Passion Week Wednesday - Day of Silence: A woman prepares Jesus for burial
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Big idea: A beautiful sacrifice deserves a beautiful sacrifice
Outline
Introduction
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the goodness of Jesus.
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the suffering of Jesus.
Conclusion: A beautiful sacrifice is remembered forever.
Introduction
Today is the fourth day of Passion week, which began this past Sunday, and will continue until Good Friday. It is a time for us to follow the footsteps of Jesus, to bear witness to our Lord’s journey to the cross, and to pick up our own cross and follow Him. Today, Wednesday, is known as the day of silence, because there isn’t much that is recorded about this day except for the events of today’s scripture passage.
Today’s passage comes from Matthew 26:6-16
Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 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. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 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.”
Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
This is a familiar story for most of us. On this day of the passion week, Jesus is in a house at Bethany with His disciples and a woman comes and empties an alabaster jar of perfume on him, and everyone gets upset. Everyone, but Jesus. In fact, Jesus’ response to this woman takes His disciples by surprise. He looks at what she has done, and He calls it “a beautiful thing”. That’s in verse 11. The word beautiful here is kalos and means good, beautiful, and lovely.
Don’t we want that? I’m sure we want Jesus to look at us from heaven and say, ‘The worship and sacrifice of Zion Church is a beautiful thing.’
So this evening we’re going to look at this story, and we’re going to learn from the good example and the bad example. The good example in this story is the woman, and the bad example are the disciples, and Judas in particular.
And what we’re going to see is there are two key ingredients which make up a beautiful sacrifice. First, it is a sacrifice which remembers the goodness of Jesus. And second, it is a sacrifice which remembers His suffering. If we can worship with these two things in mind, then God is going to look upon our worship service and our offerings, and He’s going to call it a beautiful thing.
And what we’ll see is the woman only acted in anticipation of Jesus’ own sacrifice. She knew His value, who He is, and she anticipated His suffering. And that costly alabaster jar of perfume was her response. She could give nothing less.
In other words, a beautiful sacrifice deserves a beautiful sacrifice.
A beautiful sacrifice deserves a beautiful sacrifice.
So let’s look at the first point.
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the goodness of Jesus
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the goodness of Jesus
The Gospel of John tells us how much the perfume cost.
“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
Three hundred denarii back then was the average annual income, which translates into about $65,000 Singapore dollars. So why does this woman go out of her way and break the bank in order to pour such an expensive perfume on Jesus?
First, we have to understand the culture at the time. If someone invited you for a meal at their home, you would expect the host to pour perfume on you. It was part of their hospitality. For example, in Luke 7, when Jesus eats at the house of Simon the Pharisee, He expects to have perfume poured on Him (Luke 7:46). The funeral services back then also used a lot of perfume. If someone died, they would also pour perfume on the dead body. It was part of the funeral customs going all the way back to the Old Testament. You can refer to 2 Chronicles 16:14 for the perfume for King Asa’s burial.
Executed criminals, however, were not given perfume for their bodies. No perfume would be spared for the man put on trial and found guilty. And it would be the same for Jesus. Look at Mark 16:1
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
Now back to the woman in today’s passage. She knows Jesus’ body will not be honored, and so what does she do? She anoints His body with perfume beforehand. She does for Jesus what His executioners will not do.
But what is her point in doing this? What is she saying? By anointing Jesus’ body with perfume, she declares that Jesus is innocent. No matter what the Sanhedrin says, no matter what Herod or Pilate says, He is a good man, not guilty.
But Jesus then goes on to say something powerful about her faith.
In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 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.”
Jesus here says two things.
She has prepared Him for burial.
Wherever this gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will be told.
Now some of us might scratch our heads at this. Was Jesus so touched that He wanted this woman to be remembered? What does her perfume have to do with the gospel? It seems to be a case of apples and oranges.
But here’s the connection. She believed in Jesus’ innocence and goodness, not only in the eyes of the world, but in the very eyes of God. Jesus is not guilty only before men, but before God. And these two things are worlds apart, because only a sinless man can take the place of a sinner.
A man on death row cannot die for his fellow inmate, nor can a person in debt lift another person out of debt.
This woman believed that Jesus was completely sinless, and that sinlessness, that goodness is what allows Him to die in her place, and it turns His death into her life. His goodness bridges the gap between His suffering and her healing. It’s the bridge that connects His sacrifice with her salvation. And her alabaster jar was in response to that.
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the goodness of the sinless Savior.
This woman probably wasn’t well-to-do. That alabaster jar of perfume could have transformed her life had she sold it and used the money for herself. A whole year’s worth of salary could have done so much for her. But she took that life she could have lived, and she poured it on Jesus and said, ‘Lord, I don’t need this life anymore because Your death is my life.’
See, the only way we can deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him is if we remember the new life that we have in Jesus. And we can only do that if we remember His goodness as the sinless Savior.
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the suffering of Jesus
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the suffering of Jesus
The disciples of Jesus didn’t recognize what this woman was doing. They were outraged and indignant at her act of faith, and so they verbally attacked her.
And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”
Now the word ‘indignant’ here is ἀγανακτέω (aganakteo) and means to be angry about something that is wrong or unfair. The disciples saw the way this woman used the expensive perfume, and they’re saying that it was wasted on Jesus. Jesus did not deserve it. Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt? These disciples had been His closest friends for the span of three years.
John 12:4 says it was Judas Iscariot who led the disciples in criticizing the woman. And how much was Jesus worth to Judas? Thirty pieces of silver.
Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. And while the actual cost in today’s terms is hard to estimate, the Bible tells us the significance of thirty pieces of silver.
If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
Thirty pieces of silver was the cost of a slave. To the woman, Jesus was worth her everything. To Judas, Jesus was worth as much as a slave.
What is a slave? A slave does what you tell him. A slave is focused on doing your will. That’s exactly how Judas saw Jesus. Judas only wanted to accomplish his own personal agenda, and he followed Jesus with such a mindset.
And so Jesus defends the woman. And what does He say?
For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
What is He saying? He’s not saying that we shouldn’t give to the poor. He’s saying that there will always be poor people around, but He will soon be made poor for our sake. In fact, it is we who are spiritually poor, and by His death, we are made rich.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
What did He have to lose? Jesus wasn’t rich in material things, but He was rich in goodness, righteousness, and in the love of the Father. He lost all of that for our sake.
This evening some of us might identify more with Judas than the woman, because our alabaster jar isn’t filled yet. Maybe we’re still holding back some area of our lives that we want to keep for ourselves. But for our sakes, Jesus walked the path of suffering to the cross.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
While we were still in our sin, while our alabaster jars had yet to be filled, Jesus was nailed to the cross. And on that cross, in His infinite goodness, the sinless Savior took on the sins of the world. The night before, He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane three times on His knees, praying for the same thing: “My Father, let this cup pass from Me.”
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
And what is this cup? The Bible talks of the cup of God’s wrath, and it was a cup that we were meant to drink. And unless you have nailed your sins to the cross of Jesus, you too must drink this cup in the last day. It is a cup of eternal wrath.
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
We were the ones in dire straits. We had accumulated a debt of sin that no one could lift for us. And this cup of wrath was ours to drink, except that before we could put it to our lips, Jesus snatched it out of our hand. For six hours on the cross, the sinless Son of God drank the cup of wrath so that we don’t have to.
Doesn’t it make us so sad and angry when we read of murders, rapes, and school shootings in the news? How much more furious do we get when we actually know the victim?
Every single person is God’s precious child, and the truth is that our human anger is but a matchstick compared to the furnace of God’s divine wrath against all the sins of this world. That cup contained the immeasurable wrath of God against all the unspeakable sins if this world. It was ours to drink, but Jesus, with trembling hands, cut the queue and drank it on our behalf.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
His whole life, Jesus only called God His Father. When He prayed, He cried out to His Father, the only One who could comfort Him. But on the cross, Jesus took on everything the Father hated. And so when He called out in desperation to His precious Father, the only One who ever understood Him, He was abandoned and forsaken.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Can you imagine His heart breaking? And what does He say? He doesn’t say ‘My Father, my Father.’ For the first time in His life, He says, ‘My God, My God.’ For the first time since eternity past, since before the creation of the world, the Father turns His face away from His beloved Son.
Jesus called His Father ‘God’ so that we can call God ‘Father’.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
This is the new life that Jesus offers us. This is the salvation that comes from the goodness and the suffering of Jesus. As Christians, we must offer Jesus a beautiful sacrifice that remembers His goodness and His suffering. That is the only way for us to fill our alabaster jar this evening and say, ‘Lord, Your death is my life. Your suffering is my healing. Your sacrifice is my salvation.’
A beautiful sacrifice remembers the goodness and suffering of Jesus.
Conclusion: A beautiful sacrifice is remembered forever
Conclusion: A beautiful sacrifice is remembered forever
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 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.”
People may say that our sacrifice of time, effort and money may be wasted, but Jesus looks at it and says, ‘What you have done is beautiful.’ Jesus sees our blood, our sweat, our tears, and He calls it beautiful. And He remembers our sacrifice and our worship.
You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
He sees the times we’ve had to sacrifice our sleep, our opportunities, our money, and our free time.
God sees the countless times our Sharon Praise team members have to rush over from work or from school, He sees the rising taxi costs and the times they’re stuck in traffic. He knows it’s hard work, and He remembers it.
God sees the effort that our Zion church ushers put in every week to come early on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings to welcome visitors, and to prepare the church for worship service.
God sees the way our Sharon choir members sacrifice their Sunday afternoons, leaving church past 3:30 or 4pm. He sees the practice throughout the week, listening to the recordings, and having to come to church early on Sunday morning.
God sees all that, and He calls it beautiful, and He remembers it forever.
So let us offer to our Lord Jesus Christ our alabaster jar this evening. Let us remember our Lord’s goodness and His suffering, and the life that He offers us as children of God who can call God ‘our Father’. And let us deny ourselves, fill up our alabaster jar, pick up our cross, and follow Him. For Jesus has made a beautiful sacrifice for us, and that deserves a beautiful sacrifice from us.
Let us pray.