[0:00] Amen. I'm going to ask if you will excuse me and allow me to do something which I don't know that I have ever done. And that is, you know that on Sunday mornings I'm going through the gospel according to Mark.
[0:16] On Sunday nights and Wednesday nights we are just making our way through scripture so we are ready for Esther chapter 8 verse 3 and following. Which is a really powerful text when we start looking at the power of intercession and we start looking at how we ought to intercede on behalf of others.
[0:34] But in light of the week in which we are in and in light of the day that we find ourselves within that week. And it just so happens to be that I was ready on Sunday mornings for Mark 14 starting verse 1.
[0:48] I'm going to take Sunday morning series and I'm going to preach Mark 14 verses 1 through 11 tonight. Now I know for some of you studious Sunday morning note takers it's going to mess you up.
[1:00] But that's okay because we will have it recorded and you can if you want to listen to it on Sunday morning you can. I won't be there this Sunday morning. Hopefully you will see why because as I prepared this week and really prayed through where the Lord would want us to be.
[1:20] Esther chapter 8 is a great passage. But I also knew where I was in the gospel according to Mark and I could not get away from the weight of that text. In light of the day in which we find ourselves.
[1:34] We are in the midst of Passion Week. If you know anything about the events of Passion Week that begin with the Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry.
[1:45] And you count the days recorded for you in scripture. And I've said this before that by the time you get to Wednesday of that week it is a day of silence. At least as far as scripture is recording.
[1:56] We have no recorded events that take place on Wednesday. Now the events that take place on Tuesday early Wednesday because if you do Jewish calendar reckoning from sundown to sun up.
[2:11] And you do it that way it kind of bleeds over a little bit. But our Wednesday proper is a day of silence. And it is a day really of preparation. It is a day of scheming and plotting and planning.
[2:24] And it really is following up the events that took place on the Tuesday prior. And it's astounding when we understand that because that Passion Week is the presentation of the Lamb.
[2:36] When Christ has manifested his presence in the temple publicly. And he has declared who he is by riding on the coat of a donkey. And the shouts that have cried out, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[2:49] Hosanna in the highest. He is the fulfillment of Zechariah 9. The stones would have cried out if the crowds had been silent. The children had testified to him.
[3:00] The Pharisees and Sadducees and the scribes and the Herodians had all questioned him. He had been found blameless in all of his answers. He had presented himself publicly three days in a row for open inspection.
[3:14] We know the events that would transpire. But then there is a day of silence. Because by the time we get to that third day, which would have been the Tuesday slash Wednesday in our calendars, the course had already been set.
[3:29] What we have recorded for us in Mark 14, verses 1 through 11, are the events of that Tuesday. It is the outcome of the presentation of the Lamb.
[3:44] And if we had to title that week, The Presentation of the Lamb, and we have done so for the purpose of understanding that the Passover Lamb was to live with you and be in your house, and you were to observe that Lamb, and to watch that Lamb, and you were to declare if that Lamb was indeed spotless and perfect, so that on the Passover day, when it was the day of preparation, then you knew you were offering a perfect Lamb.
[4:12] Because you have seen it, and lived with it, and watched it. And this week, when Christ is presenting himself for public display, and he is being very public in all of these things, as a matter of fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, was I not with you daily in the temple, it is so that on the day of preparation, when the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world will be handed over and crucified, that all of mankind would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is indeed perfect.
[4:43] But even with that presentation, what takes place on Tuesday is something that must take place in the life of each one of us, and that would be the evaluation of the Lamb. How do we individually and personally, sorry about that, evaluate the Lamb?
[5:02] Now I've been thinking about this a lot here lately, probably because the bulk of my morning reading has been confined in the Old Testament, in which we find them offering the sacrifices, and I have been kind of taken by the fact that when you offer a sacrifice, you lay your hand on the head of the animal, passing your sins to the animal, metaphorically, you're identifying with that animal by putting your hand on its head and then killing it.
[5:32] It's not something that's done in a fit of rage. It's not something that's done in a moment. It's something that's done with intentionality, something that you think about, something that you are very much aware of, understanding that the life of the animal you are about to take is precious, and the blood that was to be shed the moment you took that life was to be the atonement for your sins.
[5:56] But before there could be the shedding of the blood, there had to be the identification with it. There had to be the commonality that this animal is taking my sins on.
[6:07] Isaiah 53, the passage which speaks so well of the suffering servant, says that he is the lamb that was led away to slaughter, that he took our transgressions, he bore our iniquities, he identified with our sins so that we could have peace and we can be reconciled.
[6:30] But each one of us must evaluate the worthiness of the lamb. Though he is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world for the sin of mankind, it is for those who lay their hand upon his head, figuratively speaking, who identify with him and say, yes, indeed, he is the atonement for my sin.
[7:02] These events take place on Tuesday, but the silence of Wednesday is a result of the evaluation that had happened the day before for the mold has already been cast.
[7:15] The course has already been determined. And what we find in Mark 14, verses 1 through 11, are three evaluations.
[7:28] And everyone in the history of mankind falls within one of the realm of the three. We will look at the first one, then we will look at the last one, and we will look at the one in the middle at the end of our sermon.
[7:43] Now we do that with some purpose, and you'll see why in just a moment. But the text says, in Mark 14, starting in verse 1, Now the Passover and the unleavened bread were two days away.
[7:58] Let me just stop right here for just a moment. What is Mark's favorite word in his gospel? Anybody remember? Immediately or straight away or right away.
[8:10] I want you to pay attention. We won't see it this Sunday morning. We won't be in Mark Sunday morning, but we will be in the next successive mornings. Pay attention to how much Mark slows down, starting in chapter 14.
[8:29] There's no more immediately or right away or straight away slowing down and letting us settle in to the reality of what's taking place. He dates it, and he gives us a moment of pause.
[8:44] Now the Passover and the unleavened bread were two days away, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by stealth and kill him, for they were saying, not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.
[8:58] While he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, I don't mean to keep stopping, but isn't that amazing? Simon the leper, the place that nobody else would hang out with.
[9:11] While he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard, and she broke the vial and poured it over his head.
[9:26] But some were indignantly remarking to one another, why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over 300 denarii, and the money given to the poor.
[9:37] And they were scolding her. But Jesus said, let her alone. Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to me, for you'll always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish, you can do good to them, but you do not always have me.
[9:50] She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.
[10:05] Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time.
[10:20] I want you to see this evening the evaluation of the Lamb. Three evaluations are made within our text. Each of these three contain individuals throughout history that have always evaluated the worthiness of the Lamb in one of these ways.
[10:37] And I do not think that there are any in-betweens. We cast absolute evaluations. We are committed to it one way or another. The first one we see is that the Lamb is simply a distraction to be dismissed.
[10:54] It is the evaluation of the Lamb that it is a distraction to be dismissed. It says, Now the Passover of Unleavened Bread were two days away.
[11:06] The grandest festival of the Jewish history. A festival that was required that every male would attend. One that was a reminder of God's concern, His love, His grace, and His mercy for His people.
[11:19] His passing over with the death angel because of the blood of the Lamb and His deliverance for them. That is the reality that we understand our salvation in. They did nothing but reside in the home that was covered by the blood that was over the lentils of the doors.
[11:36] And they waited for the death angel to pass over. And it is a testimony of God's concern and His deliverance and His redemption. Yet just two days before that we find the chief priests and the scribes not preparing themselves for worship.
[11:56] Not preparing themselves for what's about to transpire because Jerusalem by this time is flooded with individuals. We know historically speaking that during the time of Christ the day of preparation was usually extended to a second day some people will tell you because so many lambs were being slaughtered.
[12:15] So many people were flooding into this city and so many were in observation of it and so there was so much work to be done but yet those that were getting ready to do the work were taking their time and plotting and scheming how to get Jesus secretly and kill Him.
[12:35] Their concern and their mind and their focus was not on the festival that was about to be celebrated but rather it was on the individual that was interrupting their daily lives and this really had begun three years prior when Jesus shows up in Jerusalem the first time after He was 12 years old so the first recorded time as a male when His public ministry began was during the Passover celebration and we can count the ministry of Christ by the number of Passovers which He celebrates and it was there even before His brothers were believers that Jesus was being questioned and He is really bringing discord among the Pharisees and the religious leaders.
[13:20] We find it just a few days prior to this in John chapter 12 where this Simon the leper's home we're told that it's in Bethany when Jesus was at by the way that little parenthetical insertion that when Jesus was in Bethany that happened six days before the Passover so Mark inserts it here but it had happened the week prior we know that because John chapter 12 verse 1 and following tells us that it happened prior so if you don't understand that you'll think the scripture is contradicting itself and maybe there were two very costly nard perfumes that were poured upon the Savior but rather it was just one but there's a reason why Mark inserts it here during this week and we'll see why in just a moment and just while we're on the subject so that we don't think there's a contradiction Peter, I mean Mark does not tell us that these things happened successfully but rather he uses that word that while he was in Bethany this happened then too but two days prior these events were going on but while he was in Bethany you know a few days ago four days ago prior to this so this would have been the week prior this would have been before the triumphal entry but that home of Simon the leper when Jesus was there there was another man that was there matter of fact it is his sister that breaks the vial and pours it not only on the head but the feet of Christ and you know the man because the man's name is Lazarus and it is Lazarus who is sitting down and eating with Christ and he too is reclining at the table that Jesus is reclining at so that the multitudes are leaving Jerusalem not just to see we find in John not just to see Jesus but to see Lazarus the man who was dead for four days and stinking and is now back alive and many were believing and all of a sudden the Pharisees and the scribes said we've got to do something about this man
[15:04] Jesus and Lazarus because he's disrupting our daily lives and so to them even before the presentation had come the evaluation had already been made we've got to rid ourselves of this Christ he has really just been a distraction of their daily lives and they would love to keep things the way it had always been at least in the recent history there is a subtle change in the Passover event from the Old Testament to the New Testament and it's something worth noting because it helps us to understand exactly the mind frame of the chief priests and the scribes in the Old Testament whenever the Passover is mentioned it is referred to as the Passover of the Lord Passover of the Lord capital L capital O capital R capital D so it's the Passover of Yahweh now of means that's the one who possesses it the one who is about so it is Yahweh's Passover it is his celebration it shows possession of it it is about him and it is focused on him when we get to the New Testament the subtle change is in that last word for it becomes the Passover of the Jews and it becomes more of a national celebration rather than about the Lord God Almighty and nationalism had replaced devotion to Yahweh and it would become more about national identity this celebration this festival is what separates us from the Romans which are over us and it's what differentiates us it is not our relationship with Yahweh but rather it's our our practices and our customs and it's what we do on a daily basis and in that
[16:51] Jesus disrupts it for he was never one to affirm pure nationalism but rather his call was for devotion to the Lord God Almighty and so for them they were saying how can we get him secretly and kill him but notice the refrain but not during the festival lest there what does it say otherwise there might be a riot of the people notice that the phrase they say here is they don't want to do it during the festival because that's just not right they don't want to do it during the festival because they are afraid of the people not afraid of God and why this because the last couple of days Jesus in the temple Hosanna blesses he who comes in the name of the Lord all these people crowding around him listening to the questions the last couple of days have affirmed the reality that Jesus is pretty popular among the multitudes popularity doesn't mean much as we know later on but at least in their eyes we don't want to disrupt the people their concern wasn't about the things of the Lord
[18:06] God Almighty their concern was about the crowds that were gathered around them and so to them Jesus was a distraction to dismiss so that they could get back to the way they have always done things they wanted to get back to their own work and they wanted to get back to their own way secondly we see the evaluation not only do some evaluate Christ as a distraction to be dismissed some evaluate Christ be careful that first one we can say well I'm glad I'm not that one the church I believe is filled with the second evaluation and the reason I say that is because the second evaluation is found within as it tells us in our text one of the twelve one of the twelve those who are closest to Christ physically it is the evaluation that the lamb is simply a means of personal gain what can I get out of it it is the evaluation of the lamb as simply a means of personal gain what's in it for me and we know by the time we get to the end of our text here we get to verse 10 and 11 and we'll come back to the middle part in just a second that we're looking at
[19:27] Judas Iscariot now if you were to go to Matthew chapter 26 it's really telling and I love how Matthew puts it in Matthew chapter 26 this is a parallel to this passage in the first verse of the 26th chapter Jesus says this you know that the Passover is two days away and the son of man must be handed over to the religious leaders and be killed so he makes a definitive statement and that definitive statement is the reality that in two days I will be handed over to the religious leaders and be killed now that's that's a declaration and what is really crazy in Matthew 26 is the first two verses say that but then the verses which follow are exactly what Peter what Mark records for is here and it says that the Pharisees or the religious leaders and the scribes gather together and they said we've got to do something about Jesus but let's not do it during the celebration lest the crowds rise up so
[20:29] Jesus declares that in two days I will die but the whole time that those who wanted to kill him said but let's not do it during the celebration let's wait until after the celebration so now we kind of have this problem right Jesus is saying I will die during this celebration of the Passover those who are ultimately responsible for handing him over to the Romans to be crucified for the Jews cannot crucify anyone but those who are ultimately responsible in their planning said we don't want to do it during the festival because the crowds will be there but though man may plan his way the purposes of God will always be fulfilled now we will say that Jesus needed to die on the Passover for he is the lamb that is slain as the Passover lamb and it was only fitting and it was not only fitting it was the fulfillment of all of scripture that he would die on the preparation day read the gospel accounts and I know our question we scratch our brain said wait a minute he had a
[21:31] Passover meal you're right he did have a Passover meal but all four gospels also say that he was crucified on the day of preparation and so we say well did he have the Passover or not he had a Passover meal but he is the Passover and he was crucified on the day of preparation when every other lamb was being slain for the Passover and so Jesus knew that this is when he would indeed die though the religious leaders did not want it to be but the avenue for the fulfillment was found in Judas Iscariot so that the purposes of God would come it was found when Satan filled Judas Iscariot if you remember the wilderness temptation I know I'm giving you a lot of information tonight but it's okay because we see the culmination of these things happening this week during the wilderness temptations of Christ there are three culminating temptations at the end of those 40 days he is tempted for 40 days on an ongoing basis we have the three culminating ones declared to us in scripture but it tells us after Jesus refused Satan on the third one it tells us in the gospel of
[22:50] John and he left him until an opportune time and John is really good about giving us time stamps and then it tells us in John 13 Jesus knowing the time was at hand said to Judas do what you have to do and Satan filled Judas and he went away that night Satan found the opportune time in the individual of Judas but before we let Judas off the hook too much let us ask ourselves how did he become an instrument of the enemy to bring about the purposes of God and this is why Mark inserts this account about the anointing of Christ because if we were to go back and we were to read all the parallel passages we would see that when Mary for it was
[23:54] Mary though Mark does not tell us that it's Mary but when Mary comes into the home and she breaks the neck of this bottle and she pours this perfume upon his head and eventually upon his feet perfume that was worth a year's wages whatever your annual salary is that's what that bottle was worth 300 denarii that denarii is a day's wages 300 was the number of days they had in a year so it was probably worth more than a year's wages and it was in one small bottle and when she did that all of the disciples and apostles get upset the wording used here is when horses are really riled up and the horses get to snorting and getting kind of mad at one another and that's exactly what they're doing but there is one in particular that's leading the charge and we know that that is Judas Iscariot John tells us that Judas is upset saying we should have sold it we could have put the money in the box and we could have fed the poor but he didn't say that because he was concerned about the poor we know that
[24:56] John looks back and tells us why John says the reason he said that was because Judas was the treasurer he kept the money box and he used to pilfer what was put into the money box so the phrase that he was saying well we should have sold that for a year's wages and put it in a box and we could have helped the poor the poor that he had in mind was himself and it's no small wonder that the way Satan uses him is the wickedness of his own heart because from the very beginning he had seen Jesus as a means of personal gain I keep the box I pull that a little for me I do a little over here pull that a little for me I do a little over here and no one knew it but he did it was his habit and Satan uses his habit to take him farther than I think he ever intended to go but not farther than his heart was willing to go for just four short days later
[26:00] Satan so moves him that he goes to the religious leaders and the scribes and he asks a question how much will you give me if I hand him over to you what was his motivation what can I get how much can I gain 30 pieces of silver it is the price of a servant it is the price that is declared by Jeremiah when he bought the potter's field Judas cared little but what he could get out of it what will you give me if I hand him over to you many evaluate the lamb simply as a means of personal gain what's in it for me now we don't all have the open evaluation that Judas did sometimes it's more subtle well I'll believe Christ if he can do this this this and this
[27:12] I'll put my hope and trust in him as long as all these things go well and as long as he provides for me and takes care of my needs and as long as life is easy and I'll hold on to him here or or maybe I have this grip of hell and he'll just keep me out of hell then that's what I long for is I want this personal gain be careful of the evaluation of the lamb as a means of personal gain third and finally we see the passage of scripture that's in the middle there and it is the third and full evaluation of the lamb some evaluate him as a distraction to be dismissed some as a means of personal gain but there are others a few really that evaluate the lamb as a savior worthy of full surrender and worship savior worthy of full surrender and it is as our text tells us that while he was in
[28:15] Bethany at the home of Simon the leper and reclining at the table there came a woman we are told elsewhere that this is Mary I love what Warren Wearsby said you always find Mary at the feet of Jesus she's always at the feet of Jesus she had reason to worship for she knew he was the resurrection and the life she knew the words that whosoever believes in me will not die but have eternal life she saw a physical representation because sitting right beside Jesus was her brother whom she also knew had been dead yet she comes in and she not only sees him as someone who can raise the dead she sees him as one who is worthy of full surrender and she brings the costliest of worship and she breaks the vial in the presence of all and she pours it on his head and it goes down to his feet it goes even all the way down to his feet and she wipes his feet with her hair it is a humble act of worship it is a display of full surrender it is saying that whatever is most precious to me I'm going to pour it out on you for you are worth more than my most precious possession but the reality is is that no one in the room understood it all the apostles were upset at her everyone was distraught and counted it wasteful but one it was Jesus alone who affirmed this act of sacrifice he had to tell the apostles for all of them were upset why do you bother her she has done a good deed to me for you always have the poor with you and whenever you want you can do good to them but you do not always have me
[30:12] I love verse 8 she has done what she could that's full surrender I have done what I could to the fullest extent to the greatest of my ability the literal reading there is what she has done she has done as she could she gave it her all she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial truly I say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her and all four gospels record this event it is unique the feeding of the five thousand all four this anointing all four very very few occurrences in the life of Christ are recorded by all four gospels this is one of them an act that was misunderstood by everyone present an act that looked extravagant and to some it looked extreme but it mattered little when anyone else in the room how anyone else in the room evaluated this act of worship the only thing that mattered was how Christ received it for her evaluation of the lamb was that he is the savior worthy of complete surrender at times in our life when we do what we can others may count it extreme or may count it odd or may have a better avenue or better way they may say well you could have done it this way and you could have done it that but friend listen to me in the end it only matters how Christ receives it and what he declares of it for there are some things that we can always do but the reality is we will never do them if we will not do what we can do they would have never helped the poor that was just an excuse the evaluation was cast on Tuesday and the silence of Wednesday shows us that each will get his outcome the religious leaders and scribes will rejoice for a moment
[32:54] Judas will get his money and regret it only those who truly worship him will not regret in the end for they will worship again later what is our evaluation of the lamb that has stood blameless before the eyes of the public for the events of Friday dictate to us how we have believed in the silence of Wednesday we see it in Mark 14 verses 1-11 thank you my brothers does everyone have a copy of the prayer list