing transportation, it’s providing meals, it’s providing counsel, it’s utilitarian; that’s what service is. Service is ministry to the poor. Mary, by anointing Jesus, changed the definition of that. Ministry is not ministering to the poor. Her unselfish pouring out of her heart demonstrated that ministry is not horizontal that way; ministry is vertical. She ministered, she served, she worshipped, and she satisfied the heart of Jesus. That’s ministry and nothing else is. It’s not ministering to the needs of people; it’s ministering to the heart of Jesus. John 12:7&8, “Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, that she may keep it for the days of My burial. The poor you always have with you.’” Mary ministered to the heart of Jesus.
Sometimes at Family Ministry where I worship, they have a chorus that they sing, “I’m Getting Back to the Heart of Worship and It’s All About You, Jesus, It’s All About You.” Exactly right, I don’t know who wrote that song, but boy, that’s my heart, as well; it’s all about the Lord Jesus. As He closes one door and opens another, this is what Jesus deserves; He deserved ministry unto His heart. Verse 3, “Mary took a pound of costly ointment, pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” When you give Jesus what He deserves, the whole house is filled with fragrance. It ministers to everybody. In Mark’s account we read that she broke the vile and poured it on His head, and it ran down His body all the way to His feet.
We as Christians say we love one another, and we do. I love you and I hope you love me, but if in your love to me, if you knocked at my door and I opened the door and you said, “I love you,” and then you poured perfume all over my head and it went down my body, I would say, “Thank you for such love as this,” but as soon as you left I would get in the shower. I really would.
Our Lord Jesus was not embarrassed when she poured that down His head. It filled the whole house. He really did smell. You’ve got to understand what was happening. He was thrilled because she ministered to His heart. We know that it was maybe two days before Passover, or six days. I wonder if He carried some of that aroma to the cross. I can just picture what a blessing that might have been to the Lord Jesus. I don’t know how easy it is to get rid of the smell of pure nard, but I know it was very expensive and very fragrant. I can’t prove it, but I think it might have happened. That’s the first story, this contrast between what real service is, real worship. It’s not ministering to the people. It’s ministering to the heart of the Lord. Mark 14:9 says, “Truly, I say to you that wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be spoken of in memory of her.” We don’t hear it very much, and I think it’s because the gospel is rarely preached. Every place the gospel is preached, that’s going to be mentioned. Many Christians think service is horizontal. They just think it’s out there, and I’m going to serve and I’m going to be a philanthropist and I’m going to help people, and so on. The great emphasis that Mary shows us is that it’s to the Lord.
Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord.” There was a time that I misunderstood that. I thought it said, “Do it heartily as if to the Lord.” In other words, I would serve somebody and then pretend that I’m doing it for Jesus. It’s not a game; it’s not pretend. We’re not pretending or playing a game.
I remember when I was being not well treated by Evergreen Nursery, and I admit that I made a lot of mistakes. One of them was running the truck into the garage door. For some reason that was my last day of work there. The point is that he was mocking me as a Christian, and I was trying to do my best to serve him, and I kept saying to myself, “I’m going to pretend I’m doing this for Jesus.” It’s not a pretense; it’s doing it to Jesus. Actually, literally, we’re doing it to Jesus. When He gave that parable of the sheep and the goats, “You didn’t visit Me and you didn’t clothe Me and you didn’t feed Me,” they weren’t being rewarded for clothing people and visiting people. They were being rewarded, “You did it to Me.” We’ve got to do it unto the Lord, and then, as a by-product, as we minister to the Lord, we’re going to minister to others. Worship always leads to service, but sometimes service is not rooted in worship. Mary just gives us this beautiful example that the treatment that our Lord Jesus deserves is real worship, real service. If I give Jesus the treatment He deserves, what will that look like. What will it look like if I give Him the treatment He deserves? That doesn’t mean that it be literally perfume, but what does it mean to give Him the treatment that He deserves? It means that I will worship the Lord, and I will love Him and I will pour out uncalculated, and I will hold nothing back. I will give my best, and that’s what Mary did. She poured it all out.
Here’s the point. She did it publicly. It was sort of a dishonor for to let her hair down and then wipe the feet with her hair. There is a Jewish statement that I read that the people say, “Bless the beings above and on the ceiling; they’ve never seen my hair down.” That was a big deal for her; she wasn’t ashamed. Jesus wasn’t ashamed of her service, and she wasn’t ashamed to say, “I’m doing this for Jesus; I love Jesus.” May I just suggest, do what you want, but when you have the byproduct and your true worship and you are serving others, if you are led by the Lord to give a gift, tell them that it’s the Lord, tell them this is from the Lord. If you call somebody, tell them that the Lord has led you to call, that the Lord has led you to write, that you’re here because God sent you to visit. Let them know and make it public, and then the aroma will fill the house, and the fragrance, the testimony will be everywhere. We are to serve the Lord; it’s the Lord God that we serve. It’s not people; it’s the Lord. When we serve people, we let them know that this is not me; it’s the Lord. Make sure that you tell them that. Make it public. That’s what Mary did; she poured her best and she made it public and He had a testimony.
Our Father, thank You for Mary, who illustrates the treatment Jesus deserves. Lord, we want to give You the treatment that You deserve, and we want to hold nothing back, and pour out an uncalculated love, and just give everything, and we want to do it publicly and we want people to know that we love You and we’re not ashamed of You and we just want to proclaim who you are, and then, Lord, we pray that fragrance. We know for some it’s a savor of death, but for some it’s a savor of life. Thank You. Work these things in our heart. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.