Wednesday

Wednesday Mark 14:1-11

NLT Mark 14:1 It was now two days before the Passover celebration and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and put him to death.

2 "But not during the Passover," they agreed, "or there will be a riot."

3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had leprosy. During supper, a woman came in with a beautiful jar of expensive perfume. She broke the seal and poured the perfume over his head.

4 Some of those at the table were indignant. "Why was this expensive perfume wasted?" they asked.

5 "She could have sold it for a small fortune and given the money to the poor!" And they scolded her harshly.

6 But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me?

7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer.

8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

9 I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be talked about in her memory."

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them.

11 The leading priests were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised him a reward. So he began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus.

After the long day of Tuesday and all that happened, Wednesday is quite short. The start of the passage reminds that readers that this is occurring during the Passover and the festival of the Unleavened Bread. It is at this holy time that the chief priests and the scribes are looking to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. They are afraid because of the crowds. How often rather than being open and above board in the way we treat others, we too do things by stealth whether that is gossip or ridicule or even by discrimination? Caiaphas, in the gospel of John, stated better one man die for Israel than a nation. The irony is that is true. Better that Jesus die for our salvation rather than depend on a nation.

The anointing of Jesus reminds us of the various anointing’s of kings in the Hebrew scriptures. Indeed Jesus is the King of kings but this anointing was also to prepare him for death. Nard was a very expensive ointment from the Himalayan Mountains. When the disciples object because the money could have been used to help the poor, Jesus responds with “For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. (14:7 NRSV)” Jesus was not saying that we should not care for the poor for he has commanded us to do so. Rather we need to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. Often we struggle with taking care of ourselves and the willingness to care for others. Churches face this struggle in how to respond to the generosity of the members. To what extant should the money be spent on the church and how much should go to mission work? Jesus is this passage may be suggested it is not an either/or but and/both. We need to support the ministries of the church as well as the church facilities.

Wednesday ends with Judas agreeing to betray Jesus for money. I know that there are times the lure of money to do something that is wrong is tempting. We read every day about scandals involving politicians, pastors, business owners who will violate their ethical decisions based on some sort of monetary donation. So Judas’ decision to betray the trust of Jesus continues today when those in power betray the trust of those that they are supposed to care for. You might want to read Ezekiel 34:1-24. The prophet is talking about the shepherds who were supposed to care for the sheep and ended up exploiting them by not feeding, healing, and not sought the lost. When we think only of ourselves we too are betraying Jesus, whether or not we receive some sort of monetary recompense.