Lesson 34

The Lavish Devotion Of A loving Heart

John 12:1-11

It is just six days until the passover; six days until Jesus will be crucified. That means, just five days before the unlawful arrest and illegal trial. If you think about it for a moment, you will realize that half of the Book of John takes place during the last week of Jesus life.

Jesus is fully and completely aware of what is going to happen. In 12:32-33, He speaks about his crucifixion, in verse 24 His death and in verse 7 his burial. He knows full well that this is His last week before death and notice how He chooses to spend His time - in the company of friends. If you knew that you had only one week to live, how would you spend your time? You'd be selective, making sure to concentrate on the most important things. Thus, it is in the happy home at Bethany where we see Jesus enjoying the company of friends before going out to encounter the cruelty of His foes, the calm before the storm. Knowing that the Jewish leaders were out to arrest Him and kill Him (11:53,57), Jesus still returned to Bethany, just two miles form the citadel of His enemies.

This lovely story revovles around three wonderful people whom we met in chapter 11 - Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The whole scene portrayed in the first eleven verses of chapter 12 are a cameo of the Christian life, a cameo of church life. "Where two or three are gathereed in His name, Christ is in the midst."

Every church needs families like this family. Every home needs to model this family. Each member is uniquely different and bringing with them their own special gifts. We are family and have many traits in common and yet, we are all uniquely gifted. There is an infinite variety among the people of God. We all have different gifts, different abilities, different means of serving the Lord and so this what we view in the lives of these three people in one family. In Martha, we see her work. In Mary, we see her worship. In Lazarus, we see his witness. Every home, every church needs these three, indispensable people and their expression of love for their Lord.

Martha Working, 12:2.

The testimony of the Bible about Martha is that she was a worker. That is what impresses us when we study Martha. Martha's way of expressing her love for Jesus was in her work.

You may be familiar with Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42. Let's take some time to examine the passage. Mary is in this story, but the message of Jesus was directed toward Martha. Now, admittedly, her work was difficult. Meal preparation before supermarkets, frozen food and micro wave ovens had to be tough. Her work was disturbing, v. 40. That's what the word "troubled" means in verse 41. She was working hard for the Lord, but not feeling very good about it. She was overwhelmed and lonely and critical of her sister for not helping and wondering if Jesus even cared. She was working hard but not receiving much personal return for her hard work. Martha sounds a lot like the average church - lots of activity, busy but fretful, critical and unhappy. Not so much too much work but too many masters. Jesus did not tell Martha to stop what she was doing but to get her life focused ("many things / one thing") and to not worry so much ("careful"). She needed to work for the Lord but also spend some time with the Lord!

In John 12:2, Martha's work became delightful. She is doing the same work, it would seem for more people, but without frustration. She is having a blast. The secret of serving is to learn to do all for the glory of the Lord and in the strength of the Lord.

Mary Worshiping, 12:3-8.

Everytime we meet Mary in the Bible, she is at the feet of Jesus. In Luke 10, she found at His feet her blessing. In John 11, she brought to His feet her burden. Here, in John 12, she gave at this His feet her best.

This act of giving was a deep and profound expression of worship. When we give something personal and precious, we are worshiping Jesus Christ. According to I Corinthians 11:15, a woman's long hair is representative of her glory. Mary laid her glory at Jesus' feet, v. 3. It was an act of humility (Jewish women did not undo their hair in public). We must see this as an act of worship.

When Mary worshiped Christ, when she gave a gift to Him, she didn't consider the cost. This oinment was indeed very expensive. According to Jesus' parable in Matthew 20, paying a laborer a penny for twelve hours of work was considered a fair wage. This ointment was valued at 300 pence. When you consider that no Jew would haved worked on the sabbath and there were a number of other holy days during the year, we are looking at a bottle of perfume that was worth a year's wages, poured on the feet of Jesus. But Mary didn't even consider the cost when she gave to Jesus. He deserved, not the leftovers, but the very best that she had to offer. According to the account of this event in Mark 14:8, she "did what she could." I believe that whatever we do for Christ, whatever we give to Christ, whatever we dedicate to the cause of Christ should be done with excellence, our best. We haven't really worshipped until we have given, or until we have given our best. Mary agreed with the testimony of David. She would not offer to the Lord that which cost her nothing. Worship that cost nothing is probably worth what it cost. Because of the convenience crazed world that we live in, even Christians, know little of sacrifice, of paying price, suffering an inconvenience in time or energy for the sake of communion and personal worship with Christ.

She didn't care about the criticism. It seems that everything which Mary ever did was misunderstood by someone. In Luke 10, Martha criticized her,; in John 11:31, her friends misread her and here in John 12:4-6, Judas was highly critical of Mary. What Mary did as worship, Judas called a waste. Publicly, Judas seemed to be promoting welfare over worship. In truth, however, John realized in hindsight when he wrote his gospel account and the whole story was known about Judas, he didn't care for the poor and he was a thief, v. 6.

Mary would not allow the potential of criticism to stifle her act of worship. Jesus endorsed what Mary did, vss. 7-8. In a sense, Jesus seems to be saying in verse 7, that Mary was showing her devotion to Jesus before it was too late. She was "giving the roses" while He was yet alive and not bringing them to the funeral. Jesus called it a ""good work" in Matthew 26:10 and Mark 14:6. He both commended her and defended her.

Jesus also, in verse 8, lets us know that worship is more important than welfare. A lot of people think that churches exist as charitable institutions of welfare. They expect the church to fork over money to buy them gas or groceries. Jesus said in verse 8 that we will never be able to end poverty. The church is primarily and institution of worship. An extravagant act of worship is more important than a significant expression of worship.

Finally, we see that Mary didn't comprehend the consequences. There was a rippling effect to this simple act that reaches universal and eternal proportions. She was a blessing to the Lord Jesus, v. 7. She was a blessing to everyone present inasmuch as the house was filled with the lovely fragrance, v. 3. According to John 11:45, Mary was a blessing to her village. Finally, in Mark 14:9, Jesus promised that what Mary had done would be an ongoing testimony and blessing universally and eternally. We're talking about it today!

There is an obvious contrast between Judas and Mary. Many daughters have been named Mary over the centuries but no one would name their son Judas. Judas messed up that name for all time. Prov 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. "A good name is better than precious oinment" says Ecclesiastes 7:1 and Mary had both.

Lazarus Witnessing, 12:9-11.

According to verse 2, the dinner was held primarily for Jesus but another guest draws quite a bit of attention. According to verse 9, we learn that a great multitude came particularly to see Lazarus. As a living, breathing, miracle, Lazarus was attractive, drawing much attention. But he was also attacked, v. 10. Not a word that Lazarus ever spoke is recorded in the scripture, but Lazarus' life was a witness for Christ. According to verse 11, he was an effective witness. Like Lazarus, our lives speak to the gospel to others. For good or bad we influence those around us every day. Are we drawing them to Christ or pushing them away?

A young Englishman was once asked, "Do you ever go to church?" He looked in amazment and said, "You must be joking. Look, man, I'm miserable enough. I don't want their misery. I have enough problems of my own." He went to explain how he had stood outside a church on Sunday mornings watching people go in and waiting for them to come out. "You want to know something?" he asked in conclusion. "They looked as miserable when they came out as when they went in."

Lazarus was a wonderful witness of the grace and power of Jesus Christ. What do people see when they see you? At school? At work? In the marketplace? In the neighborhood?

Martha working, Mary worshiping, Lazarus witnessing. Here we have a composite of what every Christian life should be, what every Christian family should be, what every church should have.