Question
Leave Her Alone
John 12:1-11
Key Verse 7-8
“‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.’”
Look at vs. 1-3. When and where did this event occur? (1) How was this event related to the raising of Lazarus? (2) What was Lazarus and Martha doing? (2) What did Mary do and how was it so unusual? (3) Why do you think she did this?
Read verses 4-6. Who was Judas Iscariot? (4,6) What did he say? (5) What was his real motive? (6) What does the author call him? (6) Why is our motive important? (4b; Jn.10:10a)
Look at vs. 7-8. How did Jesus reply and interpret her action? (7) How did Jesus relate her action to his burial? (7) What does verse 8 teach?
Look at vs. 9-11. Why did such a large crowd gather and many put their faith in Jesus? (9) What did the chief priests plan and how evil were they? (10)
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Message
LEAVE HER ALONE
(The dynamics of the resurrected life)
John 12:1-11
Key Verses 12:7-8
[7] “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. [8] You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
Today we would like to study this passage with the sub-title, "The dynamics of the resurrected life." Dynamics [dynamic - active, energetic, vibrant, vigorous; forceful, powerful, appealing, magnetic; the word Dynamiko in Greek means power. The English word dynamite has the same root.]
By the dynamics I mean God is the source of power. He makes his people radiant, highly energetic, so they would be constantly and jubilantly in action for the Lord. In the passage we can see that Jesus made the members of a house church (so to speak) headed by Lazarus to be a 'radiant' church. Thanks to Jesus, the members of the house church at Bethany became the power-station, energizing the whole nation and the world come to the Lord! So we would like to see how this happened
I. The house of power
First, Lazarus
In the passage we see a drastic change that took place in the life of Lazarus, for the life before he heard Jesus' word [Lazarus come out] and the life after he heard became totally different. Before Jesus said, "Lazarus come out", where was he? He used to lie in a tomb. But after he heard the word, he walked out of the tomb. Now, he became the epi-center of the spiritual earthquake that took place first in Bethany, then in Jerusalem, Judea, the whole Jewish nation, and certainly the whole world (compare 11:48 with 12:19.)
He experienced this change purely by God's grace. He even did not pray for the change. Mary and Martha prayed for him. Then by God's grace, he heard the voice saying, “Lazarus, come out.” He walked out of the grave into the life and started to testify about Jesus.
Thanks to God's grace, he now came to live as a living example of Jesus' power to raise man from the dead. He did not have to say many words. All he had to say was "I was in the tomb, but now I am out of it. And Jesus did this." Many Jews who came to mourn for his death later asked, "Hey, Lazarus. Welcome back. How did you feel when you were in the tomb?" Then he might have said, "Well, you know, in the grave nothing is going on. No eating, no playing, no nothing." Then they said many “wows”.
As he was reclining at the table for the eating fellowship, I think he ate vigorously. I think after staying at the tomb for more than four days he lost a lot of pounds, so he felt hungry, and he ate a lot saying, "Martha, you did a good job: this food is delicious! You are a good cook!"
Thanks to Lazarus' testimony many came to believe in Jesus. The number of believers grew fast. His house became the power station for the Bible Israel. It became the epicenter of the world evangelism.
We see the same thing happening to a man who hears Jesus' voice, "Lazarus, come out!" In the early 1960's the Korean college students in S. Korea walked like the dead Lazarus. God had mercy on them. Through missionaries and shepherds the Lord God planted in their hearts the gospel. The power of salvation in the gospel worked mightily. Within the fifty years, they went out as missionaries to 90 different nations.
Look at v. 1 again. "Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead." In Hebrew the name "Lazarus" means "God helps". In case of Lazarus Jesus raised him from the dead! He helps a young man to come out of the grave and live as a live witness of Jesus' power of resurrection! In this room as well I see many who heard Jesus' voice, received the power of salvation and live as Jesus' witnesses of resurrected life. They no longer live in the shadow of death. They live a life that is as dynamic as that of Lazarus. So it is my prayer that the Lord would continue to empower all of our Downey UBF brothers to live as witnesses of Jesus' power of resurrection!
Second, Martha
Verse 2 says Martha served. So let us consider Martha. The Bible uses just two words to describe the resurrected life of Martha: Martha served! In Aramaic Martha means "lady" or "mistress of a house." The word "lady" indicates that she is a woman of fine character, kind and gentle, diligent, caring, and considerate. The word 'mistress' also suggests that she is a woman with a sense of responsibility. She reminds me of the woman of noble character as described in Proverbs 31:10-31.
In addition the word 'served' reminds me that she is a very 'able' woman. She reminds me of business women such as "CEO's". For one reason or another, she reminds me of able women such as Hilary Clinton.
But even able women like Martha needs resurrection faith. Otherwise she can turn out to be troublesome: she can be demanding, coercing, and fault-finding. In fact that was how she used to be. Often Jesus visited Martha’s house. And she prepared food for Jesus and his company. Once upon a time while Jesus was at her home, as she served the Lord Mary did not assist her; Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Jesus. So she "pushed" the Lord to "push" her sister Mary to serve.
But now her demeanor changed. Since she really believed in the power of resurrection, she could serve the Lord with great joy. I do not know what she cooked or how she served. But I can tell for sure that unlike in the past, the spirit of her service changed drastically. I can easily imagine that as she was coming in and out of kitchen, I think she kept singing to herself in her heart. Being a smart woman, I think she remembered all the words of Jesus. So the words of Jesus were still ringing in her ears: "Did I not tell you that if you believed you will see the glory of God?" So I think million times she recited in her mind "Lord, Yes, indeed! Yes, indeed!" And there he was - Lazarus leaning at the table eating the food she cooked!
So Martha served singing songs of joy! When a powerful woman does not know Jesus' resurrection power, she can be a source of great irritation. As she starts pushing or demanding or fault-finding others, she can hurt others. She can cause her husband to go sick and die prematurely.
But when she taps into Jesus’ power of resurrection, she no longer becomes a source of disharmony. Since he has Jesus who is the source of the power to serve she can serve others with many thanks. According to Jesus’ grace, he can lovingly serve the Lord and people coming to her life.
Personally I thank God for many sisters in our ministry. Standing here I can testify that we are blessed with so many women coworkers, for like the NEW Martha they serve the Lord with great joy. May the Lord bless our growing sisters to tap into our Lord Jesus' resurrection power, so as they serve the Lord the gospel of God's power would expand rapidly from Downey to the four corners of the world!
Third, Mary
Now let us read v. 3. "Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."
It has been said that while Martha was a woman of extraversion, Mary was a woman of introversion." Introverted woman tends to be melancholy. They can go sullen easily. And once they become sulky it is extremely difficult to make them smile again. We see several signs of her introversion in the previous passage. She thought Jesus dearly loved the family. But Jesus did not come quickly. Then her brother died. So I think she wept and wept. She cried so much that she had no strength to even move her body. So even as Jesus was making his way close to her house, she did not go out to greet. Jesus knew her, so Jesus asked for Mary. Now I would encourage all sisters to read John 11:28-32.
Now consider the change that took place. How did she change? Look at what she did for Jesus. That is, she poured the perfume on Jesus wiping his feet with her hair. In the middle east of Jesus' day women saved this sort of perfume for her future marriage. It is like a unmarried single woman saving money enough to buy all she need for marriage - wedding gown, gifts for the husband, a place to live, kitchen wares, things to furnish the bed room like bed, linen, pillow cases, and much more. Plus, using some left over, you can use it to create a romantic environment with her Prince Charming during her honeymoon.
But now what did she do? She poured the perfume, a pint of it, the perfume of pure nard, a very 'expensive' kind. She poured it all on Jesus' feet! Plus she wiped Jesus' feet with her hair which is symbolic of the glory of woman. She gave all of her glory to the Lord!
Why did she do that? What happened to her that she did this? Again we find the answer to this question in what Jesus did for Lazarus, and more precisely for her. Previously like Martha her faith remained on a theoretical level. Her head knowledge on Jesus' power made no difference to her life. Then miracle happened. She DID LEARN that Jesus is the source of true life. Indeed Jesus is the resurrection and THE LIFE!
This is important for deep down at the bottom of her heart, woman puts her hope on man such as her future 'husband'. Unmarried woman puts the hope on the husband to marry. Married woman also puts her hope on the husband. They may say something different, but the Bible is correct on this point when it reads, "your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." But think about it. What miserable life would it be for a woman to put hope and rely on a man, only to see man not being reliable as she expected him to be?! Doesn't the Bible say, "all men are like grass"? In modern society many women figured this out, so a lot of women do not want to marry. Some of them come up with an alternative lifestyle. But those who base their hope on men or women are like a man building a house on sinking sand.
Thankfully, Mary found Jesus as the true husband. In Jesus she found the true security of life. So in worship of Him, the giver of new resurrected life, not just for her brother Lazarus but for herself, she poured all the perfume on Jesus. And by wiping Jesus' dusty feet, who walked for so long, all to help the dead to come back to life, she gave all of her treasures and glory to Jesus! Inasmuch as she found Jesus as the source of true security of life, she now is ready to marry with a man, so as she is rooted in the love of God, she can be a source of blessing for her husband and then children.
Her example reminds me of Mother Barry. She is the only daughter born in a rich family in the State of Mississippi. During her college days she met Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Then at the age of 25 with the gospel she went to the war-torn Korea. For the next 30 years she served college students. She was so busy to preach the gospel to them that she missed the chance to marry at a young age. Once I was curious about her, so I asked her, "Mother Barry, did you have any boyfriend?" She said, "Actually one lawyer liked me very much, so he proposed.” Then I asked her, "Why didn't you marry him?" She said, "I liked him, but I was too busy." Now she is 79. And she is still single, serving the Lord vigorously.
II. The house of poverty
We can divide the passage into two parts: the part we just covered and then the passage from vs. 7-8. The first part stands in strong contrast with the second part, for the first part describes the powerful examples of the life of those who accepted Jesus as the Lord and Savior, whereas the next part reveals the condition of the people who do not believe but still reject Jesus. Jesus addressed his message in vs. 7-8 to Judas Iscariot. There are three things to consider:
First, leave her alone.
On seeing Mary's action, Judas Iscariot filed an objection saying "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." Then Jesus defended Mary saying, “Leave her alone.” Again note that Jesus did not direct this message to Mary but to Judas Iscariot. Those who are materialistic think that any money such as offerings dedicated to the Lord as a waste. But the Lord says the other way around is true. Jesus explained this concept when he said, "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy." Or in some other place he said, “‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." Mary now grew rich toward God. But Judas remained poor. If he went this way eventually he will end up empty in the days to come. The message for us then is the definition and even the way of true richness, that is, by being rich to the Lord, we come to be rich. This leads to the wisdom of where to invest, that is, invest our resources in the Lord, for to me, life is very much like money, so it is my prayer that our brothers and sisters in this ministry would invest their time and energy, youth and creativity, all in the Lord, in furtherance of His kingdom. We say this that our Lord Jesus is the only safe place to invest, for if we invest in ourselves, we who are like a bucket with a big hole, this bucket cannot hold what we invest, but it is not so with Jesus. He is the son of God who lacks nothing, so each time we invest in Him, even by giving him and his people a cup of water, none of our sacrifices will go unrewarded.
Second, it was meant for my burial.
Indications are that Mary did not pour the perfume in anticipation of Jesus' burial. Yet, Jesus interpreted and explained the meaning this way to Judas. Why? The answer is obvious: it was to help materialistic people like Judas to think about the kind of love God has for his children.
Jesus had no reason to go for burial. Yet he did it for our own sake. By definition, in case of Jesus, the burial means himself falling to the ground and die, for as we will study soon Jesus explained the meaning of his burial through the parable of a seed falling to the ground and dies saying, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." So by linking the anointing with the day of his burial Jesus helped Judas think about the kind of love God has for his children, the love that is willing to sacrifice his all, the love that is willing to go to the heart of the grave, only to turn those who have gone truly empty back to the fullness of the God of life.
Third, you will always have the poor among you.
Let us combine this statement with the statement that says, "but you will not always have me." This passage is kind of strange, for to his disciples he said, "Because I live you will also live." Then he said, "I am with you always, to the very end of age." Yet, why did Jesus say otherwise to Judas? On the surface Jesus might have meant that Judas would not have Jesus in his physical body all the time. But when we consider the differences in his words given to his disciples, we can easily understand that Jesus meant that Judas had only a limited time to be around Jesus and still have the chance to learn of him for salvation. But Jesus already knew that he would betray him. So he said what he said.
What then is the message? We find the message right from what Jesus said: that is, when one does not have Jesus in his heart, he remains condemned to remain poor and live among the poor.
Now just in case anyone is not clear about the meaning of the poor, I would like to talk about the biblical meaning of the poor. So who is poor? What is poverty? Where does it come from? Or who is truly rich or wealthy? From the standpoint of the Bible especially Genesis we know that ultimately it is God alone who is rich. And all men are poor. After all when God does not supply what we need for life, we would die even in a matter of few minutes or seconds. The other day I received a notice from Edison Company saying there is going to be a power outage on Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. I then was thinking about what will happen when the sun stopped shining tomorrow or when the Lord no longer supplies oxygen in the air. We all know the answer: all will perish. But thankfully God is faithful so he causes sun to rise and sun set faithfully. And he is rich in sustaining the universe in such a way that all of his creations get provided.
But what about the spiritual aspect of man? What truly causes man to be rich, so he could be really satisfied inside out? God knows better so Jesus says, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” He also says, “Flesh counts for nothing but spirit gives life to man.” There is a limit to what money can buy. What makes man rich is that which is spiritual, for God is spirit. God sent Jesus to bring man back to Him. And in as much as Jesus is the only way for man to be connected back to God, when one does not have Jesus with him, one remains condemned to be poor, and live among the poor; sooner than later he will shrivel like a dead leaf.
We do not know how much Judas Iscariot understood what Jesus said. Most likely he did not understand anything at all. So indeed as was seen he sold Jesus for a small amount of money. He did not see Jesus as more valuable than the money to buy a few hamburgers. Soon however by the time when he came to the realization of what he did, he thought that it was too late. So he committed suicide.
In conclusion, we saw the stark contrast of the life of a man or woman who received the power of resurrection and lived a life that is soaring like an eagle and the life of a man who after rejecting Jesus remains poor. May the Lord bless us to overcome a materialistic way of life. May the Lord bless us to believe in the Lord, put on the power of resurrection and live a life that renders glory to God.
One word: leave her alone
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