What Will You Give?

John 12:1-8:
"Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was
which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
They made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus,
and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief,
and having the bag took away what was put therein.

Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always."

This passage of Scripture relates what happened in the village of Bethany just a few days
before Jesus came to Jerusalem to be crucified.

Mary had an overwhelming sense of gratitude and love toward Jesus.
Mary comes into the room with an alabaster jar of perfume.
Now alabaster was a kind of marble.
It is something that was carved out of stalactites and stalagmites.
It has rings in it.
It is very beautiful and it was very expensive.
And inside of it is "nard".
Pure nard is a very expensive perfume.
It would have been worth a year's wages for a common laborer.
It was so valuable since it got better with age.
It was often something that was given from mother to daughter as a family heirloom.

And she comes in with this and she breaks it open.
Once this has been opened, it has to be used right then.
You can't save it.

And usually when they opened something like this, they would carefully put a few drops on the head
of every guest as a show of hospitality.
But instead, she comes in and pours all perfume in the jar on the feet of Jesus.
She anointed His feet with this perfume, and then wiped His feet with her hair.

It was so extravagant that, if it were to be resold, it it would have provided enough resources
for ten families for a whole month.
She demonstrated her love by anointing Him with a very expensive perfume.
This action revealed an impulsive response of devotion that was costly and which revealed
her love for him.
Her action demonstrated the depth and extent of her love.

Mary's love was an indication of her generosity.
The perfume was very costly as seen in verse 3.
The scripture says that this perfume wouldn't cost "three hundred pence."
In those days that was almost a year's wages for a working man.
Mary had probably saved her money over a long period of time in order to purchase so costly a perfume.

Real authentic love always breeds a generous spirit.
A generous spirit is willing to sacrifice and to deny its own self interest.
Authentic love reveals itself in an extra effort, extra time, and extra giving.
This is done without complaint, and as an expression of devotion to God.

Those who love the Lord the most are those who are the most generous with their friendship
and their forgiveness of others and their sensitivity to the needs of others.
If you are callous, cold, and critical, and always demanding your rights, and are insensitive to the needs
and rights of others, then you should examine the reality of your love for Christ.

Real love is always willing to sacrifice.
Real love manifests itself in a spirit of generosity, and as the attitude that is forgiving,
and will encourage the best in others.
Those who criticize others with bitter spirits demonstrates the hypocrisy of their professed love for the Lord.
A harsh, narrow minded, critical Christian is a contradiction in terms.

Mary's love revealed her humility.
In the day of Jesus the house servant would welcome travelers by washing the dust from their feet
which were covered only by simple sandals.
When Mary anointed Jesus, she took the humble servant's part, saying,
" What others will not do, I shall, because I love him."

Christians, we must demonstrate a real, authentic love.
There are many in the church who are not willing to serve where the real needs are.
They prefer the prominent offices over the services that are not very noticeable.
Quiet service in the choir requires humility and submissive loyalty when a person is not asked
to sing a solo.
Most of the hard work is done behind the scenes, and so much there is needed to maintain the programs
of the church.
Much of this service is seldom done in the view of the public, and it is never easy to enlist members
in that kind of service.

Judas criticized Mary's actions saying that it was a waste and useless sacrifice of the precious perfume.
"Leave her alone," said Jesus.
"Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them anytime you want.
But you will not always have me.
She did what she could.

She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth,
wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told,
in memory of her.
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money.
So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over." (John 12:4-8)

Jesus knew the real motive of Mary's actions.
He knew that this was an act of pure love from Mary.
God does not hold us responsible for what we cannot do, but He does hold us responsible
for what we can do, but do not.
We may not have the gift of preaching or of evangelism.
If we are not called to be leaders, we are not responsible for not leading.
But we are responsible to do what we can where Jesus has placed us.

God sees the service of the humble.
He sees the faithfulness of those who serve quietly in the inconspicuous places in His church.
He evaluates motive and faithfulness and the capacity to serve when He judges our behavior.
Jesus noted that her love led her to understand His need at this time for a loving act of affection
as He faced the cross.
She knew this would have meaning for Him, and would mean more now than if it was kept
for the anointing His body for burial.

Mary's love caused her to be sensitive to His needs.
The four Gospel writers placed this story about Mary's love and devotion to Jesus between the stories
of the chief priests and scribes plotting to kill Jesus, and the agreement of Judas to betray Him.
The experiences of those days weighed heavily on the mind of Jesus.

Jesus would face the cross in a few hours after this.
The shadow of its suffering was already an agony in His soul.
Soon Jesus will cry out, " Now is my soul troubled…" (John 12: 27).
Mary noticed how He much He was hurting while He sat at supper.

And Mary was probably thinking: " I have saved this for a gift of love to anoint His dead body,
but He needs it now!
He goes directly to Jerusalem to be a sin-bearer; we must tell him now that we love him."
That is what this gift meant for Mary.
And for Jesus, Mary's generous and genuine expression of affection was an encouragement, support,
love, and inspiration for Him as He was ready to fulfill the Father's will.

When others act ugly and evil, if your love for Jesus is pure, you may also anoint the Saviour.
You express your love for Jesus when you live for His glory, and when love makes you generous,
humble and sensitive to the needs of others.
The church needs more Christians who will will give that kind of love and sacrifice.
Our love to Christ and to His church may be tested by our willingness to spend time in His presence
in prayer and with His Word.

It is always a problem to try to determine the motives of why someone did what they did.
So, we may ask the question of why did Mary do what she did?
What caused her to walk into a banquet, walk up to one person and take a year's wages
which is enough perfume for the whole crowd and break it open and pour it over the feet
of just one person?
What made her do that?

Her gratitude probably had a lot to do with it, and here is something that might have been
in her thinking as she anointed the feet of Jesus:
"Thank you Jesus.
Thank you for what you are and what you have done.
Thank you for what you've done specifically for my family.
Thank you for what you have done for other people.
Thank you for what you have taught us.
Giving this, which is so precious to me, isn't wasted because you have given lives back to people.
You have healed broken bodies.
This perfume isn't wasted because you have taught us what it means to know God."

Something profound had just happened, but the others just didn't see it or understand it
Her faith had a lot to do with it.
She is demonstrating the fact that she believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed one,
the King of kings, and she was saying symbolically as she anointed His head that He was truly
the One anointed by God
This perfume isn't wasted.

The sorrow of Jesus' impending death was probably a reason for her act of love.
She was saying to Jesus that He had already told them that He was going to die, and she believed Him.
She didn't want to even think about it, but she knew that no one could prevent it.
She was saying that He was going to let it happen, and He would soon die.
So, she was saying Jesus, if you are going to die, then I am at going to make sure that your body
is anointed for burial.
This is what I can do to honor you.

Mary seemed to be aware that Jesus' life would soon be taken.
The protest that the disciples and others in the crowd made about the perfume being was such a waste
was not made with the same awareness that Mary had.
The most horrible day in history is about to occur.
And only Mary seems to see that.

She doesn't understand it.
She doesn't have all the answers that she wants, but she truly believes that Jesus is God's chosen One
and so she believes what He says and then she does what she can.
She honors Jesus even though she doesn't want His death to happen, she gives to Jesus her love
and devotion.

Now what position would you be in this scene in Bethany?
Just Imagine that you are there at that moment.
Do you see yourself sitting at the table?
Or are you in the crowd standing behind the table.

You see Mary come in.
You can see everything very clearly, but then, you see Mary crack open the bottle,
and you smell the perfume pervading the room.
Are you like the people in the crowd who might have been asking what was going on.
Who is Jesus that somebody would do such a thing?
And you not being sure why this happened, you will probably want to know more.

Would you react like Judas?
This is the last straw, he probably thought that his dreams of greatness and glory was over.
He could already see that things were not going to work out like he had wanted.

Or would you be like the other disciples?
Jesus has been doing all the things you would expect the Messiah, the King of Israel to do.
He is cleansing the temple of idolatry, He is showing the way to follow God.
And just like the Messiah, He comes into Israel in triumph.

And yet, Jesus is nothing like the Messiah that they expected.
He's done nothing to conquer the Romans, and none of the religious leaders seem to be on His side.
He has made no friends with the religious establishment.
Then it looks as though they are being exposed to all kinds of possible dangers that they would
rather not have to face.

Jesus is offending all the wrong people, and instead of pulling everything together,
everything seems to be falling apart.
And, He is even talking about his death, and that He will be rejected; that He will die and that
He will rise again.
Now the disciples don't know what to make of all this.

These disciples had heard all the things that Mary had heard and even more, and yet, they seem
to be more restrained in their response to Jesus.
Are you like them?
Maybe its because they still haven't gotten the message, or else they didn't want to believe
that He would die soon.
They could be holding out some hope that things will change.
The didn't want to face the fact that they would be without Him.

Maybe you would agree with others in the room.
Some of the people there thought that this was a colossal waste.
These are good people that include the disciples, other friends of Jesus.

These are people who have been listening to Jesus and believe what He teaches, and yet,
they are they are indignant.
Jesus had taught them about the importance of caring for the poor.
He has taught them about being good stewards, and about what it means to take what we own
and use it well, and then, here is Mary doing this.
What a waste!
They are embarrassed that an opportunity to do so much good has been wasted,
and they are not quiet about this disapproval.

The text it says, they are saying indignantly to one another, so around the table and behind the table
people are murmuring to each other.
What is this?
What a waste?

And then, it says that they rebuke her directly and harshly.
"What a waste, Woman, what are you thinking to do something like this?"
Would you be taking the position that they took?

Or are you like Mary?
You don't have all the answers.
And you do have some important questions that you would like answered so that you could
understand the answers.
But you know without a doubt that Jesus is your Saviour, and even when God is not doing what
you expect Him to do; you are still giving yourself fully to God, and without reservation.

Jesus' responded to Mary's sacrifice as a beautiful thing.
And when we worship God, the sacrifices we make in our giving, our worship and our service
are also beautiful in God's sight.

Thank God for Mary!
Aren't you glad she took the opportunity to give her best to Jesus when she anointed the feet of Jesus?
Suppose she had hesitated, and debated within herself if that was the thing to do.
Suppose she started to fear the criticism of the crowd?
Suppose she had said, "Oh, this is silliness. It is but a passing mood."

Jesus knows where we are in this story.
And Jesus is ready to meet us there wherever we are.
And He desires that wherever we are right now to make Himself known to us in a deeper way
as we continue to grow to be more like Him.

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
-- Issac Watts

Your life is something precious, something personal, and something very important that you can
lay at the feet of Jesus!

"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."

Sermon adapted from many sources by Dr. Harold L. White