Jesus had predicted
for some time that His ministry would lead to Jerusalem. But in today’s passage there is a decided
turn toward the cross. Jesus says it is two
days off. The religious leadership is
plotting to make it happen. Judas joins their
plot. And God the Son is encouraged by a
devoted woman. The teaching, debate,
encouragements and admonitions of Passion Week give way to a more secluded
focus. Jesus will spend an evening with
His disciples (Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse is not part of this book as we have
dealt with it separately). And then He
will be deserted by everyone as alone He faces the early morning of so-called trials and six hours on the cross before
His body is laid in the tomb.
The cross reveals man’s
passion to kill. But it also reveals God’s
plan for the death of His Son. As Isaiah
said, it pleased the LORD to bruise Him
(53:10). This was the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God
(Ac. 2:23). With that in mind it is
interesting to compare the plans of men with the actual facts. The idea of the leaders was to kill Jesus by
trickery, only not during the feast of Passover since that would likely start a
riot. They were trying to save their own
lives, to maintain all they held dear.
What actually happened? Jesus
died during the feast; there was no uprising; and Jesus was not simply
executed: He was delivered up to be
crucified, fully satisfying every relevant OT prophecy.
Jesus died as the
Passover Lamb of God. As we have said,
this is not an execution; it is a sacrifice, the offering that satisfies the
righteous requirements for mankind to stand before their Creator. The leaders feared Him dying on that day; and
so did Satan who was fully aware of the essential symbolism. The disciples’ inability to understand the
use of the expensive perfume were also unable to understand the seeming waste
of the life of the Son of God.
Consider the anointing
of Jesus. John says it was Mary, the
sister of Martha and Lazarus who, like Simon the leper, also lived in
Bethany. She brought the perfume in the
best of containers, an alabaster jar. It
was the best of perfumes, worth 300 days wages.
She had likely been saving for this for a long time. But in a moment she broke the jar, poured out
the perfume on Jesus’ head allowing it to cover His feet which she washed with
her own hair. Hair is the glory of the
woman (1 Cor. 11:15); Mary truly worshiped God with her glory (Psalm 30:12).
But this was roundly
criticized by many in the setting (not just Judas). They did not understand because they did not
equate Mary’s worship with the truth of the Person she was honoring. It was the last straw for Judas whom God
would use to bring about a Passover crucifixion. But for Jesus it was the greatest
encouragement for what He knew was coming.
We can only hope and pray that this memorial to Mary will bring us to
the same place where our confession of Christ as Lord will be matched by a
bond-slave mentality in every feeling and word and action and sacrifice of our
lives as we go with Jesus to the cross.
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