Day 53: Jesus is anointed for His burial
What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? Maybe it was a birthday present or a Christmas present and it was just exactly what you’d asked for—or perhaps it was a total surprise, and someone who loved you knew you well enough to guess what you would want. In our story today, Jesus receives a really special gift from someone who loved Him very much. Others complained it was a waste. But Jesus disagreed.
In verse 1, what special holidays does Mark tell us were coming up in two days?
The Passover was a yearly celebration of when God rescued His people out of Egypt. God told each family to sacrifice a lamb and smear some of its blood over their door so that when the Angel of Death went through the land, their home would be protected. The Feast of Unleavened Bread continued for the week after the Passover. Lots of Jews came to Jerusalem for Passover.
What were the chief priests and TOTL plotting (v. 1)?
Why did they not want to kill Jesus during the Passover festival (v. 2)?
Bethany was a village near Jerusalem, where Jesus often stayed when He visited Jerusalem. At whose house was Jesus having dinner in verse 3?
What did the woman who came into the house do (v. 3)?
John tells us who this woman was. Her name was Mary. We hear more about Mary and her sister Martha in Luke 11:38–42, and in John 11, when Jesus raises their brother, Lazarus, from the dead! Jesus really loved Mary (John 11:5). And she really loved Him back!
What did some of the people watching say (v. 4)?
What did they say should have been done with the perfume instead (v. 5)?
In John’s gospel, Judas Iscariot is identified as the one who criticized Mary for her actions—not because he cared about the poor, but because he liked to steal money from the money bag (John 12:6).
How did Jesus respond to the people who were rebuking Mary harshly (v. 6)?
We know from earlier in Mark that Jesus really cared about the poor. How does he respond to the claim that the money should have been given to the poor (v. 7)?
What does Jesus say that Mary has done to His body (v. 8)?
In Jesus’ day, people prepare a dead body for burial by anointing it with various things that will preserve the body and make it smell good. Jesus says that Mary has got this process started with His body—which is soon to die and be buried. This isn’t what Mary would have planned, but it’s how Jesus received her gift.
What amazing statement does Jesus make about Mary’s action in verse 9?
What does Judas Iscariot do right afterward (v. 10)?
How did the chief priests react to Judas’s offer to betray Jesus (v. 11)?
Pray that God would make you more like Mary: willing to “waste” whatever is most valuable to you on Jesus. Praise God that Jesus’ promise that her action would be remembered has come true!