12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
Many questions can be asked based on this very simple statement that Jesus arrived in Bethany six days before the Passover. The Passover meal, the one that commemorated the night that the Lord’s angel killed the first born of Egypt was Nissan 14. The Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately follows and is often called Passover. It starts on Nissan 15 and lasted seven days. Depending on how you count days, and you have to remember that Jews began counting a day after sundown, then this day was a Friday or a Saturday. The easiest way to look at it is that the reference to Passover was to the single day and not the extended festival. There has been many people trying to discredit Scripture because of the various ways the Passover has been used when speaking of the time when Jesus had the Last Supper. For instance, Matthew 26:17 states, “On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" (NIV). Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7 both indicate the same thing. This would imply that the Passover meal was to be eaten not on Nissan 14, but Nissan 15. Yet John 18:28 tells us that the Jews wouldn’t enter the Roman governor’s place so they would not become unclean and unable to eat the Passover.
While there are numerous explanations and they all get very complicated, and there is much disagreement between biblical scholars, we know some things that we must remember when we come to difficult passages. First, Jesus never sinned so we know that he would have eaten the Passover meal on the correct day, and he probably would not have traveled a long distance on a Sabbath. I say probably because the travel restrictions were not specifically mentioned in the Old Testament but were added by rabbinical tradition. Second is that all Scripture is inspired by God. God doesn’t lie so there must be valid explanation to the differences.
Then this brings up the question of when did this dinner with Lazarus take place? Did it occur Friday evening? It could have because the host may have had advance notice that Jesus was coming and would have time to prepare. The meal would most likely have occurred after sundown which would have made this the Sabbath. It could have occurred the next evening but that is less plausible because the Sabbath would have to be violated to prepare such a large dinner. The next day is referenced in John 12:13 when Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. That day began at sundown on Saturday but would still be our Sunday the next morning. There is no problem with that.
What is the application we can draw from this? I for one spent way too much time on trivial things. Rather than just taking what was written, I chased down a bunch of different explanation, none of which did anything other than confuse me. The important thing to understand is that none of this impacts any doctrines of the Christian faith. The two points above stand.
1. Jesus never sinned.
2. Scripture is inspired.
3 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. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 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. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
It is ironic that after spending all this time trying to understand the timeline of the last week and which day was the Passover, I come to the passage of relating Mary’s devotion to Jesus. We note that Marth was serving and again, the contrast between Mary and Martha is shown. One served our Lord Jesus by helping with the meal. Mary honored our Lord with her personal devotion. Who served best? At this point, they have both had further educated about Jesus with Lazarus’ resurrection. They both believe and know who Jesus is. It didn’t change their basic personality, that is the way they express their devotion to Jesus. We must remember that God calls us to do different things in our lives as 1 Corinthians 3:7-8 says, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor” (ESV). Mary did what she believed was the way she needed to worship Jesus and so did Martha.
However, there was Judas. He had his own ideas about how and what Mary should be doing. He sounded very spiritual by saying that the money would have been put to good use. We need not analyze his motives because they are made clear through the Word of God. He was a thief and wanted some of the money that could have been obtained from the perfume. Because of his hard heart, he couldn’t see that this was an act of personal devotion to Jesus. He didn’t consider what it meant to Jesus.
We can be the same as Judas when we see money spent at church on programs or things that we don’t consider of much importance and even as a distraction. We don’t see the connection between the motivation of a person’s heart to serve Jesus in the way they are gifted or how this program or gift is important to Jesus.
Jesus blew everyone’s mind when he disclosed the full meaning of what Mary had done. She had been keeping this expensive perfume for the perfect time to spend it on Jesus. With his death coming soon, it was time to anoint him for his burial. I’m sure that even Mary didn’t realize that this is what she was doing. Many times, we do what we are prompted to do to serve the Lord and will never know this side of heaven the full meaning of what we have done. God uses what we have and do for his purposes and in his time. As long as we are committing our live to him and not living only for our own desires, we have the opportunity to honor Jesus every day.
This episode does bring about another difficulty in Scripture. Mark 14:1-9 and Matthew 26:1-13 place this event two days before the Passover. Were these two different events or was it the same and two of the Apostles got the date wrong when they wrote (assuming Mark was writing for Peter)? Matthew says that the woman would be memorialized when the gospel is preached because of this event, but her name isn’t given. Another option is that none of the Gospels held to strict time references for many of the event in Jesus’ life. For instance, “Matthew arranged his material in a topical order, rather than chronological.”[1] The other Gospels don’t place the event in as close a proximity to the date as does John.
One thing that is very abundantly clear is that Mary is named here. It is like John was looking at Matthew’s account and include her name because it is hard to honor someone without naming them. It reminds me that if we want to honor someone for their deeds, we should do it by name.
9 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. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
Today, if someone were raised from the dead after four days in the grave, wouldn’t you want to see him? Yes, we would also want to see the person who raised him. It is significant that they were believing in Jesus because of this. Though this large crowd believed in Jesus, it doesn’t look like their faith lasted more than a week. We can’t really fault them for that. They didn’t know Jesus personally. They only knew about him and saw the miracle. That’s why it is important for us to learn more about Jesus and get to know him after we are saved. Not that a true believe will ever turn away, but it shows that we have really been born again when we want to know him better.
Then there is the chief priest who wants to kill Jesus and now Lazarus. If we are being a good witness to Jesus’ saving power, we will also face the ire of the world. Will they seek to kill us? Who knows, it depends on so many things, such as where we live and how vocal we are. It is important to do as much as we can while we have the chance. We should not let the world deter us even by threats to our lives.[1]Warren W. Wiersbe. “The Biographer: He Introduced a New King.” The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1989. Biblesoft Database.
No comments:
Post a Comment