Mark 14:3-11. 3And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” 10Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Sometimes people call the Wednesday of Holy Week “Spy Wednesday.” This is because it is the day that Judas decided to betray Jesus. Judas was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. He was Jesus’ friend, but he chose to turn Jesus over to the bad guys that wanted to kill Jesus. The religious leaders wanted to put Jesus on trial and get him to confess to being a king. They were angry with Jesus because they thought he was trying to take their power away from them, and he was. The religious leaders loved themselves more than God, and they told people that they had to obey the rules in order to go to Heaven, but then they turned around and made those rules harder and harder to obey.
Judas didn’t trust Jesus anymore. Maybe he wanted Jesus to become a king on Earth that conquered everyone. Or maybe he was just greedy for more money. Whatever his reason, Judas betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders. He decided to tell them where Jesus would be so that they could arrest him. For doing this, Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver.
Sadly, all of us are born to be like Judas. We don’t naturally trust Jesus, and we are naturally greedy and selfish. Have you been greedy or selfish yet today? I have.
But when we trust in Jesus to save us from our sin we stop being like Judas and start being like Mary. How did Mary respond to Jesus when he was at her house that Wednesday night? She took out some very expensive ointment and poured it over Jesus. She was anointing him for burial Jesus said.
What does that mean? It means that Mary understood that Jesus had to die on the cross. In fact, she might have been the only one in the house that night that understood this. Mary saw Jesus raise her brother Lazarus from the dead (do you remember that story?). And Mary knows that if Jesus dies on the cross that he too can be raised from the dead.
Mary gets it. She knows that Jesus has to die for sins, but she also knows that Jesus can come back to life again. And that is exactly what he will do. Now, because she knows Jesus will die for her and come back to life for her, she will sit at his feet and worship him.
You: We can all be selfish and greedy like Judas. What tempts you to act in selfish ways? Greedy ways?
You with Jesus: How did Mary show that she trusted Jesus? How can you show that you trust Jesus today?
Prayer: Father, I don’t want to be Judas, I want to be Mary. I want to worship you because you died for my sins and rose again for me so I can live with you forever. Amen.
TLICfamily 