A Word about Demonstrating Devotion on the Road to the Cross

 

Today I want to share a word about demonstrating devotion on the road to the Cross as I comment on John 11 and 12. Let’s begin with John 11:53-57:

Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for^[f] Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

 

Introduction:

Today, we want to consider whether knowing Jesus is worth the cost.

 

As we begin today, I must make a confession. I know that from time-to-time, I can be pedantic. Ok, so maybe more often than time-to-time, but I believe that words have meaning. So, when I hear a ministry leader say that a particular ministry or ministry platform “is losing too much money,” it sets my teeth on edge.

 

To my way to thinking, ministries cannot lose money, because they are not intended to make money. A ministry might not be covering its costs, or a ministry may become too expensive for an organization to support, or a ministry might not be accomplishing what it is intended to accomplish, but a ministry cannot, and never will, lose money!

 

There, I said it! Now that my rant is over, let me expand more rationally on my thoughts on this matter.

 

Today we will see that those who knew Jesus the best when He walked this earth believed that knowing Him was worth the cost. They demonstrated their devotion to Jesus in several ways during His last days before Holy Week. Let’s look at them together today

Anticipation:

As we consider our text for today, the first thing we see is a sense of anticipation on the part of those who were in the Temple. They were looking forward to seeing Jesus, and they were glad to wait on Him because He was worth it.

 

When someone waits on you, it is a compliment. For twenty years my wife and I had to decide between our families with whom we would eat Thanksgiving dinner. We always appreciated it when the one side of the family would say, “Go ahead at eat dinner with the other side of the family. We will wait on you.” First, it demonstrated that they understood the situation we were in. It also showed us that they valued us enough to wait for our arrival.

 

Contrast this with the time when I was a director of missions of a local association, and I had been invited to participate in an ordination council. I arrived on time, only to find that the council had already taken place. The other members of the council had arrived much earlier than expected, and the pastor of the church decided to proceed with the event without waiting on me to arrive and without calling me to see if I could come earlier. I guess that my presence wasn’t considered necessary or important.

 

We need to remember that the Jewish people had been looking for the Messiah literally for centuries. For example, Psalm 34:34 says,

 

Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

 

Isaiah 25:9 says,

 

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

Hebrews 11:13-16 describes the anticipation of God’s faithful people this way,

 

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

 

If we remember back to the birth of Jesus, we will find two people in Luke Chapter 2, Simeon and Anna, who had been looking forward to the birth of the Messiah for decades. This is what Simeon said in Luke 2:29-32 when he held the Baby Jesus,

 

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

 

Today, we are like those Old Testament saints, as we wait for our Lord to return. Are we eagerly awaiting His return? Do we gather in worship each week in anticipation of God coming to be present among us?

 

Not only did His followers anticipate the coming of Jesus, they also took action to demonstrate how valuable He was to them.  John 12:1-2 says:

 

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

Effort:

Have you ever known a person whose birthday was a few days before or after Thanksgiving. Or maybe Christmas? They say that timing is everything, and for those folks, that timing is quite awkward. I am sure that many families over the years have told their child that they will just celebrate their birthday on Thanksgiving or Christmas, as appropriate.

 

The question is, are such arrangements appropriate? Every family will have to decide for themselves, but I know what Mary and Martha and Lazarus did when Jesus was in town and Passover was just a few days away. They thought it was worth the effort to host a dinner in Jesus’s honor.

 

Jesus had not been gone that long, but the ones He loved also loved Him, and they wanted to celebrate His safe return. They acted as if a long-lost loved one had returned, just like the father of the lost son did when he returned home in Luke 15:22-24,

 

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate”

 

When the older son objected, the man told him in verse 32:

 

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.

Hosting a dinner in honor of Jesus was good, but as we see in John 11:17-23, that was not enough for Mary:

 

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

 

Extravagance:

 

Over the centuries, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has been envisioned in many ways. We have organized the church as a kingdom or as an empire. We have envisioned it as an army, as a school, as a business, or even as a multi-national corporation. It is none of those things.

 

The church is the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. It is not intended to make money, conquer nations, or enhance human reputations. The church is intended to venerate God, love Jesus, obey His commandments, and be filled with the Spirit.

 

Often it costs little financially to fulfill this mission. Prayer and devotion cost nothing, monetarily. You can spend as much as you want on a Bible, but they can also be had for little or no money. Saying a word of encouragement only costs us breath and intentionality. All of us, rich and poor alike, can serve God.

 

At times, however, fulfilling our mission can be expensive. One of the primary roles of government is to protect its people. To do this, governments form police forces, staff courts, build prisons, and recruit and deploy military forces. All of this is expensive, often hideously so. The only thing more expensive than employing these means of protection is not to employ them, leaving the people vulnerable.

 

Don’t misunderstand me; I do believe in good stewardship. Churches and ministries must adopt and employ sound business practices, which is something I believe is inherent in Jesus’s counsel to us to be “as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.” At the same time, we must not “bury our talent” either.

 

We must learn to do whatever it takes to worship and serve our Lord and our Savior. Mary did not spare any expense when it came to worshipping Jesus, because He was worth it to her. By some estimates, she spent nearly a year’s wages to anoint Jesus. If that figure it correct, is no wonder that Judas was jealous of that use of those funds; yet as we can see from the reaction of Jesus, it was the right thing for Mary to do.

 

How much is serving Jesus worth to you? To your family? To your church? None of us will ever spend a year’s wages to anoint the feet of Jesus, but it might mean devoting even more to the cause of serving Him. In Matthew 13:45-46 Jesus illustrated to us the true value of following Him:

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

 

Jesus gave His all to provide salvation for you and me. He thought it was worth the price. Do we have the same opinion of Him?

 

Finally, John 12-9-11 shows us another facet of the devotion shown by those who walked with Jesus

 

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

Identification:

At the supper in Bethany Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with a costly perfume. She considered it worth the cost to honor her Lord in that way, and not only was it an object lesson for us to follow, it also was a foreshadowing of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. But this meal also was noteworthy because another follower of Jesus was present: Lazarus.

 

Lazarus, as we remember, was the brother of Mary and Martha and all of them were followers of Jesus. In fact, Jesus and Lazarus had a close relationship, because when he became sick, his sisters sent for Jesus, saying “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

 

Mary and Martha knew Jesus could heal their brother, and because of their relationship, they expected Jesus would hurry to their brother’s aid. Events did not play out that way, however, because Jesus had a bigger vision for this situation than Mary, Martha, or Lazarus could ever imagined.

 

Jesus allowed Lazarus to die and be buried. In fact, He delayed his coming to them so long that when He asked for the tomb to be opened, Martha demurred, protesting that Lazarus would have already begun to decay. These circumstances allowed Jesus to demonstrate His power over death by raising Lazarus from the grave and restoring him to his family.

 

Not only did Jesus demonstrate His power, He also empowered the witness of Lazarus, such that people came to Bethany to see him as well as to see Jesus. This troubled the chief priests so much that not only did they plot to kill Jesus, but they also decided that Lazarus, a “known associate” of Jesus, must go as well.

 

We don’t know what ultimately happened to Lazarus. The Bible doesn’t record his second and final physical death. We do know that he was closely associated with Jesus and that he was a powerful witness for Him.

 

·       What about us? Are we “known associates” of Jesus?

·       What about our own witness to Christ? Acts 1:8 tells us that we will be a witness to Him, but are we a good witness or a bad witness?

·       What about our reputation? Are we known as people whose lives were transformed by Christ?

·       What about our safety? Being a “known associate” of Jesus was hazardous to Lazarus’s health, but like Mary, he believed it was worth the cost.

·       Remember, Jesus was a countercultural figure in His society, and He remains so today. Is being a “known associate of His worth the cost to us?

·       What about Jesus? Would He be glad to be a “known associate” of ours?

 

My desire for all of us is that we would relish the idea of being a “known associate” of Jesus, and that He would be glad to be a “known associate” of ours!

         

Conclusion:

So, the question of the hour is this, “Is Jesus worth it?”

 

·       Is He worth your time?

·       Is He worth waiting for?

·       Is He worth the effort?

·       Is He worth the cost?

·       Is He worth the risk?

Those you knew Him best in this earth answered those questions with a resounding, “Yes!” So should we!