Recently, we in this nation observed Thanksgiving Day. It's usually a time when we get together with family and friends and we pray that it's a blessed time, a joyful time of rejoicing as we remember the grace and mercy of our Lord. And as I was reflecting on this recent time and things of that nature, I was remembering in John chapter 12, which speaks of another feast where our Lord was attending as the guest of honor, and Lazarus also.

And it's a meal where we see, where we meet with Lazarus, our Lord, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, as well as some others that saw things a very different way from Mary. But let's turn to John 12. The things here, this is a feast as our Lord is about to enter into Jerusalem for the last time where he would be crucified as the Lamb of God to put away the sins of his people, to obtain eternal redemption for us who have no righteousness of our own. And he's in the town of Bethany and A meal is given in his honor, and I'm convinced in my studies that what's recorded here in John 12 is also the same event recorded in Matthew 26 and Mark 14.

Now, I'm aware that many of the commentators see these as two separate and distinct events, but I don't see any contradiction. It seems that the difficulties that arise, why they think they're two different things, have to do with the timing, the place, and the anointing. The timing, the place, and the anointing. Now, I'm going to just deal very quickly with the first two issues, just to clarify it, because I want you to hear it. I want you to hear there's a blessed message here in this account.

of Mary's raptured soul with the Lord Jesus Christ. As the body of Christ, as his church, we are called to glory in Christ. We're called to minister the gospel. That's where the Lord meets with his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where he ministers comfort, understanding, love, fellowship, Grace to your souls is in Christ. We glory in him, and Mary had it right. Mary was in love with Christ. Mary loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the heart that every child of God should desire and seek the Lord for that heart in Mary as opposed to the cold, hard heart that we see in Judas in response to what Mary does.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me deal here first with the timing. It says in John 12, verse 1, then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. So John's focus here in his gospel is telling us when Christ came into Bethany. That's his emphasis here, when our Lord entered into the town of Bethany with his disciples. And Matthew and Mark are emphasizing that it was on the second day before the Passover when the priests were conspiring together when they were going to put Christ, that they must put Christ to death, that they must murder Christ. They were talking about these things.

And so there's a difference of emphasis there. One could read, it wouldn't be the first time in the Gospels, one could read that Matthew and Mark are saying they were conspiring two days out from the Passover, and then it returns back, because it's written after, then it goes back to the events in Bethany that led up to their conspiring against him, due to what's occurred. So there's a difference in timing, but there's no contradiction there. It's just a difference of emphasis.

The next thing is location. In John 12, verse 2, we meet with serving Martha and feasting Lazarus. It says, there in the town of Bethany, they made him a supper. Matthew and Mark tell us the exact location of that supper was in Simon the leper's house. And Martha served. Well, there's nothing odd about that. We know Martha. is well known for serving. Martha had a gift and she loved to serve. She willingly, gladly served and so it wouldn't surprise me at all to find Martha in someone else's house fully serving, fully participating and ensuring everyone was comfortable and well cared for at that feast.

But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. You see, Lazarus would have been also an invited, honored guest to Simon the leper's house. If this was Lazarus's home, well, of course, Lazarus would have been sitting at the table with the Lord. But he's a guest of honor, like the Lord is a guest of honor. And so he's there in the house. And Lazarus, we're told that this is Lazarus who had been dead, whom the Lord raised from the dead. And if you look down at verse nine, John 12, 9, much people of the Jews, therefore, knew that Christ was there. And they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. See, they were gathering. This was a special feast in which the Lord was being honored. And Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, was there feasting with Our Lord, well, that accounts for the place. It doesn't have to be in their home. They could be there in Simon the leper's house.

And then last thing we see, just to wrap this part up, we see the good work of Mary in anointing her Lord. It says in verse three, then took Mary a pound of ointment, of spikenard, very costly. and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

And so here sits the fullness of the Godhead bodily, robed in flesh, meeting and eating with his people, the family of God. Here's our Lord God and creator, Sitting at meat and Martha's serving, Lazarus is eating with the Lord, partaking with him, feasting with the Lord, and Mary is seen once again at the feet of her Lord.

And we have a beautiful sight of our God, our king, our head meeting with his body. and feasting with them, fellowshipping with his body, and all the things that he does. And so in this dramatic sense here, it's almost like a beautiful picture is just snapped, just taken and captured. For all history here, we see this beautiful picture where we're reminded how that every child of God, every child of God, was born spiritually dead, but like Lazarus, seen in that type, we too are raised from the dead to feast with our Lord and given a new heart and a new spirit where, like Martha, we willingly serve our God and our brethren.

And by the grace of God and his power, we're given a heart like Mary to adore our Lord. to gladly sit at his feet and hear his word and rejoice in that, and rejoice in that. And it's a beautiful picture of the Lord and his body, his people here.

Paul said, thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Not in the flesh, not in our strength, not in our wisdom, but in the wisdom of God. in the righteousness of God, in the sanctification of God, in the redemption of our Savior. We rejoice in him and maketh manifest through the preaching of the word, through the fellowship of the saints, we maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge. That sweet-scented, wonderful, fragrant odor of the Lord Jesus Christ by us in every

And so that's the setting. That's the setting that the Lord has drawn us together in here. Now, let us come back to verse 3 here. Let's pick up there. Let's read it again. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment."

And so Mary here is a beautiful, typical picture, a type of every believer, every true child of God who is raptured with Christ. I'm raptured and raptured with Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. Mary had a keen insight, something only God could communicate to her that many of the disciples didn't even yet see. She knew something. She knew something and cast all on Christ.

And the picture here for us, as I say, she's a type of the believer. Paul tells us where there is neither Greek nor Jew. There's neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. And we see a Marian, a believer, a one who recognizes and sees Christ is all. Christ is all. And in her actions, in her words, in her behaviors, we see, to her, you know, Christ is all. He's everything to her.

And before this feast ever happened, we're told that our Lord was speaking to Martha. Martha was upset with her sister. And she's complaining about her sister's lack of work, lack of effort, lack of help. She's not pulling her weight. She's not doing her part. And I need her help here. I need her to do what she needs to be doing. And she's sitting at your feet. And what did Christ say to Martha? One thing is needful. One thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

To Mary, Christ is all. Christ is all. Christ is all. She chose that good part, which is Christ. And by the grace of God, we defy anyone that would stand up and say, but, but, what about this? Don't I got to do that? Doesn't this have to be done? Don't they need to be doing this and that? Christ is all. Christ is all. Don't take your eyes off Christ. She set her eyes on Christ, and it's not going to be taken from her. You keep your eyes on Christ. She's chosen the good part, the good part.

If Christ alone, don't turn to what you need to be doing. If Christ alone cannot save you, I guarantee you, nothing you can add to Christ is gonna do any better. If Christ alone is not able to save you, nothing more that you need to do or think you need to do or add to it is not going to save you. Christ alone is the Savior, and what that means is all that you and I need, if we're deficient in anything, if we're coming short in anything, you can be certain that the Savior is going to be the one to give it to you. He's going to work it in you. If there's something more needed, He's going to provide it. He's the one who's providing everything.

And that's why the believer, like Mary, has her eye fixed on Christ and begs Christ, Lord, I'm coming up short. Lord, I'm weak. Lord, I'm shameful. Lord, I've sinned. Lord, save me. Lord, help me, because that's where you're gonna find it. It ain't gonna be in you turning from Christ and trying harder. It's gonna be you broken and crying out, Lord, save me, help me. I'm wrong, I'm lost, I'm in darkness. Lord, help me, keep me.

And so Christ is the grace and power of God. That's why Paul said in Ephesians 2. 10, we're his workmanship, we're his building. He's the one that stands it up. He's the one that builds it, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

And so what Mary helps us see here is that Christ is all. Christ is all. If all we had was Martha's rebuke of Mary and the Lord saying, yep, yep, you get up, stop sitting here at my feet, and you get up and go help your sister, we think that's it, that's salvation. is in my doing, but he says, no, you keep your eye on me, and everything you need shall be added unto you. It'll be given unto you.

And so Mary is a believer typified who's made to know that Christ is all, the very, very truth. He is the truth.

Now this anointing here, Mark 14, verse three tells us that it never says, who it is in Mark and Matthew's account. They just speak of a woman who did this. And it says she break the box and poured it on his head. She didn't open up the cap and save any back. She broke it and then I'm all in. It's all going out. Everything, there's not a drop that's going to be spared here.

And so Mark says that, Matthew's description is the same, but John's focus, right? They said she poured it on his head, but John's focus isn't where Mary began the pour, right? It's not where she began the pour, but how she was She didn't want any drop to fall from her Lord and go to waste. She wanted him to have all of that ointment, all that glory. She wanted every drop on Christ. Every drop was on him so that it covered him from head to toe, from head to toe.

And so it says again in verse three, Mary took a pound of ointment, of spikenard, very costly, And I did my best online to try and see, what's the amount of a pound of ointment? And it works out to something about two cups worth. Two cups, that's a lot of liquid. That's a lot of ointment being poured out on someone's head. That's an abundance coming down there.

And she anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

And so Mark and Matthew tell us she poured it on Christ's head. And there is a beautiful picture in that. In one sense, we know that our Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed of God. He's the Son of God anointed in this office as the servant of God, to be the Christ of God, to be the Savior of God's people. He's anointed for this work. He's the one. He's the Savior. He's anointed.

And here we see the hope of the believer, the hope of the church, the hope of all creation anointing him in the same way. Lord, if you're not our hope, if you don't do it, We're done for. We're all going to hell. We're all, we're destroyed. We cannot live. We have no salvation. If you don't do this, Lord, if you don't fulfill this, this work that we need you to do now.

If it was on his head, a small portion would have been sufficient to anoint his head. But she pours it all on him. She pours out everything. And that is a picture of what true faith does. It casts everything on Christ. Doesn't hold anything back. I'm not giving you most of it, Lord, and I'll do a part. No, everything's going on the Lord. We cast all our hope. We venture everything on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Savior. If He doesn't save me, I can't be saved. I'm not trusting anything of myself. I have no confidence in this flesh.

And so, through that abundance of two cups worth of oil being poured out on his head, flowing down from his head, And think of it, he's seated at meat. He's not standing there where it's just going to run down nicely. He's seated. He's seated in a manner in which they would have sat. I don't think they were on chairs like us, but he sat. And so she begit. I mean, I don't know this for a fact, but it would not surprise me to know that she begins to mop that up. As it's coming down into his lap, as it's coming down his back there, she mops that up with her hair so that it doesn't just fall to the ground. Grabs that in her hair, right? Isn't looking for rags, isn't looking for something else. She just uses her own hair. And she picks up that oil and gets down and she begins to wipe his feet so that it all goes on Christ. All of it is going on him and nothing is wasted. She wants him to have all the glory, all the glory, not a drop wasted. Everything is his, everything is his, even if I have to use my hair to wipe it on him, it's all his.

Now Paul, there's a picture in that, Paul tells us that if a woman have long hair, it's a glory to her. If a woman have long hair, it's a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. Well, Mary took that which is her glory, and that which is her covering, and she gave it all up for Christ. her glory and her covering. She used it all for Him. She wanted no glory, no covering of her own, but she gave it all to Him. That's submission to Christ. She submitted everything holy to Christ, declaring He's my head, he's my covering, he's my glory. And she trusted, she was trusting, he's my, his death, his sacrifice that she was anointing him for, however she understood it, by the spirit of God, she trusted wholly that he was her savior and would accomplish her redemption fully. His burial, his dead body buried in the grave, his burial was her burial. Her dying to self, dying to the law, dying to her own self-righteousness, it was buried away out of sight with Christ. And His resurrection is her resurrection, so that His life is her life. We live by Him. He's made all to her. Mary gloried in nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. She had no other glory, no other covering, no other glory that she trusted in. She gave it all to the Lord. To the Lord, her head, her confidence, her all.

And then for that one beautiful moment there, we see a picture of eternity. of the oneness of Christ and his bride. You know, to smell Mary at that time was to smell Christ, right? It was all, it was in her hair. And to smell Mary, the odor of Mary was to smell the odor of Christ. that now filled that room. She smelled just like him, so that if Mary were standing before Almighty God seated on his throne, who sees the heart and knows all things, he would smell the odor of his beloved son, his darling son, and be well pleased, well pleased with him.

Hear what our Lord said, who, as our high priest, and as our sacrifice, as our Savior, as our salvation, and our all, say in his own words here, in John 17, 22, when he prayed to the Father, saying, and the glory, I pictured in that spikenard oil poured on Christ, the glory which thou gavest me, I've given them. that they may be one, even as we are one."

And so that sweet fragrance of Christ from the anointing Spirit of Holy God, from the Spirit of God, poured out upon Him, flows, overflows the head, our head, Jesus Christ, onto the body, and in measure, in measure, and we are made like unto Him, and made one with Him. We are His body. That's how near we are to Christ, and one with Him. As He is, so are we now in Him. Not because of anything we've done, all because of Him, to the praise, honor, and glory of His name. And so every time we glory in Christ, that's just stirring up that sweet odor, that sweet scent.

I have a plant in my house, it's called a curry tree from India. And every time I go by this tree, and I just brush by it, or wind even comes off my body and just hits it, or I give it a little bit of water, it just, poof, lets out this scent of a little peppery oil scent. It's really beautiful. It's a really nice scent. And that's what it is. Every time you glory in Christ, it's just, I don't know, it just smells of Him. Not of the flesh, which is death, but of Christ. Christ, who is life, who's sweet and wonderful. And so that's what we want to do, glory in him.

Now, while this beautiful scene is unfolding there, among all the people that are there in the house, and all the typical things that we see in it, this wonderful smell begins to reach the nostrils of others that are in that house. Right? To Mary, Christ is all. Christ is all, and the scent is all on her, and he's everything. She's glorying and worshiping her Lord, and has cast everything upon him.

However, as joyful as she was, not everyone was happy. Not everyone was happy with what had happened, and so in comes this stench of flesh, pipes up. It says, whoa, whoa, not so fast. What's going on here? What is this? What is this site that you guys are all glorying in? And this flesh rejects that worship of Christ, rejects that Christ is all. Sees in Christ insufficiency. No, no, no, no, no. There's something more here. You guys are too focused on Christ.

To this, to some there, This was a saver of death unto death, a saver of death unto death, an utter waste of time and effort of resources and money. What are you guys spending your time doing this? That's a waste of worship there, to pour it all out on Christ. Hold up. Don't I have something to add to this? Don't I have works too? Don't I have a righteousness to speak of in this thing? Don't I have a part in this? Why are you giving all the glory to Christ? Why did you pour out everything? This could have been sold and money made. We could have done much good with this thing. And you're just glorying in Christ.

Judas was saying, what about me? What about me? Now, of course, he did it under pretense of religion. He made it sound good. He wouldn't just say, well, what about me? He made it sound like good religion, something honorable, something just as worthy and deserving as Christ, if not more. He wants your attention on him. He wants to receive some glory here in this thing.

And so Judas says, or the Judas in us, the Judas of the flesh, the Judas of vain religion says, you pour out all your worship and praise and honor and glory. on Christ, on this one here. But I got something. I got something better. I got something just as important, something just as needful to do. I've got to do something here. Surely, there's something more needed than glorying in Christ. Surely, there's something more than just Christ.

You see, Judas despised Christ. In spite of him following around, he hated Christ. Judas gloried in himself. And that's what the world does. And that's what this world's religion does. That's what vain flesh, this old man of flesh does. He glories in self and wants something, some stealing, some portion of God's glory going to him. Look at verses four through six. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? There's the pretense of good religion. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And he had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

All he cares about is himself. He's looking to gratify his own flesh. And by nature, and dead let of religion, men like Judas hate Christ. They despise Christ. No matter what they say, when they're glorying in self, and boasting of self, and taking eyes off of Christ, don't look at him, look at me. I'll lead you, I'll show you what to do, I'll teach you how to live, right? They're turning you away from Christ. whether it be to just fleshly carnal living, or be the law, or be works, or be something that says Christ is not enough. Christ is insufficient. I need something more here.

And men do it because they really don't have confidence in Christ. They don't have a confidence in him. He's not all to them like he is to Mary. He's not all to them. Salvation is all the work of flesh for the unrighteous. for vain, carnal, worldly, fleshly religion. And it's because without an experience of that grace, without being made a new creature in Christ, without being given a new heart, we can put on a good show. We can do a lot of good things on the outward, and we can think that we're speaking good things. But if it turns us away from Christ, then it's no good. It's not profitable. It's not going to, it's actually, it's sin. And it condemns men's souls to hell in that.

And so for some, Christ is very small in their eyes. Christ is not enough. Christ is insufficient. And rather than looking to Christ for those things that he speaks of in his word and promises and works in his people and says, this is what my people do, this is the fruit that is born in my people, rather than looking to him to bear it, We turn away from Christ. That's what you don't want to do, is turn away from Christ for those fruits. You don't want to turn to the cursed thing, thorns and thistles, to bring forth figs and grapes. That means don't turn to the flesh. You look to God, your husbandman. He's the one that brings forth fruits of grapes and figs and things that nourish and help your brethren and are good for others.

So like Judas, man is a thief in that he steals God's glory when he turns men to himself, when he turns men to the flesh, when he takes our eyes off of Christ. And so every boast of himself, of what he has done for the Lord, he wants you to look at him. All right, what about me? What about what I've done? And the scripture shows that man's an idolater. That man is an idolater. For all his good works, he's an idolater. He deceives himself like Judas was deceived. He deceives himself like the chief Pharisees and the scribes and the lawyers and the doctors who had a lot of works, but they had no love for Christ, and they stumbled over Christ.

Now, This spikenard plant, I was reading on it in something Robert Hawker had written in his concordance or dictionary, something like that. And it's said to be a small, very uninteresting plant. It's a shrub you wouldn't want to put in your garden, for the looks of it anyway. It's ugly. There's nothing pretty, nothing desirable about the spikenard plant. No beauty in it, but the smell, that fragrance is wonderful. For some, it excels all other smells, all other scents. And isn't this what Isaiah tells us of our Lord? That according to the flesh, we despise Christ. That's why he said, who hath believed our report? We say these things. God says it right here in his word, throughout the word. It's all about Christ. From the beginning of the book, from the volume of the book, it's written of me to do thy will, O God. It's all about Christ. It's all revealing to us the Savior, the promisee, just as God said He would send. That's what this book is speaking of.

Christ, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Because natural man isn't getting it. He's not listening. He doesn't believe what we're saying. For he, Christ, shall grow up before him as a tender plant And as a root out of a dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness like that spikenard plant. And when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. And so as long as a man is nothing more than a creature of flesh, he tramples underfoot the blood of Christ. He tramples Christ under his foot. He finds nothing to glory in in Christ. Why are you wasting your time on Christ? Why are you worshiping Christ? Why are you giving all to Christ? Couldn't we have done something better with our time than speak of the Lord Jesus Christ? He'll exalt himself. He'll exalt Moses. He'll exalt the law. To him, Christ is a stumbling stone, a stumbling stone.

But to the child of God seen in Mary, Christ is all. Christ is all, and it's perfectly reasonable to give everything to Christ, to the child of God, because our Lord is a quickening spirit. Now for those whom Christ is all, he washes their sins away. His blood washes us from every stain, from every sin. Our Lord gives His child a new heart. Our Lord heals. Our Lord gives His spirit. Our Lord turns us to Him so that we're not just living as the flesh would live, but we're seeking Him constantly for His grace and mercy and power to work in us, to keep us stayed upon Him, to find our all and all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses and the law and your effort, it's not going to do. It's not going to bring you to the promised land. Only Christ is able to do that, and it pleases Him to do that. He glorifies Himself in the hearts of His people in fulfilling that word of promise to us. Trust Him. Trust Him. He's able to do it. He will do it. And what you see in Mary is what He works in His child.

And because Mary's His child, Christ spoke for her. He defended her against her enemies. He spoke up. And he said there in verse 7 and 8, Jesus, defending Mary, said, let her alone. Against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. And Matthew 26, 12, and 13 adds, for in that she hath poured this ointment on my body. Wait a minute, I thought it said that she poured it on his head. No, from head to toe. She's poured it on my body. She did it for my burial. For I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

And brethren, to this day where the gospel is preached, we see exactly what Mary did. That, that fragrance, that oil, That scent of Christ, that savor of life unto life goes forth, just like Mary pouring it out on the head of Christ. That where we glory in Him and rejoice in Him and look to Him for everything, that same fragrant spikenard oil is wafting through the room. It's filling the room and filling the nostrils of all who are here, the spiritual nostrils. Keep your eyes on Christ. That's where the sick is healed by the great physician. That's where the weary and the weak is strengthened. That's where the hungry and the poor are nourished and fed and their thirst quenched, their hearts comforted. That's where joy is had in Christ. That's where we feast upon him. And our Lord does this in all his people, and that's where you see that boast of his righteousness and glory in his righteousness.

Sadly, the heart of Judas was hardened in it. He got nothing out of the rebuke. He got nothing out of what we see in Mary, right? Because right after Christ said, she's right and you're wrong, Judas. As soon as that was said, Matthew tells us that Judas Iscariot then went unto the chief priests. He had had enough. He had enough. He's had enough of Christ. Doesn't want to hear this anymore. And said unto them, what will you give me and I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

That's all we're doing is looking to vain things of the earth, and turning away from Christ. Bay God that your heart be not hardened like Judas's heart was hardened. Bay God that your heart be softened and filled with love to the Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ may be all and all unto you, brethren. I pray he bless that.