Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes    Mark 14

Alexander Pope in the 18th Century said: “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- July 9, 2006

¹It 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.”

³Meanwhile, 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. ⁴Some 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.

⁶But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me? ⁷You 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. ⁸She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. ⁹I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be talked about in her memory.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹The 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.

The Last Supper

¹²On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed), Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover supper?”

¹³So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. “As you go into the city,” he told them, “a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘the Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ ¹⁵He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place; go ahead and prepare our supper there.” ¹⁶So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.

¹⁷In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. ¹⁸As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, “The truth is, one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me.”

¹⁹Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, “I’m not the one, am I?”

²⁰He replied, “It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with me now. ^{£ 21}For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!”

²²As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”

²³And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. ²⁴And he said to them, “This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant ^£ between God and his people. ²⁵I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” ²⁶Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

²⁷“All of you will desert me,” Jesus told them. “For the Scriptures say,

‘God ^£ will strike the Shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered.’ ^£

²⁸But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

²⁹Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

³⁰“Peter,” Jesus replied, “the truth is, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

³¹“No!” Peter insisted. “Not even if I have to die with you! I will never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

We all make mistakes. Some are merely unwise ones; while others are deadly mistakes of sin…of missing the mark of righteousness.

In the fall of the year, Linda, a young woman, was traveling alone up the rutted and rugged highway from Alberta to the Yukon. Linda didn't know you don't travel to Whitehorse alone in a rundown Honda Civic, so she set off where only four-wheel drives normally venture. The first evening she found a room in the mountains near a summit and asked for a 5 A.M. wakeup call so she could get an early start. She couldn't understand why the clerk looked surprised at that request, but as she awoke to early- morning fog shrouding the mountain tops, she understood. Not wanting to look foolish, she got up and went to breakfast. Two truckers invited Linda to join them, and since the place was so small, she felt obliged. "Where are you headed?" one of the truckers asked. 'Whitehorse'

"In that little Civic? No way! This pass is dangerous in weather like this." "Well, I'm determined to try," was Linda's gutsy, if not very informed, response. "Then I guess we're just going to have to hug you," the trucker suggested. Linda drew back. "There's no way I'm going to let you touch me!"

"Not like THAT!" the truckers chuckled. "We'll put one truck in front of you and one in the rear. In that way, we'll get you through the mountains." All that foggy morning Linda followed the two red dots in front of her and had the reassurance of a big escort behind as they made their way safely through the mountains. Caught in the fog in our dangerous passage through life, we need to be "hugged." With fellow Christians who know the way and can lead safely ahead of us, and with others behind, gently encouraging us along, we, too, can pass safely. Don Graham.

Life is such that we don’t always do the right thing or even the wise thing. We can see this in our text for today in the account of two suppers. In the first one, Jesus is the guest and in the second he is the host.

The background to our text has the Scribes and the Pharisees plotting to have Jesus killed. It is only two days from the Passover. Notice that they are afraid to make a move during the Passover because of the people. They don’t want to precipitate a riot, but they do want Jesus dead. That is the solution to their problems with Jesus. They are filled with hatred, are conscious of fear and will be glad when Judas comes to them and offers to betray Jesus to them. Their hatred is restrained by the fact that they are afraid of the people who are enamored with Jesus.

Why this hatred of Jesus? Well, Jesus has rebuked them in their failure to be true shepherds of Israel.

There are times when no greater compliment can be paid to someone than to be hated by certain men. It has been said that the greatness of a man is revealed by his foes.

At the same time, they are glad. Their gladness is born of treachery. It is gladness in the hearts of men who are supposed to stand for everything that is righteous and good, but who have become evil because of their lack of faith.

And then there is Judas. He was a man who had been mastered by covetousness. John gives us a revealing word about Judas. To the question “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred shillings, and given to the poor?” John adds, “This he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put therein.” KJV

The master motive of the life of Judas is revealed here. It was covetousness. Paul tells us in the book of Romans that it was the sin of covetousness that convicted him of sin. He could stand in the presence of every other commandment, but knew his sin when he came to covetousness. It is a subtle sin.

Why was Judas given the money bag? It was because of his business sense and capacity to handle business matters. The weakness of Judas lay in the realm of his power, ability. Temptation always lies in the capacities we have. In this case, Judas’ capacity for business matters presented him with the possibility of being fraudulent. The marvel is that any man who lived with Jesus as Judas did, could betray him to the Scribes and Pharisees. And here we have him craftily waiting for the opportunity to betray him.

This takes us to the first supper. It was in the house of Simon the Leper…and it also seems to be the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. All three of them are there. John 12:1-5 gives us some important and interesting information about who was there, who did what and what was said by whom: Lazarus, Martha and Mary were there at that supper. It was Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anointed Jesus. And it was Judas who asked about the waste of the precious ointment that could have been sold and given to the poor.

When Judas challenges her action, the other disciples become angry also at the supposed waste. What a mistake! What a waste of precious resources! Judas was angry because he was a thief, but the other disciples really thought that it was a waste of something that could have brought benefit to the poor. In Judas’ anger and covetousness there is the capacity for treachery.

Think ahead to the second supper when Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. When he announced that one of them would betray Him, their response was not to look at each other and wonder who might do it. No, they looked within and asked Jesus, one after the other, “Is it I?” And they have come face to face with the realization that there is within all of us the capacity for treachery and betrayal. All of us have the capacity for making that kind of mistake.

At the first supper, there is Mary. She is the woman with the alabaster vial of very costly, pure nard. Nard was a perfume that was very popular at the time of Jesus and very expensive. You can buy nard right now, as part of a seven vial set, from Biblefragrances.net. The cost of nard today is $560.00 a pound. Add a very expensive alabaster vial and you have a very costly expression of love for Jesus.

But what are we to make of Mary and what she has done for Jesus. She understands something that no one else does. On the day that Jesus was in their home and Martha complained that Mary was not doing her share of the preparations for serving Jesus’ meal, Jesus said that Mary had made the better choice. Mary understood something about Jesus then, too, that others did not.

And now in the hour of his greatest anguish, she understands his desolation and anguish. She, and she alone, has discovered it and understands where Jesus is going. What she does is impulsive. And because it is impulsive does not mean that it is wrong. It is unconventional to be sure. Judas and the other disciples did not understand it, but she did. It was a gift of love, a bringing of the most costly gift available and pouring it out on his head and feet.

Again, we have Jesus’ estimate of an act of worship. Like the gift of the widow, Jesus has appraised this gift and this is what he had to say about it: “I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be talked about in her memory.”

Jesus connects what this woman has done with the Gospel. Out of the mystery of the cross at Golgotha with all its darkness and pain, and beyond it the light of the resurrection comes the Gospel…the good news. Mary’s intuition of love and the outpouring of the perfume was Godlike and an act in fellowship with the act of God, by which the world is to be redeemed.

Look now if you will at the picture of Jesus that is presented here.

First of all, we see his honest appreciation of what she has done in love. Jesus is there in the house of Simon the Leper. Lazarus is there at the table with Jesus and the disciples. Martha is probably serving the meal and in comes Mary with the alabaster vial of pure nard. Think back to the rebuke of Judas and the anger of the disciples at the waste. And then hear Jesus’ rebuke: “Leave the woman alone…’ Jesus, hemmed in by blind hate, acknowledges one action of understanding love. What she has done is no mistake. It is an act of understanding and love and I appreciate it.

Secondly, think of Jesus at the second supper. He understands the treachery in the heart of Judas and the arrangements Judas has made to betray him and he resented it. Judas is going to make the biggest mistake of his life and it will be his undoing. Inadvertently, he sets the scene for the redemption of the world of sinners by his own sin of unbelief.

Making mistakes is what we as human beings do. Some are big and some are insignificant. But we will make them.

Jesus tells the disciples that they will all betray him. Of course, Peter protests. Everyone else may, but I will never betray you.

Jesus responded by telling Peter that before the cock crows you will deny me not once, but three times. The beginning of their failure to stand with Jesus begins in the Garden of Gethsemane with the disciples asleep and ends with them all running away and Peter’s denials in the courtyard. Jesus understands these men and he never condemns them.

Jesus expects it. He does not condemn them for it. He understands them and the pressure they are under. He simply says that he will go before them to Galilee after I am raised from the dead. There is no rebuke, no condemnation, just understanding and the table is set, if you will, for their restoration to fellowship with the risen Christ.

That should tell us something about Jesus and our mistakes. He will always understand us. He will always seek to forgive and restore us to fellowship. Mistakes are common to all of us. In Jesus we have one who forgives and restores. Praise God for that! You can never make a mistake that is so big that Jesus will not nor cannot forgive.

1 John 1:9 is as true today as it has always been: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

That means there are no mistakes that are “fatal” to us spiritually if we recognize them, repent of them and seek forgiveness for them. Because of the love of the Father shown to us in the love of the Son of God, who loved us enough to die for us.

--Dennis Gleason