The Plot Thickens

The Plot Thickens

Matthew 26:1-13

Back in the 1940s, just following the end of World War 2, the Church of the Nazarene realized they had a problem with their mission program. They were starting churches that had no where to meet. In parts of Africa, a church would gather in the shade of a large tree. But in rainy weather, that was a problem. Missionary doctors wanted to establish clinics, and we had a couple of missionaries trying to establish hospitals, one in India and one in Swaziland (now Eswatini). And some missionaries thought that establishing schools would help further the mission. Not only was there a problem with buildings, but also with the land to put them on. Occasionally, a chief of a village would donate land, or a wealthy Christian would give enough money for a building, but those sorts of donations were not sufficient to the need.

At the 1948 General Mission Council meeting Elizabeth Vennum asked to think and pray about a new mission project. Her answer came from our text. Why not use this woman’s gift as the basis for a special offering to help missionaries purchase land and build the buildings they needed. The money would be designated for purchasing property, building and repairing churches, especially, but also clinics, schools, parsonages, and hospitals. The money would be raised this way: people would be given a small paper box and encouraged to fill it with spare change. They would be asked to put money in the “Alabaster Box” instead of buying a candy bar or some other small luxury. Then, twice a year, there would be a collection, an “Alabaster March,” where people in America could copy the way some other countries give offerings and bring their boxes to the altar to empty them. She proposed the idea at the 1949 General Mission Council and it was unanimously approved.   

Since then, as of 2019, old numbers I know, more than $120 million has been given to support mission clinics, hospitals, schools, parsonages, churches, both on mission fields and in the USA/Canada region, most of it nickels, dimes, and pennies. When we see a penny on the ground, we pick it up and put it in our Alabaster box, knowing that God blesses every penny we give.  

But, that incident in Matthew comes in the middle of a dangerous time for Jesus. Matthew sets the stage for us. Passover is near. Jesus has just given the disciples the message we know as the Olivet Discourse. And now, for the fourth time, Jesus predicts his suffering and death. But Matthew does not give us time to react to the news. When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two days away – and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

There is a lot packed in that short statement. Jesus has been described as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29:36), who takes away the sin of the world. John introduced his cousin as the sacrifice of God, not to God, but from God. And Passover is the festival that reminds Israel of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery. It is particularly loaded at the time because of the Roman occupation and the desire of Israel to be rid of the Romans. Jesus refers here to himself as the Son of Man, a reference we recall from Daniel 7 and a clear claim to deity. He is going to take his throne beside the Ancient of Days. But the means to that end is through the horrific torture of a Roman cross. Matthew doesn’t relate the disciples’ responses, but we can imagine their shock and denial. We’ve seen it before.

But Matthew immediately shifts our attention to a secret meeting. Then the chief priests and elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. Joseph Caiaphas had been appointed to his position in AD 18 by a Roman governor. He was a savvy politician and was able to keep his position until AD 36. That the meeting was held at his home rather than at the Sanhedrin tells us something of the way the process is going. It’s secret, not for all the Sanhedrin to know, not for all the elders to know. And they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.   

There have been other attempts on Jesus’ life. In Luke 4, after Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue, the people of Nazareth took him to the brow of the hill to throw him off. In John 8, when Jesus told them, “Before Abraham was born, I am,” they picked up stones to stone him to death for blasphemy (Jn 8:58-59). And again, in John 10, Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” and his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him ... “because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (Jn 10:30-33). Jesus has been walking a thin line. By the way, his claims to deity were obviously taken seriously. He was a blasphemer, not insane. He was a blasphemer, not a liar. They saw him as sane, and they took him seriously. No one dismissed him as a fraud or a fool. That’s why they tried to kill him. Those attempts all failed, but they were deadly serious this time. They were going to take him in secret and kill him.  

But there was a problem. Actually, there were two problems, but Matthew only tells us of one – there may be a riot among the people. Why? The people considered Jesus to be a prophet. In Matthew 21, after Jesus rode into the city, people were asking what the hubbub was all about. The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee” (Mt 21:11). Four times in John, Jesus is referred to by various people as a prophet. Caiaphas and his fellow schemers were reluctant to instigate a riot among the people by murdering someone they considered to be a prophet. Oh, Caiaphas had no qualms about murdering a prophet. It had been done before. It wasn’t the act of killing a prophet that bothered him – it was the reaction of the people. Why? 

Well, that leads us to the second problem: the Romans. The population of Jerusalem swelled maybe five-fold during Passover. As a celebration of liberation, the fever for revolt ran high. The Romans felt it and prepared for it. Extra soldiers patrolled the streets looking for trouble. Extra look-outs patrolled the city walls and several posts throughout the city, watching the crowds for any disturbance. There had been riots before, and even Pilate had been roundly criticized in Rome for his lack of control of the Jewish population. This Passover, as Messianic fever is high, the Romans are on high alert, suspiciously watchful for anything that looks even remotely like the beginnings of a rebellion. The riot Caiaphas fears is exactly that spark that would bring down the wrath of Rome on Jerusalem. So, at the moment, all Caiaphas can do is scheme and wait for his opportunity.  

Meanwhile, Jesus is unruffled, even knowing what is coming he appears calm. He is fully in control of the situation and nothing Caiaphas does will change the plan. He’s even told the disciples how it will unfold. Just before the second attempt on his life (John 10), Jesus told the Pharisees, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (Jn 10:17-18). No one will take his life. At the right time, according to the grand plan, Jesus will surrender his life of his own will. It will be a gift.   

Jesus is so unruffled by the whole thing that he is reclining at the dinner table. He was at ease with a meal. On the east side of Olivet, in the village of Bethany. The name of the village has several possible meanings. Most often Bet-anya has been called “the house of the afflicted” or, more recently,“the house of figs.” But other meanings are possible: “the house of business” or “the house of singing.” We should recall that when Jesus visited the sisters following Lazarus’ death, Martha was busy with preparations. Personally, I prefer “the house of singing.” Nevertheless, Jesus is relaxed, enjoying the company of friends.   

The home, we should note, is the home of one Simon the Leper. Their comfort in his home might indicate that he had been healed, perhaps one of the ten lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17 or the one in Matthew 8. His reputation as having been a leper earned him the nickname. By the touch of Jesus, he was not what he used to be, and Jesus and the disciples were comfortable in his home.  

Intruding into this idyllic scene is a woman carrying a small vial of extremely expensive perfume. It was most likely a fragrance made from the spikenard plant, which grows only in the Himalaya mountains of northern India and Nepal. It is also called Nard or Jatamansi, and is a rare, aromatic herb with an earthy, woody aroma. The oil from the plant is thought to have a calming, emotional balancing effect, and is highly prized. A small jar could cost upward of a year’s wage. In a similar story in John 12, Jesus was at Bethany six days before Passover, and a woman named Mary poured about 8 ounces of spikenard oil on Jesus’ feet and massaged it in with her hair. Some think these are the same event, told differently for different purposes, and that it was Mary Magdalene. The identity of the woman is speculation, as Mary, or Miriam, was a very common name. One of Lazarus’ sisters was named Mary. Lazarus, a businessman, may have been able to afford to buy such an expensive perfume. In Matthew’s story, the woman is not identified, and the woman pours the oil on his head, the usual method of anointing. The ornate alabaster jar itself reveals the value of the contents. Her gift is costly and precious.

But while she is pouring out her precious ointment, honoring Jesus with her very life, the disciples are fretting about the cost. In John’s story, it is Judas, with his hand in the till, who complains the loudest. But here, it is just “the disciples” - all of them are guilty of worrying more about the money than the woman, more about money than sacrifice, more about money than honor, more about the money, in fact, than Jesus. Think of all the good we could have done if she’d just given us the oil to sell. A former missionary posted this on social media: “It would be cool if billionaires started a competition over who could plant the most trees, house the most homeless, and feed the most kids.” It’s actually not our business what billionaires do with their resources. And it’s not the disciples’ business what this woman does with hers. That’s actually a sin against the Tenth Command - You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods (Ex. 20:17). Think of all the good we could do if the billionaires gave us their money. That’s sin. We aren’t called to take from others, but to use our own resources, to give out of our own pockets. We aren’t called to second-hand compassion, second-hand love, second-hand sacrifice. Think of all the good we could do with their money? No, think of all the good you could do, if you really wanted to do good, with your own resources.

Jesus doesn’t condemn the woman for her extravagance. He blesses her. “She has done a beautiful thing to me. ... When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.” Jesus accepts her gift and blesses it. She has done something the others never thought of, because they deny Jesus’ plan and purpose. Her gift is her memorial. It is a gift of love, a poured out love, just like the love of Jesus for us. 

 “The poor you will always have with you ...” Some people have tried to excuse themselves from compassion because there will always be poor people. They see poverty as an intractable problem with no solution. But it’s not an intractable problem. It is possible to help people out of poverty. Economists Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams have both pointed out that people move in and out of poverty, and that there is a great amount of economic mobility. Some that were poor aren’t any longer, and some that were wealthy are now poor by our economic measures. It doesn’t excuse us from giving to the poor or finding ways to help the poor.  

Jesus’ words to the disciples aren’t meant that way. They are to face the current situation. In essence, he’s saying to them, you can help the poor any time you wish. There will always be opportunities to help, to do some good in the world. But for them this was not the time. This was a moment unique in all history. They were there to be with Jesus. Their concern at the moment should not be the poor. That could wait for another time. But this was a time of preparation. Jesus was readying himself for the cross. This woman comes in to help him, to prepare him for what he is about to endure. In their concern over the money, and their pretense of caring about the poor, they were in danger of missing what was happening. 

Jesus had told them that he was about to die. Caiaphas is plotting. The Romans are watching. The journey to the cross is now inexorable, and there is no turning back. They were in danger of missing what God was about to do. God is still working. And we are in danger of missing out on what he is doing. Focus now on Jesus, so you don’t miss the moment.