What was THE Most Expensive Gift Ever Given to Jesus?
John 12
Dec 2, 2018 PM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Psalm 103:1)
A. It’s coming up to Christmas
B. And I want to encourage both you all and myself to give our best gifts to the Lord Jesus
1. Psalm 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2. Psalm 29:1,2 Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
C. It is HIS birthday anyways
D. I wonder what the most expensive gift Jesus ever got was?
II. Background (Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1)
A. The home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus – brother and sisters
B. Lived about 2 miles just outside of Jerusalem
C. They had a home that Jesus visited often WITH all of His disciples, and even many others who just tagged along
D. No wonder Martha freaked out every time Jesus would come visit!!!
E. But not this time. Not in John 12.
F. Why? What made the change? John chapter 11 changed everything!
1. Jesus resurrecting Lazarus changed everything about that home for the better
2. Maybe we all need to pay close attention to this little family of a brother and two sister and see if we can learn how to give the best gifts at Christmas
G. Now, in John 12, Mary, Martha and Lazarus are in Simon the Leper’s home – but there, Jesus receives the best, the most expensive gift He could ever have gotten!
III. Message
A. Mary’s Gift (John 12:3)
1. Mary Loved Jesus
a. It is alright to love Jesus – used to be a badge Christians gladly wore – “I LOVE JESUS!”
b. Sounds so trite, so childish – but it is a great sign a person is truly born again (1Cor 2:9; James 1:12; Rom 8:28)
c. You will find all three of these adults loving Jesus in different ways
1) Martha loving by serving people - serving, but this time not complaining
2) Lazarus loving by hungering and learning - sitting still listening and learning
3) And then entered Mary into the room with HER gift
d. Okay, so it was NOT a Christmas gift – but it WAS an on-the-spot, gotta-do-in-now kind of a gift that Mary just KNEW needed to be given right then and there!
2. Mary Wanted to Bless Jesus
a. What a thought
b. Here was a Man, who had just spent the last 3 and ½ years, since His own baptism, almost non-stop helping and blessing and serving TENS OF THOUSANDS of people all through Israel
c. And yet on this evening, someone decided to be a blessing to HIM
d. That someone was actually a nobody, named Mary
1) Not Mary His mother
2) Or Mary Magdalene
3) Or Mary the wife of Cleopas
4) Just another Mary
e. But oh did she give the best gift!
3. Her Gift…
a. A Pound of spikenard
1) Not some tiny little quarter ounce ‘de toilet’ spray bottle
2) This was a POUND of Perfume ointment of very expensive oils and spices
3) Sealed in a special decorative stone box
b. Very costly
1) A fortune in value – ¾ of a year’s wages or more (€25,000)
2) You would think NO one would own such an item – or pay such a price…
3) But there are oils and perfumes that expensive today!
4) “Clive Christian has earned a reputation for creating some of the finest and most beautifully crafted perfumes in the world. Most famous of all, perhaps, is the scent of No 1 Perfume that became renowned as The most Expensive Perfume in the World. He calls it “the perfume of my heart”. Contained in a signature crystal bottle and draped it in fine, handcrafted, 24 carat gold lattice-work. This one-of-a-kind work of art comes with a price tag of …£143,000!” That’s $185,000
c. But the best part was the Amazing aroma – filled the room with the aroma!
B. It Upset all the other Apostles/Disciples (12:4-6)
1. “What a waste!”
2. And you can understand that – every one of the other apostles agreed
a. These people were not like our generation that wastes almost everything!
b. We don’t care about how much water we use
c. Or how much food we throw away
d. Or how quickly we get tired of our clothes and get new ones
e. We waste just about everything we use
f. They wasted nothing and reused everything
g. The clothes Jesus wore were the ONLY clothes He owned as an adult
3. Notice, Judas CLAIMED to care about the poor – which he didn’t
a. People will always judge your acts of love
b. Will always claim to be concerned about how you are wasting your life
1) Me becoming a Missionary – what a waste
2) Tithing – what a waste
3) Spending my Sundays all day with God’s people, and in church instead of at the beach – what a waste
4) Teaching my children and now grandchildren Bible songs and Bible verses instead of pop-songs and music videos and letting them have iPhones and tablets!
c. Every person who sits in judgment of you as a Christian is a hypocrite – ignore them
1) What a waste of your money tithing
2) What a waste of your life, being a Missionary
3) What a waste of your time being in church Sunday all day and Wednesday evening, and Sat soul-winning
4) What a waste of your talents just singing for your church
5) What a waste of your mind reading a 4,000 year old Book that claims to be the word of God
6) What a waste of your life waiting on God for the right man or woman as you spouse
7) NOT!
4. But there was more to that gift than just expensive perfume and oils. Her gift was:
a. Of her own will
b. Out of her own pocket – it was not easy for a woman to save back that kind of money – still is not easy!
c. Was of great personal sacrifice! It had been first for herself, and now given totally to Jesus
d. Was an act of love for Jesus – she gave it simply because she loved Him
e. Was for Jesus alone – for no one else
f. Was used up – not given in dribs and drabs, but all at once
g. Was weird and out of the ordinary – nobody appreciated it but Jesus
h. Was embarrassing to give – didn’t just present it to Jesus for Him to open, but she broke it open herself, and then poured it down Jesus from head to feet, and then wiped up the pool of ointment at His feet with her own hair
i. What a gift!
C. Mary’s Gift Totally Blessed Jesus (12:7,8)
1. Jesus stood up to Judas and all the others – rebuked them
a. “LEAVE HER ALONE!”
b. You can help the poor for the rest of your lives
c. But Me you have not always
d. He was going to be DYING in less than just 6 days (John 12:1)
e. Everyone had MISSED what was really going on
2. Wore that gift proudly for the next 6 days! THINK ABOUT IT!
a. I guarantee you Jesus did NOT wash all the next week
b. Everywhere Jesus went, up until the day He was beaten and spit upon and whipped and crucified, He smelled of that amazing Spikenard perfume!
3. He Honours Mary’s Beautiful Faith in Him
a. That SHE actually had been listening
1) Mat 16:21,22 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
2) Mat 17:22,23 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again...
3) Mat 20:18,19 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
4) How well do WE pay attention to the little things Jesus says?
b. She actually believed just about everything He had taught and said – not just the stuff that made sense
c. She believed it so much that she wanted to prepare Him FOR His crucifixion and burial – nobody else was prepared to take things THAT far!
d. She was so soft hearted
1) What she was doing was VERY humiliating – wiping up oils with her own hair
2) She didn’t care how embarrassing her love looks!
3) Whatever happened to women?
a) Used to be soft and feminine
b) Now they are fiercer than men
c) Men have been made timid and effeminate, while women have become loud and brash and tough and hard
d) THAT softness was priceless to Jesus
e) It is still priceless Giod says in 1 Peter 3:4 “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
e. This one gift will be enjoyed by Jesus and all believers forever (Mark 14:3-9)
IV. Application
A. The Wise men gave priceless gifts to Jesus at His birth
1. Gold – worth thousands of euros – made life comfortable for Mary after Joseph died
2. Frankincense – worth thousands of euros as an incense for their home
3. Myrrh – a very expensive healing herb that most people only had the tiniest portions of, and yet Mary and Joseph had a bucket load of it that was priceless
B. But this woman gave Jesus something far better – and it wasn’t even Christmas!
1. Like Mary, we should give the gifts of
2. Our ATTENTION – stop prefiguring God and just listen and learn from God’s word
a. My wife just stopped and said sharply “You weren’t even paying attention, were you?”
b. I thought, That’s a weird way to start a conversation?
c. Pay attention to every word as you read these words
d. Sense every tug of the Holy Spirit
e. Listen to God speaking to you through the authorities in your life
f. The world has filled people’s lives up to the point where they are basically NUMB
g. Give God the gift of your attention
h. I know that that sounds so trite and weird
i. But when you are speaking to someone, doesn’t it bother you when they won’t even look up?
j. Your children need it
k. Our grandparents used to stand at attention when THEIR grandparents entered a room
l. When we are in church, reading our Bible, listen well to what God is saying!
3. Our TIME – where we step away and make thoughts of HIM all we have and enjoy
a. It takes TIME to love someone
b. Mary loved to stop everything and just listen and spend the hours with Her Lord
c. Psa 104:34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
4. Our TRUST (Heb 11:6)
a. Not just BELIEVING in words and promises and theology
b. Beliefs are strange and USELESS things when never tested
c. But ACTING on that faith, stepping out and doing something out of obedience simply because you believe what God says more than what our culture says!
5. Our SOFTNESS
a. Not effeminance
b. But humility - a softness towards God, towards the people of God
c. Meekness is the word Jesus uses – not fighting or resisting what God says do
d. Are you ever ashamed of Jesus, and what you are doing for Him?
e. Don’t be!
f. Stay soft, and humble and meek about your life that belongs to Him anyway
g. Get down on the floor and worship Him, and let everyone else around you gawk and squawk and mock
h. It will be a priceless gift, that will bless Him
i. By the way, we will enjoy doing this forever and ever in the future…
1) Rev 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
2) Rev 5:14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
3) Rev 19:4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
6. Our BEST
a. God does not need any of our money, or gold, or treasures
b. He is just blessed when we do our best for HIM
1) Mary was simply doing what SHE could do (Her BEST) when she gave that box of ointment
2) The lad in the desert gave HIS best when he gave his small lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish
3) The widow gave HER best when she gave her two tiny mites
4) Moses learned how to give his best when he stammered and stuttered before Pharaoh “L-l-l-let m-m-m-m-y p-p-p-p-ppeople g-go”
5) David gave HIS best when he grabbed 5 smooth stones and just ran towards a terrifying giant and slang one of them as hard as he could
c. And thank God He notices our best – even when others see flaws and failures!
d. I wonder if that young man named John Allen Chau who was just killed on the North Sentinel island in the Indian Ocean, was just simply doing HIS best to preach the Gospel no matter the cost! I BELIEVE HE WAS
7. Lastly, the Gift of Our Faithfulness (Mt 27:60,61, 28:1)
a. ALL the other disciples and “APOSTLES” abandoned Jesus
b. But not the women – this Mary is not mentioned by name as being at the tomb in the morning of the resurrection, but just about all the other women were there, so I would imagine THIS Mary was still faithful to Jesus
c. Just staying faithful is a gift – not constantly in and out and up and down and constantly changing everything
1) The fact your wife is staying with you through all these years, faithfully, gentlemen, is a GIFT to you and me
2) The same gift is true from us husbands too!
3) The fact this church just keeps faithfully preaching and soulwinning and singing like we always have is a GIFT to Jesus! DON’T CHANGE!
4) Could you give Jesus the gift of being Faithful in ministry?
5) Could you give the gift of being Faithful at every church service?
6) Being Faithful giving and praying and soulwinning?
d. Faithfulness/consistency is a GIFT each of us can determine to give to the Lord
e. And believe me, He notices faithfulness – catches His eye more than gold or silver or blinking lights and wrapping paper
C. Instead of a Christmas list of things to get for others, make a list of things to give to our Lord this Christmas, and every day thereafter!