Sunday words based on Mark 14

Steven3 · Lion King Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 1205 Location: UK

Hello all
I hope it'll be okay to post this "exhortation" for August 19 to give folks a glimpse at what a typical "sermon" looks like at a Christadelphian church. We use the KJV-ism (Heb 3:13 “But exhort one another daily" etc) rather than "sermon" because it sounds less pastor-y Smile

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God bless
Steven

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Exhortation for August 19, 2007

Selected NT reading Mark 14

Good morning dear brothers and sisters. We have just read the account of what is the central point of the Bible story - the last night of Christ’s mortal life. We’ve read about the last supper with his disciples, the prayers in Gethsemane, and his preparation for our Lord’s final temptation on the cross. But instead of looking at the prayers in Gethsemane, we’re going to concentrate on the beginning of Mark 14, and the anointing at Bethany.

Since we’ve already read the Mark 14 version, let's look at the John 12 account to pick up some extra information.

John 12:1 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.”

So, John’s account is basically the same as Mark 14. The main differences are that John records “Lazarus reclining at the table” instead of “Simon the Leper”, and John records that Mary wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, and also that Judas was the one to complain about her.

We won’t discuss today whether Mark’s “Simon the Leper” and John’s “Lazarus” are two names for the same person, but either way Simon could only have been clean of leprosy if Jesus had healed him. And Mary, this is Mary Magdalene, was also healed of “seven demons” [Mark 16:9].. So Christ is having a fellowship meal here with at least two people he has healed of serious illnesses. And yet these illness are just foretastes of the real sickness we all suffer from – death. The presence of Lazarus here, raised from death – if a foreshadow of our own meeting this morning – a gathering of sick people, resurrected, as Paul says, in baptism from death. A foretaste now of the real resurrection when our Lord returns.

It is natural to concentrate on the last supper as a foreshadow of our own Sunday meetings because it includes the ceremony of breaking of bread. But, in many ways the meal at Bethany points forward to the model of fellowship in the New Testament, the church as a family, the church as a place for healing, better than the last supper.

The fellowship meal at Bethany includes something unique – an anointing – which Christ did not ask us to repeat, unlike the bread and wine, but the meal at Bethany also has something the last supper did not – sick people, healed people, women, men who were not leading disciples, people who, lived normal lives, and found daily life difficult. Though Mary had also left family life to follow Jesus. And some of the disciples were married, like Peter, who attempted to remind Jesus of this in Mark 10:28

Mark 10:28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

That “receive a hundredfold” Jesus says is “now”, and then he repeats for emphasis “in this time”, Jesus promises 100 houses and 100 brothers and sisters and mothers and children for all of us, here, “now”, “in this time”. This is part of our present advance “citizenship” [Phil.3:20] which Paul speaks of in the “Kingdom of Heaven” , a citizenship we already hold while we wait for our King to come "from heaven", and bring that heavenly kingdom down to earth.

So we see that Jesus doesn’t tell Peter that believers will receive 100 church-halls, 100 cathedrals, or 100 meeting rooms. Nor 100 teachers, 100 pastors, even 100 brothers giving Sunday morning 'exhortations'. Just, “houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children”.

What Christ is telling us here is that life after baptism isn’t really about the breaking of bread meeting. The Sunday morning, (or Saturday evening, or whenever convenient), meeting for the bread and wine should be, as the saying goes “the tip of the iceberg” – because most of an iceberg is submerged, you only see the tip. Fellowship on Sunday mornings should be like that too. It needs to be the tip of the iceberg in fellowship with God. Fellowship by listening to God – through daily Bible reading, and by replying to God – in daily prayer. But we also benefit from fellowship, social contact, with our family in Christ through the week.

Please don’t misunderstand, this isn’t saying “you must attend the Wednesday night Bible Class and if you don’t you’re no good”. Though, sure, a midweek Bible meeting is good for those that can get there. The submerged part of the iceberg of fellowship could simply be talking about phoning to talk to each other - “talk to”, “talk with”, not phoning simply to gossip about others. And praying for others.

Realistically, it is inevitably easier to chat and “socialize” before and after the meeting on Sundays than during the working week. But this chatting and socializing, also should only be the tip of the iceberg – the submerged part should be sincere caring, sympathy, and “considering others better than ourselves” [Philippians 2:2-4]. And remember, not everyone wants to chat and socialize at the meeting. Some people can feel pressured. It’s common in all meetings for some people to not like chatting – or to feel that when others do chat that there is a clique, an inner circle in the meeting, from which they are excluded. It doesn’t always mean there really is an inner circle, it just means that people can feel there is. So watch out for that.

If we look back at Mark 14:4 we’ll see an example of how not to “fellowship” as a family:

Mark 14:4 “There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.”

And "they”, plural, “scolded her”. They did one thing right, they had the decency to speak to her face, not behind her back, but they still were not following Christ’s command in Matthew 18 to speak one-to-one when we have a problem with someone. Instead they were ganging-up, browbeating her. That is not the way to behave in Christ. When Jesus said “receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children”. He did not mean that 100 brothers and sisters and mothers and children, should group up to “scold” another believer. Or even 10, or even 2. And the disciples could not claim that they did it because they sincerely cared for Mary, nor cared greatly for the poor. We know Judas’ motive was as an embezzler. And it appears from John and Mark that the other disciples were, primarily “judging by appearances” [John 7:24], concerned about ‘how things looked’. They were embarrassed by Mary’s extravagant behavior, embarrassed by the wiping her hair on his feet, embarrassed by the waste of money.

But Jesus was embarrassed by their behavior, not embarrassed by her behavior: Jesus said, in Mark 14:7, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

Then our Lord Jesus says something we could almost miss in verse 8 “She has done what she could”. He says “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.” Those extra words “She has done what she could” are almost not necessary, “She has done what she could”, but what does that mean?

Back a page in Mark 12:43, “Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.”

That widow also “had done what she could”. Of course Mary’s ointment was worth much more than the widow’s two coins, but all the same it probably was a large part of Mary’s possessions. And so Jesus says:

Mark 14:9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Why does Jesus say that? Because it was an instruction to Peter and John who were sitting there to ensure that the story was later recorded in Gospel of Mark and John? Yes, very probably, ...but that still doesn’t explain why Jesus wanted this incident recorded.

Because the ointment was so expensive? Unlikely. As Christ said [Matthew 10:42] “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” No, as far as Christ was concerned a cup of cold water given in love was worth more than a bottle of expensive ointment.

So what is so special about this anointing that Jesus wanted it recorded and remembered?

Here are two suggested reasons:

1. the simple meaning of Mary’s action,
This is the more important thing, that a small act of sacrifice of love, whether a cup of cold water or a bottle of perfume, is really the core of what remembering Jesus is about. “She has done what she could” There’s no point on coming together on Sunday’s to take cups of wine in silence if we are not doing our best to offer cups of cold water during the week. “She has done what she could”. It does not have to be spectacular, simply sincere.

2. the complicated meaning of Mary’s action,
This is the less important thing, her practical action of love, or impractical as the disciples saw it, was foretelling Christ’s coming crucifixion, and burial. Whether Mary fully understood what she was doing or not.

In verse 12, when the disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” they should have already been thinking, from what Christ said about Mary’s anointing for his burial, that the Passover lamb was to be Christ himself. This is why Christ wanted Mary’s anointing to be remembered. Because, whether she realized the significance of what she was doing or not, that anointing looks to the same event which we’re now going to remember in taking bread and wine.

[* check that bread and wine are prepared for breaking of bread]

We are now going to conclude the 'exhortation' and prepare for the 'breaking of bread'. We won’t read through the account of the prayer in Gethsemane, but please note verse 36:

Mark 14:36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

That “Yet not what I will, but what you will” is what Jesus had been living for 33 and half years. We can be certain that it was foremost in his mind when Mary was anointing him for burial. From the Gethsemane prayer we see that part of our Lord, his own will, what he willed, was thinking while Mary wiped his feet with her hair “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this burial anointing, this expensive perfume, from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

We also know that a full 15 hours of trial and submission still lay ahead the next day, from midnight till what the Jews called “the ninth hour”, or 3:00 pm by our clock. Every moment of those 15 hours Christ had the power to stop everything, to call “12 legions of angels” [Matt 26:53]. Those long hours, are something like a patient being operated on without anesthetic, who at any moment can get down from the operating table and leave the hospital. Please excuse the graphic allegory, but it is true. And it is that 33 and half years of choosing to do God’s will, not “my will”, that we’re remembering now.

I'd like to ask today's presiding brother to read Mark 14:22-24 for us.
Thank you everyone. [return to seat]

14:22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
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Jo5:26 The Father ... has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
Ro6:10 the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
2Co13:4 he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God.

atoz · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:50 pm Post subject:

Thanx, S3.

What stood out:

"as far as Christ was concerned a cup of cold water given in love was worth more than a bottle of expensive ointment." [given in Hate of the inexpensive, added by Figure Hypocatastasis]

God Bless.
in Love,
atoz