"Extravagant Worship and Petty Betrayal" | Mark 14:1-11 | The Gospel of Mark Series | Hillside Baptist Church

Many of us in this room are quite thrifty.

We like a good sale.

In a week like this one, with Black Friday sales everywhere, our dopamine kicks into a whole different gear.

Some people like to brag about how much their stuff costs, not us.

We like to brag about how little we spent on certain items.

For example, my family got a couch from Goodwill and we only spent$40.

And it's a pretty comfortable couch.

Our dining room table made out of solid wood,$25.

We like a good deal.

Whether it's a thrift store or something that we found on Facebook Marketplace, we love getting the best and most for the least cost.

We also don't like to waste things.

Many of us grew up with parents who lived through the depression or hard financial times.

We learned to stretch leftovers, reuse, repurpose, and hold on to things.

And there's some wisdom in that.

Being careful with what we have can be a good thing.

But here's the danger: being frugal with our possessions can quietly turn into being frugal with our devotion.

We can become careful, even stingy, not just with our money, but with our worship, our time, our affection, or even our obedience.

And yet the gospel calls us to the opposite.

Christ's whole-hearted sacrifice calls for whole-hearted devotion.

And that brings us to Mark 14.

As we get ready to turn there, let's first go to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who is generous, who gives abundantly.

God, we thank you that you are not stingy.

And Lord Jesus, we we praise you that you gave yourself completely.

And so as you call us to give ourselves completely, we pray that your word this morning would form in our hearts that type of response.

We ask for your Holy Spirit's help in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Mark chapter 14, verses 1 through eleven.

Mark 14:1

Now the Passover and unleavened bread were two days away, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how, after seizing him in secret, they might kill him.

For they were saying, Not during the festival, lest there be a riot of the people.

And while he was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster jar of perfume, of very costly pure nard, and she broke the jar and poured it over his head.

But some were indignantly remarking to one another, Why has this perfume been wasted?

For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denari and given to the poor.

And they were scolding her.

But Jesus said, Let her alone.

Why do you bother her?

She did a good work for me.

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.

She has done what she could, she anointed my body beforehand for the burial.

And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of in memory of her.

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

When they heard this, they were glad, and promised to give him money, and he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time.

This whole passage forces us to face the truth about how we really value Jesus.

It draws a line between those who treat him cheaply and those who prize him as supremely worthy.

It holds up a mirror and asks, What is Jesus worth to you?

Is Christ our deepest love or just a tool that we use?

Mark helps us see this clearly by using one of his famous story sandwiches, where the inner story becomes the foil to the outer story.

The outer story, the first two verses and the last two, shows petty betrayal and hearts that devalues Jesus.

The inner story, verses three through nine, reveals extravagant worship, so lavish it shocks everyone in the room.

The difference between them couldn't be any more obvious.

And this contrast is key because it shows us two very different responses to the same Savior.

One that cheapens him and one that gives him everything.

Understanding this sets the stage for us to see what it truly means to follow Christ with wholehearted devotion.

Before we look at the beautiful worship found in the inner story, we first need to notice the frame that Mark builds around it.

The outer story is unsettling.

It shows hearts that treat Jesus as expendable.

The religious leaders are plotting his death.

And one of his own disciples is ready to hand him over for a handful of coins.

It's petty, calculated, and cold.

And it prepares us to understand just how precious true devotion really is.

Looking again at verses one and two.

Now the Passover and unleavened bread were two days away, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how, after seizing him in secret, they might kill him.

For they were saying, Not during the festival, lest there be a riot of the people.

In the lead up to the Passover, in the festival of unleavened bread, crowds are swelling into Jerusalem, including a large following of Jesus.

The religious leaders charged with guiding God's people had already decided in their hearts to commit the ultimate evil, to murder Jesus.

Their motives are clear fear, preservation of power, and cold political calculation.

They seek to act in secret because they know that if the people knew what they were doing, it would spark a riot.

Outwardly, they look respectable, but inwardly, their hearts are full of malice.

Every action is cold, calculating, and self-serving.

They are looking for an opportunity to put Jesus to death, scheming and plotting away.

Then, as we see in verses ten and eleven, then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

When they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money.

And he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time.

Judas, a disciple who had walked with Jesus and witnessed his miracles, now aligns himself with the same hatred of the religious leaders.

His motives are personal, greed, disappointment, and disillusionment with Jesus' mission.

Judas is careful, calculating, and patient, seeking an opportunity to hand Jesus over.

To Judas, Jesus is just a means to an end.

And when Jesus no longer serves that purpose, Judas discards him.

Mark never softens Judas' betrayal.

In chapter three, when Judas is first introduced among the disciples, if you remember, Mark notes plainly, Judas is cariot, who also betrayed him.

Later, we see in Matthew's account, we learn that he received 30 pieces of silver, which was the standard Old Testament price of a slave.

This number is not trivial.

It actually fulfills Zechariah 11, 12 through 13, where we see God's appointed shepherd being rejected and assigned a contemptible price.

The people weigh out thirty shekels as if to say, This is all you're worth to us.

And the money is thrown to the potter in disgust.

Judas is reenacting this tragedy, in which Jesus, the true shepherd, full of compassion and truth, is sold for slave money.

Judas's betrayal exposes the reality of a heart that has lost all love for Jesus, cold, careful, and petty.

And it's tempting to look at Judas as an extreme villain.

We wonder how anybody could betray Jesus so dramatically, especially someone who was that close to him.

But if we're honest, that same heart attitude can show up in quiet, subtle ways in our own lives.

We may not sell Christ for silver coins, but we betray him whenever we treat him as secondary, optional, or expendable.

It shows up when we give Jesus what's left over.

Only after we've spent everything else on ourselves.

It shows up when we only obey Him when it's convenient.

It shows up when we ignore His word in the busyness of life.

It shows up in the small compromises, the half-hearted prayers, and when we measure out our devotion instead of pouring it out completely.

When we consistently treat Jesus this way, we are, in effect, saying that he is worth far less than he truly is.

The same way that Judas valued the Savior at the price of a slave.

Mark warns us here that proximity to Christ, without affection for him, leads to spiritual ruin.

Our faith may look impressive outwardly, but without wholehearted devotion, it is empty.

And this is exactly the point of Mark's story sandwich.

The outer story shows plotting, hatred, and cold calculation.

But the inner story will show us something that's radically different.

If the outer story shows what it looks like to treat Christ as less than he is, the inner story shows what it looks like to treasure him above all else.

And it's a call for every disciple.

Christ's wholehearted sacrifice demands our wholehearted response.

Let's take another look at verses three through nine.

And while he was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster jar of perfume, a very costly pure nard, and she broke the jar and poured it over his head.

But some were indignantly remarking to one another, Why has this perfume been wasted?

For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denari and given to the poor.

And they were scolding her.

But Jesus said, Let her alone.

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.

She has done what she could.

She anointed my body beforehand for the burial.

And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of in memory of her.

Mark tells us that Jesus is in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper.

It's worth noting that Jesus is staying with someone whose reputation was marked by leprosy, a disease that made people outcasts, avoided by society, even after the infection had passed.

But there's more going on in this detail than just social curiosity.

Think about where Jesus had just come from in Mark's gospel, the temple.

In chapter 13, Jesus had spoken about the coming destruction of the temple.

As the true high priest, he had already pronounced judgment on the so-called house of God, treating it as a condemned house, much like a priest in the Old Testament would declare a leprous home unclean and destined for destruction.

Now we see Jesus leaving that truly condemned house, the temple, and entering into another place that, socially speaking, was also considered condemned, the home of Simon the leper.

In this, Mark shows a remarkable reversal.

Jesus leaves a place that looks honored, but is corrupt inside.

And he enters a home that society scorns, yet where he will be honored and worshipped.

In other words, Jesus makes the home of Simon the leper a place of true worship.

And that worship is about to be displayed in the most striking and unexpected way.

Right in the middle of this socially despised home, a woman comes forward with a jar of very expensive perfume.

She doesn't calculate the cost, she doesn't hold back, she simply pours it out over Jesus' head and acts so lavish it shocks everyone in the room.

And to some, it looks wasteful, but to Jesus, he recognizes it as true worship.

The reason it seemed so excessive was because of its value.

As verse 5 tells us, this jar of perfume could have been sold for over 300 denari.

And I know that's not a currency that we are as familiar with, but that's about a year's worth of wages.

So picture what you make in a year.

That much.

And she doesn't just pour out a little.

Mark actually uniquely points out that she broke the jar and she poured it over Jesus' head.

By breaking it, there was no turning back.

She would have to use all of it.

But that was her intention all along.

This was no ordinary perfume.

It was a pound of Spike Nard, the most precious perfume of its kind, believed to include myrrh, the main ingredient in the anointing oil used for kings and priests.

What she did was also highly symbolic.

By pouring it on Jesus' head, she physically anointed him, recognizing him as king and messiah.

After all, the word Messiah literally means the anointed one.

Even more striking, she does this just days before Jesus' death.

As he says in verse 8, she anointed my body beforehand for the burial.

There's a beautiful symmetry here.

As we get ready to enter Advent season, if you remember, one of the first gifts that Jesus received when he was an infant came from the wise men, and it was myrrh.

It was a gift of worship, recognizing his kingship.

And now, as he prepares to die, he receives another extravagant gift of myrrh, this time poured out in costly devotion by a humble, worshiping heart.

What this unnamed woman did was a noble thing, as Jesus himself said.

Notice what Jesus also says.

She has done what she could.

Other translations render it, what she had, she did.

That phrase should remind us of another unnamed woman back in chapter twelve, the one who gave her two small copper coins in the temple treasury.

What she had, she gave.

They show us what complete, wholehearted sacrifice looks like.

It doesn't matter if what we have to give is much or little.

What matters is that we give it all.

That's the kind of stewardship God calls for when we worship Him, with hearts fully surrendered, and devotion that pours out without holding back.

It's easy to think of devotion in terms of money, but this principle reaches far beyond our wallets.

We may be generous with our finances, yet hold back our time, our talents, or our attention.

Wholehearted devotion touches every part of our lives, which also includes how we speak to others, serve our homes and communities, and how we use the gifts God has given us.

Jesus doesn't call us to give some things, or only what's easy, or only what's left over.

He calls for everything, our all.

Jesus says that wherever The gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of in memory of her.

And as we read these words today, nearly 2,000 years later, we are participating in the fulfillment of that promise.

In this statement, we also see that Jesus already anticipated the global spread of the gospel.

He knew his mission would succeed.

And that ought to give us confidence and encouragement as we seek to share the hope of Christ with others, trusting that his work will not fail.

Mark places this story of the woman right between the leader's plotting and Judas' betrayal so that the contrast would hit like a hammer.

In the outer story, we see hearts that are cold, calculating, and self-serving.

But in this inner story, we see a heart overflowing with love, devotion, and costly worship.

It's the same Jesus before both of them, the same miracles, the same teaching, the same love, but their hearts respond in completely different ways.

And this is exactly what Mark wants us to see.

He isn't just telling a story about a woman's act of devotion.

He's holding up a mirror to our own hearts.

Every one of us has to answer this question.

Is Christ worth it all to me?

It's easy to say yes in theory, but in daily life, that can sometimes be another story.

How do we spend our time?

Where do we invest our energy?

Are there parts of our lives where we're holding back because it's inconvenient, uncomfortable, or costly?

Those are the questions we have to ask ourselves.

We don't have to be sellouts like Judas to be guilty of undervaluing Jesus.

But this passage should challenge us to take an honest look at our own devotion.

Is Jesus just a part of our schedule or is he our greatest treasure?

We will either treasure Christ or use him.

We will either pour out our lives for him or hold back until something else secures our loyalty.

This story isn't just about extravagance or sacrifice.

It's about Jesus, the Savior who gave his all for us.

He held nothing back.

He went to the cross, he bore our sin, and paid the price for our redemption.

Jesus paid it all with his life, his love, and his very own blood.

Therefore, all that we are and all that we have belongs to him.

Because Jesus gave us his all.

Not just part, not just the leftovers, not just what's easy or convenient, but everything.

Our time, our energy, our resources, our obedience, our love, our very own lives.

This is what it means to follow Christ with wholehearted devotion.

Jesus paid it all, therefore, all to Him we owe.

Let's pray.

Oh Father in heaven, we could never say it enough how thankful we are that you did not leave us in our sin.

Because of our sin, we are worthy of your wrath, your judgment.

We don't deserve any good thing.

And yet, God, because you are full of grace and mercy and love, you gave your son Jesus, and he truly did.

Pay it in full.

He paid the price of our redemption, that all who believe in him have forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Lord Jesus, you have liberated us.

You have freed us from the bondage of sin.

We pray for your Holy Spirit to guide us, to empower us, to walk in that newness of life, to live a life that is truly reflective of that price that you paid.

Lord Jesus, we thank you.

We love you.

And it's your in your precious and holy name we pray.

Amen.