Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Mark 14:1-9 in our “Finished” series. He said that the Kingdom of God sets us free in this life and the next. Lector: Kara Tichenor
Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Mark 14:1-9 in our “Finished” series. He said that the Kingdom of God sets us free in this life and the next.
Lector: Kara Tichenor
Have you ever thought about what you'd do if you knew The date you would die?
How would you spend your final days and hours?
How would that shift your priorities, your cares, your focus?
We've come to the end of our journey through Mark, pace slows way down.
And we get a window into how Jesus spends his last days.
Wrapped in each one of these stories is an invitation into a new way of living, and even a new way of dying.
These stories show us what Mark meant in the very beginning of his story.
He says this book is the GOOD NEWS about Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Messiah.
Each week in June, we'll consider why this is good news, praying for ears to hear God leading us towards life.
Chapter 14 begins:
It was now two days before Passover...the leading priests..were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him.
-Mark 14:1
A few days left for Jesus. We have a window to see how the Chosen One spent his final hours.
And on the onset, it's important for us to see that his conflict lasted until the very end.
Religious elites still trying to capture and kill him.
This is important for us to sit with for 2 reasons.
First, Jesus kept showing up despite the conflict.
Some of us are terrified of conflict, some of us for very good reasons.
Some of us orchestrate our whole lives around avoiding conflict.
We never see Jesus excited about conflict. We never see Jesus seeking it out or creating it. Jesus is not quarrelsome or aggressive. Never instigates.
But he doesn't hide from conflict, either.
Still in the Temple area. Still within reach of those who want to kill him.
Because life in God's kingdom is about more than saving our lives.
And, Second but more difficult, Jesus shows us that some conflicts will last our whole lives.
Different seasons of intensity perhaps. Different ways to deal with it at different times.
But too many of us fantasize about a conflict-free life.
I can't be the only one that dreams about moving to the woods or the country with my family where life will always be easy and free of conflict...it's a fantasy.
We have to grow in our willingness to accept that some suffering will remain.
Some conflict will remain. Our cups of loss, difficulty, limitation...some will endure
But we remember that life in God's kingdom is about more than saving our lives.
So, while people are plotting to kill him, while conflict rages, what is Jesus doing with his time?
Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy.
-Mark 14:3
Most superficially, Jesus is spending his final hours with friends.
He's having a meal. Isn't that wonderful? Dinner with friends.
Of all the things he could be doing, the son of God is having dinner w/friends.
We get one name here, Simon, who previously had leprosy. We know why.
He met Jesus. So, who are Jesus' friends at this point?
Men like Simon. His last hours with a former social outcast.
Diseased, poor, likely homeless. Much has changed for Simon.
It's worth noting that Jesus, once again, is spending time on the margins, not the center, of society.
Clearly this was Jesus' reputation, because another such person did what was Not expected:
While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume...
-Mark 14:3
What would compel you to enter a stranger's house unannounced and uninvited while they were eating dinner?
Even if you felt like it wouldn't be morally wrong to do so, what would it take for you to do that?
If you were part of a class that was not supposed to mix with another, if everyone would be horrified and angered...what would it take for you?
Some part of you would need to believe that the kingdom of God is about more than saving your life.
Some part of you would have to believe there is something more valuable than your life.
She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
-Mark 14:3
In today's dollars, that jar probably cost around 75k. A year's salary, and 75k is the median US household income.
So...take whatever it is you make in a year.
Make one single purchase.
Go into a home where you weren't invited and aren't supposed to go.
And give that thing away.
Why. Would. You. Do. This?
Most of us feel like the disciples at this point I imagine:
Some of those at the table were indignant. "Why waste such expensive perfume?" They asked. "It could have been sold for a year's wages and the money given to the poor!" So they scolded her harshly.
-Mark 14:4-5
The heart seems so good here, doesn't it? None of us really like watching someone else be wasteful, even when our definitions of "waste" are different.
What is the underlying belief that leads to this kind of a scolding?
Perhaps there's some part about stewardship, we want to make the most of what we have...but if that were the case here, they probably would have seen what was actually happening.
Some of you may remember what Jesus said about a poor widow who gave away all she had a few weeks ago.
So, what is the belief that makes you afraid to let something go?
What is the belief that makes it hard for you to give, to be generous, to be extravagant?
Here's an example. In 2022, about 13% of US Households had food insecurity.
In other words, 13% of homes in the US were chronically hungry.
Unable to buy food.
How would you react if the government said "no one is going hungry in America anymore"
Gonna buy food for everyone who needs it, pay school lunches etc.
Many of us would likely have 2 reactions:
That's not fair! We don't have the money!
Fairness and scarcity are the enemies of this kind of spending.
The CEO of Hunger Free America has done the math, and Mr. Joel Berger estimates it would cost roughly 25 billion to end. Hunger. In the United States.
Our latest budget has 1.6 trillion in DISCRETIONARY funds. Spend what you want.
The problem isn't the dollars, is it. 25 billion is a drop in the bucket for our nation.
But...it's not fair, and it's too expensive.
Most of us live with a deep belief that there's not enough to go around.
We live with a deep fear that we live in a world of scarcity, not abundance.
But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why critique her for doing such a good thing to me?"
-Mark 14:6
A surprising dinner: last hours of his life. Surprising host: a leper. Surprising guest: this woman. A surprising act...and a surprising response.
Jesus presses the surprise even further...
You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.
-Mark 14:6-8
Surprise upon surprise.
The sober acknowledgment from Jesus that there will always be poor people.
The unexpected female guest behaving like a priest performing an anointing ritual.
And Jesus soberly, calmly acknowledging the time of his death is near.
And did you notice how he described this woman's deed?
She did what she could.
Could someone else have done something more? Different? Of course.
But she did what she could. It was extravagant, surprising, beautiful.
So...how does this help us understand the good news that Jesus brings?
WHY IS THIS STORY GOOD NEWS?
What brings someone to perform an act such as this?
Love. It can only be love. To cross this many boundaries...no requests, no pleading...this is not desperation or fear. This is love.
And try and consider what this kind of love must believe about Jesus and the world.
It must believe that this person is worthy of such love and devotion.
What social codes and traditions would you break to love your child, your spouse?
This is the kind of love Jesus is worthy of
And when you love like this, you leave your world of scarcity and enter into a world of ABUNDANCE
Why else would you give all you have if not from the belief that love will give you more than you could ask or imagine?
Why else would you make such sacrifices unless you believed there was plenty to go around?
Why else would you lay down your life unless you believed a more beautiful life would be given to you in return?
Jesus ends this encounter by saying that wherever his gospel is preached, this woman's story will be remembered and discussed...because this story helps us understand why the gospel is such good news.
By laying down his life for us, Jesus invites us into a life that is about so much more than just saving our own lives.
He doesn't forgive sins just so we can walk around remembering how terrible we are.
He forgives us to free us.
How free does this woman look to you right now?
Free from social stigma and pressure.
Free from fears of her health—she goes to a leper's house!
Free from fear of rejection or shame—her eyes fixed only on Jesus
FREE FROM THE FEAR THAT WE MUST HOLD TIGHTLY TO WHAT WE HAVE: She pours out her most valuable possession on Jesus' head.
Can you see it rolling down his hair and cheeks?
Did it make a mess? Did it feel the room with a divine scent?
When you follow Jesus, you leave our world of scarcity and enter into a world of abundance
And the more we give ourselves to love like this, in pursuit of Jesus, the more that love will be returned to us over and over and over again.
Can you even imagine how this woman felt when Jesus came to her defense?
The Kingdom of God is about more than saving your life, it's about setting you free, in this and the next.
In his final hours, Jesus shows us the good news of his gospel.
He eats dinner with his outcast friends
He welcomes someone who doesn't belong
He shows us we live in a world of abundance carried along by love.
This is his invitation to each of this morning: whoever has ears to hear, hear and follow Jesus.