We've all seen it, and probably more than once. As the saying goes, his eyes were bigger than his stomach, and this little boy piled more food on his plate than he could possibly eat. Sure enough, he couldn't stuff it all down, so what was left over was thrown in the trash can. The comment by somebody in the room is usually, what a waste of food. Now, we've all seen that, and we may even have done it once or twice ourselves. What I want to do today is talk to you about what a waste. There is a story in the New Testament that revolves around the whole idea of a waste. And in this case, I think it has a surprise ending that lies just beneath the surface of the story. So with that in mind, would you turn with me to Matthew chapter 26? And let's talk about what really is wasteful. Matthew 26, beginning at verse 1. Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that he said to his disciples, You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas. and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him, having an alabaster flax, a very costly fragrant oil. And she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it, he said to them, Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a good work for me. for you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.' Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you? And they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver. So from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him. Now this passage of scripture just sort of naturally falls into three parts. At the beginning of this passage, Jesus makes an announcement that in a few days he's going to be crucified. He's going to be killed. The second part of this passage is the story of Mary. She's not named in this passage, but she is in the parallel passage in the Gospel of John. Anoints Jesus with oil. And then in the third panel, Judas goes and betrays Jesus. Now, that's a ready-made passage for a pastor to preach a sermon with three points. But what's intriguing in this case is that if we take all that the New Testament says about these things, because some of this is recorded in Matthew and Mark and in John, and we put them together in terms of a chronology, what we discover is because of the time designations in other passages, Matthew does not write in chronological order. He shuffles the deck, so to speak. Now that's important because when an author does that type thing, he's doing it in order to make a point and deliver a message. So I'm going to deal with the passage, not in chronological order. but in the order in which Matthew has written it. So with that in mind, let's begin with the announcement that Jesus made. Verse one says, it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings. Now let me pause here for just one second, moment, and remind you that there are five major speeches in the Gospel of Matthew. At the end of each one of them is this little phrase, and it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings. And in this case it says, all these sayings. That same phrase occurs in Matthew chapter 7, verse 28. chapter 11 verse 1, chapter 13 verse 53, and chapter 19 verse 1, and again here. So this is Matthew's way of connecting the discourse, in this case the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, with what follows. So this is one of those marks he puts as he moves through his material. At any rate, in this case, Jesus says, verse 2, Now again, this is not the first time we've been told this. The first time Jesus announced that he was going to die was in Matthew 16, when he told Peter that he was going to die. And Peter said, oh, no. And Jesus said, oh, yeah. And Jesus said, get thee behind me, Satan. You remember that passage? Well, that was the first time. There are two others where Jesus told them, I'm going to Jerusalem. and I'm going to die. What is different in this passage is that for the first time, he puts a date with it. Look at verse two. You know, after two days is Passover and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Now, that's just an astonishing statement. I mean, imagine somebody saying, I'm going to predict my death by two days, and I'm going to tell you how it's going to happen, when there was no hint publicly that this kind of thing was going to take place. Another little indication that Jesus was no mere mortal, but a supernatural son of the living God, the son of the living God. So he says to them, I am going to be crucified, and here is the date. In the meantime, we're told in verse 3, then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who's called Caiaphas, and they plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill him. So Matthew connects with the announcement Jesus makes with the fact that at the time he's doing this, they're in the back smoke-filled room plotting to kill him. What's interesting is it says, by trickery. Now, if you have followed me through the Gospel of Matthew, you know they've tried to stop him by argumentation. Didn't work. They contemplate, even in this passage, stopping him by force. As a matter of fact, look at verse 5. But they said, not during the feast lest there be an uproar among the people. Now the Passover is coming and from extra biblical sources we know that as many as perhaps two million people or more gathered in Jerusalem and they're afraid because Jesus is such a popular person that if they do it before the feast that there'll be an uproar, an uprising among the people. So they don't want to do it before the feast. The real dilemma they got is if they wait till after the feast, all the people will be gone, but so will Jesus. So they're plotting, and all they can think of is we can't do it by force now, argumentation has failed, so somehow we gotta come up with trickery. Now, that's the first movement in this passage. The first little subsection is that Jesus announces he's gonna be crucified, and in the back room, they're plotting it at the same time. Before I go on, let me pause and let me make an observation or two. This might sound like the religious leaders of Jesus' day are plotting to kill him, and therefore they're determining what's happening. Nothing could be further from the truth. The day of Pentecost, when Peter was preaching, he talks about the fact that Christ was crucified, and he says it was determined beforehand by God the Father. Could add to that that in John chapter 10, Jesus says, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down voluntarily. So the impression on the surface might be that Jesus is being caught up in circumstances. Nothing is further from the truth. As sad as this story looks like, it's moving toward his crucifixion. God the Father planned it before the foundation of the world, and Jesus Christ himself is very much in control of what's going on, and he's voluntarily going to lay down his life. Which brings me to the real point. In the book of Hebrews, it says in chapter 9, he sacrificed himself. These opening verses are telling us, and just reporting the facts, that Jesus is about to be crucified at the hands of the religious leaders, at least by their plotting, in the hands of the Romans. But what's really going on, as the rest of the New Testament so eloquently tells us, is that Jesus is becoming a sacrifice for the sin of the world. John the Baptist said, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. As the Jews sacrifice the lamb on the altar, Jesus is going to become the sacrifice on a cross that takes away the sin of the world. That leads us to the second part of this passage, which begins in verse six. It tells us that Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper. By the way, that doesn't mean he had leprosy at the moment. If he had leprosy at the moment, he couldn't invite people into his house. But he had leprosy, and perhaps Jesus healed him. And so this became one of the places where Jesus stayed when he was in Jerusalem. It was in Bethany, which is just outside Jerusalem. At any rate, it says a woman, and she's not named by Matthew, but John tells us it was Mary, who was the sister to Martha and Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. And some have speculated that Simon was their father. That would be interesting, that she had a father that was healed, and maybe Lazarus, her brother, was raised from the dead. Yeah. So, a woman came having an alabaster flax, a very costly ointment of oil, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. Now, as I just mentioned, the one that did this was Mary. There are three references to Mary in the Gospels, and in one of them we're told that she sat at his feet as he taught the Word, and she listened to the Word. It's in the Gospel of Luke. So here she is, the one that listens. Martha, her sister, was the one always busy in the kitchen. Mary sat at his feet and just listened. He just said, I'm going to be crucified, right? He did announce that before. And by the way, the disciples didn't get it. But she sat at his feet and she listened. And she got it. So she brought some very costly oil. Now, from indications in this passage and others, the scholars have figured out that the cost of this oil was approximately a year's wage for a laboring man. Now, I hesitate to pick a figure. but just imagine you spending a year's salary on one bottle of oil that you're about to pour out on Jesus head she's going to anoint him Now you got to put some things together. He just announced he's going to be crucified. And what does she do? She anoints him. And what does the word Messiah mean? The anointed one. So she is symbolically recognizing here is the Messiah. and she gets it who was about to die because a few minutes later in the passage Jesus said she did this for my burial so she got that he's the Messiah who was going to die the rest of them thought he's the Messiah that's going to kick Rome out of Palestine and set up a kingdom He's going to do that, but that's when he comes back. This trip, he dies. They didn't get it. She did. Now, I'm going to continue the story in just a minute. It really gets more and more fascinating. But I want to pause for just a second. You normally anoint people after they die. And there's all kinds of suggestions as to why she's doing it before he dies. Because they didn't anoint criminals and she wanted to make sure he got anointed. But Jesus said she's doing it as a symbol of the fact that I'm about to die and be buried. And she's understanding this. That's a great great truth. But the little point I want to make is this. She did it before he died. Could we make an application out of that. That maybe you should anoint your friends before they die. How many funerals have I been to where they anointed their friends after they died? They gave all the accolades and applause to them, and maybe it would have encouraged them just a little had they heard it before they died. So if you've got some things to say to somebody, maybe you should do it before they die. And you never know when that's going to be, so hurry up. Somebody has said it more eloquently than I, and I quote, do not keep your sublime love and tenderness sealed up until your friends are dead, but rather fill their lives with sweetness now. Speak approvingly, cheering words while their ears can yet let them hear. the kind things that you mean to do when they are gone, do immediately. If my friends have alabaster box full of fragrant perfume and sympathy which they intend to break over my dead body, I would rather them bring it out in my weary and troubled hours that I may be refreshed and cheered now when I need it." End of quote. So go anoint your friends before they die. At any rate, back to the story. She breaks open this very, very expensive perfume. She pours it on his head, anointing him, and verse 8 says, the disciples saw it. And they were indignant, saying, why this waste? What are you doing, woman? You just poured out all that money for nothing. What are you doing? What a waste. Now, the other passages add some interesting insights, one of which is, as a matter of fact, one, I think it's Mark, says they criticized her. But the real interesting thing is that one of the accounts say Judas is the one that started it. Now the others chimed in, but Judas is the one that started it. And here was their complaint, verse nine. For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. You wasted it. This is of no value. We could have sold this stuff and just think of all the poor people we could help. Now Jesus is gonna answer that, but before we get to the answer Jesus gives, I wanna make an observation. You live for the Lord, and you are gonna be misunderstood. You live for the Lord sacrificially, and you are gonna be criticized. Matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians, Paul says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to him. He can't understand them. And then Paul says this, But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For he who has known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. I think it's a fascinating passage of scripture. Paul is saying, if you are of a spiritual mind, and you do things spiritually, as you should, then nobody, I mean, you discern all things, and nobody rightly quite figures you out. Meaning the natural people don't are the carnal people don't quite understand how you operate if you're operating Biblically, they just don't get it. So Be prepared if you're going to serve the Lord, you're going to be misunderstood and you're going to be criticized Jesus gives an answer. I want you to look at your Bible carefully Verse 10 says, when Jesus was aware of it, he said, why do you trouble this woman? What's the next word in your Bible? Good. It's the word for. Look at verse 11. What's the first word in verse 11? Great. Look at verse 12. What's the first word in verse 12? Guess what's happening? Jesus is giving three reasons why this was okay. And each one begins with four. The first one is, verse 10, for she has done a good work for me. Now, there are two different Greek words that can be translated good. One is more the idea of utilitarian, good. Useful the other one means Beautiful lovely He uses the second one What she just did is really beautiful Now I think some people serve the Lord and it's ugly I They do it murmuring and complaining or with a wrong attitude. Jesus said, look, what she did was just beautiful. It's just beautiful. Isn't there a verse in the Psalms that talks about the beauty of holiness? There's something lovely about it when it's done right. Well, Jesus said, look, let her alone. This is a good work. What she did was good. and the added little nuance of, it's really lovely, let her alone. There's a second reason. Verse 11, for you have the poor with you always. Me, you do not have always. I just announced I'm gonna be crucified, now I'm leaving. You got the poor with you always. The rabbis taught that the reason God let poor people always around is so you'd always have an opportunity to do good work. So you can always help poor people. You can't always help me. And that may be another way of saying, you've got an ideal opportunity right here, and you should grab it. Don't miss the opportunity. And the third reason is, for in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. So the third reason is, she understands what's going on, and it is significant that she's doing this, because she understands that the Messiah must die. that isn't enough he adds in verse 13 assuredly I say to you wherever this gospel is preached what gospel the good news that he's going to die but in the whole world What this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. Is that not a prophecy that it's going to be included in the Word of God? I'm going to see to it, when the Holy Spirit inspires people to write the Word of the New Testament, that they're going to incorporate this story so that from now until I come back, Wherever the gospel is preached from the word of God, this story is going to be tucked in its pages so that people can see what you have done. Now, what I'd like to do is sort of take all that's said here and just sort of lay it out. I began by saying Mary's the one who sat at Jesus' feet. And what did she do at Jesus' feet? She listened to Him teach. So she started out just listening to the Word of God. What was the result of that? She got an insight, the rest missed. And by the way, those who really pay attention to the Word of God, understand what God is doing. They understand God's plan. They understand God's purposes. They understand God's practices of how He works in life. So by listening to Jesus teach, she got an insight as to who He was, the Messiah, and what He was about to do, be crucified. She began to understand. Now let me tell you, what's the next thing that happened? Sacrifice. When she understood the sacrifice of Christ, she sacrificed a year's salary. I want you to see the little pattern here. She listened to the Lord teach, she got insight into what God's doing, and that prompted her to sacrificial service. And what did that get her? Criticism. You can't do anything, you just about can't do anything in life, period, without being criticized. Did you get out of bed this morning? Did you get out on the right side? I mean, just get out of bed. Somebody's gonna find something wrong with you. But if you're serving the Lord, you're gonna be criticized. Was that okay with her? What else did she get? She got rewarded, big time. I'm gonna honor you wherever this gospel is preached. People are gonna know what you did. I'm going to honor you. So rather than listening to the criticism and not doing it, she went ahead and acted on the insight she got from the word of God, lived accordingly, ignored the criticism, and got blessed. Isn't that great? That's what's going on here. But that's not the end of the story. There's more. The third part of this story is in verse 14. Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you? Wow. I told you these weren't in chronological order, that Matthew deliberately rearranged the material to put in juxtaposition what Mary did and what Judas did. So he goes and says, okay, what do you give me? As a matter of fact, I want you to look at verse 14. Then, many have picked up on that word and said, oh, what tipped Judas over the edge was when he saw the money, in his opinion, being wasted. Remember a few minutes ago I told you it was Judas who started this? He was focused on the money. And so he said, this isn't going anywhere. And he went and said, how much will you give me? And they said, as you know, 30 pieces of silver. I'm tempted to stop and ask, how valuable is Jesus to you? A year's salary that you give or 30 pieces of silver that you get? Wow. But what I really want to talk about is this. Why did Judas do this? I mean, he was in the inner circle, for crying out loud. This has always struck me. I've mentioned this before. When I first studied the Gospel of John, and I came to the fact that at the end of his life, in the inner circle, the 12 apostles, one of them wasn't even a believer, and he betrayed him. If that isn't bad enough, the other disciples, denied him and deserted him. And I looked at that and thought, I gotta be conformed to Christ. And that's what he went through. That means what? Some are going to betray you. Some are going to deny you. And some are going to desert you. That's just the fact of life, spiritually. That's what happened. My question is, why? Well, we don't have time to go delving into all of this, but John indicates that it was because of the money. It was greed. John says he was a thief, and he was, well, he was putting his hand in the till. So he saw this waste of money and thought, I'm done with this, and I'm gonna go see how I can cash out of this. And if I have to betray him to get a few shekels, so be it. I think all of that's true. But I ran across the comment that I thought was particularly insightful. And the comment went something like this. All the apostles at this point are anticipating a Messiah that is going to set up a kingdom. Jesus just said, that's not going to happen. I'm going to be crucified. So maybe. this author suggested, that it wasn't just the money. It was, you mean I am not going to be one of your lieutenants in the kingdom, like I thought, and get paid handsomely for it? And when he saw all this waste with Jesus' approval, he couldn't handle it because of the money? and he went and betrayed Jesus. Now, I think there are other factors. John says Satan entered into him, but I think at the bottom of his heart, personally, was greed for money and the disappointment over the fact that he's not gonna be one of the lieutenants in the kingdom. One more thing in this passage. It says, verse 16, so from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him. So now the plot has been formed. The religious leaders got the break that they were looking for. They want to kill him. And so now they've entered into an agreement with Judas, and they're gonna do just that. I can't help but point out in passing, the religious leaders rejected him as the Messiah. But in rejecting Him as the Messiah, they are rejecting the love of God. Mary received and responded to the love of God. And Judas replaced the love of God for money. I've known people, and so have you, who shop till they drop, They're filling their lives with things they can't get enough. You can't help but think that there's a hole in their heart and they're trying to fill it with stuff. And what they really need is to drink from the fountain so that you will never thirst again and eat from the bread of life that you will never hunger again. And Judas has a hole in his heart and it's all going out the back end. And so he's got to have more money. He tried to replace a relationship with Jesus Christ with something material. It just won't work. All right, that's the story. What's the point? Well, at one level, the story is rather simple. When Jesus announced his sacrifice, Mary made a sacrifice for which he was criticized, and Judas went and betrayed him. But I think the key to this story is the little word, waste. So I'm going to end by talking about what a way. What a way. I think some could look at the life of Jesus and see that it ends with him being crucified on a cross and saying, what a way. Sort of like looking at the life of Socrates, who, because he crossed the political leaders in Athens, ended up with capital punishment. and you could look at the life of Socrates, such a brilliant guy, asking such penetrating questions, say, what a waste. You killed this guy that was really insightful. Why did you do that? And maybe you could look at the life of Christ and say something similar. Look at the good he did, the people he healed, the truth he taught, and you crucified him? What a waste. But as you and I both know, from God's point of view, that was no waste. That was the pre-plan of God from the foundation of the world that Jesus Christ should sacrifice Himself so that we could be forgiven and we could live forever with Him. That death was no waste. Or maybe you could look at what Mary did and say, what a waste. Imagine spending a year's salary on one bottle of perfume or oil and pouring it all out in a minute or two. What a waste. We don't ever do that. That's extravagance in the extreme. Who does that? And I might ask, and what's the application for us? I mean, I could only give an invitation once for you to give a year's salary. You can only do that once in your lifetime, spend the rest of your lifetime trying to figure out how to accumulate that kind of money again, right? Takes years to do that. Is that what he's telling us? Obviously not. But he didn't think it was a waste, right? Right. So what's this telling us? Remember, I summarized the passage by saying, when Mary saw the sacrifice of Christ, when she understood that, then she made a sacrifice. The New Testament talks about the Christian life as if it is a life of sacrifice. When we really understand the sacrifice of Christ, then we are motivated from within to live a life of sacrificial service for him. For example, that famous verse in Romans 12 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that's the sacrifice of Christ, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service, he says. There are other passages that say something similar. Makes this practical. Ephesians chapter 5 says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. When Mary saw the sacrifice of Christ, she made a sacrifice. And when you understand the sacrifice of Christ, and you respond like she did to the mercy of God, you will live a life of sacrificing yourself for the benefit of others. And there's nothing more relevant than when it comes to a husband sacrificing himself for his wife. That's the proof of this passage. Or in Philippians chapter 2, Paul says, if his life were poured out like a drink offering as a sacrifice and a service to the Philippians, he was in jail facing death, he would rejoice. He viewed his whole life as a life of service and sacrifice. And in that passage, it's interesting that it starts with the sacrifice of Christ. So I repeat, when you understand the sacrifice of Christ, you're motivated to live a life of sacrifice. If you really understood the sacrifice of Christ, You would sacrificially give and serve regardless of what people said or regardless of the criticism. You would just keep giving and giving and giving because that's what Jesus did. He gave and he gave and he gave. I haven't heard it in a long time, but there used to be a college raising funds and they had a slogan, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Remember that? Great slogan, by the way. Well, let me suggest that she didn't waste her mind. She used it. But I told you I thought the key to this story was waste. There is another waste in this passage. And I think because Matthew took these out of their chronological order and the way he arranged it, he's wanting us to get the point, who really wasted something in this passage? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, does it? Who wasted something? Judas. Well, let me tell you this. In John chapter 17, he is called the son of perdition. Remember that? That's the Greek word that's used here, translated waste. It means waste, loss. It means that kind of thing, perdition. So that the story is telling us Jesus didn't waste his life by sacrificing it for us. Mary didn't waste. Her hard-earned money. No, no. The person who wasted something was Judas. He wasted his life. That is the terrible thing to waste. We talk about wasting our time. That's your life. We talk about wasting our money. That's your life. It took your life and time and effort to earn the money, and now you waste it. We talk about wasting opportunities. That's what Judas did. That's what the disciples did. What a waste. An unnecessary, senseless waste. From an eternal perspective, that is the ultimate waste. What a terrible thing to waste a life. Judas had one of the greatest opportunities in the history of mankind. He walked around with Jesus for three years and he got to the end and sold him for 30 pieces of silk. I think this story speaks to us in eloquent fashion. Mary gave, Judas took. Mary won, Judas lost. I think that when we really understand the sacrifice of Christ, we gladly live a sacrificial life serving him and others. Somebody again has said this more eloquently than I, There's a world of difference between the economics of common sense and the economics of love. Common sense obeys the dictates of prudence, but love obeys the dictates of the heart. There is in life a large place for common sense. There are times when only love's exaggerance can meet love's demands. A gift is never really a gift when we can easily afford it. A gift only becomes a gift when there is a sacrifice behind it, and we give more than we can afford. Love never calculates. Love never thinks how little it can discreetly give. Love's one desire is to give to the utmost limits, and when it is given all that it has to give, it still thinks the gift is too little. When we understand the sacrifice of Christ, we are motivated to live a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and to others regardless of what people say or think. It doesn't matter. We're living our lives before the Lord. Years ago, it was reported a story about a Christian school for children in India, and they were the untouchables. You know, in India, they have a caste system. These were among the untouchables. Well, there was a group of children, this is prior to World War II, in England, who sent these children in India gifts. All the girls got a doll. All the boys got a toy. One day, they were told, the children in India were told, about a village where boys and girls had never heard about Jesus. And he suggested that they should give one of their toys, their old toys, as a present so that when they went, they would have toys to give to this other group of children in India. They liked the idea. They readily agreed to do that. And a week later, the doctor who made this suggestion came by to collect the gifts. The sight was unforgettable. One by one, the children filed by and handed the doctor a doll, a toy. To his great surprise, They all gave their new presence that they had just received a few days earlier. When he asked why they did that, one girl spoke up, and here's what the story I read said she said. Think of what God did by giving us his only son. We give him, we can not give him less than our best. That's the point of this story. If you understand what Jesus Christ did for you, then we can do no less than give him our best, our minds, our time, our money, grabbing every opportunity to serve him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for what your Son did in our behalf. We thank you for this story that you've memorialized for us in your Word. Now, Father, I pray that the Spirit of God will use this story to impress upon all of us the need to not live a selfish life like Judas, but a sacrificial life like Mary. so that we can be like Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.