Weekly Recap

Pastor Chris began his message on Mark 14:1-11 with the definition of “extravagant” - something exceeding the limits of reason or necessity; excessively elaborate.  However, when it comes to what Jesus points out in this passage, what seems so extravagant is simply a beautiful, vivid picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus.  In verse 6, Jesus tells his disciples and the others gathered in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, that the woman who poured out the alabaster flask of costly perfume on his head “has done a beautiful thing to me.”  He goes on to say that what she has done will be told wherever the Gospel is preached - a promise fulfilled today.

This passage provides us once again with something to learn and something to emulate and practice.  With that in mind, Pastor Chris parsed out four aspects of extravagant worship.  In verses 1-3, it is clear that extravagant worship is public.  it is not something to be hidden; it should be who we are and how we live.  Jesus calls us as his followers to be the light of the world, not the light of our office or home.  It was Passover time in Jerusalem so the city would have been insanely crowded with up to 300,000 more people there than the usual inhabitants.  The Jews could only celebrate in Jerusalem because the sacrifice had to be done in the temple.  The woman in the passage broke social custom to approach Jesus because she loved him and wanted everyone to know.  She went public with her devotion and was unashamed because she knew he was worthy of our extravagant worship.  He gave everything for us so that his victory over sin and death could be our victory over sin and death.  Although our worship of Jesus is also a private, personal thing, it is also meant to be public, so that our neighbors and those we come into contact with know that we are followers of Christ.

Verses 4-5 reveal that extravagant worship is also costly.  The disciples were angry about the “waste” of such expensive perfume and rebuked the woman harshly, but she was simply worshipping Jesus in the way he deserved to be worshipped.  Jesus knew that she gave all she had and was the only one in this account who understood his true value.  Extravagant or right worship is the ongoing act of offering all of ourselves to Jesus as a response to his offering all of himself for us.  All of ourselves includes our bodies, schedules, time, thoughts, money, careers, relationships, education, reputations - every aspect of our lives being used for him is true worship.  In Romans, Paul calls it presenting ourselves as “living sacrifices”, not to earn our salvation but to respond to the salvation we already have in Christ.  Anything else is just a fake version of life. If worship isn’t costing us something, we aren’t truly worshipping Jesus.

Extravagant worship will be remembered and rewarded forever.  The disciples protest over the waste of money that could have been given to the poor, but Jesus calls their bluff, knowing their hearts.  When he says the poor will always be with them, he is not suggesting that the poor and needy should be ignored, but rather that there is a higher value.  The first commandment is to love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.  The second is to love our neighbors as ourselves - a natural overflow of following the first.  According to David Garland, a professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University, “the text underscores the need for total devotion to Jesus.  But if we respond to Jesus properly, we will take care of the poor.”  This act by the woman in the passage is also a foreshadowing of Jesus’s sacrifice of laying down his life for us.  Even if we are not poor financially, we are all people in need.  Our spiritual poverty means we need his mercy and grace.

So is the sacrifice made to worship extravagantly worth it?  Even the disciples asked Jesus this question and he said that leaving behind former things for him and the gospel would not fail to receive a hundred times as much (including persecution) in this present age and in the age to come - eternal life.  Extravagant worship is contrasted with betrayal in verses 10-11.    If we live for this life we will lose it, but if we live for the next life, we will gain it.  Mark makes the beauty of the woman’s act  jump off the page by contrasting it with the actions of the religious leaders and Judas.  In a Markan sandwich, the “bread” of the Pharisee’s plotting and Judas’s betrayal, highlights the “filling” of the woman’s act of worship.  Her beautiful diamond of worship stands out because of the ugliness of the setting, functioning as a foreshadowing of the most beautiful and extravagant act of love ever given.  In just a few days from this act, Jesus would let his blood be poured out to cleanse the sins of the world.  In light of this, is it really extravagant to live for our Saviour or does it only make sense?