Teaching from John 12
First B Jackson
2013-02-10

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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So, if you'll notice the last few weeks, I've been giving you an expansive bit of scripture because that's where the truth is and then expounding on a little bit of it. I'm going to do a little bit like that this morning and I haven't been doing the review in a few weeks at all. So, I am gonna do that. John 12, I think the key verse in John 12 is verse 23. The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified and y'all know, if you've been here, recently that we've been going through this and I spent a lot of time in the beginning with the period of consideration.

It was a lot of sermons, a whole lot. We started this in mid October. Then, there was a period of controversy and we did that pretty quickly and then the period of conflict. We've covered all of that over the past couple of months and that's the Merrill Tinney is the guy who's written the gospel of belief. That's what I keep on referring back to.

The gospel of belief and we've seen so much about belief and unbelief and you could see consideration, controversy, conflict gets us to crisis. That's what this week is about. We are heading towards Easter. Hopefully, arriving at the cross at Easter but if you look at John's gospel, it's interesting. It's very symmetrical.

He's got the prologue at the beginning and an epilogue at the end. He's got about a week of Jesus's earthly ministry at the very beginning that starts it off and then he fills up all the middle with the big, this is the ministry of Jesus and then there's it slows back down. There's one week at the end. We are starting that one week moving towards Easter. I know we still have some time before we get to Easter but we're starting that today.

The period of crisis. Another way to look at this is prologue and epilogue, book of signs, book of glory. Jesus has done the last of his seven sign miracles that point towards his messiahship. He has done the raising of Lazarus and that's the last one that points toward his messiahship. We are right there in the middle.

This transition in in chapter 12 is from the book of signs kind of wrapping that up and then it's the initiation of Jesus glory. We're going to concentrate on four different things. I know that's crazy. Four different things. The retirement to Ephraim, return to Bethany, entry into Jerusalem, and visited the Greeks.

That's a lot of scripture. I know that but we got 30. So, no, I'm just kidding. The reason we're doing this is because there are four distinct groups. There are enemies of Jesus.

That's why he retires to Ephraim. They're friends of Jesus and that's his return to Bethany. Now, last week, we were in Bethany and where is Bethany? That's Lazarus and Mary and Martha. That's where they live and he raised Lazarus from the dead.

That was last week. So, friends in Bethany. His entry into Jerusalem often called his triumphal entry is with the populace and then the visit of the Greeks. The Greeks were God fearing folks that came up for the Passover. So, this is somebody that probably had an inkling of what the scripture said but they were Gentiles but they were God seekers.

So, I'm going to read this and I'm only really going to concentrate on that return to Bethany but I'm gonna read the scriptures surrounding other because I think the context makes so much difference. Retirement Ephesians. Therefore, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. If you look at the verse right before that and see what the therefore is there for. It says, and they sought to kill him.

So, he knew that his hour was coming but he knew that if he was not gonna be killed in his sleep somewhere that he needed to retire to Ephesians. So, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews but went from there into the country near the wilderness to a city called Ephraim and there remained with his disciples and the Passover of the Jews was near and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then they sought Jesus and spoke among themselves and they stood in the temple. What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?

Now, both the chief priest, those were primarily sadducees. Those were on the liberal side of the theological spectrum. They would be the people who had allied themselves with Rome and kind of were getting kickbacks for doing the right thing. They were they were, we'll say, aligning themselves with the powers that be and the Pharisees who were definitely not aligning themselves with the powers that be. They were the religious zealots that would have a separate state.

And they were very very interested in Torah, God's law. So, now, both the chief priest and the Pharisees had given a command. If they got together, the sadducees and Pharisees on anything, this was a big deal. They agreed about Jesus and they given a command that if anybody knew where he was, that he should report it, that they might seize him. So, we see why he retired to Ephesians.

Ephesians was his place of refuge away from the people who sought to kill him, from his enemies. Okay, one point down. The return to Bethany. Then, six days before the Passover, this was probably at the end of the Sabbath on Saturday night. One week before Jesus would be crucified on Friday, okay?

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, who had been dead. Ain't that a great sentence? Where Lazarus was? Oh, you know Lazarus. The guy who had been dead in the last chapter.

Whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper. This is just a side note but in the South, we call dinner is the lunchtime meal and supper is the night and we have biblical support. So, there, they made him a supper and Martha served But Lazarus, again, mentions Lazarus. Lazarus was one of those who sat or reclined at the table with him.

There's one sentence right here that I'm going concentrate a lot of effort on. Then Mary took a Litra, it says in the Greek, which is a Roman pound, 12 ounces, a 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. Do you all know what that is?

I would not have any idea had I not been studying for this sermon. I would have no idea what this is. That is Clive Christian number one. Clive Christian number one comes in a baccarat crystal container with a stopper that has baccarat crystal crown blah blah blah. If you ordered it straight from Clive Christian, they will deliver it in a Rolls Royce.

It is $2,350 per ounce. That's crazy. That's what I think. When I see that, that's crazy. One Litra or 12 ounces of this Clive Christian number one.

For men or women, it does come in both. At $2,350 an ounce is $28,200. So the median expected salary according to salary.com yesterday, day before yesterday, a general labor in The United States, the expected salary for general labor is $28,319 a year. We have a three hundred sixty five day year. General labors a lot of times do work six days.

If you knock off 52 Sundays and then scale it back for two weeks vacation, you get down to very close. Two hundred ninety eight days, I think, or something like that. It's pretty close. So, a general labors whole salary would buy him about 12 ounces of Clive Christian, number one, men or women. Return to Bethany but one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?

Now, a denarius was a general laborers days wage. So, three hundred days wages, typical year. Given to the poor. This he said, not because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief. It's John's narrative.

It's his editorial but this is scripture and this is true and so this is God's word. It was his inspired word. He didn't say this just guessing at the motives of Judas. This he's had time to see this. This he said, not because 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.

Pilfer from 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. This is where I want to spend the time this morning.

This section is just rife. I mean, it's so full of contrast and there's only one sentence about what Mary did in this gospel and if you look at Matthew and Mark, they do expand this and it's the same scene. It's the same same person and it's the same anointing. Some of them says, it's 12 ounces. So, all over his feet unless he had enormous feet.

That would have been, you know, crazy. One of them does say he anointed his head and the other says anointed his body. So, she probably just poured it all over him and wiped the feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. When I was reading over this and I was thinking, you know, it's it would be hard to look at that and see that because if you just caught what I was saying about the three hundred days wages and the 300 denarii, that was $28,500 or somewhere there about $28,000 worth in today's prices of something that she just poured out over Jesus.

It would be hard not to react like Judas. Do y'all get that? I mean, and I'm a Mary and then Martha Mary scheme of things, I'm a Mary. I want to be at the feet of Jesus. I want to be worshiping him but it seems that, oh my goodness, this seems like a waste.

It seems like a waste. John sets up some really stark contrast here. Oh, let's throw this into. Tanya actually laughs out loud when she reads this part. Now, a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only but that they might see Lazarus.

These are folks that didn't necessarily agree with the Pharisees or necessarily agree with the sadducees. They're kind of seeing how it pans out but when you hear about a man raised from the dead, you want to see that guy. So, that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead but the chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death. The chief priest, not the Pharisees. Chief priest, sadducees, the ones who don't believe in the resurrection, we're going to put that guy to death.

Because on account of him, many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. Wow. The stark contrast, Mary is obviously contrasted with Judas in this. The way that she acts and the way that he reacts could not be anymore different. I've already admitted that it's hard to look at it and think, oh Mary did the right thing but Jesus defended her.

We know that she did the right thing. I think there was there's a certain spiritual motivation that is not expressed in the text but she knew something and she felt it and she was living by faith. She was not living by her logical scheme that she had figured out. Mary's self sacrifice was met with Judas' selfishness. One verse and then there are five verses after that of Judas and Jesus defendant.

Mary gave a costly, very costly gift and all Judas had was cheap sarcasm. Oh, this should have been sold to the help the poor. People often justify. Well, you seize the moral high ground. Y'all heard that before.

You seize the moral high ground by picking up because I can't say anything if I say that it was gonna be for the poor. Oh, this should have been done this way so that it was given to the poor. John tells us he wouldn't have necessarily given it to the poor. In fact, I wanna do a little expose of of Judas right now and this is from, it's amalgamation. It's not all just from this text in John.

It's from what we know of Judas. Judas was most likely probably a member of the zealots. Judas was looking to overthrow the Roman government. When he joined the disciples, when he joined Jesus, I think he probably saw an opportunity there that hey, this guy is gaining some momentum. He's gaining some ground.

Jesus invited him in. He's gaining ground and he is seeing, oh my goodness. It's coming up to Passover time. If anything's going to happen, this is the time. This is the place.

This is where it's going to be. When we see in the next chapter that the disciples still including Jesus, Judas at that point are considering where they will be in Jesus' kingdom. I'm thinking Judas is probably going, I'm going to be the treasurer of this new cabinet of Jesus. This is going to put me in a very good position. Let's keep on going.

Mary put herself in the position of a servant, dealing with the feet, letting down her hair for a Jewish woman was unheard of, letting down her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus but Judas only criticized. He was a critic. Set himself up as critic. She displays an attitude of belief in Jesus for who he was as the son of God. And he expresses unbelief.

Now, you say, well, he probably saw that he was the Messiah but he had a different idea of Messiah and he was not believing what Jesus said. Jesus said, I'm going to die and he kept talking about it. Have you all noticed that it's been coming up more and more often it seems? And he's given him forecast. Now, Judas is thinking, I'm on the right bandwagon and then this guy keeps on talking about death.

He keeps on talking about how he's going to have to suffer and that's not my picture. That's not what I want to see. That's not where I want to be. Her faith blossomed into devotion and it was literally poured out at his feet but his unrealized expectations, I believe, turned him to betrayal. He was looking at this and he had his scheme of how things were going to work.

And to see that money. More likely what he was thinking since John tells us it was not because he cared for the poor. It was $28.00. We've been getting along on a little help from Susanna and the household of Herod and different places that these people help us out but we don't take money back with us. Usually, we're we're we're struggling and it's $28.00 at Passover for crying out loud.

This is God's provision. This is where we take over. This is the place. But his unrealized expectations. When Jesus said, no.

Let her alone. We need to finish her. He said, for the poor you have with you always but me, you do not have always. Now, I've worked with the deaf of Mexico which are generally very poor people and a lot of different poor people around the school down there. We had the poor with us always.

It was just a normal thing and I've heard people from time to time that will use this. They'll throw it up and they'll say, really? The poor are always going be with us. Why do we need to help em? There's the mission.

Yeah. I I hope it's doing alright but not really get all that involved because we're always going to have the poor with us. You know, it's probably their own fault anyway. You know, they were just bucking up, pull themselves up by the bootstraps, they'd be alright. But Jesus is referring to the Torah there.

Deuteronomy fifteen eleven says, since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you to open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land. So, I think that it's crazy to say that Jesus was saying, I don't worry about the poor. They'll always be around. Whatever you've done for the least of these, you've done also for me. That's a sad point.

From Matthew. Okay. So, we've kind of covered these two. Retirement Ephesians, that's obvious. Get away from the enemies.

Return to Bethany. It's his friends but he sets up a dichotomy among the even among the friends. It does mention if we skipped on past and I didn't write it in orange that Mary was served, I mean, Martha was serving. Big surprise. Martha's always serving.

That's what she does. And Judas was reclining. The man who had been lying dead in a grave whom Jesus had called forth was now eating supper with him, reclining at the table. That's the scene. This is a lot of verses and y'all have heard this sermon over and over and over and over again about the triumphal entry.

So, I'm not gonna preach it. I'm gonna read it. The next day, a great multitude, the populous, I call em, that had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. They took branches of of palm trees and went out to meet him. That is significant.

Palm trees for Israel were like flags for us. For them to wave palm trees, you know, the feast of tabernacles, feast of booths, they wave palm trees. It is exactly like old glory. Stars and stripes for us, for Israel to wave palm trees. It was a nationalistic expression of patriotism.

So, for them to see Jesus, he's a miracle man. He's the big show and they've been wondering whether he's going to show up and when he does, coming in on Sunday, they cry out. Hosanna which means, lord, save us now. That's what Hosanna means. We just use it as a hallelujah, Hosanna.

It means, lord, save now. It's an imperative. Command tense, Hebrew verb. Lord, save us now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

It's from Psalm one eighteen. The king of Israel Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it and as it is written in Zechariah nine nine, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on the donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but Tanya says, they had the benefit of hindsight. By this point, he's writing this several years later, many years later. His disciples did not understand these things at first but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that he had done these things to him.

The glorification of Jesus. I said, the book of signs is over. The book of glory is beginning. We're one week from the cross. I think of his glorification on the cross but the anointing by Mary at Bethany was what we see as the very beginning.

That's the first, the kingly anointing. Therefore, the people, the populous, who were with him when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. For this reason, the people also met him. So, there were some people that didn't know what was going on but they heard, hey, he raised this guy from the dead. For this reason, the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign.

The Pharisees, therefore, said among themselves, you see that you're accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. So, the Pharisees feel like they're losing. They're losing ground and Jesus is gaining momentum. I'm sure Judas is ecstatic during the kingly intro entry.

He's seeing all of the things fall, all the prophecies coming about. So, that is the populous. The visit of the Greeks. This is one that if you stand behind about, I don't know how many pulpits, 30% of the pulpits probably have a little sticker somewhere on em, hidden somewhere or carved into it. It'll say, sir, we wish to see Jesus or we would see Jesus.

Usually, it's King James. Now, there were certain Greeks among them. Those who came up to worship at the feast and then then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida Of Galilee. Philip is a Greek name by the way and they speak both Greek and Aramaic, Hebrew, and Bethsaida Of Galilee and ask him, Philip, who every time we see Philip in John's gospel, what's he doing? Bringing someone to Jesus.

Every single time he brought his brother, he brought the little boy with the loaves and fishes. He's bringing somebody to Jesus every time. So, they went to see the guy who would take him to Jesus and they said to him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus but Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified. So, I told you I was going to do the points.

These are the points. Who do you identify with? Do you identify yourself? Are you just here by happenstance today? Did you just come and you really consider yourself to be an enemy of God but you're trying to make somebody else happy?

God's just out to get me. I have no time for it. Are you an enemy of God? Do you consider yourself one of his friends? And we'll come back to this.

Do you consider yourself the populous? Just kind of spectating or one of the Greeks. Now, this is the layout for that. The enemies quite obviously hated him. They hated his guts.

They were seeking to kill him. They were trying to find a way to kill him where they still had the moral high ground. Friends will come back to. I think that the majority of us in here would like to say, we consider ourselves friends of Jesus. I have a notion that that's true.

The populous, if somebody starts waving a flag on on the square out here and you ride by, I just about have to stop the car, stand up, salute, say the pledge. I really and I'm not even the most patriotic person in the world but if somebody's waving palm branches to an Israel in Israel at this time and they're having their party, the big show, Passover is coming up. Woo hoo. You're going to join in on that but that's kind of fickle because as soon as it goes away, it's gone away. These are not the devoted followers.

They're fickle, nationalistic. Yeah, we'll go along for the ride. The Greeks or Gentiles were truly seeking Jesus. They would see Jesus. That's what they came seeking.

They wanted to know him. So, like I said, most of us probably consider ourselves to be friends. This is the convicting part for me this week. So, I'm sharing it with you. If you consider yourself Jesus' friend, are you presently pouring yourself out in selfless acts of love and devotion to him?

Is that, does that characterize your life? Is that what you're thinking about? Thinking about, I am who I am and I do what I do. I have this lord. This is what you've blessed me with.

This is what I've been able to save up. When Jesus said, she kept that for the day of my burial. It gives the sense that she had been guarding this precious thing for a special time and when the spirit showed her that the time was then, she poured it out. She gave it. Or Are you selfishly calculating how your relationship with Jesus might benefit you and yours?

We do a lot of talking in church and we do a lot of talking with other people when we know that they have not yet trusted Jesus as their savior and a lot of times we put the candy out there but it's great. Everything's wonderful. But if we're going for the blessings, we're missing the point. It is a great life. Don't get me wrong.

I wrote something down that a pastor friend of mine said, he said, my friends, the only way to find the riches of Jesus Christ is to empty yourself of all of your own riches in order that in his saving grace, you might be rich beyond your wildest imagination in his blessing. Does that make sense? No. So a lot of y'all are saying yes because you've experienced it. Does it make sense logically?

No. Did it make sense logically for her to pour out $28,000 worth of costly ointment and fill the room with a fragrance? No. But did it make sense spiritually? Yes.

Did Jesus defend her? Yes. It was the right thing to do. If Jesus, if if Judas had cared for the poor and would have given that to the poor, he probably would have recognized that that was the right thing to do because spiritually, there is one Holy Spirit and he's directing. Now, he's gifted us in a lot of different ways.

This could sound like I'm saying, elders, y'all are just great people and board of trustees people. Let me talk to you for a little while. That's not true. The board of trustees have been tasked in this church with dealing with the temporal stuff of the church and you have to do that. God has gifted people in this room to deal with finances in a wise way but still do it in a spiritual way and recognize.

Does it make sense to send a six year old Africa? I was struggled with that. I really struggle with whether Paschal should go. Now, Tanya, I know that Tanya knows the word and she's able to teach and she's able to help and she's got a heart of mercy and compassion but I thought, why would a six year old go? Paschal opened doors that Tanya couldn't open.

That was one of those for me where I just had to say, not your will, not my will, lord, but yours. I believe that this is the right thing to do. It doesn't make sense to me logically but I feel in my heart that this is what you said to do. That's it. We are going to do communion today and as we approach the communion table, we're going do a hymn of invitation first.

If you consider yourself an enemy of God or just along for the ride, I'm inviting you to accept him, to just kind of pour out whatever you've been reserving, whether it's your kind of your intellectual, whatever. There's a great song. Take my life and let it be. This is not what we're singing for the invitation. But take my life and let it be consecrated lord to thee.

Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my love, my lord, and I pour at thy feet its treasure store. Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee ever only all for thee.

Lindsey, y'all can come on up and we're going to sing how he loves us. I will be right up here upfront. If you would like to come down the aisle, that would be great. If you want to come down the aisle and just kind of realizing your own limitation, y'all can stand. If y'all would want to come down the aisle and just pray up here upfront, that would be great too and then we are going to go into a time of communion after after this.

Alright, here we go. Thank you, Larry. We need to be as closely linked to him in in this life without him physically present with us as he was there with them and one of the ways that he did that was to say, this is my body broken for you. This is the cup. This is this is my blood that shed for you.

I'm going give us all a chance just for a minute to just come before the Lord silently and then I'll open up and we'll distribute the bread. God, we're thankful that you do call us friends. We're thankful that you have made a way through the cross, through your broken body and shed blood. You've made a way for us to be friends of God. We come before you right now humbly, seeking your presence, lord, seeking you truly just like those Greeks.

We come before you humbly. Lord, seeking to be your friends in your way, the way you would have it and not in the way that we would have it, lord. God, we confess to you all of our sins and shortcomings and we want to celebrate this meal with you that you are a part of our lives. Lord, thank you for your broken body and for your shed blood. It's in Jesus name.

Amen. Alright. See from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, we thank you for your perfect life. You're perfectly humble and obedient life even to death and death on a cross. We thank you for the precious shed blood, lord. We ask your blessing on this ordinance today.

Lord, thank you. Amen. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Paul says, that as often as we do this, eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim his death until he comes.

I always say, want to proclaim his resurrection life. We're working towards Easter but we need to be living it out every day. If you read the rest of chapter 12, it's an extended monologue of Jesus when the Greeks came to seek him. It's an extended monologue about the beginning of his glorification and one thing, the voice comes from heaven, the father says, I have glorified myself and I will do it again. What he's asked for us to do is live our lives as his church, as the body of Christ, and do our good deeds before men so that they may glorify our father who's in heaven.

So, I say, that's the blessing for the week. The hour has come that God should be glorified. So, let's do it. Amen.