Kaleo San Diego Church

INTRODUCTION

One of the things that I love about John’s Gospel is that he has a style throughout this Gospel that is very deep and rich theologically, but that richness never intrudes upon the importance of the personal and devotional nature that our relationship should be with Jesus.

John shows us that rich, accurate, deep theology, produces rich, accurate and deep devotion to Jesus.

John’s theme through this Gospel is that Jesus Christ is God. It is stated emphatically on several occasions. In doing so, John also gives us such beautiful pictures of our God who has come to dwell with and love His people. He is constantly making us aware of the infinite nature of Jesus while giving to us a picture of how faith in Jesus produces eternal life and a close personal relationship with the one that has created you.

John, who was perhaps the closest emotionally with Jesus, is also the greatest of theologians of the Apostles. John is also the writer of Revelation, which is an amazing eternal view of worship to God, full of mystery that we may never completely understand this side of heaven, yet John is the one that lays on Jesus chest to hear his Lord’s heartbeat on the Last Supper, is present at the crucifixion, present at the tomb, and is even called the “one that Jesus loved.”

John gives to us conversations that Jesus had with the paralytic man, with Nicodemus, with the woman caught in adultery, with the man born blind, and we see in these pictures a God who is loving and compassionate, who gives grace and mercy to those that are and will be His.

Tonight we are going to read a story that should find its way from our Bibles through our eyes to our mind, which should flood our mind with a better understanding of the love of our God and should then ultimately finds its way into our hearts to cause it to swell with devotion and love for our King.

This story is one of senses. It is one that should arouse in us an awareness of how our God has created us with these senses of touch and taste, hearing and sight, and for this story, the way in which God has created us as creatures that share the same physical sense of smell that our Lord had on this day.

Please turn with me to chapter 12 in the Gospel of John.

TEXT

Verse 1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.

This is the third mention of the Passover in John’s Gospel. It is mentioned in the 2^nd and 6^th chapter of this Gospel and now in the 12^th. We know that Jesus ministry was about 3 years long because of the dating of the Passovers.

We know the Passover was an important celebration for the Jews because it marked the event of God bringing His people out of Egypt to worship Him. So that He could be their God, and they could be His people.

Let me read for you the Passover instructions:

Exodus 12:1-14

1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 'And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 'Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 'And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 'Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 'Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire-its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 'You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 'And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD'S Passover. 12 'For I will pass through theland of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 'Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike theland of Egypt. 14 'So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

I will not dive into all of the rich typology that speaks to us of Christ, but we know that Christ is our lamb, He is the one that God has ordained should be our salvation by which He will forgive and pass-over our transgressions against Him.

It is fitting that this should be the event celebrated as we are now in the last week of Jesus life. As Jesus will reference, He is being prepared for burial, in other words, He is preparing to die as our Passover lamb. The perfect, spotless, Lamb of God.

The intensity of hatred towards Jesus is reaching a fevered pitch because of the sign Jesus performed in raising Lazarus from the dead. We studied last week, that the leaders have now openly decided to plot to kill Jesus.

Verse 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.

After having their brother, whom they loved, raised from the dead, they decide to have a supper for Him in His honor. They want to thank Him for allowing their grief to be turned into Joy.

We also see in this picture a continuing difference in the way in which Martha, Mary and Lazarus showed their love for Jesus.

I love that God allows us to be rooted in the same principle, which is love for Jesus, but that it can be expressed in different ways.

If you know anything about Martha, who else would have prepared the meal for Jesus? We know it would be Martha…Why? Because that’s what she does. She is someone that expresses her love for Jesus by doing for Him. She works with her hands, she creates something for Him and serves Him. It is the way that she demonstrates her allegiance for her Messiah. She is someone that has to “do.”

Then we see Lazarus, who simply sits with Jesus. No where in Scripture do we see Lazarus saying a word. He is the sort of strong silent type. Yet He is sitting with Jesus. He is at the table next to His Lord.

Lazarus is a testimony for what the Lord has done. He is an example of God calling us by name and raising us from our stench of death into the beautiful aroma of life in Him.

Mary is someone who is both expressive and emotive, yet she would rather be at the feet of Jesus. Each time we read of Mary, she is at Jesus feet. When we are first introduced to her, Martha is working and serving and Mary is sitting at Jesus feet.

We then see Mary at the feet of Jesus when Jesus comes to the town that Lazarus had been buried after he died. She is very expressive in her love for Jesus. She is someone that would rather be still and think about how deeply she loves and is loved by her King. 

Each of these three portraits have their place. Each of them are necessary in thekingdom of God. We need those who do, like Martha, we need those who are a living Epistle and testimony for God, like Lazarus, and we should all to some degree long and yearn for time at the feet of our Messiah, thinking about how we love Him and are loved by Him.

Jesus spends a great deal of time with His friends. And what I love about Martha and Mary and Lazarus, is that they are just average people that live an average life, but have God as their friend and company in their home. Yet these people become extraordinary because they are recorded in God’s word for all to read and know through history.

Verse 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

Where else would we find Mary? She is yet again at Jesus feet.

Whether she is learning or grieving or celebrating, she is at Jesus feet.

Mary takes on the role of the lowest servant in the house. In this culture you would wear open toe sandals and walk on dirty roads and that dirt would cause your feet to be pretty filthy. So the lowest of the servant in the house was given the task of washing the feet of guests that would come in. This would imply that one would have to have enough money have servants. A person more than one servant so that you would be considered the lowest, is a fairly wealthy person.

This to me is a picture of our attitude in theKingdom of God. This Kingdom is ruled by the wealthiest King in all of the universe. This King has millions of servants. And this King has said to His servants; "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Mary is living out that instruction by taking on the role of lowest in the house of God. 

Yet what is more amazing is that she not only humbles herself as the lowest in God’s house, she then proceeds to give more than any of the servants have.

She breaks open the seal of an extremely expensive perfume that was made in India. This is not watered down and evaporates in a few hours, this is pure perfume. 

We are told in the other Gospels (Mark and Matthew) that she begins to pours it onto Jesus head and feet and then wipes his feet off with her hair.

In this culture, a little girl would be allowed to run around with her hair down, but as she became about 12 or so, she would then pin her hair up so that she would be presentable for courting. 

It was customary that you would keep your hair up in public and when you were married your husband would let your hair down on your wedding night and see you in all of your beauty for the first time as no other man had seen her. Her hair was considered her Glory as Paul says in 1^st Corinthians 11.

A woman’s hair was to be cared for and brushed and kept as a gift to her husband.

Yet we see Mary without a care for what is acceptable in the eyes of others, let down her beautiful hair and wash off Jesus feet. Jesus says in the last chapter that the reason Lazarus was going to die, was so He would be glorified and His Father would be glorified. He says “did I not say that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” And here, having believed and seen God’s glory in Jesus, Mary offers to Jesus that which is humanly her glory. She gives to Jesus totally and completely.

Mary humbles herself, she takes the most expensive possession that she owns, she uses that possession to anoint her Lord and then she then unpins her hair and gives to Him one the only physical glory she could, she washes His feet with her glory.

Would to God that we would follow Mary in this story. Would to God that we would not care about our position in God’s Kingdom, but simply fall to our feet as the lowest servant. Would to God that we would take all we have and give it to the one that has given all to us. Would to God that we would exchange whatever physical glory we think we own and sacrifice to Jesus, for His glory in return.

Mary’s gift filled the house with this aroma. Would to God that ours would also.

Just know that when you live like Mary, you will see those that act like Judas…

Verses 4-5 Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, 5 "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"

Judas can only criticize. Here Mary has just demonstrated an amazing act of worship and humility and all that Judas can do is openly rebuke her in front of everyone.

I know many people that are very good at criticizing. They see everything that a Christian does and reduce it to a criticism because they wouldn’t have done it the same way. They wouldn’t have spent as much. They wouldn’t have, blah, blah, blah… That is the spirit of Judas the betrayer.

This was a costly gift Mary gave to Jesus. 300 denarii was worth a years wage. The average salary in San Diego is about $50,000.00. 

I would venture a guess that there are not many that have 50K in savings. But we are not speaking of a house or a car that can be used again and again over the years, we are talking about a one time gift that you would never be able to use again. Once it is poured out, that’s it.

So it seems reasonable that Judas would ask such a question, right?

Was Judas really concerned with the poor? Let’s read.

Verse 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

The very person that seemed to reasonable and conservative was the very one who’s heart was wicked to the core. He was stealing form the Lord, yet he did it by looking very pious and religious.

He gives the impression of loving Jesus, but in action he hates Jesus.

He could care less about the poor, all he wanted was to get rich off of Jesus. He wanted to hide behind religion and “conservative planning” so that he could take the profit for himself.

How many of you here would have said the same thing to Jesus? 

I am by no means saying that we should not be concerned with planning and watching where our money goes. The fact that they had a box and a person in charge probably meant that Judas was pretty good with math and was able to act as an accountant.

What I mean, is this; how many of you think more of yourself as the reason for why you object to people like Mary?

You have to control, because you are controlling. You have to know, because you are nosy. You have to be involved, because you need to be the center of attention.

Judas response should frighten each of us, because in each of us resides a piece of Judas that cares only for ourselves and not for the Lord or the Lords family. We have in us a betrayers heart that would rather give up the Lord for our gain, than give up our gain for the Lord.

Judas is like many who have two distinct personalities. One is the public character that acts very mature and Christ centered. One that knows all the right words to use and say. One that appears to have it all together and lack nothing in their relationship with Jesus, then there is the other. The other personality is the real one. This is the one that is their private character. There is a darkness in them, there is a hidden part of them that they think no one sees.

What they do on the weekends, what they do when they are out with friends that are not believers, what they do when no one is looking. 

That is the very nature of Judas. It is a nature that puffs itself up by acting religious, but then in the dark betrays the Lord for their own wicked wants and desires.

What they say does not match what they do. This dual personality will drive you mad. You can’t keep that many plates spinning for long before they all crash down around you. 

If you were to have walked into that house that day, you would have assumed that the Apostle of Jesus was right and pious and true, and that the woman was sinful and wrong and needed to repent.

That is how hard it is to tell what is true from what is false by relying only on the position or attitude of the person. Yet Jesus knows.

How does He respond?

Verses 7-8 But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 "For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

Jesus is echoing Deuteronomy 15:11 by declaring that the poor will always be here.

We are to care for those that have needs, and inasmuch as God gives us favor, we will be a church that is known for their concern for the poor and broken.

But what Jesus is saying is that they will never go away. We will always have poor people.

In a fallen world, no matter how much money we spend, this world will never look like heaven.

There will always be political leaders that promise to stamp out homelessness and care for the poor, and year after year they are voted out of office and the next one comes in promising the same.

It will never happen. You can not legislate a genuine selfless care for the poor, no matter how much money you throw at it the problem, the problem will never go away. Why? Jesus said so.

This doesn’t mean we don’t make an attempt and work towards that goal.

Jesus is saying that He only has a few days left until He dies. He is only here for another week and then He is gone.

This is a great picture of one time opportunities. At this particular time in history, this was the time that Mary had the chance to anoint Jesus with perfume and she acted upon it.

She took that time given to her and realized that it will never come again and she simply acted.

I am not saying that God may not give us second chances on certain things. In God’s sovereignty, He certainly has every right to choose to do that. What I am saying is that there are some things in life, that will never come again. For these people, this was it. Jesus was here and now was leaving. The meal would be finished, and Jesus would be in a tomb within a week.

If God gives you an opportunity to give to serve to speak for Him, do it! Don’t wait, simply act within the sovereign time allotted by God.

Jesus defends Mary’s cause for her actions. He knows the contrast between the heart of Mary and the heart of Judas.

This contrast is found even in our church today. There are and will be those with the love and heart for Jesus that Mary has, and there are and will be those with the venom and betraying spirit that is in the heart of Jesus. And here is the kicker, I really don’t know which one you are. But God does. And as Jesus defends Mary’s cause, so I believe He will defend ours.

Verse 9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

Lazarus claim to fame is that he died and now lives. That’s it! He was a living legend that would be remembered until even today, 2000 years later.

His testimony was what Jesus had done in his life. People not only came to see Jesus, but they wanted to see the living miracle.

His testimony should be our testimony, that God sought us out when we were dead and He called us by name and breathed into us life. He rose us from the pit and stench of death, He unwrapped us from our graveclothes and set us free so that now we are able to be His slave.

As each of us tells this story we are each a living letter of God, we are each living the story of Lazarus.

For me to speak on Sunday and to preach the Gospel for many is not nearly as attractive as one that they see daily living out the story of Lazarus.

To many, I am professional clergy. I may have ulterior motives for why I do what I do. But for you, the story is real and authentic and is visual.

As Christ spoke, I am sure there were some that thought He also had selfish motives, so Christ raises this ordinary guy from the dead to tell the story, and ultimately Christ receives the glory from Lazarus testimony, because Lazarus simply points the people to Jesus.

Howard Hendrickson said, “me, I get paid to be good, my people are just good for nothing.”

The paid professionals do have a nasty reputation, and rightfully so as we see in this next verse.

Verses 10-11 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

There is tremendous humor in this. Lazarus just rose from the dead, and now they want to kill him! Amazing.

I wonder if even for a moment they thought to themselves “if we kill him, Jesus will just raise him again.”

They not only want to kill the one that raised him, but now they want to kill the one that was just raised. This should make you scratch your head.

Hatred is not reasonable. Hatred vacates the seat of reason as it lives out its selfish motives. People do the strangest things out of the motivation of jealousy and hatred don’t they?

They want Lazarus dead, because Lazarus is evidence of who Jesus is.

People don’t need more evidence, they will just try to kill it so that they can see their plans fulfilled.

Paul tells us in Romans1:18 says that men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That is that they know truth exists, they know what the truth is, but instead of embrace it, they try to drown it. They want truth to die, so they can sin without a conscience.

They try to take the batteries out of the smoke detector of their conscience so that each time they sin, the siren doesn’t sound.

It’s not that these people don’t have enough evidence. Jesus has given them His words and His miracles to prove it. The issue is that people hate the truth. 

The truth to some declares war on their arrogance. The truth tells them that they are not good. They can’t save themselves and that Jesus is the only way to the Father. They can’t live any way that they want or they will be judged.

It is not a lack of evidence that causes them to suppress truth, it’s a lack of love. A lack of love for the truth and the truth is Christ.

People hate that truth. They want to suppress it because they love their darkness rather than light.  The dark makes people feel as if they can sin in safety, but the Jesus says in Luke 12:2-3 "For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. 3 "Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

The heart of man is laid bare before God. God knows what lurks in each of us. And what he asks is instead of running from His light, He wants us to trust Him and step out into it so that we can be forgiven.

Hating truth and loving darkness will only bring more hatred and more darkness. It is a downward spiral to death.

I want to return for a moment back to verse 7. Jesus says “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.”

As I said this perfume that Mary used was pure. It wasn’t the cheap High Karate that you buy at Save On. This only took a drop to fill the house with its aroma.

Imagine having full bottle of this perfume poured over your head, into your beard and have it run down your neck and arms, all the way down to your feet in this fragrance. It sat on your skin and was absorbed into your pours. And you happen to live in a time that you didn’t bathe a frequently, maybe once a week. After a few days of not bathing, what do you smell on your skin? You would obviously smell the fragrance of that perfume, it will linger on your body for some time, even after bathing.

We know that Jesus knew He was going to be crucified. We also know that eventually Jesus is taken, He is caught in the cover of darkness, He is taken and given a mock trial with false charges, and they have Him turned over to be beaten to be whipped until the bones on His back are exposed, He has large chunks of beard ripped from His face, He is forced to carry a thick wooden cross on His open wounds so they can lay Him on that cross and drive iron spikes through His hands and feet, and then lift Him up so that all of His body weight is resting on the holes in is hands and feet.

We are not told that Mary was at Jesus feet as He was hoisted up on the cross, but Mark says that there was a large crowd of women around Him. I would almost have to assume Mary, who loved Jesus maybe more than any other living woman, was there at His feet, and His cross. I can’t imagine Jesus being killed without Mary there at His feet.

My assumption is that this group of woman are sitting at the foot of the cross as Jesus hangs above them, and Mary finds herself for the last time looking up at her King.

In a Roman crucifixion, the way in which you would die, would be by suffocation. Your body weight would pull so heavily on your arms that eventually your shoulders would become dislocated and you would not be able to pull up your weight so that you could breathe.

You would feel tremendous pressure on your chest as your lungs were compressed with the weight of your body. So that this death was not quick, but long and torturous, they would also nail your feet to the cross so that you could push off of your feet to lift your body up to catch a breath. They wanted you to be able to grab only small amounts of breath to prolong the torture.

So each time you are about to black out from the pain and lack of oxygen, you would gather your strength and brace yourself for the pain of pushing off of the spike driven through your feet to try to get as much air in your lungs as you could.

If this went for too long, they would grow weary of your not dying, and they would come by with a long iron pole and break your legs so that you would die by suffocation.

We know that it is prophesied that none of Jesus bones would be broken, so by the time the Romans came to break His legs He willingly yielded His Spirit and died.

As Mary looks at Jesus, she must have realized that she was a sinner, that this act was the one He spoke of on numerous occasions. That she ultimately is the reason He is hanging on the cross on her behalf.

My question to you is this; as Jesus pushes off of the spikes to grab whatever air he could in his lungs, as He looks down upon Mary who loved Him, what fragrance do you think filled His lungs for the last time He inhaled before He died?

He smelled the gift of Mary. He smelled the gift of love that Mary had given to Him only a few days earlier as He spoke of her act being done in preparation for His death.

I even wonder, and those that beat Him and ridiculed Him and punished Him, if Mary’s gift was on their hands? Do you think that as they pulled His hair and beard that it still had the smell of Mary’s perfume?

I would imagine that as He breathed His last, that fragrance gave Him comfort as He was continually reminded of the reason for why He was about to die. It was for Mary, the one that loved Jesus and the one that was loved back by Jesus.

Everything we have is a gift given to us by the one that created us. The very senses we possess are to be used to sense the presence of God in His creation and to give glory to Him.

The sunrise, the taste of the sweetest fruit, the touch of your wife or husband, the laughter of your children, and the aroma of your beautiful wife or your husband that loves you.

When I traveled in business, the one thing that I enjoyed when returning was embracing my wife and smelling her scent. As soon as I would hold her, I could smell the first time her and I held one another. 

There is something about the scent of your wife that make you long for her when you are away. And as your mind takes in that smell, in brings with it thoughts and emotions and feelings that are triggered all by the aroma of her love.

This is why husband or wives when losing their spouse refuse to get rid of the clothes of their loved one. Each time they hold a piece of clothing in their hand they are reminded of their loved ones.

These very senses God gives us to remind us that everything we sense, we should remember Him. Everything that our sense bring to us, should be for the purpose of glorifying the one that gave us the ability to sense anything.

In the last two chapters we are made aware of the stench of Lazarus death, and now we are made aware of the smell of life.

I pray that we remember that. I pray we never forget that we were once a foul stench in the nostrils of God, but now we are able to give to God the aroma of our love and devotion to Him in everything we do.

Let’s Pray…

Communion.

0 Comments | Login to Post Comments

• Calendar
• Agenda