Hope For The Nations, Lesson 5, Fall 2006

There is only one time in Jesus’ entire ministry where He tells us of something that must be preached in conjunction with the gospel:

“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (Matthew 26:13; Mark 14:9)

To clarify, Jesus teaches that we must “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15). Paul gives us a definition of this gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 – Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures. This is the gospel that must be preached to the nations.

Jesus also teaches us to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in all nations, to make disciples in all nations, to baptize those disciples, to teach those disciples the teachings of Jesus, and to be a powerful witness of who Jesus is (Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8). All of these things are related to preaching the gospel to all nations.

But in addition to these things, we also can see that the story of the woman pouring out the perfumed oil on Jesus touched his heart so much that He declared that story to be told wherever the gospel is preached, as a memorial to her.

It would be a terrible and very costly tragedy for the people of God to ever neglect or undervalue a story that so touched our Lord’s heart.

After comparing the details of the woman with the alabaster flask as recorded in Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; and John 12:1-9, we are able to piece together the following main details and sequence of events:

  • Jesus was at Bethany, at Simon the Leper’s house – Bethany means “house of poverty”, and so we see Jesus dwelling in a city that means poverty at a house where a leper lived. This shows Him coming to dwell with the afflicted and oppressed (and all people who are apart from God are truly these things).
  • He was sitting at a table for a dinner – This is better than Rev. 3:20 where He stands outside the church, hoping they would invite Him in to eat with them.
  • Martha served the meal while Lazarus was sitting with Jesus (Jn. 12:2) – Only one chapter ago in John do we read that Lazarus was raised from the dead. It is true that those who are raised with Christ will also “sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6)
  • Mary came with an alabaster flask of scented oil, worth 300 denarii (which is about one year’s wage) – In this we see the preciousness of what is inside the outer flask. Mary is traditionally thought to be very poor, and therefore this may very well be the only possession she held of value.
  • It begins with breaking the flask, and at the end we read that “the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” (Jn. 12:3) – Only when we are truly crucified can our fragrance spread to the world: “he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” “Christ…diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” “Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested.” (Acts 9:15-16; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 4:10)
  • The oil was poured on Jesus’ head and it flowed down to his body – in this we see the application of this story. We are called to pour everything out on Christ, who is called the Head of the church (Ephesians 4:15), and this must be our focus. However, this spreads to all His body, even as the church is the body of Christ (Romans 12:5).
  • She anointed Jesus’ feet with the oil and her own hair – The hair of a woman is called her glory (1 Corinthians 11:15), and we can see that she poured out all of her glory at the feet of Jesus, in complete submission that her head is bowed at his feet.
  • Judas is indignant and reasons that she would have been better to sell the perfumed oil to the pour (he says this because of selfish motives) – Judas corresponds to people of the world. Many people in the world will think you are wasting your time and money by pouring it all out for Jesus. They brag about how much they are helping the poor and needy, and they try to make Christians feel guilty that they aren’t doing more to help people. They say that the number one priority is to help people when God says the number one priority is to love Him.
  • The disciples are also indignant and they rebuke Mary, saying, “Why this waste?” – Not only will the world criticize us when we pour all out at Jesus’ feet, but many Christians with the best intentions will also try to get us to focus more on helping people and less on pouring out everything upon Jesus. They will think we are wasting our time and that the point of the gospel is to help meet people’s physical needs. (see 1 Cor. 13:3)
  • Jesus rebukes the disciples.
  • “She has done a good work for Me.” (Mk. 14:6) – The focus of God is bringing glory to His Son. Everything is in vain unless Jesus can truly attach those two words to the end of our work: “for Me”.
    “She has done what she could.” (Mk. 14:8a) – Some are given one talent to give to Christ, others 5 talents, and others 10 talents. He never looks for the person with 1 talent to give 10 talents, He only looks for them to give what they can and give all to Christ (see Luke 21:3-4)
    “She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.” (Mark 14:8b) – The keyword here is “beforehand”. She never waited to anoint His body. When Jesus died many women came to anoint his body for burial as was the custom, but when they came His body was gone (Luke 23:55 – Luke 24:1). Mary was the only one with the privilege of anointing our Lord’s body. For us, this may compare with the day we all will join Christ in heaven to give Him glory. We will surely do this, but He is looking for those who pour out all “beforehand”, in this life. This is the heart of the gospel.

“WHEREVER THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED…” – Jesus does not give a command by saying we should preach this story wherever the gospel is preached. He assumes it will happen by saying this story will be told wherever the gospel is preached. What seems strange is the fact that there is no record of the disciples sharing this story when they preached the gospel (see Acts, for instance). Because of this, I am not sure that Christ meant us to repeat this story word-for-word when sharing the gospel, but rather He may have been demonstrating the impossibility of separating this story with the reason for the gospel.

  • Summary…At the heart of the gospel is pouring out everything on Jesus. The gospel is not a story to make people have better lives or to make people happy or any of these things (though these things may very well happen to followers of Christ), but rather the gospel has one purpose: GLORIFYING JESUS.
  • Application…What does this look like? I think we can find an example of this in the multiplying of the loaves and fishes. This is the only story (besides the death and resurrection of Christ) that is told in all four gospels (Mt. 14; Mk. 6; Lk. 9; Jn. 6). In this story, the masses were hungry for food. But Jesus does not say to give the food to them. Rather, He says, “Bring them [the food] here to Me.” (Mt. 14:18). Truly, the loaves and fishes may have fed a handful of people without going to Jesus. But instead, their mission was not to go to the people, but to go to Jesus. Only when they went completely in the hands of Jesus were they blessed, broken, and multiplied to feed thousands. People will be fed, but we must be given completely to Jesus and trust Him to use us to feed in whatever way possible (it seems that a breaking will occur).

The two commands that the Law hangs on starts with loving God with all of our heart (see Mt. 22:37-40). We must give all of our heart to God. None is left for anyone else. All is given to God. Then He will give us a new and supernatural love for people. It is His responsibility to give us a new love for people, and it is our responsibility to give all of ourselves to Christ. This is truly at the heart of the gospel.