A SENSE OF VALUE

Mark 14:3-9 (Also Matthew 26:6-13)

“And, truly, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Mark 14:9

Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him holding an alabaster flask of very expensive perfumed oil and poured it out on his head while he was reclining at the table. 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!” But Jesus, knowing this, said to them, “Why do you cause trouble for the woman? For she has done a good deed for me. For the poor, you always have with you, but you do not always have me. When this woman poured this ointment on my body, she did it in order to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:6-13)

The importance of this passage comes to us in this last verse. This woman has done something of such significance that it would be permanently attached to the preaching of the Gospel in memory of her. There is no other passage in which a particular action of a person is specifically said by the lord to be included as part of the preaching of the Gospel. Yet, in all my life as a Christian, I do not recall any clear message being expounded in this passage. I wonder whether it is not a symptom of the problem of the spiritual life of the Churches today.

I don’t want to go into too many technicalities on this particular passage. Mark tells us that the feast took place in the house of Simon the leper. He was no longer suffering from leprosy, otherwise no one would meet in his house. Now Simon invited the lord Jesus to this meal, as well as others, including Lazarus and his sister Martha (John 12:1-8 tells us), and of course, all of the lord’s disciples. It was held in Bethany, which is just across the valley from Jerusalem, around the Mount of Olives.

Mary Receives Reproach for Her Act of Devotion

Now, we know from John (12:1-8) that this woman is Mary, the sister of Lazarus. During the meal, Mary produced an alabaster jar of very valuable ointment. It is given as being worth 300 days’ or ten months’ pay for the average working man. Having produced this jar, she broke it, literally smashed it. The word is a strong word for “break”. It is a word for “crush”, or “smash”, expressing a certain determination, without hesitation. She poured out the ointment upon Jesus’ head and feet. Now, when she had done this, it brought forth not applause, but indignation and reproach from the disciples. We see from John 12 that Judas Iscariot, the traitor, was the one who led the choir of reproach among the disciples. But the lord Jesus spoke out on her behalf and said that she has done something beautiful, something excellent, something very significant, and that she had prepared his body for the burial.

One thing about this passage disturbs me. It disturbs me because from time to time, I feel an echo. I find myself almost agreeing that what Mary did was a waste.

What is Our Sense of Value?

In speaking about spiritual direction, nothing is so important as understanding the spiritual values, which govern those directions. That is to say, whatever is valuable to you is what you will direct your life to. Right? If money, status, social standing, or prestige is important to you, then clearly you will direct your life to these goals. But on the other hand, if spiritual things are of value to you, then you will direct your life to spiritual goals. So the question is: what are your values?

Now, anything you do not regard as valuable, you tend to treat it lightly or reject it. On the other hand, things you do value, but which you do not regard as being properly used, you will consider as being wasted. Your definition of waste depends on what your definition of value is. The disciples regarded the ointment as wasted. To them, pouring all the precious ointment out on Jesus's head and feet was a waste and, therefore, unnecessary. It would have been better to sell it and give the money to the poor. Is that what you think? Was it necessary? Why not modestly pour a little bit on Jesus? See how much I love Him? Why smash this beautiful jar and pour it all out? It is excessive. We must be reasonable.

How Much is the Gospel worth to us?

I found myself tending to agree. Do you not? It, however, reveals something to me about my sense of values. I don’t wonder that this passage is not preached today when the Gospel is preached. You see, a whole set of spiritual values is embodied in this action of Mary. How much the Gospel is worth to you depends on your sense of values. It may be worth a bit. It may be useful on the social level. In Liverpool, we had to have a bus to pick up children for Sunday School because the parents were happy to send their children away to learn some good manners, but they themselves did not want to become Christians. They valued the Gospel only on a social level.

What is your concept of the Gospel? Do you go to Church because there are nice people who will stand by you when you get into a jam? I wonder what is our sense of values. Why do people serve the lord Jesus? Is it always because of a spiritual reason? I often suspect there are less than spiritual reasons for serving the lord. Jesus. No wonder, a preacher can’t preach this passage without feeling the sword of the word of God stabbing right into himself and exposing him.

Our Gratitude to the lord Jesus

When we read this passage, we immediately ask ourselves, “What is our sense of values?” Why did Mary do this? Well, Mary’s life had obviously been utterly transformed by her contact with the lord Jesus. She was once in the grip of sin and is now freed. Her life which was once in darkness so that she knew not where she was going, now had spiritual direction. Her life was touched by the fragrance of Jesus. So clearly, it was out of a deep sense of unspeakable gratitude that she poured out this extremely expensive ointment. To her, it was no waste, no sacrifice. Such was her profound sense of burning thankfulness and gratitude. Now, unless you can feel this kind of gratitude, of course, you can’t understand what Mary was doing. Clearly, you cannot have this sense of gratitude unless you also experience what Mary experienced. Did Jesus at any time touch your life in such a way that you can feel this kind of thankfulness? Or do you approach Jesus with the ‘chained door’ policy, allowing your life to open to him only as much as the chain allows? This is limited Christianity.

The Lord says in v. 6 that she did a beautiful thing. The Greek word translated ‘beautiful’ does mean ‘beautiful’ when referring to outward appearance. But when referring to quality, we don’t translate it as ‘beautiful”. Here the reference is clearly to the quality of the action. So the word would be better translated as ‘excellent, precious or useful’. All this is expressed in her act of devotion. It is praiseworthy insofar as it expresses a profound gratitude.

I don’t see this kind of gratitude among Christians. It shows you the level of your spiritual life. If you really believe, as you say you believe, that Jesus died for you in such a way as to redeem you from eternal destruction – the second death and give you eternal life, and that you are set free from the bondage of sin – being a slave to sin, where is your gratitude for this? No wonder the world does not believe our confession.

Our Spiritual Direction - Carnal or Spiritual

Do you know what eternal – age upon age lasting life is? Can you grasp the value of this incredible gift? We don’t perceive and therefore spiritual reality is non-reality to us. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18:

“While we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal – age upon age lasting.”

Paul has grasped the spiritual value of those things. If you don’t have any sense of spiritual values, then you have no spiritual direction. There are only two possible directions in your life. It is either spiritual or it is carnal. There is no third alternative. Carnal means you are living for the world and for the enjoyment of your flesh, which is going to pass away.

How is it possible that we come to a belief in which the things which are not seen are in fact the real things? How can we arrive at this? It is only possible through the sin-offering sacrifice and death of the Messiah Jesus. It is that contact with his life and his death that does something in us - it transforms us – we become new creations in him. Spiritual things now become a reality. As you go on, they will become the only significant reality.

Preparation for Jesus’ Burial

Moved by gratitude, Mary did something of great spiritual significance. It does not mean that she herself understood the full spiritual significance of what she did. The value of an action does not depend upon your understanding of its full significance. So long as it is done with a totality of devotion. The prophets themselves did not necessarily understand the full significance of what they prophesied. But that does not diminish the value of their prophecy.

Mary did an excellent thing, something praiseworthy. The lord says that she had prepared his body for the burial. It is unlikely that she herself knew that she was preparing Jesus’ body for burial. Jesus rose from the dead, after being in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights. Now in those days, the practice was that when a person died, ointment was poured all over him to help preserve the body and this was done by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

Notice:

Joseph of Arimathea Buries Jesus Luke 23:50-56:

And Look!, there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council (but he had not consented to their counsel and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews), who was waiting for the Kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that was cut out of stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. And it was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. And the women who had come with him out of Galilee, having followed after Joseph, saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then, having returned, they prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Who came with Joseph of Arimathea? Nicodemus with spices

But Nicodemus also came (the Pharisee who previously came to him at night – John 3:1-2), bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So, because of the Preparation Day of the Jews they laid Jesus there because the tomb was nearby.

Act of Total Commitment

In the Bible, the body is spoken of as a vessel (e.g. 2 Timothy 2:20,21). The breaking of a vessel symbolizes death, particularly in the breaking and the pouring out of its contents (Philippians 2:17). Therefore the breaking of this alabaster jar and the pouring out of its contents symbolizes death and self-giving. This was exactly what the Lord Jesus was about to do, become a sin-offering sacrifice for our salvation. Mary acted out a parable of Jesus’ death in that incident. Jesus gave Himself totally to us, and in turn, we give ourselves to Him. Therefore the breaking of the jar and the pouring out of its contents is a picture of total commitment. Yet for this act of total commitment to Jesus, she is reproached by the disciples of the lord Jesus.

This shows that the Church can have a doubtful sense of spiritual values and therefore the spiritual direction of the Church could very quickly be in trouble as the history of the Church tells us. Jesus poured out himself as a sin-offering sacrifice in total commitment for our salvation. Is it too much to pour out the ointment for him?

A Vietnamese brother gave up his studies at Cambridge University when the lord made it clear to him that he was to leave Cambridge. Do you know who criticized him? Christians, saying that it was excessive and unnecessary. “What a waste!” He said to me, “I can’t understand why the things of this world are so important to Christians. They profess to have spiritual values, yet when it comes to the test, they show their hypocrisy.” What is your sense of values? I beg of you to search your heart truthfully.

Let’s close briefly with five points, as we analyze the matter a little more closely.

1. RARITY OF TOTAL COMMITMENT

This kind of total commitment that does not see anything too valuable to give to Jesus is so rare in the Churches. We talk about total commitment but our commitment is very much less than total. Therefore our spiritual direction is going to be very uncertain.

2. EXCESS IN DEVOTION

Though we speak about total commitment, yet when put to the test in relation to something we love, our commitment becomes much less than total. The things we are prepared to give are not valuable to us. We’re willing to give up our time provided it is our spare time. Reading the Bible is not giving something to Jesus, but it is for our own benefit. The same applies to prayer. Are our prayers not mostly for ourselves? We have given almost nothing to Jesus, perhaps just a few drops of ointment.

Is it possible to be excessive in devotion, in what we give to Jesus? No! We may give misguidedly by giving what he doesn’t want. For example, some people beat themselves until their blood runs or starve themselves when fasting. Fasting is good for self-discipline, but do not think we have given him anything. The lord does not take pleasure in seeing us beaten or starved. So sometimes our devotion may be misguided.

But can we talk about “total” and yet have excess? What is an excess of a total? That is a contradiction in terms Again, we reveal our hypocrisy and our lack of a sense of spiritual values.

3. CONFUSION IN SPIRITUAL VALUES

Spiritual things become confused when our sense of values is confused. It is strange how the disciples should criticize Mary for excess when they themselves have given up their own profession to follow Jesus. If they were so concerned about the poor, why did they not stay in fishing and donate their fish to the poor? It shows them to be utterly illogical unless their motive for following Jesus was impure. Those who study the Gospels are ready to concede that the motives might have been less than pure at first, at least in the case of some of the disciples. In the case of Judas, it was always impure, right to the end.

4. CRITICISM OF TOTAL COMMITMENT - SELF DEFENSE

We speak of Jesus as lord, yet in practice, we lord it over others by our criticism. Mary gave what was hers, her private possession, and had every right to do what she did. Yet, they thought they had the right to criticize. What right do I have to criticize you for what you do with what is yours? If a person decides to give up his profession, why do I criticize him? It is his life. Do we have the right to criticize? But it makes us feel uncomfortable when we see somebody breaking their alabaster jar. It makes us feel that we may have to break our own alabaster jar. We don’t want to break it, so we defend ourselves by saying that the action is unworthy and not desirable of imitation. We say that it is excessive and unnecessary. These are the ways in which we defend ourselves.

5. SELF-JUSTIFICATION THROUGH SPIRITUAL-SOUNDING REASONS

Often, we cover up our real reason with a spiritual-sounding reason. John 12 tells us that Judas criticized Mary, not because he was actually concerned about the poor, but because he loved money. He justified himself by making it sound as though he was concerned about the poor. Time and again, we justify ourselves with a spiritual-sounding reason, when in fact that is not really our reason. Thus we become caught in the most dangerous mess of self-deceit. When you decide not to serve the lord, Jesus, it is your business, and nobody has the right to criticize you. But do not give it a spiritual-sounding reason to cover it up. Just honestly admit you are not able to express this kind of devotion or that you are not ready. Do not say, for example, “I was going to serve the lord Jesus but the lord doesn’t want me to do this.” I have yet to come across anything like this in the Bible. God may send you to serve in a different place or in a different way. Yet, I have not yet heard of God - Yehovah rejecting someone when he comes to Him with a sincere commitment to serve Him. Be honest to say that our spiritual devotion is not adequate.

Every time we read this passage, does the feeling of waste come back? Let us ask ourselves: What is my sense of spiritual values? What is my commitment? What is my spiritual direction?

Written by Eric H.H. Chang and edited and added on to by Bruce Lyon