The Waste of Worship (Mk.14; Jn.12) ~ 20250330 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

03/30 Lent: The Waste of Worship (Mt.26; Mk.14; Jn.12); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250330_waste-of-worship.mp3

Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent; the word ‘lent’ comes from the Old English ‘lencten’ which refers to springtime and may come from the ‘lengthening’ of the days in the spring. In the church calendar, it is a 40 day period leading up to Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday, and is traditionally a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving with the intent of opening our hearts to the events of passion week. It is similar to the weeks of advent leading up to the celebration of the incarnation at Christmastime.

For these three weeks leading up to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, I would like to look at some of the events in the final weeks of our Lord’s life leading up to his death on the cross for us and for our salvation.

Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 12 record Jesus in Bethany, a small village just outside Jerusalem, home to the recently resurrected Lazarus, and his sisters Mary and Martha. John puts this event 6 days before the Passover, probably Friday evening or Saturday, the week before Jesus went to the cross.

Mark 14:1 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” 3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” 10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

There couldn’t be a starker contrast than in these verses. This woman, Mary of Bethany as we learn from John, who took possibly her most valuable possession, and broke it open and poured it out on the head of Jesus, running down to his feet, in an act of worship.

And then we have the disciples and Judas, indignant, who look at what she did as pure waste, a foolish, ruinous and reckless act. Such a radical difference in perspectives. Is worship a waste?

The Pragmatic Perspective

There’s the pragmatic perspective; this was clearly a valuable resource, and it is now destroyed, irretrievably gone. This fragrant oil was worth more than three hundred denarii; a denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer, so three hundred denarii would be about a year’s wages (the median wage in the US is now over $40,000). In comparison, when there was a crowd of five thousand men plus women and children, and it was getting late and they were all hungry, the disciples ask sarcastically “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” (Mk.6:37). In that ratio, one denarius worth of bread would be shared between 25 people. That’s a lot of poor people that could have been fed with the plan of the disciples. Jesus had told the rich young ruler “sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mk.10:21). No wonder they were indignant at this waste.

Judas’ Dirty Secret

John lets us in on Judas’ dirty secret. John tells us it was Judas who made this argument for feeding the poor.

John 12:6 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 have to wonder, what was Judas doing with the money? They were living and traveling together; when sent in to town to buy supplies for the group, did he get himself an ice cream cone? Did he take some of the money, not enough to be obvious, but enough that over time it would add up, and sneak off and bury it under a tree somewhere? When Peter, James and John were arguing about who was to be the greatest in the kingdom, was Judas quietly smirking, knowing that whoever landed the highest positions of prominence, he would at least have the resources to satisfy all his cravings?

But we can’t be too hard on Judas; Matthew and Mark both record “there were some who said to themselves indignantly, ‘Why was the ointment wasted like that?’”. Judas was not alone in his opinion that this was a waste of perfectly good resource. His opinion may have poisoned the thoughts of the other disciples. But where they heeded Jesus’ rebuke, Judas was resolute in his pursuit of personal gain.

Both Matthew and Mark insert this narrative of the anointing into the account of the chief priests searching for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and Judas going to them and agreeing to betray him for money. They do this to give the backstory and make clear the connection of Judas’ motive and the event that pushed him over the edge.

Judas Wasted the Greater Treasure

Remember, Judas was one of the chosen 12, with Jesus throughout the majority of his three years in public ministry. He was eye-witnesses to countless supernatural signs; healing the sick, making the blind see, the lame walk, setting those oppressed by demons free, walking on water, calming a storm, feeding a multitude, raising the dead. John tells us:

John 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Judas was eye-witness to this, and yet he did not believe. Judas was among the apostles who had been sent out by Jesus with authority to proclaim the good news and cast out demons; he had personally experienced the power of Jesus working through him, yet his love of money robbed him of the greatest treasure. I wonder what he was thinking during Jesus’ interaction with the rich man;

Mark 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

Judas had idolatry of the heart that enslaved him, prevented him from worshiping freely the one true God. It was he who truly wasted the greater treasure.

Mary’s Heart of Worship

There were probably more, but there are only 2 other recorded interactions of this Mary of Bethany with Jesus; the first is in Luke 10, where:

Luke 10:39 ...Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. ...41 But the Lord answered her, … 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

The other is John 11, when Lazarus was ill;

John 11:3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Jesus delayed until Lazarus was dead in the tomb 4 days, so that he could display his glory and raise him from the dead.

John 11:20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

...32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and

John 11:45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

What is shocking is the level of unbelief of the chief priests; we are told:

John 12:10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

In the next chapter John records the anointing of Jesus by Mary:

John 12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore 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. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 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. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Martha again is serving, but this time without the distraction and complaint. We find Mary again at the feet of Jesus. It is interesting that Matthew and Mark both emphasize that the woman anointed the head of Jesus. Matthew’s account focuses on Jesus as the fulfillment of Hebrew expectation, the anointed Messiah, King of the Jews, and so to anoint the head would be the focus of his attention, while John focuses our attention on the self-humbling of the Eternal One, who though he was in very nature God, emptied himself by taking the form of a slave. In the very next chapter, John will record Jesus humbling himself to wash the feet of his disciples, who were too proud to wash the feet of one another. But here in John 12, Jesus receives the lavish worship of a woman who is willing to take the lowest place.

The word worship [προσκυνέω], although not used in this passage, is a graphic word picturing the submission of a dog to its master. Worship requires humility. Mary took the lowest place, and with no concern for her own reputation let down her hair to wipe his feet.

No expense was too much; Mary poured out extravagant worship, the very best she had. As David said so many years earlier “...I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing” (2Sam.24:24). The one who is forgiven much loves much.

Jesus’ Interpretation

Is worship a waste? Jesus said that it was a beautiful thing that she did to him. He received her worship. He approved of the extravagant waste. It is right, in the presence of Jesus, to give him everything. Is Jesus not concerned with the poor? To us who do not have the physical presence of the Son of God with us, he says

Matthew 25:40 ...‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

But Jesus’ interpretation of her action is surprising. We might have expected him to affirm her anointing him as appropriate because he is the greater Prophet, and our great High Priest.

Psalm 133:2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

He is the Anointed One, Messiah, King of the Jews.

Psalm 45:6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 ​you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

But this is not the oil of gladness. At least we would expect him to acknowledge her anointing as the anointing of appropriate hospitality to an honored guest, as he did the sinner who anointed him at the Pharisee’s house in Luke 7

Luke 7:44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 ​You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 ​You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

But Jesus interprets this anointing differently. He says:

Mark 14:8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.

Jesus had been telling his disciples for some time:

Matthew 20:18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Did Mary pick up on this where the disciples didn’t? Had she even heard that he had said these things? Did she perceive the mood of Jerusalem and the imminent danger when the disciples were oblivious? Or was this simply a spontaneous overflow of her worship that Jesus recognized was perfectly timed? Jesus’ attention was fixed on the mission he came to accomplish, and that was to die for the sins of mankind. He came to die, to give his life as a ransom for many. He came to lay down his life. He was on his way to die, and he recognized her anointing as the anointing of a body for burial. What a waste! And yet the fragrance of her worship filled the house. May the fragrance of our extravagant worship fill his house today!

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2025.03.30 Sermon Notes

The Waste of Worship (Matt.26; Mk.14; John 12)

The practical ‘waste’ of worship

Mark 6:37; 10:21

The privilege of Judas (and his dirty secret)

John 20:30-31; 21:25 (John 12:6)

Judas’ love of money robbed him of the greatest treasure (Mark 10:21-23)

Mary’s heart of worship

Luke 10:39-42; John 11; 12

Mary worships at the feet of Jesus

John 12:3; 2 Samuel 24:24

‘She has done a beautiful thing to me’ -Mark 14:6

Jesus’ concern for the poor

Matthew 25:40

Jesus the Anointed:

-Prophet Psalm 105:15; Acts 3:22

-Great High Priest Psalm 133:2

-Messiah King Psalm 45:6-8

Jesus’ body anointed for burial

Matthew 20:18-19

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org