Broken And Poured Out

Mark 14:1-25

Transcript

Mark 14, 1 to 25. It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to arrest
him by stealth and kill him, for they said, not during the feast let there be an
uproar from the people. And while he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the
Leper, as he was reclining at a table, a woman came in an alabaster flask of
ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over
his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the
ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than
300 denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave
her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me, 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. She has done what she could. She has anointed
my body before for burial. 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.
Then Judas Iscariot, who is one of the 12, went to the chief priests in order to
betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give
him money, and he sought an opportunity to betray him. And on the first day of
unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover land, his disciples said to
him, where will you have us go to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he
sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city. A man carrying a
jar of water will meet you. Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the
master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat
the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room
furnished and ready. There, prepare for us. And the disciples sent out and went
to the city and found it, just as he had told them. And they prepared the
Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the 12, and as they were
reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, truly, I say to you, one of you
will betray me, one who is eating with me. They began to be sorrowful and say to
him one after another, is it I? He said to them, it is the one of the 12, one
who is dipping bread into the dish with me, for the Son of Man goes as it is
written of him. But woe to that man to whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would
have been better for that man if he had not been born. And as they were eating,
he took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said,
take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave
it to them, and they all drank it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I say to you, I will not drink
again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom
of God. These are the words of our Lord. Would you pray with me this morning?
Father, we give you praise and glory for revealing yourself in the scriptures so
that we might know and follow our Savior. Lord, I pray that you would just
minister as the word goes forward, opening our hearts, and Lord, working within
us a deeper, more passionate heart for worship. We thank you for Christ, for the
body that was broken, for the blood that was poured out. Lord may we live lives
that are broken and poured out for him. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. This
was a time of great celebration. Thousands of excited pilgrims from all over
Israel and beyond made their way to the city of Jerusalem where they would
celebrate the Passover. For the faithful Jew, this was the festival that was
most important. It was a time to reflect and rehearse God's mighty, miraculous
acts of redemption, judging Israel's enemies, rescuing them from Egypt, bringing
them into the promised land. It was a time of not only reflection, but also
anticipation, waiting for the future redemption that God would accomplish for
his people through the promised Messiah, the one through whom all the nations of
the world would be blessed. Now for many, this would not have been their first
Passover celebration, but there was something about this Passover that was
different. There was a certain buzz and electricity in the air centered around
the miracle working teacher from Galilee. Was Jesus the one who had just entered
triumphantly into the city? The one that the crowds cried out, Hosanna, blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Is this Jesus, the promised one, who
would rescue Israel from its bondage to Rome and usher in a golden era of power
and prestige for Israel? It's against this backdrop of excitement and confusion
and anticipation that we come to our text this morning, a passage where we
encounter beauty in the midst of betrayal, adoration in a world of antagonism.
The passage is broken up into two parts, verses 1 through 11, we see a beautiful
act of worship, and then verses 12 through 25, a sacrificial act of redemption.
So let's begin in verses 1 and 2. Scripture reads, 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, that is Jesus, by stealth and kill him.
For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.
Now the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they go together, the Passover
meal begins a seven-day celebration. This was a time, as I mentioned earlier, of
reflection, meditation, celebration. But what are the leaders of Israel doing
during this time? The ones who should know best, they're scheming, they're
plotting, they're working to deceitfully destroy the very one who fulfills the
Passover, the greater Moses, who would bring in a greater redemption. Now you
might ask, Micah, why all this hate from the religious leaders? What was it
about Jesus that made them so angry to get to the place where during a time of
meditation, they're scheming to kill the Messiah? Why all this hatred? Well, the
reality is they hated Jesus for the same reason that people hate Jesus today. He
was a threat to their stability. They had a good situation. They had respect by
the people, they had protection, financial stability, a sense of achievement,
worth, accomplishment. There was a superiority about them, and they had a like-
minded community to enjoy it with. But Jesus threatens all of that. He's not
only a threat to their stability, he's a threat to their power. These were the
people who had influence, who had authority over the crowds. And what had Jesus
done repeatedly throughout his ministry? Mark highlights the fact that he
exposes these men, revealing to the crowds, the hypocrites who they really were.
And ultimately, Jesus was a threat to their beliefs. You see, they had no
category for a suffering savior. And so the hatred which begins early on in
Jesus' ministry had now reached a point of no return. They were determined to
rid themselves of this Messiah. But there's a problem. How are they going to
pull this off? The crowds love Jesus. Messianic expectations are running super
high. So to do something like this during the festival season, where everyone's
gathered together, this could lead to riots, and really, even their demise. So
they need to find someone, an accomplice, somebody from within, who could help
them pull off this task. But where would they find someone like that? Where
would they find an insider who could reveal to them the whereabouts of Jesus so
that they could take him by stealth? That's where 3 through 11 come into the
story. Now 3 through 11 provide context, but also a significant contrast that
Mark wants to highlight so that we would learn what it looks like, what it means
to follow a suffering savior. Now the events of 3 through 11 actually occur
before verses 1 and 2, but they're placed here to help us understand how this is
going to be accomplished. So in verses 3 through 11, in the midst of hatred from
without and betrayal from within, we find an unnamed woman and a beautiful act
of worship. Verse 3, while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he was reclining a 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.
There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted
like that? This ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii given to
the poor, and they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you
trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me, for you always have the poor
with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them, but you do not always
have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for
burial, 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. What an amazing story.
And so in verse 3, we have this unnamed woman. Now from the other parallel
passages in the gospels, we see that this woman is Mary. We're at Simon the
leper's house. This was somebody that Jesus had healed. We don't know who Simon
was. Obviously Mark's audience did, but they're having a meal together, and Mary
does something remarkable. She takes very costly ointment. Ointment that would
have been worth over a year's wage. She said, well, where in the world would
this woman have come up with that ointment? More than likely, this was probably
like an heirloom that had been passed down to her. So not only financial value,
but certainly sentimental value. And what does Mary do at this meal where
typically an honored guest would be anointed? She took the flask. She didn't
just open it. It says here she broke it. She broke it. No turning back. What she
was about to do, she was fully committed to do. No contingency plan. No
opportunity for her to rethink or reconsider this costly act of adoration. No
chance at this point to withdraw or withhold. She takes her very best, the most
valuable possession that she has of great financial and relational worth. She
breaks it, and she pours it out on Jesus. Because for Mary, Jesus was far more
valuable, far more wonderful, far more precious than anything that she had
owned. And so she took the most valuable thing she had, the thing that was most
costly, she broke it, and she poured it out in worship on Jesus. Mary's greatest
treasure, broken and poured out. Now in verse four, notice the disciples
assessment. The disciples see this, and they don't view it the way Jesus does.
In fact, they were indignant. Why this waste? What is she doing? All throughout
Mark's Gospel, we see that those who have the closest proximity to Christ seem
to have the least spiritual insight. Even here, the disciples still haven't
really gotten it. Their minds are set on the things of man more than the things
of God. And so they completely miss the significance and the beauty of this act
of adoration. And as I read this, I can't help but think to myself what a
warning this is for all of us who know all the right things, who say all the
right things, and yet how often we really miss out on this heart that Mary
demonstrates of worship. So the disciples assessment, why this waste? But
they're not just insensitive here to what's going on. They're actually
indignant. This is a high degree of anger. In fact, we read about this earlier
in Mark's Gospel when James and John asked about being, you know, the big dogs
in the kingdom. And the disciples get furious. They're indignant. That's the
same word here. The disciples are indignant. Now in the other parallel passages,
we see that this was kind of led by Judas. He's kind of the spokesman. He's the
ringleader here. And so he's angry, furious, and he kind of rallies the
disciples to his viewpoint. Why all the anger? Why all the emotion? The truth is
that people who don't really value Christ will never really understand or
embrace the actions of those who do. That costly, sacrificial, generous acts of
wholehearted worship and devotion to Christ are often misunderstood, even
criticized, even by those who profess to follow Jesus. So why all the anger? Now
they say this appointment could have been sold for more than 300 in their eye
and given to the poor. Was it righteous indignation they were feeling? Was the
poor? Was that Judas' real concern? I think we all know that there are stated
reasons and then there are real reasons. And it's really convenient when our
stated reasons can sound spiritual, even if our real reasons aren't. So Judas
does a thing that is super common in our world today. I realized just how common
this was during my freshman year of college. I attended a very conservative
Christian school. I came from a very conservative homeschool upbringing. And so
when I got to school, I saw all these beautiful ladies and I thought, I'm here.
This is such a good thing for them. And so I begin to, one by one, ask girls out
to eat. Now we had a dining commons. I wasn't even able to leave the campus and
actually go on a date per se. So I just asked somebody, hi, my name is Micah.
Just wanted to get to know you. Would you be interested in going to dinner? And
then the girls would look at me and be like, I need to pray about that. I mean,
I'm a pastoral ministry major, so I can't discourage somebody from praying.
That's not an appropriate thing to do. It's like, you need to pray about that.
I'm not asking you to marry. I'm just asking to eat food with you together. So
then, you know, a day or two later, they'd come back and be like, you know, I
don't really have peace about it. And I wish this was like an isolated event.
This was like a reoccurring pattern. It's like every person I asked, it's like,
I got to pray about it. I don't have peace about it. And I kind of started
thinking, maybe God has communicated to all the pretty girls on campus. Like,
don't go with that guy. Finally, one day I asked her girl out and she said,
yeah, no. I said, oh, you probably don't have peace about it, right? She said,
no, that's not the issue. I'm just not interested, like at all. It's like, oh,
so that's the real reason. This whole time I thought that the stated reason was
the real reason. It really wasn't about peace. It was about me. Okay? So there's
stated reasons. There's real reasons. Judas gives us a stated reason, but the
scripture gives us a little more insight on his real reason. Because, you see,
Judas was the treasurer. And the scriptures tell us he often kind of helped
himself to what was in the money bag. So for Judas, his indignation was not
about giving, but greed. It was not about the value of the savior, but the plans
of self. And so we see this act of worship met with great antagonism. But then
in verse 6, notice Jesus' assessment. The only one whose assessment really
matters. But Jesus said to her, or said to them, leave her alone. Why do you
trouble her? And he says three things about Mary's act of adoration that we
should take note of. Number one, he says what she has done is a beautiful thing.
It's a beautiful thing. It's not a waste. It's beautiful. That was Jesus'
assessment of Mary's adoration. The reality was the time had come that a person
could express this kind of love and devotion in the presence of Jesus was
running out. He would be betrayed. And so what Mary did, yes, the poor will
always be with you. There's opportunity to do good to them. He's not downplaying
the poor, but he's exalting properly his own worth and value. And he says what
she has done is a beautiful thing. He goes on to say she has done, and I love
this language here, she has done what she could. This is very similar to the
language that Jesus uses when he looks and assesses the widow who gives her two
mites. This is both a challenge, but it's also a word of encouragement. Because
Jesus wasn't comparing her with someone else. She had taken what she had and in
a heart of love gives it all to Jesus. Friends, that's really what it's all
about. That's really what it looks like to be a disciple of Christ. You do what
you can. It's all you can do, but you do it for Jesus. Simply because he's
worthy. She had done a beautiful thing. She did what she could. And then notice
what Jesus says here. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will
be told in memory of her. She did a beautiful thing. She did what she could. And
she did something that would be remembered. Now did Mary fully understand the
significance of her act? Did she fully grasp the fact that she was anointing
Jesus' body for burial? We don't know. But here's what we do know. That when
Mary poured out that offering unto Christ, Jesus saw it. He cares. And he will
reward every act of wholehearted worship and service that is done for his glory.
Now before we move on, we need to remember that the Word of God is not simply
meant to be admired. It was meant to be applied. Mark highlights this act of
adoration in the midst of betrayal to show us a gospel way of life. The reality
is many of us frequently live half-hearted Christian lives. We love Jesus, but
we're protective. We're possessive of the things that we have. It could be our
time. It could be our family. It could be our resources. It could be our money.
We want to follow Christ just kind of in moderation. You know, it's good to be
balanced, right? But I wonder as I think about this text, if Jesus evaluated my
life today, would he give the same commendations? What did he say about me and
you? He or she did a beautiful thing with the life that I've given to them. They
did what they could and they will be rewarded. The reality is one day we will
stand before Jesus and he will give an assessment of what we have done, not just
what we know, but what we have done with what he has given to us. And we live
lives that are broken and poured out for him. Well notice Judas' response in
verses 10 through 11. Judas officially taps out. Then Judas Iscariot, who is one
of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. All of
the accounts of this event show us that immediately Judas leaves the room and is
hell-bent on destroying Christ. And when the chief priests hear it, they're
glad. They promised to give him money. He sought an opportunity to betray him.
Judas observes what Jesus assesses as beautiful and good and he says, that's not
what I signed up for. He's incensed by what has just taken place and he's now
determined to side with the enemy to take Jesus down. Judas was affiliated with
Jesus. He just never had a heart of adoration for Jesus. He loved the kingdom.
He just didn't love the king. Jesus was simply a means to his own self-centered
ambitions. Don't miss the contrast that Mark wants to highlight for us. Mary
pours out a valuable possession for Jesus. Meanwhile Judas betrays heaven's
greatest treasure for a few hundred bucks. So we see the enemy from without, the
enemy from within, seeking for this opportunity to take Jesus down. And so in a
time of celebration, comes a time of conspiracy as Jesus' enemies are determined
to get rid of their nemesis. And so in verse 12, we now see a sacrificial act of
redemption. Verse 12 begins with this preparation for the Passover, 12 through
16, and then the partaking of the Passover, 17 through 25. And on the first day
of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said
to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? And
he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man
carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him. And whenever he enters, say
to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may
eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room,
furnished and ready, there prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to
the city and found it just as he had told them. And they prepared the Passover.
So the situation could not be more sinister and sickening. Powerful people
acting, scheming, plotting against Jesus. But make no mistake about it. Jesus'
fate does not rest in the hands of sinful men. He is sovereign over all the
things and all the events that are taking place, even over the sinful choices of
rebellious men. And in this, he reveals just how sovereign he is by
demonstrating his perfect knowledge and control of events as he tells his
disciples exactly what would happen as he sends them out to prepare for the
Passover. These events hadn't taken place yet. And yet he says, here's what's
going to happen. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I love verse 16. They find
that it goes exactly as he told them. Now initially, there's a problem because
for them to eat the Passover, they need to be in the city of Jerusalem.
According to Deuteronomy, that's where the Passover meal was to be eaten.
Jerusalem is packed, absolutely packed with Jews, faithful Jews. Messianic
expectations are high. The crowds are ready to make him king. The leaders are
ready to put him to death. It seems like the perfect storm for kind of chaos and
upheaval. For Jesus, none of these events are going to keep him away from
Jerusalem. None of these events are going to stop him from accomplishing his
sovereign purposes. And so he says, go. And this is exactly what's going to
happen. We're going to eat our Passover. Despite all of this chaos in that room
right there. So this careful planning not only reveals that Jesus is sovereign,
but it also shows the significance that Christ puts on this event, the Passover,
which is about to take on a whole new meaning as he reveals himself to be the
true Passover lamb, whose blood would be poured out for the sins of many, who
inaugurates a new meal, a new covenant for his people. They prepare for the
Passover. Then in verse 17 through the remainder, they partake of the Passover.
And as they partake, it begins with some sobering news. Verse 17, when it was
evening, that was the time of the Passover. He came with the 12. This would have
been Thursday evening. And as they were reclining at table and eating again, a
time of celebration, a time to rehearse God's mighty acts of redemption, Jesus
said, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. One who is eating with me.
To betray a friend was an act of treachery. But to betray a friend after eating
a meal with him in Middle Eastern culture was considered the worst kind, the
most heinous kind of treachery and betrayal. In verse 19, the disciples are
sorrowful. And they begin to say to him, one after another, is it I? This is an
appropriate, humble, healthy response to this kind of news. They had failed time
and time and time again. And now there's deep concern. Would they ultimately
fail? There's a real sense in which the disciples will betray Jesus. But there's
one that Jesus has marked in particular. The ultimate betrayal, a betrayal that
would not be repented of. So Jesus reveals it and says, it is one of the 12, one
of my closest companions, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For
the Son of Man goes as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son
of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had never been
born. Jesus makes it clear here, his death is not accidental. It's accomplishing
God's purposes. He is the suffering Savior that the prophets had foretold. But
that doesn't mean that the betrayer is some kind of an innocent pawn in the plan
of God. He's acting according to his evil impulses. In fact, in the other
accounts it reveals that Satan entered into Judas. We never read of Satan
possessing a person in all scripture except in the case of Judas. And so there's
sorrow at a meal of celebration. In verses 22 through 25, there is sorrow but
there is hope. And as they were eating, he took the bread and after blessing it,
he broke it. And gave it to them and said, take this is my body. And he took a
cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it.
And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for
many. Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until
that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Jesus takes the sacred meal
and he transforms it. Because he is the ultimate fulfillment of it. Through his
sacrificial death, the blood that would be shed, the body that would be broken,
through his triumphant resurrection, through his promise to come again, he now
makes the meal available not simply to faithful Jews but to all of God's people
who will come and worship. And so he takes the bread, he blesses it and says,
this is my body. The body that would be broken. Like Mary, there would be no
retreat. There would be no withholding or withdrawing. He would give himself
fully and worship to the father to redeem his people. His body not only
represents what he has done, but also his abiding real presence with his people
every time we partake of this meal together. Christ is uniquely with us. The
body broken. The blood poured out for the sins of his people. This blood that
would inaugurate a new covenant, a new way of life between God and his people.
No more need of the old with its sacrifices and systems because Jesus is the
great prophet, priest and king whose sacrifice covers the sins of his people
once and for all. Who tears down all the barriers, giving us free access to the
father. Now when Jesus assessed Mary's act of adoration, when she broke and
poured out what she had, he said it was beautiful. He said she did what she
could and that the act will be remembered. What Mary did was only a foretaste of
what Jesus does. Because Jesus as our savior, dying on that cross in the midst
of all the ugliness and darkness does a beautiful thing. He is the beautiful
savior, worthy of our worship and adoration and affection. He did what he could,
giving his very life so that we who were dead in our sins with no hope, without
any heart for God whatsoever, could be redeemed and brought back to our God
intended purpose. Removing his people, living for his glory, to his everlasting
praise. And what he has done will be remembered because his gospel will go to
the ends of the earth. When we partake of the Lord's Supper, we remember what he
has done as we anticipate his soon arrival. Mary's greatest treasure, broken and
poured out. God's greatest treasure, broken and poured out. So here's the truth
this morning. Jesus was broken and he was poured out for us, for you, so that
you might live a life that is broken and poured out for him. By God's grace, may
we follow the example and the adoration of Mary as we remember and reflect and
rejoice in the broken body and the blood that was shed for us. Let us live lives
that are broken and poured out for him. Let's pray. Father, we praise you for
Christ. We praise you in the midst of antagonism and betrayal. He gave his life
so that all who repent and look to him in faith receive life, forgiveness and
everlasting joy. We give you praise for the body that was broken, the blood that
was poured out, that you gave your all. Father may like Mary, we give our all.
Not living lives that are half-hearted, but taking what we have, doing what we
can, simply out of a heart of love for Christ. Father forgive us for making
things far more complicated. Forgive us for our self-protection and
preservation. For taking what we have but holding on. May we live our lives with
open hands, with broken flasks, worshipping the one who is worthy of all our
praise, of all our everything. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand
together as we sing this morning.