1 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
When Jesus had finished his explanation of the end times, He told His disciples that His death was imminent. The Passover was coming and plans to crucify Him were already underway. The Passover was always a picture of Jesus’ death and that Passover weekend Jesus would die as the ultimate and final lamb, the perfect sacrifice that would once for all take away our sins and allow death to pass over us.
The chief priests and elders had already decided that they would put Jesus to death (John 11:53), now they decided when and how. They decided not to arrest Him during the feast because that might cause an uproar among the people.
Jesus went to dinner with His friends at the house of Simon the Leper. John 12:1-11 tells us that the other guests were the disciples, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. The woman who poured out the expensive perfume was Mary (John 12:3). The perfume was nard, the most costly of all the perfumes. What Mary poured out on Jesus’ feet cost about a year’s wages and represented a great sacrifice. It was way more than just a sign of hospitality, this was an anointing fit for a king.
The disciples criticise her for spending so much money and said that it would have been better to sell it and give the money to the poor. Jesus corrects them by pointing out that they will always have opportunity to serve the poor while this was a unique situation with Jesus in their presence. Helping the poor is a good thing but serving and honouring God with your money is the right thing. How you do that can vary widely. Mary chose what was best when she honoured Jesus with her sacrifice and Jesus rewarded her in that her story has been told along with the gospel and still is today.
Judas went out and conspired with the chief priests to hand Jesus over to them. They agreed to give him thirty pieces of silver (Zech 11:12) which was the value of a slave (Exod 21:32). Compare the value Judas placed on Jesus’ life with the value Mary placed on it. How valuable is Jesus to you? What would you give up or sacrifice for Him? Is your whole life lived for Jesus, or are you holding back?
The world makes materials and objects their everything but we should make Jesus our everything.
I was reminded that EVERYTHING I do should honour God first and foremost
That Judas was tempted by money. We must make sure that we aren’t tempted by any material things