2024-08-11 - San Jose CRC - sermon only - Gil Suh

Transcript

Mark 4:1-9

The Woman Who Broke the Jar

Part of the Unsung Heroes series 

Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of Mark, chapter four, verses one through nine, which can be found on page 814 of your pew Bibles, or you can follow along on the screen.

Now the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread were only two days away and the chief priest and the Lord. Teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. But not during the festival, they said, or the people may riot. While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly, to one another, Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages, and the money given to the poor. And they rebuked her harshly. Leave her alone, said Jesus. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world What she has done will also be told in memory of her This is the word of the Lord

Pray with me once again

Lord Thank you that we can come together in person and worship you in this place and this hour. Be glorified through what we do although Lord imperfect you are perfect God and you are gracious and you're good to us. And we want to Lord, respond to your goodness and grace in worship and gratitude.

And we want to pay attention to your word. Lord, speak to us through this message and so we can hear, understand and take it into our life. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

So I gave you that assignment earlier to share what was like one of the most memorable gifts. that you have received. Maybe some of you can remember some of you oh, I cannot remember. Whatever the case, maybe if you remember the memorable gift was maybe from from someone who is appreciative of you or who who was very thankful for what you have done. So it was a thank you gift. So you have received this gift, unexpected thank you gift from somebody who was thankful to you.

Maybe you did. I did. You didn't expect such a thoughtful gift and those thank you gifts can be quite generous or like extravagant gifts. Whatever the gifts may be, we feel their special meaning attached to the gift if they are gifts from a grateful heart. So I almost showed a picture of one person receiving gift, open it, and then like, you know, feeling something in their heart.

One time I visited a young man in prison. His parents were church members, and of course, he was heartbroken. So I visited him, and then I also visited the parents just to comfort them. Then later when we decided to go to a mission field, I was surprised to receive a huge amount of a contribution gift for our support from the parents. Not only once, every time I come to visit the church, I think because they're very grateful that I took time and in their suffering because of their son, that I took time to visit him in jail. So they could not forget. So that's that gift. The cash gift was from their heart.

The giver when it comes to this thank you gift, the giver is first actually recipient. They receive something now. They want to express the gift, , Thanksgiving through, , gift. So the giver knows why he or she is giving their gift to the recipients. And the recipients can be surprised, Wow, this is more than I expected, or like, Wow, I didn't expect this.

But then they feel the heart of the giver. So that's kind of dynamic between the giver and the receiver. But then observers, outsiders, may not get it, may not understand why such a generosity and surprising response because it's between the giver and receiver. Today's story involves such dynamic among a giver and recipient and outsiders.

So this story took place two days before the Passover, before the Last Supper of Jesus Christ. So that is three days before Jesus death on the cross. So that's the context. And religious leaders were scheming to arrest and kill Jesus. And Jesus was only one who's aware of the opposition, misunderstanding, and impending suffering.

People around him had no clue. Before entering now Jerusalem for the final Passover of Jesus, he was in Bethany, a small nearby village attached to Jerusalem, and he was having dinner with his, , followers. We don't know how big , the feast was, but because it's very important festival and holidays for Jews at that time, probably quite big.

A group of people, there. And we are told he was reclining on the table. That's how Jewish people sit down kind of to the side and then eat on the table. And then a woman came in, and then she stood behind Jesus, and of course she had to kneel down in order to do what she planned to do, and people were just paying attention to her.

And then there, of course, they are surprised what she did. She broke an alabaster jar, we are told. At first, maybe they are not too surprised because it was strange to us. But to them, at that time, it was anointing the guests with oil. It was customary. But not with expensive perfume that she did. So people in that room were surprised to see that she was breaking this expensive jar.

I almost brought alabaster jar that we brought from Egypt and it's precious. But the only way to get the content out of that alabaster jar was obviously to break it. And people were shocked. to find out what she used to anoint the head of Jesus. Because that unmistakable aroma of pure nard, they knew how expensive that perfume was.

The most expensive perfume actually at that time. Basically, she gave up the most valuable thing she owned. estimated to be a someone's years salary. I guess it might have been her saving for her wedding or family emergency, which was common at that time practice. So it was clearly a big sacrifice, a gift from heart.

But then the disciples On seeing her action, we are told they were indignant, they're angry, and they even rebuked her harshly. Why? 'cause they didn't get it. Their react, their reaction actually reveals what's in their heart, their worldviews full of materialistic and socially hierarchical. Because there's this lowly woman, not high official.

They consider the woman's action as actually waste, right? They said, why this waste of perfume? They couldn't understand the woman's extravagant action because their mind was focused on the things of the world. So, they were outsiders of what's going on between the woman Jesus. They mention about helping the poor.

Oh, this could have been solved for men's years wages and then given to the poor. Did they really care about the poor? Actually, they care more about the value of the perfume. To them, that was wasted by this lowly woman. So they rebuked her. They couldn't see the woman's thankful devotion to Jesus expressed through that action.

They didn't have the same focus and loving devotion to Jesus like she had. You know, in my early Christian years, long time ago, my father used to persecute me for spending too much time at church and reading the Bible, even. Because I was so kind of new in faith and excited. So I spent a lot of time. But as a, as a unbeliever, he couldn't understand why I was wasting my time and energy in this church thing.

And this is, it's not practical. It's not giving you anything. In Korean it says, like, it's not giving you any food. Maybe he was worried I might become a fanatic. Maybe it was my part. I don't know. But you know, it's common reaction from unbelieving families or unbelieving neighbors and friends when we are devoted to Christ and His will.

And we do things out of our gratitude for His love and grace. And here's a good news though. People may not get it. But Christ knows our heart and he is in our defense, just like he was for this woman. Here we see Jesus defending the woman from the accusation of disciples. Leave her alone, Jesus says. She has done a beautiful thing to me.

So Jesus praised her action.

And she recognized that beautiful expression of love in the generosity of her gift. So her extravagant action to Jesus was out of her gratitude and devotion to him, apparently. She must have experienced Jesus love and healing. And this was her expression of thanksgiving. She wanted to give her best to Jesus. And Jesus acknowledged that and then he further explained the meaning of woman's action in light of his impending death on the cross. You can imagine Jesus was quite lonely because he knew what is coming in next two or three days. But these disciples and people, their mind was full of worldly things.

Even disciples, they're fighting over who's higher and who's lower. You could imagine that loneliness. And here's a woman anointing him with this most expensive perfume. You know, anointing the dead, not only anointing the guests with oil, but anointing the dead with the spices and all different kind of oil was also customary at the time.

So Jesus took her action. and said she did what she could out of her gratitude and devotion to me. That's what he's implying. Beforehand to prepare for my barrier, she poured perfume on my body. Although she did not intend it that way. So Jesus related her action to the gospel message of his cross and resurrection.

Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. And that's the Master Jesus conclusion of this whole thing, the matter. And why her name was not, what she did was so like, you know, admirable that she, he said, you'll be remembered throughout the world.

Just like today. Why her name was not mentioned, identified by Jesus or Mark? Here's a lot of get, a lot of people guess. She must, she probably was Mary of Bethany. If you know the Bible, Mary was a sister of Lazarus or Martha. They live in Bethany and Jesus raised Lazarus from dead. So we could imagine that Mary was very grateful.

Mary of Bethany. It makes good sense in light of what Jesus did for her family. But here, what, what would Jesus say? What was done, what she has done will be preached throughout the world. So, it's not so much of who did it, what was done. So actually knowing who did it could have, could be a distraction because it's our human tendency.

Whoa Look what you did. Oh, look what she did. The focus is that action, the devotion

What we do then we learn from this passage what you and I do out of devotion to Jesus May seem to be a waste from worldly point of view You Even now, what we are doing, as soon as the air condition is off, we are kind of a little bit warm and sweaty, and this Sunday morning, where you could have slept in, or you can go somewhere, you know, nice, outdoor, but we're sitting here, listening to this message, or worshiping God together.

It could be seen as a waste of time and energy in the eyes of the outside world. So

A lot put it into this worship, actually. Preparing for worship. You know, praise team met yesterday in the middle of the day, sweating. And the media team put this, uh, the, uh, the slides and all that.

We gathered also. We made some effort, every one of you, to be here. To express our faith and gratitude to our Lord together. Then, if that's the case, to our Lord Jesus, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is a beautiful thing. Even without knowledge of other people who may think we are crazy and wasting our time and energy, we believe and remember why we are doing what we do.

Because Christ He did ultimately beautiful thing. The woman sacrificed her most precious possession, but not even close to what Jesus would do in two or three days later. He gave himself because he loved his people, including you and me.

So what does Then breaking the alabaster jar mean to us. That's what what the woman did out of her devotion and gratitude What about us? What does it mean? It may mean different things to different people But think of what you hold on to tightly in your life Or self interest for yourself Maybe for some of us, it may be a certain accomplishment in the past that you still hold on to.

Yeah, I used to be like that. I accomplished that. Or it could be a certain desire. Constantly pursue that desire, holding on to that desire. Some kind of ambition. Or it can be a certain habit, somehow you hold on to. Whether you like to keep or not, somehow you hold on to it. Or a sense of security that you want to hold on to.

And it's so important to you. Or maybe a certain relationship that you struggle with, but somehow you're still holding on to. Whatever it is that you give value to it, and you hold on to it. Maybe that's an alabaster jar to you. Then the question is, are we willing to, do we want to give that up? I don't know.

to express our grateful devotion to Christ. Are we willing to give our best to Him? Not because we have to. No one told this woman to do what she did. But somehow we want to.

If we really remember and believe that Jesus Christ, He loved us with extravagant love, that He died for us and He gave Himself for us. Then he deserves all the best from us. So we worship him from our hearts with all we are and we, all we have now and another week ahead of us, the rest of our life and actually forever.

So as we worship together, so let us remember just like this woman, Lord, I want to give my life. to you in response to what you have given to me. That's why we worship. That's why we are committed to live our life, to follow you. Help my unbelief, help my weakness because that's what I want to do, but I'm too weak.

The world is too strong and Jesus will say to us, that thing that you do, that's a beautiful thing. I'll be with you. Keep going. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for reminding us of the importance of offering our best to you. Just as a woman poured out her most valuable possession in devotion to Jesus, may we experience and remember your extravagant love for us so that we would devote ourselves to you willingly and joyfully.

Some of us lower. Although maybe that desire, the holy desire is somehow buried in our heart. Maybe our life is so cluttered with other competing priorities and pleasures of this world. We somehow lost the way. Thank you, Lord, for coming into our life and finding us. And continue to, Lord, inviting us to yourself.

Oh God. Help us not count the cost, but recognize that our gifts, when given from the heart, are beautiful acts of worship in your sight. So strengthen our faith to see beyond worldly values and to focus on what truly matters in our relationship with you. May our lives reflect grateful devotion to Christ in all we do and in all we have.

In Jesus your name we pray. Amen.