WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.919 So, you're stuck with me today. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.200 My name is Brad O'Kelly, one of the elders here at Christ the Redeemer. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:06.160 Love you guys. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:15.359 Thank you for being here on Spring Break Week, which is why I'm here because everybody else gets to go do fun things, and then I have to agonize over actually trying to teach you the Bible. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.879 So that's what we're going to do today. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:18.800 We are going to John chapter 12. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:22.960 John chapter 12 is where we're going this morning because it's the fifth Sunday of Lent. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:27.359 I'm an old school Southern Baptist. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.719 If you ask any Southern Baptist what they're giving up for Lent, they're going to say, I'm giving up Lent. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.280 Like that's just, we don't know anything about that. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:34.320 That's just the way it goes. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:40.560 And so the old school Presbyterians in the room are like, you know, and the Anglicans painted earlier when they heard Baptist and all this stuff. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:42.960 So it's like, you know, it's just a different world, all right? 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.439 We're just, we're just we're all getting to the same place, just different. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:45.679 Okay. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:52.000 So uh anyhow, so I I don't really know a whole lot about Lent, but I know that we're following the lectionary passages and all this stuff. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:53.359 This is the passage that we fell on. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:54.719 When I first read it, I was like, great. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:57.520 It's like the easiest passage in the world, you know, we're just gonna talk about it. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:58.799 We'll be out of here in 10 minutes. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:02.240 Um, but then you start studying it and you're like, oh boy, we're in trouble. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.120 Like, we're in big trouble, and we're gonna have a good time today. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:08.879 So let me read to you out of John chapter 12, starting in verse 1. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.519 We're gonna go through verse 8, and then we'll get rolling, okay? 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.120 John chapter 12 and verse 1. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:21.120 It says, Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:27.359 So they made him a supper there, and Martha was serving, but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:39.359 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of perfume. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:49.680 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people? 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:55.680 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:01.040 And as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:07.040 Therefore Jesus said, Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:11.759 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.199 Let's pray together this morning. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.520 Father, we thank you for your word. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:21.439 We thank you for an opportunity to come together as a church and to worship you and uh to sing praises to you, Father. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:32.319 We pray this morning that as we open your word, Father, that as we study together, that your word would be a roaring lion. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:36.879 Father, that you would only allow me to open the cage. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:38.400 Father, we love you. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:40.560 And we pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:41.439 Amen. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.439 Uh, I I love this passage. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:51.759 This when I when I first got into it and thought it was going to be boring, I was completely wrong because I love the passage because there's this, there's all these dynamics happening in this passage of scripture. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:59.840 There's there's this expression of just incredible love, then there's this interruption of like sin and evil, and then there's a redemption towards the end of it. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:09.039 And and as you get into that, you kind of start to apply some of that stuff to real life, and I can remember uh being in a stage in life where we're just kind of seeing those very same things play out. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:14.159 I'm I'm I'm I'm a very, I'm sure you can tell this, but I'm a very expressive person, you know. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:20.879 I uh Mandy just gets all the expressions of my love, you know, and it's it and I'm sure she just relishes those things. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:24.560 Um and I can remember when we first got married, we were broke. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:29.759 And I'm I'm when I say broke, I mean like I had just gotten fired from a church when we got married. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.159 Like, it's okay to laugh at that right now. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.639 Like they were starting like you're bad, you got to go. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.960 Like it was like this is this is not good. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.439 I'd been fired from church when we went on our honeymoon. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.759 When we were coming back from our honeymoon, I was jobless. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:46.319 So we came back from our honeymoon and I didn't have a job, and like we were broke. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.439 And I can remember like for a long time I got a job and we would get paid every week, and we lived week to week. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:58.479 I had this house, and Mandy, it was a bachelor pad, and Mandy moved into it after we got married, and her she had this impossible task of trying to actually make it a home. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:05.120 And and at the end of the week, if we had any kind of money left over, uh, we would go on a date and we would go to Chili's. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:10.159 Like that was our that was the echelon, you know, like Chili's was the big time. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:14.080 We weren't I one day I would be the president of the United States and we'd be able to go to Longhorn. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:16.879 But right now, we're at Chili's, okay? 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:18.000 That was our top notch. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:19.600 And there was the Target across the street. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:28.720 We had enough money, we would go split a meal at Chili's, and then we would go to Target and talk about all the stuff at Target we would buy when we got rich, like, and not buy anything and just leave. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:29.759 And so we'd be in Target. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:34.720 One day we're walking around Target, and Mandy sees these chairs in the little cheap Target furniture section, you know. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:43.759 And she goes, Man, if I if I had two of those chairs, I could do this at our house in the space that we have, and I didn't know what to do with it, and I could take these, you know, and it's a whole plan that you don't know anything about. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:51.439 And so she has this plan for these chairs, and I'm listening to her, you know, say these things, and in my mind, I'm going, I'm gonna buy these chairs for her. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:52.240 I'm gonna get them. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:54.959 That's my expression of my love, you know, that's how much I love her. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:56.560 And I'm like, but I can't do it right now. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:57.519 I'm gonna come back and get them. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:04.399 So I come back and buy the chairs and I push them up to the front of the store, and of course, in true Target fashion, what's the first thing they ask you when you get to the line? 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.040 Would you like to save 20% today? 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:10.399 And I'm like, I'm broke, I have no money. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:17.279 I'm about to go into debt buying these chairs, and I'm like, why, yes, Nancy, I'd love to save 20% today, you know. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:18.160 Please tell me how. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:23.040 I don't know if you've ever applied for the Target red card, but they do it right there in line. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:25.600 Like, 50 people behind you, they don't care. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:27.439 It's like, give us your money. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:28.319 They do not care. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.600 So you sign up right there. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:31.040 And I mean, literally, here's the thing. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.439 She goes, Well, let's get you pre-approved. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.399 Let's do that, Nancy, you know? 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:37.839 And she's like, All right. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.879 She stares at me for a minute, and I'm kind of thinking, what's going on? 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:44.560 She's like, Congratulations, you're pre-approved for a thousand dollars. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.639 Apparently, all you have to do is breathe. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.920 You can get a thousand dollars at Target if you can breathe. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.839 And I mean, and then it's like, touch your right index finger to the tip of your nose. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:55.839 Zero percent for six months. 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:56.399 You know? 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.279 And I'm like, well, if I make a lap around the store, can we make it a year? 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:01.839 And then it's like, on second thought, let's not do that, Nancy. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:03.120 I don't know if I get back over here. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:05.600 But get 0% for six months. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:10.639 I buy these chairs, I put it on this card, and I'm like, man, I gotta go home, give the chairs to Mandy. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.800 This is how much I love you, honey. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:17.519 And I mean, she was just in heaven for 24 seconds. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.160 It was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.040 Where then it was like, get out of the way, give me my chairs. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.759 And and I sit down and I see her decorate this section of our house, and I'm like, man, this is beautiful. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:29.839 I've given this wonderful expression of my love. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:31.120 She's done such a great job with it. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:34.399 And then the old friend buyers remorse sets in, right? 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.160 And I'm going, what have I done? 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:41.360 And I grab that little pamphlet that they give you, and I open up the pamphlet and I'm reading through it, and it's like$1,000, okay, good. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.199 0% for six months, okay, good. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:48.000 And then it's like, at which time your APR will go to 27.9%. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:55.920 And I've never had a stroke that I know of, except for in that moment, I'm pretty sure that's what a stroke would feel like. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:01.199 And the number just jumped all over me, and I'm like, I we uh I'm freaking out. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:07.839 How long, how long every week, if we if I pay a certain amount of week per week for six months to pay these off, how much do I have to? 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.120 $10.32. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:10.959 I still remember the number today. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:11.680 You want to know why? 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:13.839 Because I tacked it everywhere in our house. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.240 Every time Mandy asked for something,$10.32, lady. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:19.839 That's how much we gotta have today. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:21.120 Oh, you want to go to Chili's again? 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:22.399 $10.32. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:23.920 Nope. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:24.879 Not going today. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:27.279 We've got to have$10.32 to pay these chairs off. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:33.600 That expression of my love immediately turned into a complete interruption of my obsession with money. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:38.800 I ruined the expression of love by turning it into something that it should have never been. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:40.480 It should have been a gift, right? 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.879 It should have been something that was beautiful and a gift and great, but it wasn't because$10 and 32 cents. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.040 I was gonna let it ruin over that little small amount. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:57.040 And so when I read this passage of scripture and we go into this verse by verse, you have to understand what's happening here. 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.279 In verse 1, look at chapter 12, verse 1. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:07.120 It says, Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, who Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:11.199 Jesus raised him from the dead a passage before this in chapter 11. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:13.120 So it's one, this is brand new. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:13.920 This is a new thing. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.920 And Jesus comes back into town and he's sitting with Lazarus, they're reclined at the table. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:19.920 This is a celebration. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:21.279 Do you understand? 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:27.439 This is a celebration of what has happened, what Jesus has done for Lazarus and Lazarus' family. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:28.560 And look at what it says. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.360 It says, So they made him, verse 2, they made him a supper there, and Martha was serving. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:38.480 We know that Martha is a servant from earlier in the Bible, where Martha and Mary kind of get into it a little bit. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.759 Martha's mad because Mary doesn't help serve. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.080 And Mary's listening to the words of Jesus. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:46.000 She'd rather be taught than have to serve the meal. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.759 And Martha's going, hey, you need to tell her up, you need to tell her, get up and help me. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.000 And Jesus has to kind of step in and go, No, that's not how this works, you know, like everything's good. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:56.559 So now this time Martha's serving. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:01.039 And it says, but Lazarus was one who was reclining at the table with him. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.519 And then in verse 3, look what happens. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:15.360 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:19.840 And the house was filled with fragrance of the perfume. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:28.240 This celebration of the life of Lazarus from where Jesus had raised him from the dead, all of a sudden takes on a whole new meaning. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:28.720 Why? 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.039 Because in the midst of it, we get this beautiful sacrifice from Mary. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.600 Mary goes and grabs this bottle of perfume. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.559 The Bible says it's a pound of perfume of pure nard. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:44.080 I know nard may not sound like it's the most greatest smelling thing in the world to you, but trust me, it's actually pretty good. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:44.559 Alright? 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:46.639 It's a root from India. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.679 And what would happen is they would have to ship this all the way into Israel. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:52.799 They would extract the oil out of this root and it would make this beautiful smell. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:54.080 Apparently, you still buy it today. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.639 I'm sure one of you essential oil people can tell us all about it. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:02.080 And it's, you know, it's probably in your repertoire somewhere, and you use it for something, I'm sure it'll heal all of us. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:06.080 But at the end of the day, this nard was transported in. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:10.159 Mary would have had to pay to have this shipped over to her. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:23.919 It would have been used only in the most extreme circumstance when almost always would have been in the occasion of death, where you would anoint a body to keep the smell down. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:36.000 So now here's Mary taking this bottle of costly perfume, and she is anointing the feet of Jesus. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.960 The problem is that Jesus isn't dead. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:42.879 This isn't a funeral. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:44.960 This is supposed to be a celebration. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:46.559 This is a celebration of life. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:53.519 What Mary's doing is she's sacrificing this, and she does so as a sacrifice of unashamed love. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:54.960 And I'll prove it to you. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:11:00.240 Look, in verse 3, it says Mary took a pound of costly perfume of pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:00.960 Watch. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.279 And wiped his feet with her hair. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:12.240 Now I know that's probably customary for some of you in here where you come home every day and you have a foot washing ceremony, I'm sure. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:16.399 But in this time right here, here's what's happening. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:23.360 You have a woman approaching a man, and as she wipes his feet, she's using what? 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:24.559 Her hair. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:34.480 For a Jewish woman during this time to take her hair down in front of mixed company was an absolute no-no. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.519 That would have never happened. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:55.120 But Mary, out of an expression of love, has now taken an expensive sacrifice and also completely busted all the social norms of the day and has gone to Jesus and begins to literally wipe his feet with her hair. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:04.480 The celebration turns into a ceremony of sacrifice and unashamed love. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.879 Right in front of this entire house. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:13.039 And at the end of verse 3, this is the most beautiful part. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.960 It says the fragrance of the perfume filled the house. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:27.440 There was no getting away from Mary's sacrifice of unashamed love for Jesus. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:31.440 The very aroma of it filled the house. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:38.720 A lot of people think there's a correlation between these two with Paul in Ephesians and in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:39.759 This is what Paul says. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:46.559 He says, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:47.519 Listen to this. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:54.879 And gave himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God as what? 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.919 A fragrant aroma. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:06.080 Oh, there's a great correlation here that as Mary anoints the feet of Jesus and the smell literally fills the house. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:12.000 The Bible goes into enough description to tell us the smell of this aroma is filling the house. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:22.399 What Paul does later on in Ephesians is he said, that very same fragrant aroma that is filling that house is the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:30.080 But you see, there's one little problem with these expressions of love. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:31.840 It never fails. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:38.960 In the midst of those expressions, there will always be an interruption. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:41.200 Always be an interruption. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:43.600 Look at verses four through six. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:57.039 It says, But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to poor people? 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:03.679 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:08.159 And he had the money box and he used to pilfer what was put into it. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:14.080 Right in the midst of this beautiful celebration, this beautiful expression of love comes this interruption. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.240 Now I know about interruptions. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.840 I have children, so I know all about interruptions. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.039 I get it. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:27.120 And my favorite part of every single day, look, take this for what you can call me a bad parent. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:28.159 It's fine, okay? 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.480 Like I've I'll I'll fight you later on that. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:40.879 Um, my favorite part of the day is that hour and a half at night when the kids go to bed, and you get to watch what you want to watch, you know? 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:45.600 Mandy and I get to just sit and just watch what we want to watch, you know. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:55.039 We get back in control of the remote control, the kids are asleep, and you think, yeah, but you know about interruptions, so you know the kids coming down the stairs, I need water, I need this, no, no, no. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:56.559 No, no, no, that's not our interruptions. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:57.759 That's not our interruptions. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.080 My interruption is Mandy. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:16.799 And the reason is because at about the time that the television show that you've been waiting for that beautiful hour and a half in the evening, about the time that the show's gonna tell you, the killer is, Mandy's gonna go, did I tell you about so-and-so? 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:23.919 And you had to pause. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:25.840 You had to pause in the middle of the show. 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:28.080 No, honey, you didn't. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:33.039 You didn't do that at all the other times that we had for you to do that. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.480 You didn't do it. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:36.080 You did it now. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.879 When we're revealing the killer. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:41.279 You know? 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:45.919 And really, in my mind, I'm thinking, how many seconds am I gonna have to rewind this? 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:46.879 You know? 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:48.639 Then the story comes on. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.679 It's there's never a shortage of interruption. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:56.559 You know, there's never like, and now I've just gotten to the point where as soon as she goes, you know, poop, pause. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:01.600 Like, I don't even want to know, I don't even, I I don't, and she's like, you didn't have to pause it. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:05.200 You know. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:08.159 I know all about interruptions. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:11.120 I know all about interruptions into the things that you want to do. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:23.600 Isn't it funny how right about the time that you think you're doing what you want to do, and there will always be an interruption into that, in every single expression of love and sacrifice that we have, you need to be ready because there will be an interruption. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:31.360 Something will happen to interrupt the moment, and in this circumstance right here, what Judas does is he interrupts this beautiful moment. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:31.919 Why? 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:33.039 Look at what he says. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.600 It says, one of his disciples, first of all, here's what we know about Judas in verse 4. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.960 Who was intending to what? 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:42.399 Betray him. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:49.919 John, the author, wants to make sure you know this right here is evil. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.080 He says, remember, this is Judas. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:57.279 He doesn't just leave it at the first name, doesn't just leave it at the last name. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:58.000 What does he do? 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:00.159 He says, This is the guy. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.039 This is the one that's going to betray Jesus. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.480 And then he goes even further into it. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:06.720 It says, What does Judas do in verse 5? 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:11.519 Why was this perfume not sold for 300 dinari and given to the poor people? 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:13.839 Now, doesn't that sound great? 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:16.000 Doesn't that sound great? 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:20.000 Why, hey, 300 dinari, do you know how much that is? 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:24.640 If you go back to the parable of the sowers in the field, do you know what they were paid for a day's wages? 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:25.599 One. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:27.119 One dinara. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.559 It was the most common coin in the Roman Empire. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.119 That was a day's wages. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:40.960 This is 300 of them in one bottle that Mary's using. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:45.680 Judas is going, hey, that's almost a year's worth of money. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:49.839 Why don't we sell that thing and give it to the poor and on the surface? 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.440 Isn't that just a beautiful thing? 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:52.160 Yeah. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:18:00.799 I guarantee you didn't get, just in my own assumption, I bet he didn't get a single pushback from any of the disciples to go, no, no, no, no, no. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:01.519 This needs to happen. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:01.839 No. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.160 I guarantee you, every single one of them went, yeah. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:06.000 We've been doing all this stuff for the poor. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.319 Why don't we sell this and give it to the poor? 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:10.880 It's a great question. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:18.960 Here's the problem with that question is that it is evil veiled in righteousness. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.160 It's evil veiled in righteousness. 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:36.880 We've taken this righteous and good thing, and no matter how much evil you put, no matter how much righteousness you heap on top of that, it doesn't escape the fact that this man was evil. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:44.400 And that in the very next verse in verse 6 it says, and he said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:46.319 He was a thief. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:54.000 And he heaps this righteousness on top of the evil in hope that it's more palatable for the people that are hearing it. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:19:00.880 But at the end of the day, no matter how much righteousness you heap on top of evil, it's still evil. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.759 And if you don't believe that, turn on the news. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:11.119 Because it's not new in this world. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.640 The things that happen are not new. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:19.759 As a matter of fact, in Isaiah, this is one of the greatest passages of scripture in Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:30.240 Isaiah the prophet is talking to Judah, and he's looking at Judah, and he's going, You have a problem, and you're going to be overtaken by the Babylonians if you don't straighten it out. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.119 And the whole chapter is nothing but woes to Judah. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:34.880 And look at what he says in verse 20. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:40.640 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:50.720 Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:56.319 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:01.200 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men and mixing strong drink. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:10.319 Woe who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:15.359 Don't you understand what's going on? 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:24.400 In the time of Isaiah the prophet talking to Judah, he's saying, You need to be careful because you're replacing righteousness with evil. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:28.799 Then we get to Judas in this very passage of scripture, and what is he doing? 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:32.160 He's trying to replace righteousness with evil. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:42.799 And then you get to the very day that we sit in this room, and what does this world constantly throw at us other than evil, veiled in righteousness? 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:51.039 It has not stopped, and it will not stop until it's redeemed. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:21:02.079 Because you see, that's the beauty of all of this is that even in the midst of this evil veiled in righteousness, there's a redemption coming. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.680 Look at verse 7. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:18.799 It says, Therefore Jesus said, Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:24.160 Jesus is not talking about keeping this perfume for the day of his burial. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:26.319 There are two Marys that show up on Sunday. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:28.960 You realize he's gonna die the next Friday. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.200 This is on the Sabbath, Saturday. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.920 Jesus is going to die the following Friday. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:34.480 Okay? 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:37.839 This is the last of the Old Testament Sabbath. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:40.400 Jesus will die on Friday. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:41.839 He will be risen on Sunday. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.640 They will gather the church because of the testimony of who? 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:48.160 Two Marys that showed up to anoint his body with what? 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.160 Oils and spices. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:56.799 They will gather the church on Sunday, and that practice will continue all the way till today. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.839 That's why we gather on Sunday. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.160 And so they show up and these two Marys show up. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:04.799 But guess what? 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:07.119 This Mary is not one of those Marys. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:09.200 Those are two different Marys. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:10.559 She's not one of them. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.240 Jesus is not looking at her and going, hey, you need to save that for the day of my burial. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:19.039 What he's doing is he's looking at the person that is saying these things back to him, which is who? 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:19.920 Judas. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.720 And he looks at Judas and he says, Leave her alone. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:32.880 Let her keep not the perfume, let her keep this custom of anointing those that are dead. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:35.440 Why would Jesus want her to keep this custom? 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:38.559 Because there's two people in the room that know when he's going to die. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:45.599 One is him, and the other is Judas, knowing that that betrayal is coming. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:51.680 He's looking Judas in the eyes and he's going, I know that you're trying to ruin this moment. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:23:05.279 I understand that you're trying to take your evil and veil it in righteousness, but it doesn't affect me because I'm going to redeem the whole thing by telling this woman right here, keep this for the day of my burial, because that custom is coming. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:15.119 That day is coming when I will die, when I will go to the cross, when I will redeem all of this unto myself because of my blood. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:24.000 And he looks at her in verse 8 and he says, For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:27.599 And in our modern world, we go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:30.000 That doesn't sound great. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:32.640 He shouldn't have said that. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.119 No, but you have to understand. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:37.279 This is a dying man. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:39.839 This is a dying man. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.480 This is a guy that's going to the cross and knows that he's headed in that direction to redeem all of this. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.119 And he's saying the poor are going to be here. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:54.480 The poor will have their time from the time that we began this ministry all the way up to the modern day. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:58.559 The church is going to stand for the poor and help them and do the best that they can. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:06.960 What Jesus is saying in this instance is he's going, I know where I'm headed because I have a job to do, and that job is redemption. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:13.440 And Paul writes it beautifully in the book of Titus in chapter 2. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.160 Titus chapter 2, verse 11 through 15. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.920 This is what Paul says. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:50.079 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us why? 00:24:51.119 --> 00:25:02.720 To redeem us from every lawless deed, to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:09.599 These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority and let no one disregard you. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:17.279 This entire scene in John is prepared, doing exactly what Lent is designed to do. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:26.000 It's preparing our hearts for the fact that we are in preparation of celebrating a risen Lord and Savior. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:28.559 Why? 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.000 Because he came to redeem. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:43.039 Not only Mary, that person that issues this beautiful sacrifice of love, but do you know who he's able to redeem as well? 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:44.880 Evil. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:52.400 Why? 00:25:54.240 --> 00:26:02.480 Because it's because as a savior, he wishes that no man perish. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:05.599 But that all have everlasting life. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:16.799 That redemption, I I I'm I'm blown away by the act of redemption because in this world, our vision can get blurred. 00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:22.720 Yesterday I I had, it was kind of a strange day for me, and we're we're ending with this. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:27.759 We didn't really have anything going on, which is unusual for Saturday for us. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.799 Like nothing, nothing happening, nobody had anywhere to be, all this stuff. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:43.599 And I get a text on Friday at about five o'clock in the afternoon that that one of our church members there in a situation, son's having emergency surgery, things are things are progressing quickly. 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:51.839 And I get a text message with about 20 people on it that says, hey, if you'd like to show up and pray for these people tomorrow, be here at this time. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:58.640 And of course, I was like, I'm I'm there, but uh I didn't really put much thought other than I'm there into it. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:13.279 And we showed up to pray for Brooks Forster and his family's a member of our church, and Doug's here this morning, and we showed up to pray, and when I show up, I'm on a text with 20. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.319 I I need you to understand, I'm on a text with 20 people. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:17.359 20. 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:23.680 And I show up to Doug's front yard, and there's hundreds. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:30.079 There's the Marietta Fire Department, the police, there's hundreds. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.759 And they came to do nothing else but to pray. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:41.839 To pray for a boy that's going to have surgery. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:48.799 Based off of a text a few hours later, hundreds showed up. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:28:02.400 And my very first thought, my the first thought that comes into my head is how much evil gets expressed during the Monday through Fridays that we all have to see and read and be a part of, and you think, man, everything's just gone. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:14.240 Everything's gone and everything's wrong and everything's upside down and bad, but then you show up to something like that and you realize there's still some redemption left. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:23.119 There's still some redemption of an Almighty God left just enough to pull a community together and say, no matter what, we're here. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:27.440 If all we can do is just pray, we'll pray. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:34.160 That the redemption of an Almighty God is not run dry. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:40.799 It's still available for you and for me and for all of us. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:48.480 And that scene yesterday just put back into me a hope and a redemption that God is still at work. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:55.440 And my prayer for you today, brothers and sisters, is that he's still at work. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:00.000 Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. 00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:18.480 Father, we thank you that even in the midst of even in the midst of evil, even in the midst of bad, even in the midst of wrong, you're still at work. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:30.960 That Lord, when the interruptions come, as we're making sacrifice and interruptions show up, and we we need redemption, Father, that you stand ready to offer that to us. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:33.680 We thank you, Lord. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:39.279 That in your grace and your mercy you give that to us on a daily basis. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:42.240 In Jesus' name. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:43.200 Amen.