SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/17/2013
9:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus: In Bethany—Adored
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark 14:1-11
Message of the
verses: In today’s Spiritual Diary
we will return to the book of Mark and begin the longest chapter in the book of
Mark, the 14th. Dr. Wiersbe
entitles this chapter in his commentary “The Servant Suffers.” We are now in the final week of Jesus’ life
on earth, and in that week we will see the culmination of many of the OT
prophecies dating all the way back to Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise
you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’” We will see Jesus bruise the head of Satan as
He goes to the cross to suffer and die for our sins, but that is not the end
for three days later He will rise from the dead to spend 40 more days on earth
before returning to heaven where He now sits to make intercession for His own
on earth. Dr. Wiersbe states the
following at the end of his introductory commentary from this chapter, “Follow
the footsteps during the days and hours of the last week, and you will be
amazed to see the responses of various people to the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our first group of people are those who were
with Jesus as Mary anoints the body of Jesus for burial.
In Bethany—Adorned (Mark 14:1-11): “1 ¶
Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief
priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;
2 for they were saying, "Not during
the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people." 3 While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon
the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster
vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it
over His head. 4 But some were
indignantly remarking to one another, "Why has this perfume been wasted?
5 "For this perfume might have been
sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor." And
they were scolding her. 6 But Jesus
said, "Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to
Me. 7 "For you always have the poor
with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always
have Me. 8 "She has done what she could;
she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. 9 "Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel
is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of
in memory of her." 10 Then Judas
Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to
betray Him to them. 11 They were glad
when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how
to betray Him at an opportune time.”
The event that we are looking at today happened before
Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey which we call “the Triumphal Entry. (See
John 12:1) Dr. Wiersbe writes, “By
placing this story between the accounts of the plot to arrest Jesus, Mark
contrasted the treachery of Judas and the leaders with the love and loyalty of
Mary. The ugliness of their sins makes
the beauty of her sacrifice even more meaningful.”
As we look at verses one and two we see that the leaders
of Israel desired to kill Jesus, but they did not want to do it during the time
of the Passover feast, and the reason that they did not want to do it then was
because they feared a riot of the people.
The problem with their plan was that it did not go along with the plan
that God had, and that was to have Jesus die on the cross at the same time that
the Passover Lambs were to die, for as Paul states “For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificed,” (1Cor. 5:7b).
We find out that Mary of Bethany who was the sister of
Martha and Lazarus was the woman who would anoint the body of Jesus for burial
in John’s Gospel, “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 the perfume.”
(John 12:3) We dare not get this
event mixed up with another event that happened earlier in the life of Jesus
that was done by a prostitute that is seen in Luke 7:36-50. Mary would use a bottle with a long neck on
it that was imported from India and cost a year’s wages of a common
person. The climate is hot in this area
of the world and there was no deodorant at that time and so people would use
this type of perfume in a small quantity to make themselves smell better. Mary would use this entire bottle to anoint
Jesus’ body for burial.
Dr. Wiersbe writes that there were three consequences to
her act of worship. The first
consequence was that the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment as
seen in John 12:3. Paul writes these
word to the Corinthians in 2Cor 2:15-16, “15
For we are a fragrance
of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are
perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from
death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate
for these things?” Dr. Wiersbe writes “There
is always a ‘spiritual fragrance in the home where Jesus Christ is loved and
worshiped.”
The second consequence is from the disciples, headed up
by Judas as they were critical of Mary’s “wasting” of her money in using it on
Jesus. When we look at John 12:4-6 we
learn the true motive of Judas, “4 But
Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, *said,
5 "Why was this perfume not sold
for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?" 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but
because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was
put into it.” The rest of the
disciples were still convinced that Judas was concerned about the poor in the
upper room, “29 For some were supposing,
because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, "Buy the
things we have need of for the feast"; or else, that he should give
something to the poor, John 13:29).”
The third and final consequence was that Jesus commended
Mary and accepted her gracious gift.
There is a great contrast between the heart of Mary and the heart of
Judas as demonstrated in what happened that evening, for Judas was only
thinking about himself, while Mary’s love for the Lord is seen and continues to
be seen even today. The act that Jesus
does is also remembered today. Think
about how many parents name their daughters Mary, for there are millions named
Mary even today, but you would be hard pressed to find a son named Judas in the
entire world.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary on this section with
these words, “Mary gave her best in faith and love; Judas gave his worst in
unbelief and hatred. He solved the
problem of how the Jewish leaders could arrest Jesus without causing a riot
during the feast. He sold his Master for
the price of a slave (See Exodus 21:32), the basest act of treachery in
history.” “Basest” “the lowest, bottom, or supporting part or layer of
something.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I suppose that
there have been many times when I too have betrayed my Lord, but not in the
same way that Judas did, but perhaps in the way that Peter did, and for that I
am ashamed. My desire is to be like Mary
in the act of love that she gave to our Lord, for Mary’s gift to Jesus was a
gift of love and a gift that cost her a great deal, giving it in the right
motive. This is a great example to
follow.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I believe that Mary was totally content in
doing what she did, and it is my desire to continue to learn contentment. I also desire to continue to have my mind
transformed by the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-6
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where
shall my help come? 2 My help comes from
the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold He who keeps Israel will neither
slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shad on your
right hand. 6 The sun will not smite
your by day, nor the moon by night.
Turning Points Wisdom for
today: “Never dig up in unbelief what
you have sown in faith.” (Gordon
Lindsay) “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
(Mark 9:24)
1/17/2013 10:57 AM
PS. After listening to a message by John MacArthur that covered the text in this SD he brought up an interesting point that I want to pass on. The question as to why Mark and the other early Gospel writers did not name Mary and John did may be explained because John wrote his Gospel much later than Mark, Matthew, and Luke and perhaps they did not mention Mary because of her still being around the Jerusalem area. I am not sure how much spiritual impact this has, but interesting none the less.
PS. After listening to a message by John MacArthur that covered the text in this SD he brought up an interesting point that I want to pass on. The question as to why Mark and the other early Gospel writers did not name Mary and John did may be explained because John wrote his Gospel much later than Mark, Matthew, and Luke and perhaps they did not mention Mary because of her still being around the Jerusalem area. I am not sure how much spiritual impact this has, but interesting none the less.
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