Class Notes: 4/1/2015

Mark 14:3 -19 Events the day before Jesus' crucfixion



In our study of Mark last time we advanced into chapter 14 where in Mark 14:1; a timestamp is established in the narrative to read us into the chronology of what is about to happen during the following week.

We saw they while the Jewish political religious mob bosses were trying to find a way to capture him and kill him Jesus was in nearby Bethany spending the having a party.

Jesus knew He was going to die in a couple of days because He had already prophesied about His impending death and He knew it would occur on Passover.

He isn't sitting around moping about it He carries on as usual because He has God's Word in His thinking and He is there for the specific purpose of fulfilling God's Word.

We can do this and so can anyone else who has God's Word in their thinking and understands that their whole purpose in life is to glorify God through His Word.

God's Word provides the potential capacity for every believer to do this no matter what is going on in their life.

Mark 14:3a; So Jesus is at a party in Bethany at Simon the Leper' house where He is reclining at dinner. Net note 7

We don't know for sure but it is likely that Simon was one of the people that Jesus had cured of leprosy as part of His witness to the Jewish leadership. Mark 1:40-45;

Mark 14:3b; And while He was dining there a woman came with a jar of very expensive perfume breaks it open and pours it over His head.

This passage does not mention the woman's name but John 12:3; tells us that it was Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus.

Mark 14:3b; The perfume that was made of nard was in a small stone flask with a long neck. Net notes 8 and 9 We will see that this perfume was worth 300 denarii or about ten months' wages at the average pay at the time.

Mary broke the slender neck of the stone flask and poured the perfume over Jesus' head. John wrote that she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair John 12:3; Both are likely since Jesus was reclining on a dining couch at the table so His feet were accessible.

Anointing a guest's head was a common custom at festive Jewish meals Psa 23:5; Luke 7:46; but will see that Mary's act had a greater meaning. Mark 14:8-9;

Mark 14:4; We see in John 12:4; that Judas was the provocateur of this "indignation." The Greek word translated "indignation" is "aganakteo" that means to be "very displeased" or "angry"

The disciples asked "Why has this perfume been wasted?" The Greek word translated "wasted is "apolelia" that means to be "completely destroyed or ruined or to become a "total loss"

Mark 14:5c; The disciples spoke angrily to her and said " it could have been sold for more than three hundred dinarii and given to the poor"

We see here that the disciples motivated by the evil of human good were nothing but a bunch of evil do gooders.

Judas the chief do gooder who was thinking about betraying Jesus to the Jewish mob bosses incited them. It was none of their business what Mary did with her perfume or her money. They had no standing in the matter but they arrogantly assumed that they did.

Because they had no doctrine they picked up Judas' evil criticism and repeated it rather than confronting him about what he said. The fact that they aligned with Judas against Mary demonstrated their lack of God's Word in their thinking.

Their premise that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor was irrelevant because it was none of their business and a bunch of human viewpoint garbage.

They should have been thankful and praising Mary for her offering rather than criticizing her for it. Their criticism of her was satanic and evil. Rev 12:10b;

Jesus had told them that He was going to be crucified and Mary who had God's Word in her thinking understood it, she believed and she acted on her belief and demonstrated her love for Jesus with the perfume.

The disciples especially Judas had no doctrine so they angrily criticized her.

They were doing exactly what liberals do in our country today. They were sticking their noses into other people's business because of their envy and self-absorption that results in evil judgmental satanic viewpoint.

Mark 14:6; But Jesus confronted them and commanded them to "leave her alone and stop beating on her because she has done divine good service to Me."

The Greek word translated "bother" is "kopos" that means to "beat," "trouble." or "harass"

The word translated "good" is "kalos" that refers to "good of intrinsic value" or "genuine good" that God's Word uses to refer to "divine good"

We see here that Mary's gift to Jesus was divine good production but the disciples' criticism of her for giving it was the evil human "good" of do gooders.

Mary was focused on Jesus so she was spiritually aware but the self-absorbed disciples were completely unaware because their arrogance blinded them.

Mark 14:7; He defers their allegation that they could have sold the perfume to help the poor by telling them that they would always be poor people to help but they would not always be with Him.

There would always be opportunities to help the poor but the time for them demonstrate their love for Him was rapidly coming to an end because He would be back with the Father in heaven soon.

In spite of liberalism, socialism, communism, statism and every other satanic "human good" system that people think will help the poor but actually hurts them there will always be poor people and there will always be rich people.

In fact evil satanic human viewpoint economic systems actually create greater economic disparity and inequality than God's system of free enterprise and capitalism.

There is only one solution to the inequalities of man and that solution is to believe in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is to die, to rise again, and ascend to the right hand of the Father so until He returns there will never be equality. When He comes back He will provide equality but until then there is no equality, there cannot be equality as long as satan and his policies are running the world.

The Church Age and the Tribulation will be always be characterized by inequality and this focuses attention on Jesus Christ and His work on the cross and on regeneration as the only solution to man's problems.

Mark 14:8; Mary had expressed her love for Jesus in every manner possible including using her limited resources to purchase expensive perfume to anoint His body before His burial.

This is a perfect example of a person being faithful in a little having the capacity to be faithful in much in the process she parlayed the little she had into an eternal reward.

Mark 14:9; "Truly I say unto you, whenever this gospel is preached in the whole world, there shall also be what this woman hath done as a memorial of her."

Whenever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed Mary's story will be told because she had doctrine. She spent her money for the perfume because she had doctrine.

Jesus had told them that He was going to die in two days, she knew He was going to die in two days, and knowing this she went and purchased the ointment for His burial.

She was operating on Divine viewpoint in giving Jesus the gift. The disciples were operating on human viewpoint in their criticism of her.

She was ready for the most important event in human history that would occur in the next couple of days and she was ready for it, she was calm about it, she understood what was going on so she demonstrated Her love for Jesus.

While all but one the disciples ran, she was at the cross when He was crucified, and she was one of the women that Jesus personally met immediately after His resurrection.

She was occupied with Christ so she is an eternal memorial for the importance of the believer having Bible doctrine in their thinking and applying it.

Mark 14:10-11; We see here that Jesus' rebuke of Judas and the disciples for their criticism of Mary is the last straw for Judas. He proceeds to make a deal with the Jewish political religious leaders to betray Him and then watches for the right opportunity that will occur the next evening.

Judas had changed from being a disciple to being an adversary of Jesus when God changed Jesus' mission from the establishment of Israel as a political kingdom to the establishment of the Church as a spiritual kingdom after the Jews had rejected Him and He announced that he would be going to Jerusalem to die and be raised after three days. Mark 8:29-33;

Judas had signed up to be a disciple and then to rule with Jesus in the political kingdom of Israel not to become an apostle to the Church. Peter had also opposed Jesus but Judas took his opposition to another level with the betrayal.

Being an apostle of the church was actually a promotion for them but Judas did not understand it and it took the other disciples a long time to understand it.

Mark 14:12; The next day (Tuesday) Jesus and disciples were most likely still in Bethany and His disciples asked Him where He wanted to prepare for the Passover observance.

Based on His answer we see that He had already prepared for this in advance

Mark 14:13; They were under threat from the Jewish government that was trying to arrest Jesus so for security reasons the participants must be anonymous and the location kept secret.

A man carrying a jar of water would meet the two disciples. This was unusual and therefore prearranged because normally only women carried water jars and the men carried wineskins.

In Jewish culture at the time a man never carried water and if he did have to transport water he used an animal, so this was a very strange and rare sight so it was a signal that they would quickly recognize.

The man who carried the water was apparently the servant of a believer who had responded to the Lord and was willing to help but because of government spies who were trying to arrest Jesus he had remain unseen and unidentified.

They were to follow the man who to the house where they would meet the owner.

Mark 14:14; Once there they were to ask the owner "The Teacher says where is My guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?

The designation of Jesus as "Teacher" implies that Jesus was known to the owner and the use of "My" regarding the room indicates Jesus' prior arrangements for the use of the room.

Mark 14:15; And he (the owner) will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.

This means that all of the furnishings that were necessary for Jesus and His disciples to observe the Passover were provided. It also is likely that all of the food that they would need to prepare was available.

Mark 14:16; The disciples' obeyed, following His very unusual instructions to go into town and look for a man carrying water, and follow Him to a house and made their request to the owner.

A lot of people would not have done this because they didn't understand it, the whole thing sounded crazy. But obedience demands faith and at this point they had at least a little faith-rest and they found everything to be exactly as He told them.

We do not know exactly what they prepared but if it was the traditional Passover meal it was roasted lamb, unleavened bread and wine, bitter herbs along with a sauce made of dried fruit with spices moistened with vinegar and wine. Exod 12:7;

Mark 14:17; They gathered in the upper room at evening. As soon as the sun went down on Tuesday according to Jewish time it was Wednesday the Passover day, and they are observing it.

When it says "He sat down" this means to sit down at a formal banquet, Roman style that means that they reclined at the table.

Mark 14:18-19; The Greek word translated "grieved" is "lupeo" that means they got all emotional about it. Emotion does not sustain people in a crisis. We all have emotion and God designed emotion to be an appreciator of things in this life.

The disciples are depending on how their feelings to sustain them, rather than on thinking the Word of God. From this point on in the narrative we are going to see the contrast between emotional feeling and doctrinal thinking and they are going to be in conflict.

The disciples are filled with emotion and emotion cannot carry them in fact it wears them out and they get tired and when our Lord asks them to pray with Him they fall asleep.

At the same time we are going to see the Lord preparing Himself for the cross with doctrine. Doctrine fires you up and gives you a sense of destiny and it fills you with the energy to keep on moving toward the objective.

The twelve disciples were eating the Passover and the eating of the Passover is a ritual where every item on the menu represented Jesus Christ. The Lamb, the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread, and the wine all represented Jesus and His work on the cross.

Eating each of these things represents faith in Christ but the disciples do not understand it because they are not combining ritual with doctrinal thought.

To them it's just a ritual and ritual without the reality of doctrinal thought is the meaningless emotional reflex motility of thinking you should to participate because everyone else does it but without really understanding why.

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