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Mark 14:1-26
How do you
respond to public displays of affection?
I guess it
depends on the context. But if the
couple in question are your parents, and you’re a teenager – deep, deep
shame is probably the emotion.
What about
public displays of affection towards Jesus? Someone expresses costly,
counter-cultural public affection for Jesus in your workplace, in your
family, on the streets or even in church.
Do you cringe? Or are you
ever the person who publicly displays affection for Jesus – while others
perhaps cringe?
In this
passage we see a woman break open a jar of perfume worth tens of
thousands of pounds. And she
expends it all in a public display of affection for Jesus.
Jesus
likes it. He thinks, v6, it’s a
beautiful thing. Verse 8 He says
‘she has anointed my body’ – that’s the word He literally uses – she has
anointed Him. And Jesus thinks
it’s beautiful.
Judas
disagrees. We know from the other
gospels that he was the one leading the protest from v4: He thinks it’s a
waste. He thinks the focus is all
wrong. It could have been sold and
given to the poor.
But of
course Judas wasn’t going to sell the perfume and give money to the
poor. He was going to sell Jesus
and get money for himself.
It’s a
shocking contrast. One follower of
Jesus is moved to heart-felt, all-out devotion. Another follower of Jesus is repulsed
by such devotion. And this event is
a significant tipping point for Judas to betray Jesus.
So how do
you see Jesus? Is Jesus worth this
kind of massively costly, public, heart-felt affection? Here’s what we’ll see tonight. If you can’t
answer ‘yes; to that question, the spirit of Judas will get the better of
you. If you don’t see Jesus as
worthy of this kind of worship you will betray Jesus and go after your
real god.
For Judas,
money was his real god. And so
when in v11 he got the chance to swap Jesus for money, he took it. For this woman, Jesus was IT. If she
had money it was worth spending on HIM.
Verse 8 – she does what she can for Him.
What does
this woman see in Jesus that she would pour out her all for Him? That’s what we’re going to spend our
time examining this evening. We’re
going to look at five images of Jesus from our passage. And hopefully by the end we will share
the woman’s appraisal of Jesus
and not Judas’s.
First
image of Jesus we’re going to look at is the Lover.
[SLIDE]
I’ve
chosen the image of Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, because Tolkein, when
he wrote Lord of the Rings, was deliberately emphasizing this aspect of
Jesus. Aragorn is the Returning
King – heading towards his wedding day.
He is the Victorious Warrior who is also the Bridegroom. He’s the King who is also the
Lover. Tolkein has many Christ
figures in Lord of the Rings – Frodo is the Suffering Servant, Gandalf is
the Risen Lord, but Aragorn is the great Lover, Warrior and King.
And here
Lord of the Rings is tapping into a theme that runs right through the
bible. Turn back with me to Psalm
45 – p569. Let’s get a feel for
this image of Jesus:
Psalm 45:1 For the director
of music. To the tune of "Lilies". Of the Sons of Korah. A
maskil. A wedding song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I
recite my verses for the King [let’s notice all the titles for
Jesus here] ; my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer. 2 You
are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed
with grace [the woman in our passage anointed Jesus], since God has
blessed you for ever. 3 Gird your sword upon your side, O
mighty one; clothe yourself with splendour and majesty. 4
In your majesty ride forth victoriously on behalf of truth, humility and
righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds. 5
Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies; let the
nations fall beneath your feet. 6 Your throne, O God,
will last for ever and ever; [you say that’s another title for this
King. He is God] a sceptre of
justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. 7 You love
righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you
above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. [The
King who is God is anointed by His God to rule over all] 8 All
your robes are fragrant with
myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of
the strings makes you glad. 9 Daughters of kings are among your honoured women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.
[Then the Psalmist gives some advice]
10 Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear:
Forget your people and your father's house. 11 The King
is enthralled by your beauty; honour him, for he is your Lord.
So here we have the Bridgegroom King. And He is God, but He’s also anointed
by God to rule us. Here is Christ
portrayed so powerfully. And the
Psalmist addresses us like we are a daughter and we should get on and
marry this Lord.
Well that’s just how the bible speaks. Christ is the great Heavenly Husband,
and His people are His bride. And
the bible is always emphasizing the marital love that Jesus has for His
people. “The King is enthralled by
your beauty.” That’s how Jesus
considers us His people. That’s
WHY He comes and fights our battles for us. That’s WHY He rides out
victoriously. He is the conquering
King who defeats our enemies and then we enjoy the marriage feast.
Do you know the book the Song of
Solomon. It’s an Old Testament
book that explores all of this imagery in depth. There we see the love of the King for
His beloved set to song. And in
the very first chapter this is how it describes the devotion of the
woman:
Song of Solomon 1:12 While
the King was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
In fact the word for perfume here is exactly
the same as that used in Mark 14.
It’s pure nard. And when
the King is at His table, the beloved is supposed to anoint Him with pure
nard.
That’s what this woman does in Mark 14. She is honouring the Great Lover of
Lovers. The great Bridegroom
King.
Throughout Song of Solomon there’s that
refrain: I am my Lover’s and my
Lover is mine. We belong to
the King and He belongs to us.
It’s the ultimate marriage union.
That’s what being a Christian IS.
The ultimate marriage to King Jesus – you belong to Him and He
belongs to you.
That’s why this scene in Mark 14 is so
intimate and affectionate. Here is
the appropriate response to Christ the Lover. The woman gets it. Judas doesn’t. What about you?
Maybe you’re thinking, this is all a bit over
the top, and what if I’m a bloke, am I really meant to think of Jesus in
these kinds of ways? Well one
thing to say is that together as the church we are the Bride of
Christ. So in its fullest sense I
am not individually the bride of Christ and neither is any individual
Christian man or woman for that matter. But nonetheless I should
personally know something of Jesus as the Lover.
Just listen to how hymn writers of another
age used to write:
Jesus Lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly
None can be nearer, fairer or
dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of
creation...!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest...
Jesus, may all confess Thy Name,
Thy wondrous love adore,
And, seeking Thee, themselves inflame
To seek Thee more and more.
These were all written by men. But men who know that Jesus is the
great Bridegroom Champion – the Lover King. Do we all have a personal response to
Jesus the Lover of our soul? Or
are we like Judas. Happy to keep
things cordial. Happy if
Christianity consists in some charitable acts, but no love for Jesus.
Where are we this evening with Jesus the
Lover.
Let’s look at the second image. Jesus the Priest.
[SLIDE]
The woman in v3 pours perfume on Jesus’
head. But in verse 8 Jesus
literally says she has anointed
His body.
So the perfume is an oil of anointing and it
flows down from His head onto His body.
And this is reminiscent of another famous Psalm from the Old
Testament. Turn back to Psalm 133,
p625:
Psalm 133:1 A song of
ascents. Of David. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live
together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on
the head, running down
on the beard, running down on Aaron's
beard, down upon the collar of
his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on
Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life for
evermore.
Key question:
Who was Aaron?
Aaron was the High Priest. But Aaron was long dead when David
wrote this Psalm. David was
looking to an Ideal Priest – a Priest who would bring unity and
togetherness, v1. How? Well this Priest would have their Head
anointed and then it would flow down, down, down to their body and this
would spread blessing and life forevermore.
Jesus IS the Ideal Priest. He is the One who brings God to
humanity and brings humanity back to God.
He is the Priest. And the
bible describes our relationship to Him as like a body is to a Head. So when Jesus is anointed, it overflows
to us. When Jesus is blessed, it
overflows to us. When He rises up
again to life forevermore, it overflows to us. From the Head to the body. From the
Priest to His people.
Now if you ever go on trial for a crime,
you’re only as good in that courtroom as your legal representation. If you have a terrible legal
representation, you’re going to look bad to the court. If you have good legal representation
you’re going to look good to the court.
Well priests offer spiritual representation. They represent you to God. So think about this – Jesus is in the
throne room of heaven. He, the
lover of your soul, is your Priest.
How do you look to God right now?
As the Father loves the Priest, Jesus, so He loves His
people. As He loves the Head, He
loves His body.
Can you see why this woman would want to
crack open the alabaster jar? Just
out of awestruck wonder and gratitude.
Jesus is her Lover and her Priest.
But in verse 8 Jesus points to something
else, and it’s absolutely crucial.
This woman is anointing Jesus’ body for death.
Jesus recognizes that this woman is not only
honouring Him as Bridegroom King or as Priest, but she is fundamentally
honouring His death. She loves
Jesus because of His death.
And to see why His death is so important,
let’s move into the second story in our passage – the Lord’s supper. And see in v12 the context, when does
the Lord’s supper take place?:
12 On the first day of
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the
Passover lamb
[SLIDE]
All these events are spoken of in terms of
Passover. In fact every gospel
writer hammers it home to us that Jesus died AT PASSOVER.
Because not only is Jesus the ultimate Lover,
or ultimate Priest, He’s the ultimate sacrificial Lamb.
You’ll know the story from the Old
Testament. The LORD was coming in
judgement through the whole land of Egypt to strike down the firstborn
son in every house. There was only
one way to avert judgement.
Sacrifice a lamb. Paint its
blood on your doorposts and then the LORD would see the blood and pass
over your household and you would be spared. That was how you escaped from
judgement. But do you hear the
implication – there must be a death in your household. Either the lamb dies or the firstborn
dies. If the firstborn is going to
be saved the lamb has to die in their place.
And so these disciples from v12 make
preparations to eat the Passover. And they are elaborate preparations –
from v13 there are all these secret messages being passed back and forth
because you have to remember that Jesus is a wanted man. Nonetheless, Jesus really wants to keep
this ancient festival. But what’s
so surprising is how Jesus then changes everything. The centerpiece of Passover was the
Lamb. But where is the Lamb in
Jesus’ celebration? None of the
gospel writers mention it. A big
deal is made over the bread and wine.
Where is the Lamb? Jesus is
the Lamb. He is the sacrifice. His death saves the people from
judgement. His blood causes the
LORD’s judgement to pass over.
Jesus is the Lamb.
And that’s how He wins His bride. Paul says in Ephesians 5:25
Christ loved the
church and gave Himself up for her.
His death makes Him the ultimate Lover. And His death makes Him the ultimate
Priest. He CAN represent us to His
Father in heaven because He has already dealt with our sins. He can be our Priest because He’s taken
our guilt on Himself at the cross and made satisfaction for it.
Because He’s the sacrificial Lamb, He can be
the Lover and the Priest. No
wonder the woman prepared His body for burial. The death of Jesus should be at the
heart of our worship for Him.
In Revelation 5 we read about the song that
all creation sings to Jesus:
"Worthy is the
Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and
strength and honour and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12)
Does the death of Jesus inspire you to
worship?
Well Jesus gives us two more images to
explain His death. In v22 He gives
us the image of Bread.
[SLIDE]
In v23 He gives us the image of Wine.
[SLIDE]
First, Bread.
In Deuteronomy chapter 16 (verse 3) it
describes the sort of bread you should use for the Passover meal. It calls it ‘the bread of affliction.’ And it was meant to call to mind all
the hardship of the people in their slavery in Egypt. The bread of affliction.
Jesus picks up the bread and says ‘This is my
body’. Do you hear what He’s saying? This is the bread of MY
affliction. I am re-casting the
whole Passover meal. I am the
Lamb. And I am even the bread
too. The people may have suffered
in slavery and darkness but guess what?
I am going to take that slavery and darkness and affliction on
myself.’ And there in front of
them He tears the bread apart.
It’s violent imagery. This is me. Torn apart. But whenever the bible recounts Jesus’
words it’s always in the same order.
V22: Jesus took bread. Gave thanks. Broke it and gave it to His disciples.
Jesus took Bread. He entered into the suffering of His
people. He became the Bread of
affliction. But nonetheless, He
gave thanks. The people of God
were famous, and continue to be famous, for their grumbling under
adversity. Jesus was different, He
entered into our situation and lived before His Father that life of
thanksgiving that all of us fail to do.
But then – He broke it.
Jesus was torn apart on that cross. Why?
So that He can give His life to His friends. Broken so that He can be given
to any who come to Him.
John 6:51 I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will
live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world."
Jesus our Lover, our Priest, our Lamb, is
Bread for our hungry souls. And He
has made Himself as available to us as Bread on the table. We love to celebrate communion (the
Lord’s supper) because it’s the time we get to dramatize these truths. Jesus broken and given for us.
Then finally – wine.
In v25, Jesus calls wine ‘the fruit of the
vine.’ And that’s very
suggestive. The vine, throughout
the Old Testament was a symbol for Israel – the people of God. In John chapter 15 Jesus says ‘I am the
True Vine’. Because you see that’s
what a true Priest does isn’t it?
A Priest stands in for His people.
Well Jesus is the true vine – the true people of God. But what’s about to happen on the
cross? He’s about to be
crushed. Crushed like grapes. But because He’s crushed He can offer life to others.
Verse 24:
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
You know what the covenant is? The covenant
is the LORD’s own wedding vows to His people. As the LORD pledges His love to us He
says “I will be your God, you will be My people.” Those are the basic words of the
covenant: I will be your God, you will be my people. It’s just like the Song of Solomon verse: My Lover is mine and I am His. God enters into a marriage with us and
says: I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine.
Well what guarantees this covenant – Christ’s
blood. It’s His blood of
the covenant that is offered for many.
Last night I heard a comedian talk about
getting married and he said ‘Marriage is serious. It’s saying ‘I kind of like you and I’m
going to bet half my stuff that this works.’
Well I don’t know what marriage vows he used
but the Church of England ones say ‘All that I am I give to you, All
that I have I share with you.’ But
Jesus goes even further. He gives
us His very blood. Not just His
stuff, not just His life, but His death too. It’s the ultimate unbreakable marriage
vow: “This is my blood of the
covenant, poured out for you.”
One thing I love about the Lord’s supper is
how we each individually and personally receive the bread and the
wine. We do it together as a
people. But we also receive it for
ourselves. We hear Jesus say ‘This
is me, broken apart, This is me, crushed to death’ and then we personally
take those benefits into ourselves.
We need to find ways of doing that
regularly. To personally
appreciate and enjoy and take into ourselves the love of Jesus. We need to be diligent in this because
our hearts are very frail.
In v18 it’s stunning – Jesus says to the 12
‘One of you will betray me.’ In
v19 it says:
They were saddened,
and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"
More literally they say “Is it me?” They’re expecting the answer no, but
still they each ask Jesus ‘Is it me?’
Jesus says – one of you is a total impostor, one of you is about
to sell me out and each of them say “It’s not me is it?” They know that
their hearts are not perpetually burning with love and zeal for
Jesus. To betray Jesus was not out
of the question for any of them.
So how will we respond to Jesus? Like the woman? The heart-felt, all-out, sacrificial,
death-honouring, public display of affection. Or do we find that a bit distasteful, a
bit over the top? Would we rather
just do the business of religion than actually to worship Jesus.
Judas’s love church. They love positions of honour in the
church – Judas was treasurer. He
put on a good show and none of the other disciples knew he was so far
from God. But you know the time when he showed his colours more than any
other. I think it was here in Mark
14, as he witnessed what true devotion to Jesus looks like. Not religious business, not putting on
a mask, but LOVE for Jesus.
If you don’t love Jesus or if your love has
gone cold, return to these pictures of Jesus until it’s kindled again.
Lover, Priest, Lamb, Bread, Wine.
And whatever you’re facing this week, you CAN
face it with this Jesus.
Why not take a moment to think over these
images, to look over the passage and to draw near to Jesus in your
hearts…
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