How do you worship in a busy season? I'll give you a peek behind the curtain when I'm preparing sermons. I, I like the picture, a specific individual or a type of person. And the idea is that if you can reach one person, you can reach many people. Well, today, let me share with you the target audience that this message is geared for. Are you ready? It's me. Actually, it's me just being fully transparent here with you that I feel like I've been in this busy season. And the thought is that as I was continued our study in March and as we are reading these incredible and powerful stories of the gospel and the encounters different people had with Jesus, I was struck by one story found in Mark chapter 14 that really resonated with me in this busy season. And the thought is that if it resonates with me, that my prayer is that it'll resonate with you. And, and I'm not sure what brought you here today, whether watching online or here in the room. But I understand that we go through various seasons of busyness or stress and there are many great resources out there books by guys like Dallas Willard John Mark Comer, Jeff Jefferson Bethy on, on the idea of slowing down and going through it and, and those are really helpful if you want to dive deeper into those things. But, but what I want to talk about today is really, how do you worship when you're in the middle of it? Right? You're thinking, well, ok, if I just get to the other side, if I just get through something and then I will worship. But, but God has called us to worship at all times. And so what does that mean when you're facing stress? Maybe it's relational, maybe it's financial, maybe it's workload, maybe it's community, maybe it's kids, maybe it's your job, maybe it's anxious thoughts, maybe you're battling behaviors wherever you find yourself where you're walking through. I want you to know that today's message is for you. I almost entitled today's message preparing for Easter because today is in fact, Palm Sunday. Now, imagine for just a moment what all Jesus went through over the course of seven days by entering the city, the shouts of Hosanna to be crucified to the resurrection. A lot can happen in seven days. But through it all, what we see is the power and the love and the truth found through the message of Jesus. And so if you're feeling a little overwhelmed, if you're feeling a little worried, a little stressed out, I want you to understand that today's message is for you. And as we prepare for Easter, as we get ready for all the things, right? I don't want us to be so busy that we miss Jesus, this Easter. Do you pray with me? De my father? Just thank you. Thank you that we have the freedom to gather and to study your word and to encourage one another. God, I lift up this church, this community and God, we just humbly submit ourselves before the power and authority of your word. And we ask that your spirit will be present here with us and that we can just be challenged and changed as we head into our week to live for you. It's in your son's name. We pray amen. We are in this series entitled who is Jesus. And we've been walking through the gospel of Mark is the least talked about account in the Bible to discuss and to see what it is about the, the most talked about figure in all of history, Jesus, what is it about Him that makes him so compelling and Mark doesn't so much tell us as much as he shows us the grace, the love, the truth and the healing that comes from knowing Jesus. In the last two weeks, we were honored with a couple of guest speakers here as pastor Dave shared really that Jesus came not to s to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And then last week, we heard from my friend, Pastor Nolan who really walked through that difficult balance, right? Of, of what it means to truly love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others the way that Jesus has loved us. Now, in chapter 13 of Mark Jesus makes a series of predictions that he was leaving and coming back and that as a church, we need to stay awake and stay ready, say present. And then we come up to Mark chapter 14 and there's an incredible story here and we're gonna take a slightly different approach to the story today. And I think it'll make sense. If you track with me, you see if you're unfamiliar with scripture, there are eyewitness accounts of the gospel of Jesus. And what we see is Matthew Mark and Luke are known as the Synoptic gospels. And so they tell the life of Jesus and then John's gospel was even though John was present for all these events, his gospel was written a little bit later and actually addresses more the narrative of Jesus. And you hear the I AM statements and teachings on the Holy Spirit and teachings as Jesus, the Son of God there. And so there's, they go together. And so what we're gonna do is that we're gonna actually go through this story, Jesus anointed at Bethany, we're gonna go through it three times and I kind of picture today's message working a little bit like a Bob Ross painting. Remember Bob Ross with the big hair, right? The gentle spirit, right? Just going through painting everything was like a mountain, right? And, and it starts out and the first base coat is just color, right? Some broad strokes and, and I know I don't have a canvas but I'm just pretending there's one and because I would love to be an artist, but I am not so on this side of it. So I can do some, some mean stick figures, but anything beyond that and painting is not my thing. And so he would do some broad brush strokes to establish the color of the painting, right? And then the second time through, you start putting in the colors and the shapes and so you can see the color, you see the foundation and you start to see the shapes. And then the third time through you start putting in all the little details. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna read the Mark account found in Mark chapter 14. We're gonna do the broad brush strokes to set the color and foundation of the story. Then we're gonna read that account found in John chapter 12. And so now you're gonna see some of the shapes and the players come into play and then we're gonna go through it one more time, except this time we're gonna imagine ourselves in the story, the story is also told in Matthew 26 kind of similar to the market account. So that's why we're not going to read it. And then there is a story of an anointing found in Luke chapter seven, but that's actually a different character at a different time and a different place. Sometimes people confuse those ones, but let's jump in this together and you're gonna see some pretty cool details start to come out as our painting starts to take shape. So Mark chapter 14 verse one and two, it says now it was two days before the Passover and the feast of the unleavened bread and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him for. They said, well, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. Now, I want you to take note of the timeline because the two days before is actually not referencing the story we're about to read, but rather the plotting of the Pharisees and the scribes getting ready to kill him. And the reason Mark does this is because we're gonna see the contrast of the Pharisees and then this woman and so they're put side by side, the John account puts a different time on it. But the reason for that is that right now they're, they're trying to establish the timeline of the killing of Jesus. Whereas the other story is gonna be the timeline of this dinner that we're about to celebrate. So you have people who don't like Jesus and they want to kill him. And so directly contrasted to this lady that we read about at a dinner party. Here we go verse three. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon, the leper. Now pausing here, the reason you would emphasize the title of Simon, the leper is most likely, I mean, it could still have leprosy, but most likely there was a man who was healed by Jesus. Like if this man had currently had leprosy, he's probably not the host of the dinner party, right? Like if people walk through COVID and someone had COVID, you wanna to announce it to the world and then host a COVID party, right? To go through. That doesn't seem to make sense. And so there's a good chance here that this man who had leprosy was healed by Jesus. It could potentially be the very person that Jesus healed in Mark chapter one verse 40. We don't know that could be either way. Pretty cool story and a good reason to throw a party. If you've been healed, right? It's easy to come and celebrate with Jesus. So he was reclining at the table. A woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was this ointment? Wasted like that for the ointment could have been sold for more than 300 in a so almost a year's worth of salary like this is not Costco ointment here. Uh in bulk, this is very rare expensive ointment actually native most likely to India that then was brought over. And so this very, um great smelling strong fragrance smell, but very valuable in this small jar that was then poured completely over Jesus. It's almost like a Gatorade bath but of, of ointment here. And so he said that could have been sold for a year's worth of salary, 300 I and given to the poor and they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you and whatever you want and you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could and she has anointed my body before burial and we're gonna jump more into that in just a second. But imagine sitting there and Jesus says, she has prepared me for my burial. Wait, what? Wait, a buzz killed the party, Jesus talking about death. All of a sudden I said, no, this is a good thing. He says in verse nine and truly, I say to you wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, she, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Isn't it interesting that a story where Jesus says, what has done will be proclaimed for all of time. But yet they don't name her in the story, they don't even remember her name. Now, here's the thing, the John account will actually give the name of this character. But I think Mark includes this because Mark is actually trying to demonstrate that it's not about the woman that it's about Jesus. And so she doesn't say that she will be remembered. It's what she did for Jesus that will be remembered. And now we go back to this contrast. You have another gentleman who was also at the dinner party. Good old evil Judas Iscariot. I picture like a movie scene, right? Or the music changes when he comes on to the scene and he says in there, Judas who was one of the 12 went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money and he sought an opportunity to betray him. So notice the contrast, you got the Pharisees who want to kill Jesus and you have this woman at a dinner party um anointing Jesus with his expensive perfume and oil. And then immediately following that, you have Judas, one of the the 12 disciples ready to betray him. And so you have rejection, you have anointing and then you have betrayal all side by side And so you see this extreme change. Now, that's the first coat. All right, we get some of the colors on the page, but now we're going to see some of the characters take shape and John fills in some of the gaps of these details. And so we pick up the story again, but this time found in John chapter 12. Now, if we're in John chapter 12, for those that love reading their Bibles, if you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you one. We have uh new ones out there at the guest services table. We would have a whole box full of bibles that grab one. That's our gift to you. But if you've been reading the Bible for a few years, then you might think about the fact that John chapter 12 comes right after this is crazy after chapter 11. Did you catch that? Chapter 12 comes after 11 and ready before 13? I know that's wild. I might just blow, blew your mind there. But, but why is that important? Well, in chapter 11, Jesus raises a gentleman named Lazarus from the dead and it's in a town called Bethany and Bethany. Wait a second. This is where the dinner party is happening. Dinner party is happening. It's about two miles from Jerusalem. So about a 40 minute walk and we picked this up here. Chapter 12 verse 16 days before the Passover. Remember two days before the Passover? That's when the Pharisees were plotting against six days is when this story actually takes place. And immediately after the story, we have what's known as the triumphant entry of Jesus. So that's where we celebrate Palm Sunday here. So, so six days before Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there, Martha served and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Hold up. You got Simon, the leper who's healed and now Lazarus who raised was raised from the dead. And you got Jesus and you got the disciples. This is some dinner party. This might be actually the only dinner party where Jesus might not have even been the most interesting person in the room. Like that's cool. You talk to the Son of God, right? But how I want to talk to the dude that was dead for a couple days and now he's eating right? And he gets a free pass for anything, right? Like how was your day, honey? Oh You really? I was dead. He come back like so like and he's come back and now like, and now he's like, hey, can pass the bread like, wait, what? You were dead? Now, I'm passing your breath. This is wild, right? You're in the town where it happened and so much. So actually, after the story describes the same ones that wanted to kill Jesus go, yo, we need to kill Lazarus too because everyone's getting saved because this dude is alive. Talk about a rough go. You die once you come back only to have people wanna kill you again. Like come on, can I get a break here? And so we're at this dinner party. Can you envision it? And you have Martha who served and Lazarus there and then verse three, Mary. Therefore, whoa, now we got a name to this lady Mary was the sister of Lazarus. It's not an unnamed woman. This is a woman who had every reason to be grateful to Jesus. And so we have this picture that she took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus like wait a second, the other one said he anointed the head, but the way those meals were centered was that it was a low table. And so they were probably reclining against the table. So your head was not that far from your feet and not that far from the food which makes when Jesus washes the disciple's feet in John chapter 13, even the more powerful and so most likely Mary anointed both his head and his feet. Now, why the inclusion of his feet in this version of the story? Well, because the very next detail and wiped his feet with her hair, just humbling herself to the lowest possible moment in the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, the 11 of his disciples who was about to betray him said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 Dari and given to the poor? And he said this, he now we're gonna get some insight into this. He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Uh Oh, he wasn't asking because he was a social justice warrior. He was asking because if that was sold, it could have been put in the bag and then he could have had access to all that money. Interesting thought, I'm not gonna complete it and say this is 100% true. But I do, I am gonna ask the question. Did this story influence Judas to go ahead and betray Jesus? Think about it. He just lost out on a year's worth of wages that was poured out directly in front of him. Then he responds and says, well, if I'm not gonna get what I want from here, I'm gonna take matters into my own hands and I will be, but I will betray Jesus and get paid directly tracking with me pretty powerful. And then Jesus says, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you will always have with you, but you do not always have me. No, I've gone through the story twice. Let's collectively jump into the story and tell it one more time and picture what would it be like to be there? A Jesus goes to Simon, the Leper's house who's hosting in honor of Lazarus who had been raised from the dead. Yes. Someone healed of leprosy. Someone raised from the dead. The guy who did both those things, all the disciples. And I love this because I man, the more I read about this, the more I love Jesus. You know why? Because Jesus loved leftovers. We saw that the fee of the 5000 Jesus loved naps. And he's about to go through the toughest week of his entire life known as Holy Week here. He's about to enter the city. But do you know what he does before that? You know what starts it all is a dinner with friends in the house, in the suburbs. Isn't that cool? A close relational nature of Jesus? And so it's in this setting that Mary comes forth and he breaks, she breaks the perfume on top off and pours it all over Jesus and, and can we just pause for a second? Can we just acknowledge that Nard is a weird word? Like I guarantee like you would not see the most fancy perfume or cologne commercial with the name Nard, right? Like picture just like two really attractive people walking along the the beaches of the Jordan River and they come gather, like, partially clothed and they just go, no. Right. Like the cologne commercials. It's just in there like it, maybe it's, uh, maybe it's just abstract going through the woods and it's the voiceovers from Matthew mcconaughey. Right. And it sounds really deep but it doesn't make any sense because a lot of things, what he says, you know, I'm talking about like, what is smell? I don't know if I smell like life or life smells like me. Nard sounds more like Annie Bernard from the office like he had his own cologne, you know, you know, get yourself some Nard dog. Do do do do do right? Like it's kinda like, hey, all right. So like you get past the fact that it's called Nard and it's weird but it's super expensive. Ok? And it's poured on the head and on the feet of Jesus and the people respond and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you wasted it. That's a little too much. I'm thinking they're one of my favorite Christmas movies, right? Where did you find an Xbox for $10? Right. And they were like, you went way over the $10 spending limit in our gift exchange like Mary, you went way too far. But here's the thing, Mary had a completely different perspective because this story is actually not commentary on how Jesus viewed the poor for that. You can go to places like the sermon on the mount or even the actions of Jesus of who he healed. Feeding of the 5000, how he treated people, how he spoke to people, how he spoke to men and women, how he spoke, he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, how he spoke to Children, everything up to this point. We've seen Jesus loving the least, the last and the lost. And so you wouldn't reverse that right now. But what, what we see is that where everyone in the room was viewing Mary's gift through the lens of what they could have exchanged for something else. And Mary was viewing what she gave through the lens of who Jesus is. Catch that she, she anointed his body with the oil. Jesus was called Jesus Christ and Christ wasn't his last name. It was a title meaning Messiah. But do you know what Christ? And Messiah actually means? It means the anointed one. She was recognizing him as Lord and Savior expressing with what little she had with all that she had to the God to the man who just brought her brother back to life and see if you approach, coming to God with a fixed mindset. Your first thought is to judge someone else's gift, right? But fixed meaning you are, there's a limited amount of resources. Why would you do that? You could have done this? But Mary is approaching Jesus, not with a fixed mindset, but with a growth mindset with a abundance mindset saying that if God can do all these miracles, if God can provide not just food but life to my brother, then there is no gift too great for Him and anything I give to Him, he will bring back tenfold and not in some prosperity gospel. But it's not about that. He's saying there is nothing that I could give to God that he's not deserving of even more. And here's another thing to think about Jesus told him she did a good thing. She has prepared my body for burial. Those perfumes were so strong, so fragrant. But chances are that aroma of Mary's gift was still in the body of Jesus when he was crucified and buried. Now you have a person who most likely was the one who wrapped her own brother. It was dead and anointed his body with fragrances and linens to wrap his body to see him come to life. When Jesus called out Lazarus. I almost wonder if he had to call out like his last name too or it was like another Lazarus coming out at the same time like lets no different Lazarus. Lazarus. Sorry, this is the weirdness of my mind anyway. But imagine Mary having just wrapped her own brother and to see him go from death to life to be eating at a table with the man, the God who saved him, who looked at her and her sister, Martha and said I am the resurrection and the life. You can now see where she brought forth all that she had when she did that. You know what that's called worship. So if you're taking notes, this is our big idea today. Worship is never wasted. Worship is never wasted to worship God is to give what you have to whom or what you value most. And yes, we sing songs that's modeled in scripture as well with the book of Psalms or places like Colossians, three singing praises and songs and hymns of Thanksgiving to one another. But worship is so much more than a song. Actually in Romans 12, it says to worship is to offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him. So what Mary was doing? Think about this for a moment, think about who didn't get it? The disciples didn't get it. Even Lazarus didn't get it. But it was Mary who came with reckless abandon saying I don't have much. But what I have, I give all to you, my Lord, my savior, I anoint you. And God says it is good. Did you give all you have? But I'm about to give all that I am for you. When you do something in the name of the Lord, it's never wasted. How do people respond to the message of Jesus as we prepare for Easter? What we see in the Pharisees in the market count? And even Judas in that account, the Pharisees were defiant. They were defiant because Jesus was a threat to their way of life. He was a threat to their authority, their power and their choices. Very different context today. But isn't it just as true that we live in a day where unhealthy, abusive religious leaders view Jesus message of grace and love and forgiveness as a threat to their power. But then our culture lives defiant to their lifestyle. Right? I don't believe the message in person of Jesus because at the end of the day, I wanna sleep with whoever I want to and do whatever I want to because I wanna be the authority. The Pharisees were afraid of their power. That's why they don't wanna kill Jesus without the Roman backing in front of a million Jewish people. So that's why I went to pilot in court and they wanted it and they got people to chant, they got the crowd to turn in seven days because they thought Jesus was a threat. But then the disciples were just along for the ride. They didn't get it either. Mary breaks this flask anoints the body of Jesus as he repeatedly predicted his own death. He goes, whoa, whoa Mary, what are you doing? That's too much. They were just distracted. And then you have Mary who responded to the work and life of Jesus in a way that showed that she was devoted. Her actions were marked with humility and generosity. She wasn't looking through the lens in exchanging an amount. One thing for the next she was looking through the lens of, I'm at the dinner table with the Lord, raised my brother from the dead and it's in that power. I am devoted to you God, whatever you need, whatever I can give. Because if you can conquer death, you can forgive sins, you can walk on water, you can heal the lepers and the blinds and the mutes and nothing I give is too much. So the question to ask ourselves as we get ready for Easter, how will you respond to Jesus? Yet that we're busy? I get that life can be stressful. There's a lot of details. Don't get so wrapped up in the details that we miss Jesus. This is strange when we hear that message are we defiant but you, the life of Jesus is a threat to the way I wanna live and the choices I wanna make, do we live in a way that's simply distracted by all the things happening in and around our lives that we miss what's in front of us. It would be like Mary risk our reputation, eyes focus on Jesus, not the people around us, recognizing and acknowledging that our worship of him is never wasted. He is worthy is worth it. So what we say, what we do, what we give is gonna be in response to him. So I don't have much what I have. I give to you Jesus that my friends is worship and he doesn't need our perfection. You just want a heart. He does. What are mine, our soul, our strength. And we follow Mary's example as we lead the Easter. This week, you got sometimes when we worship the outsiders and even distracted insiders, it doesn't seem to make sense. But Mary's focus was on you. Here. We are 2000 years later telling and celebrating her story and what she did was a fragrance or an aroma that was still with you. When you went to the cross, the story that after your resurrection, the disciples could look back and go. Oh yeah, Mary was right. May we remember and reflect even in our busy and stress that our worship is never wasted. So may we take time to pause and thank you for who you are and what you've done and we give all that we have to you this week, we love you as soon as we pray.