She Did What She Could

There's a passage in Scripture that we have read many times, I'm sure, and probably with the thought that we understand its meaning. But, of course, do we really? We might say that about any number of Scriptures. It's not a passage from the prophets, nor is it a writing from the writings of Paul, both of which contain things difficult to understand.

I'm talking about a passage in Matthew, and it concerns the woman who anointed Jesus with fragrant oil. If you turn there with me, please, it's in Matthew chapter 26, verse 1 through 16. There's other accounts which we'll also be looking at today, but let's begin in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 1 through 16. Now, when I read this, I'll confess to you that for me, my understanding of the woman's actions and the words Jesus said, they've often seemed like I'm just not getting it. There's something incomplete there, that there's still something of a puzzle about it. And there's something there I know I want to understand.

There's something there I need to understand. I need to grasp. And as we read this together, maybe you'll find yourself feeling the way I do. So let's read it together, and I want to begin with verse 1 of chapter 26.

I want to read this account within its larger context, the larger context I'll briefly mention here in a bit. It begins, Matthew 26, verse 1, Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings He had been speaking to His disciples, that He said to His disciples, You know that after two days is the Passover, after two days is a Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests, scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who is called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him.

But they said, Not during the feast let there be an uproar among the people. As we understand them, the Jewish leaders loved to have the appearance of righteousness, and they didn't want to stir up the crowd. They were terrified of a mob. Now verse 6, And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.

But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil in my body, she did it for my burial. 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.

And then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him, Jesus, to you? And they counted out to Him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time, he, Judas, sought opportunity to betray Him. Now it's interesting to me. This unnamed woman suddenly appeared with no explanation, poured a bottle of expensive oil on Jesus's head. The disciples were outraged because she was wasting money that should have been given to the poor and needy.

They openly condemned her, but Jesus defended her and commended her actions. And then Jesus said these intriguing words. And his meaning seems clear, but somehow it seems a little bit obscure at the same time. He said, 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. Wherever the gospel of the kingdom of God of salvation is preached, what this woman did will be remembered. In other words, it's going to be studied. It's going to be understood. And that's what I hope to do together with you today, to understand what this can mean and should mean to us.

So who was this remarkable woman? Why must we remember her actions? What exactly did she do that is so important to be understood? And how is it related to Christ's gospel message? What do we need to learn from her? Those are just some of the questions I have. There's others. Well, today we'll answer these questions, try to answer them, address them, and we'll answer a few other questions along the way. And I've entitled the sermon, She Did What She Could. She Did What She Could.

We'll begin our search of answers with reading the other gospel accounts of this very same event. It's what we do when we look in Scripture for answers, here a little, there a little. We need more information here to gain a more complete picture and better understanding. Now, I'll tell you up front that Mark's account reads very much like Matthew's account, what we've read here. That's because Matthew borrowed heavily from Mark's account, and it is Mark's account which seems to be the oldest of the four Gospels. And we will be reading Mark's account in a little bit. I'll refer to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke does record an incident when a woman anointed Jesus with precious oil. But when we, when scholars look at that, and as we look at it, we'll see that it's a different event entirely. It's a different woman. What Luke describes in his account, and it is in Luke 7 36 through 50. We're not going to turn there, but you might want to look at it and do your own comparison after services. But Luke describes there did not happen in Bethany, but in Galilee. And it happened in a much earlier time than this event we're focused on today. And as well, the woman there was described as a well-known sinner. And again, that account, you can read about later, it's in Luke 7 verse 36 through 50. Now, it is John's account, however, that does provide some valuable details. But before we read John's account, I want to address what can appear to be a discrepancy between John's account and Matthew and Mark's account, a discrepancy regarding when this woman anointed Jesus. Matthew and Mark's account, we read Matthew's account earlier in verse 1, it said the event, it seems to say that the event happened two days before Passover. But as we'll see here in a little bit, John's account states that it happened six days before Passover. Now, that can be disconcerting. And it doesn't undercut the authority of the Scripture at all. We just have to understand a little bit better what's going on. We can understand the difference between these two accounts, between two days and six days, is because what Matthew is doing, he's doing what Mark had done. Remember, he's borrowing heavily from Mark in this account. In Matthew 26, while explaining what happened two days before Passover, Matthew, like Mark did, used a flashback. He's using a flashback in the midst of his larger narrative about what happened two days before Passover to describe what this woman actually did six days, four days earlier before Passover. Excuse me, six days before Passover, four days earlier before Matthew's writing this account. As writers sometimes do, and ancient writers aren't all that different from modern writers, sometimes they do flashbacks and flash forwards without using a turn signal. I don't know if you've been behind drivers like that. So the writers here, Matthew did it, he does a flashback without necessarily giving us a clear signal. Now, why would Matthew, and borrowing from Mark, why would they suddenly make this refer back to what this woman did some days earlier? Well, if you're still there in Matthew 26, you can just glance here and I'll explain it to you. Part of the reason is it's a stylistic matter. They're trying to make, it seems they're inspired by God to make a sharp contrast between what the woman was doing and what was going on roughly at the same time, what the enemies of Christ were doing. So if you notice where we were in chapter 26 in Matthew, verse 6 through 13, is where the woman's, we see this woman's attitude of devotion and submission.

But verses 3 through 5, we find reference to the Jewish leader's attitude of hate. They're plotting to kill Jesus. And then, of course, on the other side of this woman's description of this woman's event, we find, describe verse 14 through 16, Judas Iscariot's act of treachery.

And so it's as if this woman's account of her devotion and gratitude is what we're going to see. It's sandwiched between the opposite attitudes of greed, hate.

So there's no discrepancy in the timing of the gospel events. It's a change of emphasis for effect. So now, I would like for us, if you turn with me, please, to John chapter 12. Let's read this account, same account now from John's writing his account many years later, John chapter 12, verse 1 through 8. And here we will gather a few more details about this event. John chapter 1, verse 1 through 8.

And here we read John 12. Then six days before the Passover, this is the actual time it happened, six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he, Jesus, had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper. So that's what's going on. That's the occasion. There's a supper. And Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at table with him. And then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of Spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of the disciples, one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box, and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, Let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not have always. Well, from John's account, we do learn then the occasion was a supper at the home of Simon the leper. This is perhaps a man Jesus had previously healed. In attendance for Lazarus, recently back from the grave, Martha and Mary, Martha served, Martha served. This supper may have happened a week or so after Jesus had resurrected Lazarus. The timeline there is a little somewhat vague.

And so here we learn that Mary is the woman who anointed Jesus. And the fragrant oil was made from spikenerd. It's from the root of a plant that grows in India. And she poured one pound. How much is a pound? It's anywhere from 12 to 16 ounces. This is a 16.9 fluid ounce bottle of water. Ozark is on. Right here, east text. That's about that much oil, possibly. 16 ounces. It costs 300 denarii. That's the equivalent of a laborer's wages for one year. Now, honestly, I had thought about buying a little spikenerd because I'm interested to know what it smells like myself. Right? I thought, well, that'd be a great audio-visual technique. Well, then when I got an Amazon, I realized it's $206 a fluid ounce for the pure, organically grown stuff. And I thought, well, I'll wait for another day to learn what that smells like. It's not nearly as expensive as it once was, obviously, but for my budget, it's still rather expensive. Now, Matthew said she poured the oil on Jesus's head. John says she anointed his feet, so it's likely she did both, his head and feet. And she poured all of it on him, the whole bottle, the whole flask.

To me, that says that she was very generous, very generous. She gave it all. John also adds a stunning detail of how Mary wiped his feet with her hair.

Maybe part of the reason the disciples were upset was that was a little bit embarrassing for these men, quite possibly. I don't know. And it's interesting, she wiped Jesus' feet with her hair. As a side note, 1 Corinthians 11.15 tells us, a woman's long hair is her glory. Perhaps that was the way she was showing her. Her glory is below Christ and showing her love and devotion to him. Now, I should also note, I've often wondered, and maybe you have too, how did she get the oil on his feet if he's at table? If his feet are under a table. Well, at the table is something English editors added many years ago. She actually wasn't at a table. It's a small little, he was at a small little table, but it's very small and they're actually reclining on cushions. And so they're leaning up close, using the right hand to eat food, and their feet were sticking out away from the table. So then you can understand how it's easy for her then to pour some on his head and on his feet. His mother probably never told him to sit up straight at the table, but I prefer sitting on chairs personally. My back wouldn't handle it.

And what else? Although Matthew's account suggests that all these disciples are angry with Mary's wasteful extravagance, John's account makes clear that Judas Iscariot was the one most angry. It's possible he's the one that stirred the others up about it. John also makes a striking contrast between Mary's selfless attitude and Judas' self-serving attitude and greed. Sort of what we saw earlier in Matthew's account, the whole story between the carnal attitudes, worldly attitudes of Jesus's enemy. We might say Mary offered her best to Jesus. Judas focused on the money. He focused on the money.

But it's also interesting that Jesus defended Mary. He recognized her sincere and selfless expression, absolutely selfless and from the heart, her expression of love and gratitude. She was very sincere in what she was doing. And though she could have given the money to the poor, he commended her for her gift because he knew he would not be with them much longer. And Mary somehow, maybe she sensed something that the others didn't sense about this time they were in. But she had a rare occasion to honor Jesus and she did so the best way she knew how. And she did it without hesitation. She did it without embarrassment of others. She did it without ulterior motives. She had no hidden agenda. And Jesus accepted her anointing as in preparation for his burial.

Now, after Mary is mentioned anointing Jesus with oil, we don't find her mentioned after this time in Scripture. As the timeline plays out from this point, we don't find her mentioned again in Scripture. Scripture is silent about what became of her. And I look forward to one day of finding out. I hope to find out. However, Mary is mentioned at two other events prior to this one. So what more can we learn that can help us gain more meaning from Christ's words about the importance of remembering her actions? What more can we learn from Mary's example as we follow a few other clues? So we're going to read on. Scripture first introduces us to Mary back following the timeline now, back in Luke chapter 10. If you turn there, please with me. Scripture first introduces us to Mary in Luke chapter 10, verse 38 through 42. And it happens to be on this occasion when her sister wanted her to help. Her sister wanted her to help. Luke chapter 10, verse 38. Here's what we read. Now it happens as they went that he entered a certain Jesus and the disciples, that Jesus entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus's feet and heard his word. It's an interesting phrase. Verse 40. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. Now we should note that Martha and Mary sat at Jesus's feet. That expression has special meaning. That expression of sitting at one's feet was often used to describe a teacher's students or disciples. In other words, Mary and Martha were disciples of Jesus Christ. They were both disciples of Jesus Christ. We should also notice how that even here, when we first time we become acquainted with Mary, she was focused on Jesus.

She had the opportunity to hear his instruction, and she took it. Martha, however, was angry with Mary because she was not helping her serve, perhaps in preparing the food or laying out the meal. But when Martha criticized her before Jesus, Jesus defended and commended Mary.

Isn't that interesting? Already there's a little parallel with what we read previously.

Jesus had done the same thing. We will do the same thing later, actually. We read it first when Mary anoints him with oil. But what does Jesus mean when he says, Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her? Well, his words convey that Mary made the better choice. We might say that Mary understood first things. And when required between listening to Christ while he taught or serving the physical needs, the physical wants, we might say of others, Mary chose to put first things first. On that unique occasion, that unique opportunity she had, she chose to be taught personally at the feet of Jesus Christ to hear his words of life, of salvation, and of the kingdom of God. Very important. Now, when we next read about Mary, it's in John chapter 10. So let's turn a few pages over to John chapter 11. Actually, John chapter 11. Again, we're following the timeline forward. Some time has passed. How long again is unclear. But now in John 11, it's on the occasion of her brother's death. This passage provides more insight as to why Mary quite possibly gives us a good reason why she later anoints Jesus with oil. Let's turn to John chapter 11, verse 1. And we're going to read bits and pieces of this much longer narrative. John 11, verse 1. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. And when Jesus heard that, he said, The sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now, of course, we know Lazarus is going to die. But here he says it's not unto death, his illness. It seems Jesus did foreknow that he would resurrect Lazarus back to physical life.

This event would not end at that moment in his death. That miracle, by the way, would be irrefutable proof of Jesus's identity unto that time, of course, into the three days and three nights in the grave and the resurrection afterwards. But that resurrection of Lazarus would cause even greater fear and hatred among Christ's enemies.

Continuing on, verse 5, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. That seems the opposite of what you'd expect, doesn't it? And then after this, he said to the disciples, Let us go to Judea again. And of course, by this time, Jesus knew that Lazarus was dead.

Now, skipping down to verse 20. So he makes his way with his disciples to Bethany, where the sisters are. Verse 20, Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary was sitting in the house. Now, by the way, Mary was not being disrespectful or lazy. She was observing the seven days of mourning. Orthodox Jews to this day will remain in their homes for seven days as part of the custom of mourning the death of a close relative loved one. That's what Mary apparently was doing. Verse 21, Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. She knew quite a bit. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection in the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. Martha believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, and that he was the Son of God. In Jewish minds at that time period, that's part of the reasons I got mad at Jesus, because when he's saying he is the Son of God, he's saying I am God, I am deity.

Martha believed this, and I think it's safe to assume that Mary believed the same thing. Now comes Mary, verse 28. And when she had said these things, Martha, when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, the teacher has come and he's calling for you. And as soon as she heard that, notice, she arose quickly and came to him.

Now to verse 32. Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet. And she said to him, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. That's the very same thing Martha had said. It's interesting.

Verse 33, therefore when Jesus saw her Mary weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

Jesus was human. He had emotions. He saw and felt their grief. And we also recognize that he must also have sorrowed for the human condition. That this is what it means to be human, to face this cold reality of death. Verse 34, and he said, and then he said, where have you laid him?

Meaning Lazarus. And they said to him, Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept.

And then the Jews said, see how he loved him?

Mary would also have seen his tears. She was right there. And surely she was also deeply moved by his expression of love and compassion. And then we can understand that Martha and Mary would have then led Jesus to the tomb. And Mary would have been standing right with them. She would have been listening intently to their conversation, which we picked up here in verse 39.

Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench. He was already decomposing. For he has been dead four days. And Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?

Mary's standing right here listening to this. Verse 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I say this, that they may believe that you sent me.

Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go. And then many of the Jews had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in him. And Mary saw and heard all of this too. She received her brother back to life.

Now imagine, if you can't, imagine what impact this astounding miracle must have had upon Mary's heart and mind. How would that experience have affected her belief, her faith in God, and in Jesus Christ? Well, we find out as we turn to read that next event, by now a familiar event to us, which may have happened, as I say, a week, a few days later, possibly a week or more.

Let's turn now to Mark chapter 14, verse 3 through 9. Mark chapter 14, verse 3 through 9. This is Mark's account of the woman who anointed Jesus with oil. We're going to read this, and we will notice some things we've read before and some new things too. Mark 14, verse 3 through 9. But we're also going to be better informed now. Now we have more information. Now we're better informed about Mary's character, better informed about her life experience, better insight as to what might be in her heart and mind at the point that we're going to read next.

Mark chapter 14, verse 3. And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he sat, as we now know, reclined at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenerd, and she broke the flask. Now that may sound strange, but these alabaster alabaster is a type of stone, and it's carefully carved. And then this this flask is sealed, and so to open it she had to crack it open on something. Maybe like an egg.

She had to crack open the end of it. That's what it's talking about. She took the flask of fragile stone and poured it on his head. We also know she did on his feet. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor, and they criticized her sharply.

But Jesus said, Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me, for you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good, whenever you wish you may do them good. But me you do not have always. And so again, we find Mary receiving this sharp, stinging criticism from Jesus's closest friends and disciples for wastefully pouring expensive oil on Jesus instead of giving the money for it to the poor.

And by the way, I would assume Mary may have regarded these same disciples as her fellow disciples and perhaps her very own friends as well. You can imagine how criticism friends can be very hurtful. Mary acted at a time of unordinary circumstances.

The pricey oil was to honor Jesus, whom she believed to be the Christ and the Son of God. She was not motivated by any desire for position or influence, but by her sincere, honest desire to do a good work of love and of personal sacrifice. Mary had the unique opportunity to do what she must have planned for some time. And she took the opportunity. And being a careful listener, we saw to that earlier, being a careful listener and less distracted perhaps by more worldly concerns, Mary may have sensed that Jesus would indeed soon give his life. Jesus kept mentioning that to his disciples and we get the sense reading scripture they didn't want to listen to it.

But maybe Mary did carefully listen to it. So she generously, generously anointed Jesus with this fragrant oil, all of it, every drop, as a pure expression of her love, of her devotion, and her gratitude. And Jesus understood. He understood. And just as he defended Mary from Martha's criticism, so he defended her then.

The oil was to honor him. Only he, not the disciples, had the right to approve or disapprove of Mary's action, of Mary's good work. She did it to glorify him. She did it as an act of love and devotion. In helping the poor is what they normally did and what disciples of Christ must always be doing.

But Mary had taken the unique occasion to give him honor. Unique and rare opportunity. And so Jesus commended Mary for what he called a good work.

And then he said this, verse 8, She has done what she could. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial. 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. And this is where I was curious and felt I needed to understand more. Maybe you feel the same way. In Christ's commendation of Mary's action to honor him as she did, we might also hear the echo of his words to Martha. We might say that the disciples, at that point when she's pouring this oil on his feet and his head, we might say that the disciples were worried and troubled by many things. But one thing is needed. As he said then, we might seem to apply now, one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. A point that Jesus seems to be making, the count we keep hearing over and over again, a point Jesus seems to be making is that there are always human needs, there is always human wants, always human concerns that, yes, must be attended to. But what is most needed is more important than all these. There are priorities in life, and what is most needed is to heed God, to put God first. Listen to him, seek him, believe him, give ourselves to him.

Mary had chosen that good part before, as we read, she sat at his feet, and she did it again this time. So in verse 8, Jesus commended her, saying, she has done what she could. And his statement suggests, it seems to me, it suggests that if there was anything more that Mary could have done, she would have done it. She would have done it. I like Mary. I want to be like Mary.

And again, this speaks well of her love, speaks well of her devotion and her gratitude to Christ and to God.

And Jesus foretold that her action will be remembered. It will be told as a memorial to her. In that line, she did what she could, that is the title of the sermon. That's where my title came from. She did what she could.

So to this point, we've gone through the Scripture. We followed various leads and clues. We've answered many of the questions I had at the beginning pertaining to this woman who anointed Jesus with oil. And now we need to consider how does all this relate to you and to me gathered here to deserve the Sabbath day and this last day of unleavened bread. There's something here, Jesus said, we need to remember. Something about her action, something about her and what she did, we need to consider. There are many points people may be able to come up with. I have three points.

I have three points to share with you in remembering what Mary did. I think there is an example she said that we can learn from.

Point number one, one takeaway, express our devotion and gratitude to God. That's something Mary teaches us. Express our devotion and gratitude to God.

You get a chance later today, think about what she did. And I think like me, you'll see that Mary was unashamed. She was unashamed to express her devotion and gratitude to God.

That can be a rather courageous thing to do. She was unashamed to express her devotion and gratitude to God.

Now, her way of showing her love to Christ was unique to her.

We don't get that opportunity as she had.

But we can, I think, emulate and use her same qualities of humility and of sincerity and love to show our dedication and thankfulness to God in our own ways, unique to each of us. Our own ways unique to us as a group, as a congregation.

And even if others should criticize us for how we express our love for God, we must not be fearful or ashamed to do so.

All that we hope to be is because God loved us first.

And he sent his Son to suffer and shed his blood for us so we might have eternal life. We owe God our total submission, our gratitude, our love.

And, of course, these spring Holy Days remind us of God's love towards us and our duty to gladly love God in return.

If you turn with me to Colossians chapter 1, verse 13 through 14. Colossians 1, 13 through 14. Paul can be very succinct.

He can be very succinct at times in driving a point home. In Colossians 1, 13 through 14, Paul succinctly explains why we must thank God. It's part of what we've been feeling all week, I'm sure, starting with Passover. Colossians 1, 13. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us in the kingdom of his Son. He is God our Father.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

We should be very, very grateful for that. Having been freed from sin and death, we rightly owe our Father and Christ his Son our love and devotion.

And love towards God, I'm sure you know this, but love towards God means so much more than expressing words, so much more than just having emotions about it. Although words and emotions are part of our gratitude, of course, in our devotion.

Back in John 14-15, familiar words, but powerful and vital nonetheless. John 14-15, Jesus was also explicit in teaching us how to love God. You want to love God? John 14-15. If you love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments. I heard about that this morning, didn't we? Let's get me down to John 15, verse 10 through 14. John 15, 10 through 14. Jesus added these vital words. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. You don't have a lot of joy. Keep God's commandments and do it to the praise and glory of God.

Verse 12, this is my commandment that you love one another.

As I have loved you, we also have to love one another. And greater love is no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. We willingly submit. And our love and our gratitude to God, frankly, will compel us to submit to him, to keep ourselves at his feet. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14 through 15.

Paul, again, gets to the point. 2 Corinthians 5, 14 through 15.

Paul says, verse 14, for the love of Christ compels us.

We can't help ourselves.

The love of Christ compels us because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.

It's not about us. We hear that a lot.

But it really means something when we're talking about our relationship to God. It's not about us.

And so a sincere love and submission to God, and by practicing God's love, keeping his commandments, practicing his love towards all people, not just to those we get along with, most of the time, but even our enemies. Yes.

When we do that, we...

That is part of our expressing our devotion and gratitude to God by keeping his commandments.

And I don't know, but I don't think many of us...

Well, I know we don't, but though we don't have the opportunity to anoint Jesus' feet and wipe them with our long hair...

I don't have long hair... Mary had that opportunity. We don't.

But we can love and thank God in sincere and honest ways, openly and freely. With whatever gifts God has given you or given me, we must be free to give those and share those as an act of devotion and gratitude to God as we keep his way of life and commandments. Now, a second point, a second takeaway from Mary's actions.

Make God the priority in our life. Make God the priority in our life.

Just as Mary chose to make God the priority in her life, so must we. So must we. Okay. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her.

Mary sat at Jesus' feet. She chose to be there.

And it seems she was a very capable student.

She knew what the first things were, and so do we. We know it. God is first things.

Mary would have heard and known the earliest lessons of Jesus' ministry. Among the earliest things he would have said would have been well known among the disciples.

In so many words, we can say that Mary was rightly seeking salvation. We could say that Mary was seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's not just a slogan we use or a motto we use during the Feast of Tabernacles. I'm sure we all know that. That's our focus, the gospel, eternal life, our right relationship with God and Christ, right relationship with our neighbor, self-sacrifice. It's all in there, the gospel of the kingdom. That was Mary's focus, and it must remain ours. The days of Unleavened Bread remind us that we must be putting out the leaven of sin. We must be living a life without sin. We must be eating, as we heard this morning, that Unleavened Bread of Life, the Word of God. And not just for one week. It's been a great week, hasn't it? In many ways, it really has. But we need to keep doing this every day, every day, for every day that God allows to us. None of us knows how long that is. But every day God allows to us God, in His way of life, eating that Unleavened Bread of Life, that must be the priority of our lives. And there's always something else trying to shove it out of the way. But we gotta resist that. It's typically sin, trying to push it away. In Matthew 16, verse 11, it's familiar. We've been rehearsing, and I'm sure you've been rehearsing it here. Matthew 16, 11, we read how Jesus sternly warned His disciples about the spiritual leaven of sin. He's getting a little impatient with them because they thought He was talking about actual bread. And it's like, no, no, no. Come on. I'm being metaphorical. He said, How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they understood. We need clarity. That's what we're trying to gain today, some clarity. Then they understood that Jesus did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. These people were the religious leaders of Christ's time. They were the leaders of God's people. They were doing a lousy job of it, frankly. That's my words, not Scripture, per se.

They were focused on the wrong things, weren't they?

Especially, they were focused on themselves, preening their pride. It makes me think of a shiny bird like a peacock, trying to make itself shinier. That's what they were all about, keeping their position.

They were puffed up with pride and greed and self-righteousness.

To be labeled a hypocrite is a terrible thing, but that's what Christ called them, for it was true.

And so that's what Jesus warned his disciples then, and certainly what he's warning his disciples now to avoid, to reject. Don't be like that.

Now, when the disciples later criticized Mary for pouring that oil on Jesus, we can see from what we've read that they and Judas especially did not share Mary's focus at that time. They were a little distracted like Martha had been, just like we can be at times. At that moment, Mary's pouring the oil, they were distracted by the money issue. Oh, we could be using that to help the poor. That is true.

They must have been very concerned about the cost of serving the poor, but it's possible maybe they're being a little too concerned that in focusing on what today we might call the, I don't know if I dare call it, like social issues or something like that, you don't want to forget that God has to remain our priority. Yes, we must be doing these things as we can, as God blesses us to be able to do that. But ultimately, our highest priority must be God and maintaining a right relationship with Him and helping others to build that relationship to learn the gospel. At that moment, she's pouring oil. They needed a right perspective, such as she had, such as Mary was displaying and humbly putting spiritual things first. Her sincere, truthful expression of devotion and gratitude to Jesus Christ. And remember, Jesus commended her for her good work.

It was the right thing to do at the right time, apparently.

Now, yes, we know removing physical leaven from our lives takes effort, but if we've been around a while, we understand it takes even more effort to remove wrong attitudes, sin from our hearts and our minds. And we can't repent and remove sin without the help and intervention of God and Jesus Christ, without the help of His word, without the help of the Holy Spirit, as we heard again this morning. It seems to me like what we heard this morning, what I felt compelled to share with you today is connected.

Only through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ can we be cleansed from sin and have a right relationship with God and so receive the gift of eternal life. We must partake of the bread of life. John 6, 51. And as we as ministers of God would be failing in our jobs, failing in our task, failing in our responsibility, if we did not exhort ourselves and exhort all of us here by reading these scriptures again and again, if need be, to remind us that we must not let down. We must be living by this bread of life, not just during the feast, but every day. John 6, 51. Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The bread of life is essential to us now and for eternal life, salvation, in the kingdom of God. Like Mary did, we must choose to make God the, capitalize that if you want, the priority in our life. And the hard part, it seems, is to make everything else in life less important. That is our challenge, but God is there to help us. Like Mary, we must continue to choose that good part which will not be taken away from us.

So now we come to point three. I only have three points. Point three. Again, being inspired by Mary's actions, point three is do what we can do. Do what we can do.

Mary did what she could. That's what Jesus said, Matthew 14 verse 8. And again, if there were anything more that Mary could have done, she likely would have done it. She did the best she knew, what she understood. She had a right attitude and approach, one that we need to have when it comes to our relationship with God. Now, we already mentioned Mary's expression, devotion, and gratitude, and how she heeded God. She listened to him. She made God her priority.

Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12. She made God her priority. She showed her devotion and gratitude to him. But in Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12, we can see that she was living, doing the best she knew, and could, all she could, to fulfill God's requirement. God's people were told what God requires of them.

This is addressed to the children of Israel, ancient children of Israel. It still works today. Deuteronomy 10 verse 12.

You know, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, fear means to revere, to worship, to put him first. To fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Jesus taught the same requirement we know, and he lived it, he exemplified it in all that he did. It would seem fair to say that Mary did what she could to fulfill God's requirement. Mary heeded Jesus' instruction as best she could, and the poignant question for us is, do we? Do we? Do you likewise?

Do we do what we can, for example, to sit at Christ's feet each day and learn from him?

Have we built good habits and routines when it comes to reading and studying our Bibles? And I'm willing to think that we all can say yes, we have, and I'm going to say that's absolutely wonderful. But then I'm going to say, based on what I read here, can we do even better? I'm sure we've made progress over this past year since the last Passover. For some reason, we've had more time in our hands. Unless you're sick and... well, okay, we'll go there.

I'm sure we've done better at this, but could we do better? Even better? Can we do more? Has our prayer life improved since last days of 11 bread? And again, if it has, it's wonderful.

Can we make it even better? Maybe we can work on praying more fervently. More fervently.

So fervently that all you hear is a white noise in your ear and yourself talking to God. You don't hear the dogs barking or the traffic.

Maybe we could pray for more people. Maybe we could pray for...

give a little more time prayers for others.

What about fasting? Could we fast more often to stay closer to God? And even when life is really good, not just when we have troubles or we've got a bad attitude and we want to get right with God, but when we're feeling great and good. How about fasting then?

Make it even better. Become even stronger and closer at those beautiful moments.

Are we doing what we can to keep our thoughts on God and His Word and all what I would call the junk thoughts out? I get a lot of junk in my head sometimes. I don't know about you. What's the old computer terminology? Junk in, garbage in. Sorry. It's not my area of training. Garbage in, garbage out, junk in, junk out. Yeah. What are the junk thoughts? Temptations, wrong attitudes. Maybe our rush to judgment. Disciples did that to Mary. They rushed to judgment. Jesus said, hold on.

All the worldly distractions of the world. Those are some of our junk thoughts, too. How about, do we take it upon ourselves to do good works for others? Do we personally make it our own personal responsibility to do good works? Or do we hesitate? Do we hesitate to do good works because we're fearful of being embarrassed? Because we're fearful of not getting the approval of other people. I hope we don't feel this way, but we don't always need approval of a committee.

We don't always need to belong to a larger group.

You don't always need to ask your pastor, is it okay to do this good work? If it's a good work, and God is inspiring, and your heart's telling you to do it, I don't think I'm sticking my neck out to say you should do it. Don't wait. Don't hesitate. You may not get that opportunity again. If Mary hadn't acted when she did, and would never have had another supper, she never would have seen him again, she took the opportunity. We do, too. Now, I'm not trying to beat us up with guilt or anything like that. I know how guilt works, trust me. I'm just wondering about myself and about us out loud. Are we doing what we can do? Are we doing what we can do to heed God, to love God, and to become more like God? That's the purpose of these days, to eat more of that unleavened bread.

Let's note a few more scriptures. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1.

We think it's Paul that wrote this. And again, Paul really gets to the point sometimes. We see it here. Hebrews 2 verse 1. It's a little warning about heating, paying attention, not just hearing, but actually doing. That's what it means to heed. Hebrews 2 verse 1. Therefore, we must give the more earnest, heartfelt, sincere heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. Lest we drift away. We could take what we're hearing today and all these wonderful messages we've been hearing today and all the messages we hear from God's Sabbath day, and just let them kind of pass over us like the pollen blowing in the wind. Just kind of drift over us and we don't give it another thought. That's not what we're to be doing. Heated, lest we drift away, lest we walk away, float away from God's truth. Imperceptively, not even being aware that we're doing it. Before we know we're far away from God in a place we do not want to be. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12. Another warning from Paul through the point. Philippians 2 verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, he loved God's people. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, Paul said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Work out your own salvation. We have our own part to play. Mary did what she could.

Are we doing what we can do? Now, God does hold each of us responsible. He does hold each of us accountable for doing what we can do. And, of course, we all face those times, and I'm sure you feel that too, that you feel like we often come to a point where we feel like we've done all we can do. I've worried all I can. I've prayed all I can. I fasted. I just don't know what else I can do.

And we get exasperated. But there's always one more thing we can do. Maybe you're doing it at the time, and you don't know it. There's always one more thing you can do. And Mary's actions, Mary's actions remind us what we must do. And it's akin to Paul's words. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 12.10. It's akin to what Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 12.10. She did what she could do. Was there anything more that Mary could do? In essence, she was doing it. 2 Corinthians 12.10. It's one of my favorite scriptures, especially this last sentence of the scripture. 2 Corinthians 10.12. And I just I feel like I'm out of gas, and there's nothing left. When we feel weak, we're tired. We feel incapable of doing anything more. That's when we can turn to God. See? That's when we turn to God, because He has the strength we need. He has the strength we need. 2 Corinthians 12.10. Therefore, I take pleasure and infirmities, Paul said, and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, for His work, His glory. And there's that sentence. For when I am weak, then I am strong. I think we've all been feeling pretty weak over this past year for different reasons, different ways.

But we turn to God in our weakness, and He gives, He makes us strong. When we're really puny, that's when we can be most strong spiritually is the point.

Mary's actions remind us that when we do what we can do in turning to God, when we do what we can do to submit to Him, when we do what we can do to give to Him our all, well, then we can count on God to give to us His strength and His encouragement we need to carry on for one more minute, carry on for one more hour, one more day, to carry on. Mary, Mary did it. She did all she could, so must we.

So these three points are just a few of the critical things we might learn from Mary and her actions when she anointed Jesus Christ with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair.

You know, just that image, and maybe in your mind's eye, is something we can carry with us as a reminder of the attitude and the heart we need to have, that sincerity, that beautiful sincerity and love for God.

Mary's actions remind us of this attitude and approach we should always have towards God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, His Son.

I think it's one of pure and utter submission, and it's born of conviction. It's born of her devotion, her gratitude, and ultimately her love. Mary's example reminds us that we must always choose the good part of submitting ourselves to God in partaking of the bread of life now and always, and of living by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for our sins. We have no hope except for Christ. We must do all we can to partake of God's Word and not just eat it, but to put it into action. We must do all we can to partake of God's Word and then to think and speak and act and to live by sincerity and truth.

It's not a cliche. It's real. To live by sincerity and truth as we follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When we do so, when we do so, then we, like Mary and so many others before us, will retain that which cannot be taken from us.

Eternal life and salvation in our place in the kingdom of God.