Jesus Meets the Anointing Woman

Introduction - A. Today we begin our final cycle in the 2013 four-series sermon rotation.
B. This is the 10 th sermon on Jesus’ encounters with various people.

C. We have considered Jesus’ encounters with the widow of Nain, t he four-friended lame man, the helpless demon-possessed boy, the ten lepers, the mothers’ children, the Syro-Phoenician woman, Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus, and the father at the foot of the mountain .

1. They all have one thing in common that’s different than the one we look at today. They all involve Jesus either reaching out to help someone, or someone asking Jesus for His help. But they all involve Jesus helping people. He heals, delivers, raises from the dead, blesses, and forgives.
2. But this story involves someone reaching out to Jesus, honoring Him, not asking anything from Him but rather giving something to Him.

2. Story
A. Our last two stories were in Jericho probably on Friday about a week before the crucifixion. This story takes place in Bethany, on the way from Jericho to Jerusalem, apparently the next day, Saturday. (See John 12:1.)
B. The burden Jesus carried into Bethany which eventually culminated at Gethsemane.

1. A few verses after this story we read in John 12:23–24, 27 “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit... 27 Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” (Cf. John 13:21)

C. But among the gathering gloom, He received an invitation to be the guest of honor at a dinner at the house of a man named Simon. He’s called Simon the leper. A person with active leprosy could not have hosted a dinner. He must have been a leper who had been healed by Jesus.
D. John 12:1-8 tells us more about this occasion: verse 2 says, “They gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.”

1. Lazarus had been raised from the dead in the chapter before.
2. This may well have been a dinner in celebration of the raising of Lazarus.

E. But “He did not pain His hosts by self-absorbed aloofness at the table.” (Maclaren)
F. Matt.26:7 “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.”

1. “ an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment ”: John 12:3 says it was worth 300 denarii, approximately a year’s salary for a working man.
2. Why does she do this?

     a. It was a way of honoring and welcoming.

1. “You prepare a table before me...; you anoint my head with oil.” (Psalm 23:5)
2. “You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.” (Luke 7:46)

     a. Perhaps she also anointed Him because He was the Anointed One, which is what Christ means.
     3. She also anointed His feet, according to John 12:3, where it says that she “took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
     a. Jesus says she “poured this ointment on my body,” instead of saying “on my head,” so she must have applied the ointment to both His head and His feet.
G. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

1. John tells us it was Judas who spoke out. However, Matthew, who was there, says it was the disciples. What does this tell us? Probably that Matthew, along with some of the others, felt sympathies with what Judas was saying, but that John did not.
2. John 12:4–6 also informs us of Judas’ true motives: “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”

I. V.10-13 “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’s done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I tell you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.’”

1. Here the world’s most important man is about to perform history’s most important act. And, being human, He is understandably burdened and troubled.
2. Most of His followers haven’t caught on at all. He’s told them but they refuse to believe.
3. But one woman has grasped the significance of what’s happening. She takes the most valuable thing she owns and uses it to bring honor and comfort to her Savior.
4. And He very much appreciates it: “She has done a beautiful thing to me. ”

I. Who was this woman? It was Mary of Bethany.
     A. All the gospels except Luke contain this story, but only John tells us it was Mary of Bethany (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) – John 12:3. In fact, only John and Luke mention Mary at all.
     B. This was the same Mary who:

1. was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening while Martha complained she wasn’t helping - Luke 10:38-42.

     a. You remember the story: Mary and Martha had Jesus over for dinner. Mary was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. Martha was occupied with all her preparations; and after a while she came up to Jesus, and said, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Please tell her to help me.”
     b. But Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, and it shall not be taken away from her.”

2. and who was at the tomb of Lazarus when Jesus arrived too late (John 11:1-46) You remember:

a. Jesus receives word that His friend Lazarus is very sick. But instead of departing immediately for Bethany, He purposely delays for a few days, until Lazarus is dead.

1. John 11:5-6 “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When THEREFORE He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was.”
2. John 11:14-15 “Then Jesus therefore said to [His disciples] plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe .’”

b. When Jesus finally arrived , Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. When the sisters heard that Jesus was coming, Mary stayed in the house, but Martha went out to meet Him; saying “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus comforted her. And then Martha went back to Mary and whispered to her, “The Teacher is calling for you.”
c. And Mary arose quickly, and rushed out to meet Him. When Mary came up to Jesus, she fell at His feet, saying, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
d. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled, He wept. And so the mourners said to each other, “Behold how He loved him!”
e. Then Jesus, still deeply moved, came to the tomb, saying, “Remove the stone.” and cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” and Lazarus came forth.
3. And now this same Mary is anointing Jesus with valuable perfume a few days before His death.
2. Have you noticed how Mary is always at the feet of Jesus?
    A. In all three of the stories of Jesus and Mary of Bethany, she puts herself at His feet.

1. Sitting, listening to Him while Martha served
2. After Lazarus’ death, when she comes out to Jesus, she falls at His feet.
3. And here anointing His head and feet with perfume

B. The place of feet: The feet are a place of humility, submissiveness and acknowledgment of superiority/authority — like when we kneel in worship.

1. Even when Mary had a complaint/question to bring to Jesus about why He didn’t come when her brother was dying, she only does it from her knees, acknowledging that Jesus was above her and higher than her.

C. That may be enough to explain two of the episodes of Mary at the feet of Jesus. But what about this episode where Mary is anointing his feet with precious ointment and wiping them with her hair?

1. It may be partially just a celebration of His coming by honoring the feet that carried Him there: “How beautiful are the feet of him who brings good news!” (Is.52:7; Rom.10:15)
2. But it seems likely to me that there is something deeper going on here as well: Mary is anointing Jesus’ feet for the great task ahead.

   a. This is what Jesus says she’s doing: When Judas criticizes Mary’s gift, Jesus defends her by saying she’s anointing His body for burial.
   b. If this act was preparing Jesus’ body for death, is it not likely that it was preparing His feet for their important part?
   c. Was it not His feet which were said to be the place where He would be bruised by the serpent in Gen.3:15 “I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed [Jesus]; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”?
   d. And were not these feet soon going to crush the head of the serpent?
   e. And were His heels not about to be bruised, pierced through with nails?
   f. Was Mary not anointing these feet for their great task?
3. Mary
    A. Twice Mary is charged before Jesus: by Martha for not helping and then by Judas for wasting money on the ointment. In both cases, Jesus defends her.

1. She was in tune with Jesus in a way the others were not.
2. They rejected what He kept telling them was going to happen to Him. But Mary got it.
3. He was hurting, in need of comfort/support (Luke 22:15). And He is touched by Mary’s act of love.

B. Something different about Mary. Not because of her personality, not because of her talents.

1. She was slow to speak and quick to listen to Jesus. She was really paying attention to all He said and did. Mary was taken up with Christ. Christ was always the center of her attention.
2. Meals occur several times a day, every day. But Mary realized that the opportunity to hear the words of Jesus was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She realized that what He was saying was the very thing mankind had needed to hear. It was the secret of life.
3. Everyone else was missing it, but Mary say what was really happening. She saw who Jesus was and treated Him according! She got Jesus.
4. She had learned a very important lesson that few others had yet learned. She’d seen her brother die while Jesus acted nonchalant about getting there to help. And then when He finally arrived four days after her heart had been broken, she witnessed Jesus’ tears for her brother and for her broken heart. She saw that His delay was not because He didn’t care. He cared deeply!
5. And then she witnessed Jesus call forth her brother from the tomb. And she realized that even death isn’t bigger than Jesus, and that Jesus even has a purpose in death.
6. The others couldn’t accept Jesus’ imminent death. And so Jesus received little support from them. Even in the garden when He asked them to pray as He agonized, they just fell asleep.
7. But not Mary. She got what the others missed. She could accept that He was going to die, but knew that that wasn’t going to be the end of the story. She knew that He was going to be bigger after death, not smaller. She knew that everything was going to be better afterward, not worse.
8. This is what motivated her to pour her most valuable earthly possession on Jesus to honor Him and comfort Him in His hour of sorrow.
9. If you traveled back in a time machine to witness what was happening, what would you do? You wouldn’t want to try to prevent His crucifixion. All you could do is to honor Him and support Him in what He was doing, just like Mary did. Mary did the only thing that could be done!
10. And yet the disciples said, “What a waste!” How did that sound to the ears of Jesus? Like a knife in His heart. What a waste? Was there ever such a fitting way to use expensive ointment? Was there ever such a worthy investment of a man’s annual salary?
11. A waste? No! For worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor, glory, dominion and power!
12. Were the whole realm of nature mine, that would be a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. — Isaac Watts