Extravagant Worship: John 12:1-11

Extravagant Worship: Loving Jesus from a Pure Heart John 12:1-11

Introduction: Jesus is the subject of John’s Gospel. We know He is the divinding point of human history as is evidenced by the very fact that we count the years from the time of His birth (A.D. = “the year of our Lord”). He is also the great dividing point of the human race in terms of our response to Him. John 3:36 says it plainly: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not obey the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him.” Jesus expressed the same truth in 8:24b, “…if you do not believe that I AM [he], you will die in your sins.” He uses that phrase “I AM” in that verse. It means not only believing that He is a prophet, or from God, or even the anointed descendent of David, but believing that He is God, God the Son, the Incarnate Word. And if we believe that we need to respond to Him. We need to worship Him. Is that why you are here today? Remember the story of the little boy who kneeled by his bed to pray on Sunday evening. He prayed, “Dear God, we had a good time in church today, but I wish you had been there!” Have you come here this morning to meet with the King of the universe, the great I AM, that God who willingly became a man and came to die so that you could live? There is a warning implicit in this passage as well. After all, Judas walked with Jesus for three and half years. He heard Him teach and saw him do miraculous signs. His body was there, he was physically present with the others, but in his heart and his mind he still didn’t recognize and respond to Emanuel, God Incarnate. Your body is here, has your head and your heart come along?

The Big Idea: We should worship Jesus with our whole heart; after all He is God, and He gave His all for us.

The Setting (12:1): We’ve reached a transitional point in the Gospel of John. The signs in the first 11 chapters revealed God’s Glory, incarnate in Jesus. Some responded with a growing recognition of who He is. Others continued in darkness and refused to believe. Here, back in Bethany, as Passover approached, reclined at the table with friends. The cross loomed before Him, but Jesus cared about His sheep, so there He was, fellowshipping with them, enjoying their presence.

I. A Dinner to Honor the King (2-3): Fellowship with Jesus is something we can experience (see Rev 3:20).

Revelation 3:20 is often used as we invite people to trust in Christ, but actually it is written to believers, to a church. The letter to the church at Laodicea is written to a church, albeit, a lukewarm one. His chastening in Rev 3:19 is designed to induce repentance. In Revelation 3:20 we see Jesus, standing, knocking, wanting to have a meal with us, a time of intimate fellowship. We recognize the theological truth about the omnipresence of God. Yet there is a sense in which God’s presence is experienced in a special way when we gather together in His name to worship Him. This was a meal to “honor” Jesus. We see three key characters responding well to Jesus. First there is Martha, who served Jesus from the heart. In a parallel scene in Matthew and Mark she is mildly rebuked for complaining about Mary who was at the feet of Jesus while she was doing all the work. It seems that here John is emphasizing that she is serving from the heart, as an act of worship. Serving the Master is a good thing, if it is an act of devotion toward Him, and our heart is right. Secondly, we see Lazarus reclined at the table with Him – living evidence of the power of the King. Lazarus had experienced the power of Jesus, and his life now was a powerful testimony that Jesus was no mere man. Here he was enjoying a meal with his Master. I think the Jews in the first century were a bit like Baptists today – food and fellowship went together. Fellowship, eating food, but also feeding on the Bread of Life. Remember John 6:35, “I AM the Bread of Life. He who comes to me shall never hunger—he who believes in me shall never thirst.” Lazarus is sharing a meal with Jesus, but there is no doubt he is also feasting spiritually as he experiences His presence in intimate fellowship. Finally, we see Mary, whose act of “Extravagant Worship” is really emphasized in the context. It’s clear that the action reflected Mary’s heart: N.B. that we can’t judge the actions of others since we don’t know their hearts! Her actions were frowned upon by some, most notably Judas. Wasn’t it wasteful? A jar of precious perfume – worth a year’s wages for a laborer, broken open and poured on Jesus – the account in Mark and Matthew indicates his head, as well as his feet. And then wiping his feet with her hair. Normally the lowest servant in a home would wash the feet of guests. This is no mere act of kindness and hospitality. It reveals complete humiliation, absolute surrender. The word “worship” connotes lying prostrate before the One who is the object of worship. This was not an act of kindness done for a friend. It can only be viewed as an act of worship. Clearly she recognized what the raising of her brother from the dead proved about Jesus. Only God could have the power of life and death. Did she understand what Jesus still must do? Some of what Jesus says might be a clue that Mary had an idea about where things were going. There was nothing wrong or immoral about Mary’s act, was it extravagant? Yes, but for Mary, Jesus deserved the very best, he deserved her all. Notice 3b,

“…the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the oil…”

Her act of extravagant worship filled the house with its fragrance, touching those around her with its aroma. Authentic worship will touch others around us. Its not about a show, or impressing others, or putting on a performance. Its about celebrating Jesus, recognizing who He is, rejoicing in what He has done. *** We should worship Jesus with our whole heart; after all He gave His all for us.

II. The Danger of Religious Hypocrisy (12:4-8)

. Judas’ pious rebuke was motivated by his own self-interest, not concern for the poor! Judas’ question in v.5 is almost the kind of thing you might see coming up at a church business meeting. It’s a reasonable question—instead of such an extravagant “waste” of resources, wouldn’t it have been better to sell this treasure and use the money to help the poor? Concern for the poor, loving our neighbors is something the Bible often talks about, and if we didn’t have John’s commentary on Judas’ motives, we might have thought, “well that’s a good question!” We don’t know hearts, but God does. Judas apparently completely fooled his colleagues and as far as they knew he was one of them. It may well be that he was even fooling himself. He was probably only skimming a little from the money box – not enough to be noticed – not enough to hurt anyone. He walked with Jesus, didn’t he? But his heart was corrupt, anything but pure. He wasn’t worried about the poor, but what a lost opportunity to miss out on handling that much cash! Jesus knew the heart of Judas as He knows the heart of all men, but his rebuke was focused on affirming Martha’s action, not uncovering Judas’ attitude. - “Let her alone…” It seems Jesus is saying: Don’t question her motives, don’t deny her the opportunity to give her best. “She has kept this for the day of my burial…” That hour approached. -He says “the poor you have with you always…” He is not denying the validity and importance of ministry to those in need. The Bible has much to say about that. He is rather affirmed the truth that ministry to poor is something that will continue throughout the church age – there is no denying or doubting that there will always be needs and always opportunity to show kindness and act mercifully in the name of Jesus. He is saying that the time of His departure was fast approaching . He wouldn’t be physically present with them much longer. - What Mary was doing was something appropriate only at this exact moment in human history. The March toward Jerusalem, toward Passover, toward the cross, was on. Jesus came to fulfill a mission and He was “in process” toward doing exactly that. “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him” (I John 1:9). ***We should worship Jesus with our whole heart; after all He gave His all for us.

III. The Depths of Human Depravity (12:9-11).

There is a shift in scene from the intimate moment at dinner, to the response of the people and of the leaders. The people were curious, they wanted to see more. The opposite of worship may be rebellion, hatred as we see here. The leaders were fighting against God! Wed. nite we looked at Psalm 2 which pictures the futile resistance of humans to God. The disciples evoke that very Scripture in their prayer in Acts 4 after the cross and resurrection as they prayed… In Acts 4:24b-28 we read,

"…Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 "who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.' 27 "For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.

They saw the resistance of the leadership prophesied in the words of the Psalm. It was observed by the NT scholar Leon Morris in his commentary on John…

It is interesting that “Caiaphas had said ‘…it is better for you that one man die…’ (11:50). But now, one was not enough to satisfy them. Now it had to be two. Thus does evil grow” (Morris, John, p. 517).

They started conspiring to kill the One. It expands now to include Lazarus. This guy was a problem. He was walking evidence – it was too much trouble tor try to explain him away. If they could only be rid of him too that would surely solve the Jesus problem, right? We know how the history of persecution against Christians mushrooms in the first centuries of the church. Jesus will warn, in John 15:18

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”

He said earlier in His ministry, “If anyone would be my disciple let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” Paul said “I urge you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices…” (Rom 12:1).

What is God saying to me in this passage?

We should worship Jesus with our whole heart; after all He gave His all for us.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?

Have you come here this morning out of habit, out of duty, or out of the expectation that together with your church family, we are in the presence of His Majesty: God- Father, Son, and Spirit? Worship Him. Amen.