RESPONDING TO JESUS (John 12:1-11)
INTRODUCTION:
Beginning this morning and continuing through Easter or what I like to call, “Resurrection Sunday” we will be taking a detour from 1 Thessalonians for three Sundays. Beginning this morning we will be looking at some significant events leading up to the resurrection from the Gospel of John. We will not only look at the events, but we will specifically be looking at the people involved in those events. This morning we will be looking at an event that took place six days before the Passover, six days before the Lord Jesus Christ would become our Passover Lamb and be sacrificed for the sins of the world.
As we enter into this passage we will learn or be reminded that there are only two types of people in the world when it comes to the Lord Jesus. Those two types are those who belong to Him and those who have rejected Him. In Jesus Christ we see the opposite extremes of love and hate, devotion and rejection, worship and blasphemy, faith and unbelief. In Jesus believers are divided from unbelievers, like sheep from goats, wheat from tares, children of God from children of the devil. You are either for Him or against Him. John wrote his Gospel to present Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity in human form; fully and truly God and fully and truly man as the promised messianic King that God had declared through the prophets would come to take back the earth, establish His rule, and bring in everlasting righteousness. John also presents Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world, the only means of forgiveness, the only hope of eternal life. Because of this, the book of John from beginning to end faces the issue of believing or not believing. When we are confronted with Jesus Christ one must decide if we are going to believe in Him which leads to eternal life, or if we are not going to believe in Him which will lead to judgment and eternal death in the Lake of fire. In John 12 we see the people of this chapter faced with this same decision and we see how they respond to Jesus. Let’s pray and then get into the Scriptures.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to John 12:1-11, our passage for today. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word. Peter read the parallel passage in Matthew for our Scripture reading this morning.
John 12:1-11,
“Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 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. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?’ 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. Therefore Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.’ The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.” (John 12:1–11, NASB95)[1]
SERVICE (John 12:1-2a)
John gives us an amazing bit of history here to set the stage for the final week of our Lord’s life. If you go back to chapter 11 you have the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Everybody knows about it, Lazarus became the most well-known resident of the small town of Bethany, just a couple of miles from Jerusalem. The word about Lazarus being raised from the dead is out and people everywhere in the vicinity of Jerusalem are talking about it. This was the final public miracle of Jesus that John records for us and the implications are huge as the news of it sweeps across the villages and into the city of Jerusalem. As we come to chapter 12 there has been a bit of an interlude. The religious leaders were greatly disturbed by Jesus and what He did when He raised Lazarus from the dead, but they never denied that He did this. They couldn’t, it was a fact, the dead man was alive. They had a conversation; they made a plan to kill Jesus. This had been coming for a long time, but the plan had been escalated by the impact that the resurrection of Lazarus had on the people. Because of this Jesus could no longer continue to walk publicly among the Jews. Jesus and His disciples withdrew from public view and went into the country, near the wilderness to a city called Ephraim. How long they were there we do not know, but now six days before the Passover the interlude is over, and Jesus returns to Bethany on His way to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. It is Saturday that He is in Bethany. The Sabbath, actually this is the last legitimate Sabbath. This is the final Sabbath in the Old Covenant because on Friday, Jesus will die and ratify the New Covenant. The Old Covenant becomes obsolete, the New Covenant is adopted, and there are no more authorized official Sabbaths. The church immediately begins to gather on Sunday, the day that Christ was raised from the dead. The symbol of the New Covenant is not the Passover in Egypt, the symbol of the New Covenant is the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day of the week.
As we come into this chapter, we are immediately met with this issue of decision to believe or not believe simply because Jesus is here. The first four people in this bit of history have chosen to believe. We see in them three aspects of the Christian life which are service, fellowship, and worship. On that last Sabbath before He is crucified and bears the sins of the world, Jesus chooses to spend it with His beloved friends in Bethany. These were people He knew and loved; He had spent time in their homes. Jesus is six days away from the thorns, the nails, the spear, the hatred, the sin-bearing, the loneliness of being forsaken by God. This is all six days ahead but vivid in His mind, and He seeks the warmth, and the love, and the affection of His dear friends in Bethany.
The first person that we meet in this narrative is Martha and she is doing what Martha does best, she is serving. Don’t get me wrong, service is important, and I think Martha kind of gets a bad rap at times. Here in John 12, she is serving the meal that was made in honor of Jesus. This is noble service; someone has to do it. It is God-honoring service. Jesus said in Mathew 20:26-27, “…whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;” (Matthew 20:26b–27, NASB95).[2] The Bible honors service and Martha will always be remembered for her service. We are all called to be servants of God, servants of the Lord Jesus, and servants of each other. Because of this it is important to see the nobility of the service of Martha. She does it because he loves her Lord, and she loves the people she serves. So, in Martha we see the first aspect of one who has chosen to believe in the Lord Jesus and that He is who He says He is, she shows her love and devotion, her faith by serving Him.
FELLOWSHIP (John 12:2b)
Now we know from the Scripture reading from Matthew this morning that this meal that was in honor of Jesus was not in the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Matthew tells us that it was in the home of Simon the Leper. Now Simon could not have been a leper at this time or there would not have been this meal at his house because lepers were not allowed to be around other people, they had to live outside of the towns and cry out “unclean, unclean” to anyone that was approaching them. We should call this Simon the ex-leper. How did Simon become an ex-leper? There is no other way in Simon’s day unless He was healed by the Creator Himself, which gives us information as to why Simon would host this event in honor of Jesus.
Simon, like Lazarus, had a miraculous restoration. Sitting at the table or reclining at the table with Jesus are two very special people. One is an ex-leper, and one is an ex-dead man. That should have made for some fascinating conversation, then between them the Lord Jesus, can you imagine the conversation, imagine them talking about what happened to them when they met Jesus and received His power to be restored to health and life. What is happening here is contrasted with the end of chapter 11 where the religious leaders of Israel want to arrest Jesus and kill Him. They want anybody who knows where He is to report it to them so that He can be arrested, and here Jesus sits at a meal that is in honor of Him. The aspect of the Christian life that is seen in the lives of Simon and Lazarus is fellowship. They reclined and conversed with the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is sometimes called Communion because we meditate on the Lord Jesus and remember His death on our behalf. Here we see Simon and Lazarus communing with Jesus, with Him whom they loved. I am sure that wherever the Lord Jesus sat was recognized as the head of the table. It was in Simon’s home, but the Lord Jesus would be the Host. Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus, Lazarus, who had been dead, and lived again! You and I, who have put our faith in Christ for forgiveness of our sins, are men and women of the resurrection, and it is our great privilege to have fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus
Christ, our glorious Head. Understand that it takes two to have fellowship. One speaks and the other responds. We have fellowship with our Lord when we get before Him over His own Word and He speaks to us, and when we draw near to Him in prayer and pour out our hearts to Him. Lazarus and Simon represent to us fellowship as they reclined at the table with Jesus.
WORSHIP (John 12:3)
The next person to come into this narrative is Mary and she represents for us another aspect of the Christian life and it is worship. John writes, “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, NASB95)[3] Mary worships her Lord in humble sacrifice. John is very deliberate and detailed in telling us what took place here, it does not have anything to do with theology, it gives no new insight into doctrine, but the details are given to us to describe the lavish nature of Mary’s affection for the Lord Jesus. This is a great illustration to remind us of sacrificial, completely unrestrained worship of the One who is the object of Mary’s love and devotion. A pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, that is a lot of pure perfume, pure fragrant oil. The Greek word refers to a fragrant oil. Nard was an exceedingly rare herb grown in the high pasture lands of China, Tibet, and India. It would not find its way to Bethany unless it was carried there by camels from India or China. Because it came from so far away and because it was so pure, it was very valuable. In fact, its value was known by the man who always thought only about the price of things: Judas Iscariot. He valued the price in verse five as 300 denarii. A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer. That is three hundred days of work, essentially a year’s work when you calculate in day’s off and holidays.
Mary heart was overflowing and she expresses her heart’s adoration through this act of sacrifice, and it is an expression of worship. In Matthew and Mark, we read that she did not only pour this fragrant oil on His feet but also on His head. Then she loosened her hair, which was a radical thing for a woman to do in the presence of men, but she let it down that she might use it to wipe His feet. Foot washing was part of the meal because people wore sandals and the roads were dusty. Dirty feet didn’t suit people sitting down for a long, relaxed meal as they sat in a reclining position. She does this from a heart of worship. This is love that knows no bounds, unrestrained worship. It’s extravagant, its humble, its generous. She gave everything of value that she could lay her hands on. This is true worship, giving back to God of that which He has given to us. There must have been stunned silence when they saw Mary do this. As the fragrance filled the room and those seated at the table began to contemplate this humble act of sacrificial worship, their silence and contemplation was interrupted.
APOSTASY (John 12:4-8)
Their silenced was interrupted by Judas Iscariot, whom John described as one of the disciples of Jesus who intended to betray him. This is how he is always described when mentioned by name in the gospels. Jesus identified him as a devil. John 6:70-71 says, “Jesus answered them, ‘Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?’ Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.” (John 6:70–71, NASB95)[4] This is how he is identified. He thought that he would become wealthy by throwing his lot in with Jesus, thinking he would be given some position of power and authority in the Kingdom. But it began to become clear that this thing wasn’t going in the direction he wanted it to go. While everyone else was growing to love Christ more, Judas was growing to hate Him more. The idea of a kingdom was gone. Everything was going wrong, but he had to keep up the hypocrisy, so he says in verse five, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” (John 12:5, NASB95)[5] This sounds noble, but John tells us in verse 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.” (John 12:6, NASB95)[6] In other words, when things did not go in the direction he thought they should, he began embezzling what little money they had to sustain them. He wanted money and all the money he could get. He was ready now to get out, whatever was going to be the end of this thing for Jesus. Jesus said He was going to die. He has seen the hostility of the religious leaders, their hate. They were going to take Jesus’ life. He knows the end is coming. He needed to get out. These are the first words in Scripture from the lips of Judas. For 300 denarii he would rob Jesus of the gift of Mary’s love and worship. Later this same week he would sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. 300 denarii is about a year’s wages, 30 pieces of silver, about 4 months. The perfume was worth 3 times more to him than what he sold Jesus for.
Judas was an apostate. What is an apostate? Somebody who defects from truth with the knowledge of the truth. There have been many apostates down through the centuries, so Judas is not a solitary figure. But he is the apostate of all apostates having been so close to the Savior. That is a fearful place to be, to know the truth and depart from it. So, we see in these verses the hypocritical self-interest of Judas. The Lord responded to Judas in verse 7, “Therefore Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.’” (John 12:7, NASB95)[7] The Lord Jesus connects what Mary did out of an expression of love and worship to His burial. Did Mary know that? Was she doing this with His burial in mind? We do not know, but Jesus interpreted what she did as anointing Him for the day of His burial. By saying this, Jesus declared that He was going to die and be buried. What she did as an act of worship was symbolic of His coming burial. When Jesus said this to Judas he knew it was over. Jesus just said He is going to die and be buried. There wasn’t going to be any future. There wasn’t going to be any more money to steal. The next time we see him he is making a deal with the religious leaders to hand Jesus over to them.
Jesus says in verse 8, “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” (John 12:8, NASB95)[8] Jesus is saying that you will always have the poor, and you’re always going to want to care for the poor. It is right to take care of the poor. It is right to care for them, but not right now, I’m here. You don’t always have Me. Jesus was saying that in life there are priorities. There is temporal relief, and there is eternal worship, and you better know the difference. Judas knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing. He departed from the truth and from the only One who could give him life, eternal life.
INDIFFERENCE (John 12:9)
John closes this bit of history by introducing us to two more groups of people just briefly. First, the crowd who was indifferent. Verse 9 says, “The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.” (John 12:9, NASB95)[9] So, the crowds heard that Jesus had come, and they learned where He was and who was with Him. You see the shallowness of the crowd. They are curious about Jesus, but they are just as curious about Lazarus. They want to see the man who was dead and is alive again. On the next day, this same crowd will be shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David.” By the end of the week, they will be shouting, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him! We will not have this man reign over us.” This is the shallow indifference of the people, they too missed the truth and the One who could give them life, eternal life.
HOSTILITY (John 12:10-11)
John closes this scene with the hostility of the religious leaders, and their wicked scheming. The religious leaders, it tells us in verses 10-11, that they planned to put Lazarus to death as well. Talk about destroying evidence. Killing the man who was raised from the dead. You get the idea of the extreme hatred they had for Jesus. It was never about evidence. They never denied the miracles Jesus performed. They didn’t deny the resurrection of Lazarus. They want to kill him again because of his resurrection many of the Jews were going away, going away from them to follow Jesus. The resurrection of Lazarus allowed the surfacing of the hostile scheming of the religious rulers and leaders to reach its highest point where they not only wanted to kill Jesus, but they wanted to kill Lazarus too. They too missed the truth that was right in front of them, they rejected the One who could have given them life, eternal life.
CONCLUSION:
This morning we have looked at how people respond to Jesus. When we are confronted with the truth about Jesus we must make a decision, we must decide what we are going to do with that truth. Martha chose to believe the truth and she expressed her gratitude through service. This is an aspect of a true Christian, he or she will want to serve the Lord Jesus. We saw the choice of Lazarus and Simon; they chose to believe the truth that Jesus was the Savior of the world and they demonstrated for us the fellowship that comes from trusting in Christ. You can have that same fellowship with Jesus when you put your faith in Him for the forgiveness of sin. He will speak to you through His word, and you can commune and fellowship with Him in prayer. Finally, we saw Mary’s choice and she demonstrated her belief in the Lord Jesus as Savior through her sacrificial worship. Her love and trust in the Lord was expressed in giving to the Lord what was most valuable to her, that is true heartfelt worship. Then we saw Judas, the crowd, and the religious leaders each responding to the truth in their own way, but each rejecting it.
This morning you have been confronted by the truth about Jesus. He came to this earth to die for the sins of the world. His death satisfied the justice of God and we can now be declared righteous through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is simple, we come to God in repentance admitting that we have sinned, but we believe that Jesus died on the cross in our place, that He suffered God’s wrath against sin on our behalf. We believe that His death satisfied God’s wrath and by His death and resurrection our sins are forgiven. This is something that you can do in the quietness of your own heart, but do not keep it there, share it with someone, share it with me that we might rejoice together that your sins have been forgiven and you have become a child of God. For you who have already trusted in the Savior, keep believing, serve the Lord Jesus with your whole heart, fellowship with Him through His Word and prayer and worship Him sacrificially and extravagantly, because He gave everything so that you might have forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.