The Plot and the Anointing:

Context:

• Following the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
• Many Jews believed in Jesus.
• Some Jews went to the Pharisees with the news.
• The chief priests and Pharisees gathered the council.

John 11:48 “...If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation...”

What was the concern of the religious people?

• They were concerned about their place.

What were they not concerned about?

• The will of God.

What are religious people concerned about today?

Matthew 26:2 “...You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified...”

Did Jesus know what was coming?

John 11:49-50 “...Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish...”

What was Caiaphas really saying, and why?

• He was speaking of his own accord.
• He actually prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.

Matthew 26:3-4 “...Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him...”

Mark 14:1 “...It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,...”

John 11:53 “...So from that day on they made plans to put him to death...”

Does this seem like a logical thing to do?

• In their futile, worldly way of thinking it made perfect sense.

Were they planning on murdering Him?

• They had no intention of breaking one of the 10 commandments.
• They had every intention of finding a way to legally put Him to death, even if it required stealth.

Are there still plans to put Jesus to death?

Matthew 26:6-9 “...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...”

Mark 14:3-5 “...And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her...”

John 12:3-6 “...Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?. He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it...”

How did people receive the anointing of Jesus?

• Unaware of the bigger picture, it was evaluated from a “money wasting” point of reference.

When can apparent concern for money be inappropriate?

• When it is unaware of, and out of sync with, the bigger picture.

Matthew 26:10-14 “...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...”

Mark 14:6-9 “...But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her...”

John 12:7-8 “...Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me...”

What did Jesus think of the oil on his head?

• It was a beautiful thing.
• It was more important at the time than selling it to support the poor (or the greed of money lovers)