We're going to mark chapter 14
and we're going to read together from verse 3. And being in Bethany, in the
house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a
woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very
precious, and she break the box and poured it on his head. And there were some that had
indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste
of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for
more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor.
And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you
always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good, but me ye
have not always. She hath done what she could,
she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily
I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout
the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken
of for a memorial of her. And Judas Iscariot, one of the
twelve, went unto the chief priests to betray him unto them. And
when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him
money. and he sought how he might conveniently
betray him. Amen, may the Lord bless to us
once again this reading from his word. It is always a pleasure to see
the Lord Jesus Christ defending his disciples. And we're going
to talk about that for a moment or two. This is going to be a
little bit of an extended introduction. I never like confusing my listeners
by not helping them, hindering them. in their awareness of just
where we are in our thoughts and in the progression of the
sermon. So I wanted just to make this
point at the beginning that this is going to be a rather extended
introduction and then we have a few points that I want to draw
as applications at the end. So if it gets to a point in the
sermon where I kind of suggest that's the end of the introduction
and you look at your watch and it says that we're more than
halfway through, don't worry about that. We'll be okay. So
we're thinking about the Lord defending his disciples. And it's always a pleasure to
see the Lord doing that. As it were, representing his
friends in a particular situation. And representation, of course,
is the great work of Christ in this world. Whether we think
of it in the sense of Christ's priestly office, where he offered
himself as a sacrifice for our sin, or as God's lamb, our sin-bearer,
or whether we think of the Lord Jesus Christ in his mediatorial
role, as our mediator between God and man. He is representing
us to God as our mediator. He is our intercessor. He stands
in the presence of God and intercedes on our behalf, represents us
before God. He is our advocate. He speaks
on our behalf before God. so that the Lord Jesus Christ
has always represented his people and he always will. From the
foundation of the world in the covenant of grace to the everlasting
throne of God in heaven itself, Christ now appears in the presence
of God for us. Excuse me. From the beginning to the end,
he who laid down his life for his sheep is the Lord our advocate
and our representative. And often the Lord spoke up for
his disciples against the scribes and the Pharisees. or before
the crowds of people who might have been looking for the disciples
to perform a miracle or do something that would satisfy them. Or perhaps we might remember
most powerfully in the Garden of Gethsemane, at that moment
of the Lord's arrest, John chapter 18 and verse 8, where the Lord
Jesus Christ looked into the eyes of those men who had come
to arrest him with their swords and with their staves, their
batons, their sticks, and answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way. Christ representing his people,
his disciples. But here, in this passage, in
this story that we have before us today, it seems that the Lord
must defend this dear lady, and we don't know what her name is,
that's not given in any of the Gospels that recount this narrative. Here it seems that the Lord must
defend this dear lady against his own disciples. Judas appears
not to have been alone in his criticism. And verse four, when
we read it together, suggests that, because it's phrased in
the plural, that there were several in attendance. Matthew, in the
parallel passage, tells us that they were the Lord's disciples,
several of them. that were concerned and spoke
ill of this lady. Just for the sake of letting
you realise that I'm aware that there are a number of passages
that are very similar, I shall mention that there was an incident
similar to this a few nights earlier. I think that this event
took place on the Tuesday night of the final week of the Lord. Prior to that, a few nights previously,
there had been a very similar meal given when Mary had anointed
Jesus' feet. But there are distinct differences
in these two accounts which tell us that they are separate events.
That shows us that there was a desire to have the Lord's company,
the Lord's presence, in various homes as much as possible and
people were eager to have the Lord present with them. That's
a lovely picture of inviting the Lord in to share in our homes. Similar words were used on that
occasion. The Lord had come on that occasion
too to Mary's defence and used similar words against Judas. But there's no need for us to
conflate these meals, or indeed these anointings, because they
are quite different. There were two. And it's noticeable
that Judas did not accept the Lord's censure the first time
around. And indeed, he seems to have
recruited several others on this second occasion. So that having
seen the oil, the ointment, used once, Now as it is used again,
people are beginning to say, really, is this not a waste?
Should this money not have been used to do something more beneficial,
more constructive, more useful? What about all the poor? And this is the point. The Lord
Jesus rose to vindicate this act of devotion. And if the Lord
Jesus exonerates an individual, and if the Lord Jesus justifies
his people's action, no one has ground to criticize or challenge. If Jesus justifies, if Jesus
advocates, if the Lord Jesus Christ speaks up and represents
us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, even a disciple? This action of the anointing
of the Saviour's head pleased the Master. and he forbade any
to speak ill of this woman, declaring, let her alone, why trouble ye
her? She hath wrought a good work
on me. And this vindication of the Lord,
of this lady, even against his disciples, I think is very comforting. And we ought to note it, and
we ought to remember it. in our life's experience, a believer
will be harassed and a believer will be hassled by enemies outside
of the body of Christ. And largely, although it's not
without effect, but largely we can take that kind of criticism
all day from such a source. but it's much harder to bear
criticism from a brother or a sister in the Lord. And let us just pause and think
about that for a moment. Consider what this poor woman
must have felt like. Coming into this gathering, there
is the Lord at meal. They're dining together. The
Lord is there. His host is there. The disciples
are there. And this woman comes in. She
has a passion. She has a burden in her heart.
She has spent so much on this gift. And it's been laid upon
her heart, the importance of this moment. Indeed, its significance. Think of what she must have felt
having the Lord's own disciples criticise and condemn her for
this act of reverence and love. I do not doubt that there was
humiliation. I don't doubt that there was
embarrassment, that suddenly she wondered whether she had
done wrong, whether this was right at all. Had she been mistaken
in all this thinking? These thoughts must have filled
her heart and filled her mind. But what did the Lord say? Oh,
blessed Saviour, rising to the defence of this little one. Let her be. Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. Is there a lesson in that for
us? I think so, I think so. Let me be personal to myself,
and you can personalise this to yourself if you like. Lord,
dear Lord, let me not be the one to criticise an act of devotion
from a child of God. If I don't understand what that
little one is doing, help me just to keep quiet and let them
get on with their service. And maybe I might learn something
by observing what's happening. And if the Holy Spirit lays it
upon our heart to honour the Lord in a particular way, Do
not let the censorious attitude of even fellow believers hold
you back in your act. It's your gift to the Lord. It's your good work on his behalf. And that's sufficient. That's
enough. And here's a third little application
here. It was a woman, it was a woman
who honoured the Lord and wrought or worked a good work on Him. It wasn't one of these, you know,
His disciples were preoccupied even on this occasion about who
was going to be the greatest amongst them. They were preoccupied
about thinking about financial things, thinking about what this
money might have been better employed doing. Maybe women are
more sensitive on such occasions as these. But it was a woman
who did it. It was a woman who did it on
each occasion that the Lord was anointed. And these men in that
room that night were doubly humbled. First, for not understanding
the gesture, and second, by demeaning and defaming the woman as she
brought her gift. I admire the Lord's words to
this woman and to the disciples on her behalf. she hath done
what she could. God bless her. She may not have
been in a position to do much. She was just a woman in the company
of all these men. All these men whose status, all
these men whose circumstances, all these men who had seen so
much and heard so much and been honoured so much by the Lord.
And there was this woman, this lady, whose name we don't even
know, but she did what she could. That is the end of my extended
introduction, but I've got another three points that I just want
to quickly bring before you today. And I hope that they will elevate
the importance of this incident in the Lord's life and experience
and in this lady's life for us. The first one is this. It is
to think about the ointment or the oil of anointing. Ointment and oil, while not being
necessarily the same, are sometimes used synonymously in scripture
so that they mean the same thing. So if I say ointment or I say
oil of anointing, I mean in this context the same thing. In verse 7 we're told, there
came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard,
very precious, and she break the box and poured it on his
head. This was a very powerful testimony
and witness to the faith of this dear lady. She perceived spiritual
truth. She leaned upon and acted upon
what her saviour had said and what her saviour had taught her. She had heard the Lord's teaching
about his death and she believed it and she acted upon it. That speaks of faith. That's
what faith is. Now Messiah means anointed one. And so there is so much symbolism
in this woman's action of anointing the Lord when we consider that
she is testifying here that he is the Christ. Before he goes
to his death, before he goes to the cross, she is testifying
that he is the Messiah. And that name, the Anointed One,
is uniformly a name of Christ in the Old Testament and in the
New Testament because Christ is God's Anointed One. anointed
and consecrated and set apart for God's great work of salvation. This was the God-man to fulfil
the terms of the covenant of peace. The anointed one charged
and called forth in God's eternal decrees to deliver and save God's
elect people. the Anointed One chosen to represent
sinners before God, to reconcile sinners to God, to redeem God's
elect by the blood of the sacrifice, the precious blood of Jesus Christ,
that they might dwell eternally in the presence of God. Listen to how much the Old Testament
writers understood of this God-man, Jesus Christ, the Anointed One,
the Messiah. Listen to all of these themes
coming together in this beautiful little passage from Psalm 89. Verse 19 says this, Then thou
spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid
help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant,
with my holy oil have I anointed him. This lady followed God the Father
in anointing the Anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
said a moment ago that Christ was as the Anointed One sent
to represent, to reconcile and to redeem. And the means of redemption
was blood atonement. The Lady understood that the
Lord Jesus Christ was about to lay down His life. The proper
wages of sin is punishment and death. But Christ, the Anointed
One, had done no sin, was not worthy in any way of death, and
yet as a substitute was found and went to the cross on our
behalf, as a surety was appointed, as a saviour was successful,
And the preciousness of the spikenard that this woman brought speaks
of the preciousness of Jesus in all of these capacities. And as this woman came in the
midst of that gathering that night and she brought that fragrance
and she broke it, the perfume spoke of the service of the Savior,
of the sacrifice of the Savior, of the achievements of the Savior
on the behalf of His people. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
delights our senses and sweetens our passage in this world. As we understand what He has
done, like the fragrance of the spiked nard diffused through
that whole room that night. The box must be broken and the
oil must be poured out. And Christ must be opened. Christ must be pierced. Christ
must be beaten and bruised and slain as the sin offering of
his people. The soul that sinneth it must
die and though he had never sinned, he took the place of the sinner. He took our sin to be his own
sin. He endured it in his own body. He died in our place. rightly, appropriately, as the
one who had appropriated our sin and our guilt as our surety
and substitute. Bore our grief, says Isaiah,
carried our sorrow and endured the wrath of God. Spikenard is a fragrant plant. And when a fragrant plant is
crushed, the fragrance releases and diffuses. And when the Lord
Jesus Christ was crushed under the weight of God's wrath against
our sin, he released a fragrance of heavenly life and he sent
it forth on gospel wings to his redeemed people. These are things
that we can glean and draw from the ointment of anointing. And here's another thing that
we can draw from this woman's actions. The reason for the anointing,
the saviour explicitly tells us is that she had come beforehand
or aforehand to anoint my body to the brain. I don't know to
what extent the woman grasped the significance and timeliness
of her act. But why would we deny or minimise
her understanding in any way? Let us be magnanimous, let us
be gracious, let us be broad and wide in attributing to this
lady's understanding. Does not the Holy Spirit open
our understanding and give us grace to see the Lord Jesus Christ? Then why not here too? But the
disciple's struggle to grasp the forthcoming crucifixion of
the Lord was in no way due to any failure on the part of the
Saviour to declare and explain what was about to happen. She
only had to listen to the teaching of her Lord to know if she simply
believed what he said. And that's what she did. She
heard and she believed. And I am sure that hereafter
she thanked God frequently that she had been able to fulfil this
task before the Lord was slain, it not having been possible afterwards. She had been prompted by gospel
truth. She had been prompted by a heart
of love towards the Saviour. and complete commitment. She
had spent so much on this jar, this box of spikenard. She was committed to this task. And knowing that the Lord was
soon to die and it being revealed to her by the Spirit, that she
would not be able to perform this good work when he was dead,
she came to do it now. The disciples still hadn't got
the message, but this woman had. She knew that Jesus was about
to die and she wished to honour him and express her love to one
in whom she trusted, into whose hand she committed her soul's
eternal safety. So make no mistake, this was
an act of faith on this woman's part. Christ said he was about
to die and she believed him. Cleophas, several days later, the day actually that the Lord
rose, so several days after the Lord's death, Cleophas on the
road to Emmaus said this, we trusted that it had been he which
should have redeemed Israel. Three days after the Lord's death,
and still struggling with the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ
hadn't established an earthly kingdom there in Israel. But the lady anointed her saviour
because she knew he was about to give his life a ransom for
sin. And her faith, like all true
faith, is God's gift to his people. It's exercise identifies God's
elect people. And here's my third and final
point. Lord Jesus Christ said, What
gospel is he talking about? Well, of course, you know, don't
you? The gospel of the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel of the death of Christ
for the remission of sins. The gospel of the redemption
of sinners and the securing of everlasting life on their behalf. The gospel is principally the
doctrine of Christ's death and burial and resurrection. And
it was this action of the woman that emphasised the gospel. Now certainly it is true that
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is good tidings of great joy. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ,
all that Christ did, the good that he did in the service of
his people, these are good news to men and women, to boys and
girls. And so they are gospel too, but
principally, Christ's dying for sin, Christ's atonement for sin,
Christ's satisfying justice, Christ's fulfilling the law,
Christ's destroying death and the defeat of Satan is the power
of the cross. Christ lying in the grave, Christ
leaving the sins of his people behind him there in the grave
when he arose. Christ rising again from the
dead for their justification, which was the purpose of him
coming into the world, is the most glorious part, the principal
part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And these words of Christ show
that this gospel, should be preached in all the world for the conversion
of sinners, for the edification of saints and for the glory of
Christ's name. This gospel, this gospel, this
sovereign gospel, this particular, distinguishing, gracious gospel
shall be preached all over the world. by the Apostles according
to Christ's commission, and it will continue till the Lord comes
again to gather his church and to judge the world. And wheresoever this sovereign
grace gospel is preached, this woman's faith this woman's sacrifice,
this woman's good work for her Lord, this also that she hath
done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. Amen.