#1315 Matthew 26 Part 1 For The Love of God

 

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 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. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 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.” Matthew 26: 1-13 ESV

Matthew 26: 1-13 Anointed

6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Leviticus 16: 6-10

20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness. Leviticus 16: 20-22

You must know that after two days the Passover is coming - Jesus has let His disciples know several times now that His death is approaching, that He has to go to the cross, it is His destiny. They should make the connection of this with Passover. For those unfamiliar, Passover is the feast that they celebrate every year, commemorating their release from Egypt, Egypt representing the former master, sin, and the thing that finally caused Pharaoh to release them, yet not without struggle later, was the death of his firstborn. Now the houses of all those who lost their firstborn did not have the blood of the Passover lamb applied to their door post. The angel of death "passed over" the houses marked with the blood. This is both a historical and ongoing festive picture of Christ, the festival or feast is the ritual that points to the reality of Jesus, He is the Passover Lamb for all those who believe in Him. Sin is the object of God's wrath and in this way Jesus becomes sin on our behalf, the righteous dying for the unrighteous. He receives the penalty due us.

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! Hebrews 9: 11-14

…6Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.… 1 Corinthians 5: 6-8

…20Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. 21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5: 20-21

In the place of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas - The ball is rolling quickly down the hill now, and there's no way to quantify the full weight of what Christ is walking towards. Caiaphas is one of the longer standing high priest of this time, which wreaks of compromise with Rome. 

House of Simon the Leper - His disciples would not be in the house of a leper because that is unclean, which means that this is the house of a leper that Jesus has healed. 

A woman came up to Him - We learn from the gospel of John that this woman is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. 

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 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. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 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. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” John 12: 1-8

Very expensive ointment - People anointed guest back in those days with perfume, and they would also have a servant or other provisions made to wash the guest's feet. It is dusty and people would be rather stinky, this is before deodorant and bathrooms with running water. In John we find that it was pure nard which Judas of course knows the worth of, and states it as 300 denarii, about a year's wages.  

She poured it on His head - In John we see that she also put it on His feet which she wiped with her hair. She was basically anointing Him head to toe for His burial. She recognized what the disciples had not yet grasped. Her theology was more advanced in that she saw her savior. He was her Passover, her scapegoat, upon him was poured out the anointing of everything she needed to have removed, and we get a real sense of this from the account in Luke 7.

…38As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume. 39When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him— for she is a sinner!” 40But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, Teacher,” he said.…

…41“Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?” 43“I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied. “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.…

…44And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. 46You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume.…

…47Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”… Luke 7: 38-49

Why this waste - John lets us know that it was Judas who vocalized this, and of course everything sounds great in the ears of virtue signalers, yet John also comes to understand it as coming from the one who carried the purse. Judas later sold Jesus for much less than this.

She has done a beautiful thing to Me - She knew Who He was and was overwhelmed with gratitude, she worshiped Him. Some run off to do without knowing, but Mary had come to know from learning, from seizing the rarest moment in history, God With Us, on His way to Calvary to pay for her sins.

38As they traveled along, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”…

…41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord replied, “you are worried and upset about many things. 42But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: 38-42

You always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me - If they cared about the poor then nothing was stopping them from helping the poor, and Jesus had just taught that very thing. Mary wasn't trying to get out of working when Jesus was teaching either, she just recognized the greater thing, from where all else must flow. When will you get to sit at the feet of the Son of God and hear Him teach again? It's marvelous what she knew. No one else has seemed to comprehend this yet.

She has done it to prepare Me for My burial - This is the Son of God's take on it, enough said.

Wherever this gospel is proclaimed - And here we are discussing the woman that anointed Jesus for what was to follow. She was already mourning Him, and blessed are they that mourn for she could take great comfort in that her sins would die with Him, be buried with Him and that He Who had no sin would not be held by the grave, but would rise again. She hungered and thirsted for righteousness, and she recognized it before her, and she looked forward to being filled with that righteousness, that death would have no hold on her, that she would also rise again. That we all might know what this dear sister knew, how meek we would be.

“She probably did not know all that her action meant when she anointed her Lord for his burial. The consequences of the simplest action done for Christ may be much greater than we think…She thus showed that there was, at least, one heart in the world that thought nothing was too good for her Lord, and that the best of the very best ought to be given to him.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “Mary’s name now smells as sweet in all God’s house as ever her ointment did; when Judas’ name rots, and shall do to all posterity.” (Trapp)