Who Do We Serve?

 Mark 14:1-11

The Plot to Kill Jesus

1 After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. 2 But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."

The Anointing at Bethany

3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they criticized her sharply.

6 But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

Jesus was the target of the religious in power who wanted desperately to stop Him because the Lord was exposing their hidden motives and opposition to God and His word.  They looked for ways to trick Him that they could accuse Jesus of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Messiah they all awaited.  The problem was that they only looked for an earthly deliverer from the Roman occupying rule and not the deliverer from the rule of sin and death which hung over all Adam’s descendants.  Their trust in a religious position under Moses as the chosen nation of Israel did not, unfortunately, make each of them individually chosen by God for salvation.  May we never fall into that trap of reliance on anything but the grace of God in Christ alone by faith alone for our salvation and sanctification!  They therefore do their work in the darkness to avoid being exposed to the people and cause an uproar since the masses were listening to Jesus and observing how He did all things well (Mark 7:37).  Jesus journeyed to the abode of a leprous man in Bethany to share a meal and fellowship.  There a woman was moved by God to anoint Him with a very expensive oil by pouring it on His head.  The others were indignant at the supposed waste of a valuable commodity because they reasoned it would have been better sold to use to help the poor and berated the faithful woman.  The Lord set them straight and reminded them of her faith and love to prepare Him for the burial after His death for their sakes which they could not see at the time.  This is why Jesus said this event should be celebrated and told wherever and when the gospel was told as a testament to the faithful service and sacrifice of giving all we have to follow Him.  Unfortunately, the son of perdition, Judas, did not like to see the chance at getting his hands on that pricey spice to sell that he might add to the collection of filthy lucre he had been accumulating for himself from the money bag (John 12:4-6).  He misappropriated the mission ministry funds for his own gain, a warning to those who would so betray the Lord today.  He went and made a bargain with the religious powers to betray Jesus much as the Roman church tried with Luther and others before and after him when He sought to worship and serve God and not fill the church with gain at the expense of the truth and conscience toward God (Acts 24:16).  May we likewise strive to worship and serve for God’s glory and not for our own gain (1 Timothy 6:6, 9-10).  Who do we serve?