This morning, we're in Matthew chapter 26. We begin in verse 1. Jesus has just concluded His Olivet Discourse. And Matthew says, When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest named Caiaphas, and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth or by craft and kill him. But they were saying, not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people. Now, when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and they said, Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price, and the money given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. For when she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be spoken of in memory of her. Each of the four Gospels climaxes in the writer's account or his testimony, in the case of Matthew and John, of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And each Gospel writer has his own way of presenting the facts. Each is distinct in some particulars from the others. The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, for the most part, tell about the Jewish role in the death of Jesus, whereas John gives a more full picture of the Roman involvement. And Matthew's account and Mark's are quite similar. But Matthew emphasizes something here. He emphasizes the fact that Jesus is in complete control throughout these events that culminated in his death and resurrection. And Matthew makes sure that we see the hand of God in every step. Matthew's not simply narrating what some evil people did to a good and compassionate man. Matthew is telling us what the Son of God, incarnate, did willingly and voluntarily for all who would believe in Him. When Jesus had finished all these words, that's how Matthew begins this passage. Jesus has concluded the long discourse on Mount Olivet and Matthew uses these words when Jesus had finished all these words at the end of each of the five discourses of Jesus. He begins the next block of narrative with this phrase each time. But here he adds the word all when Jesus had finished all these words and that word all may be referring to the fact of the completion of Jesus' teaching on earth. This was Matthew's way, though, of transitioning from the discourse to the narrative that follows. And we saw it in chapters 8, 11, 13, and 19. And we see from Jesus' words here, it's still Tuesday. It's been Tuesday since chapter 21, at least verse 23, maybe as far back as verse 18. It's still Tuesday of the week Jesus would die. In two days, the Passover was coming. And Jesus says that means the time has come for him to be handed over for crucifixion. Passover. That's when God scheduled it. He will be handed over for crucifixion in two days at the Passover. And this is an announcement by Jesus of the exact time of his passion. and which would begin with what? With the betrayal of him by Judas in Gethsemane on Thursday night. But it was Jesus who fixed the time. Jesus did not merely know the time, He set the time. This wasn't just an impressive display of His supernatural knowledge, which in and of itself would have been a lot. No, He authoritatively fixed the time, Thursday night, Passover. Now Passover, we recall, refers to the eating of the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the month, Nisan, we see this in Exodus 12 verses 6 and 7 and I put it in your scripture sheet you can read it but Passover commemorated the delivery of the sons of Jacob from slavery in Egypt and then following the day of Passover on the 14th began the feast of the unleavened bread which would last an additional seven days so this is an eight-day feast until the 21st of the month But Passover was one day, the 24-hour period from sundown Thursday in that year until sundown Friday. And this is not the first time that Jesus has told his disciples that he was going to be killed in Jerusalem. Remember when he was telling them before this was going to happen? Back in chapter 16 he told them he's going to have to go to Jerusalem and be handed over by the Jewish establishment, the Jewish religious leaders, to the Romans. He told them the same thing in chapter 17. And in chapter 20, verses 17 through 19, Jesus told the disciples, it was now time to go up to Jerusalem for his execution. Just think about this. Who does this? Well, the Son of God does it. We're going to travel 70 miles for my execution. But he said he would be raised on the third day. And it's incredible. We've seen over and over again. The disciples don't seem to understand this. These facts just don't seem to have worked their way into their heads. We're going to see somebody today, though, that I believe did hear Jesus when he said these things. So they make this 70-mile trip from Galilee to Jerusalem through the land of Perea to the east of the Jordan River, remember that, and we had the two blind men shouting out at Jesus, heal me, heal me, have mercy on me. But Jesus, as he's speaking now, have still only been in the area of Jerusalem and Bethany, which is only two miles away, for just a few days. And everything, as I said, that we've seen and read from chapter 21, verse 18 on, has occurred on Tuesday. And it's still Tuesday. Though Jesus has told his disciples he would be handed over to the Jewish religious leaders to be executed, it's very clear, again, from what the disciples have said, the things they've asked, they haven't grasped all this. And again, Jesus is not saying he would just be killed. He's saying he's going to Jerusalem with the express intention of being executed. That is his sole purpose in going there. to be executed. He knowingly and willfully came forward at the exact time ordained by God, and we'll see this. Now, the disciples didn't understand it then, but this truth ended up having great significance to them later. It strengthened their faith because they knew Jesus had prophesied all these things, and in their preaching. Meanwhile, verse 3, we find the chief priests and the elders gathered together in the palace of the high priest Caiaphas. Yes, I said palace. The high priest is living in a palace, part of the temple complex. Remember when the disciples said, oh, look at all the beautiful temple buildings? This was one of them, where Caiaphas, the high priest, lived. Now, back in chapter 21, We read that earlier that same day, the chief priests and elders were questioning Jesus in the temple, asking what? By what authority are you doing these things? Preaching in the temple, healing people, receiving praise, exercising authority over the temple, throwing people out of here. It was chief priests and elders who were questioning Jesus at that point in time. And while Jesus was telling his disciples he would be handed over for crucifixion, in two days we find the chief priests and the elders gathered in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest, plotting to seize Jesus, to ambush him really, by trickery and to kill him. Now, what are these high priests? Where did they come from? Well, Matthew talks about high priests or chief priests, different translations, and this is a term that speaks of a number of high temple officials. These were the men in charge of the Jewish religious establishment. And with them, we see here and often in Matthew, the elders. These are lay representatives of the people. And both these chief priests and these lay elders, the elders of the people, and the Pharisees, the scribes, were part of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of 70 in Israel, or Judah at that time. Matthew doesn't use the term Sanhedrin here, but this was probably not a formal meeting of the Sanhedrin. This reads as though, and I believe what we have here is these influential members of the Sanhedrin were meeting unofficially to decide what? What should be done about Jesus of Nazareth? What are we going to do about him? Hard to picture people hating Jesus unless we look at the world around us. People don't hate those kids that want to pray, they hate Christ. They don't want Christ in their lives. They don't want Christ in this world. They don't want Christ in this country. So we've got this secret meeting of people who don't want Christ in Jerusalem or on the earth. And it's held in this palace. Caiaphas is presiding. It's not held in the usual place, we read, in the Hall of Hewn Stone, which would be on the south side of the temple. But they didn't want to have a public meeting, they couldn't. This was plotting and scheming in secret, and they didn't want to raise any attention or questions. So, who's this Caiaphas, identified here as the High Priest? Was he serving as a high priest according to the law of Moses, the law of God given on Mount Sinai? Hardly. Josephus called him Joseph, who was called Caiaphas, but Scripture never calls him Joseph. He was appointed as high priest by Valerius Gradus. Valerius Gradus was the predecessor of Pontius Pilate. It was the Roman governor who appointed these priests by this point in time. It had nothing to do with the law of Judaism. He'd been high priest since 18 AD, so he'd been high priest at least 12 years, maybe a little longer. In 36 AD he would be deposed. By whom? By Pilate's successor, Vitellus. He was the son-in-law of Annas, who we also read about in the New Testament a few times. Annas had been high priest from 6 to 15 AD. Once you're high priest, you're always called high priest. It's like any politician, you get a title, you know, when you resign or thrown out of office, you still, people call you by that title, whatever it is. John tells us in chapter 11 that Caiaphas was high priest that year. Well, he'd been high priest for quite a few years. And that he had prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation. And scripture portrays this fellow Caiaphas as a rude guy, as a sly manipulator, a corrupt opportunist, a man used to having his own way by whatever means necessary. Doesn't sound like a priest according to the law of God, does he? In Matthew, later in chapter 26, we'll see him trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus. We see him plotting back in John chapter 11. We see him causing trouble for Peter and John and the apostles in Acts chapters 4 through 6. And he's not unwilling to shed innocent blood. What he wanted was power and influence. The same thing we've seen repeatedly with the Pharisees and the scribes. all the while pretending concern for the welfare of the people. So he went by the title of priest, but this is not a minister of God. This was a corrupt politician under a cleric's guise. So when you read high priests, chief priests in the New Testament, this is what we're talking about, corrupt politicians. And so his object here is to secure the condemnation and execution of Jesus. That's what he wants. He envied Jesus and he would use any means at his disposal to have him killed. As I said, this isn't the first time the Jewish religious leaders have plotted to kill. In Matthew 12, 14, in the region of Galilee, in reaction to Jesus healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees went out and conspired to kill him. He did an act of mercy for a man, and they wanted to kill him in response. These are their religious leaders. John 5.18, During an earlier visit to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews, Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath. And John writes, For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, he was calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Another of the numerous passages where we see that Christ affirmed he was God. John 7-1, after these things Jesus was walking in Galilee. He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. So the envy of these leaders was now aroused again. Why? Well, because of Christ's miracles. And all of this was brought to a head just a few days earlier when he raised Lazarus from the dead. He called Lazarus out of the tomb in which he had been for four days. And John tells us in chapter 11, this caused many people to believe in Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, you're not going to believe in his enemies. And then the ire of these same religious leaders had been further raised by the effect that Jesus' entry into Jerusalem had had on Sunday. The crowds cheering him and screaming, Hosanna, treating him as Messiah. Then he goes into the temple and cleanses it. They're getting angrier and angrier. By the parables he told, by which they knew he was speaking about them in the pronouncement of the seven woes against the Scribes and the Pharisees. So that they wanted to kill him was clear. What was now being decided was how to do it. How are we going to go about this? And they agreed they would do this by trickery and have to do it by stealth. These people aren't going to like this. He's got too many supporters. Now, it's not clear at this point whether Judas was part of their plan. He will be very shortly, and he's going to come to them in verse 14, which we'll see next week. But let's just stop for a second and think about the spiritual condition. in Jerusalem and Judea at that time, that the leaders could scheme in this way, shows us how bankrupt was the moral and spiritual condition of the nation of Israel and Judah and of its leaders. This is what Christ came into. He didn't come into a people following the law of God, though they had been given that law. Now, I don't know if we've noticed to this point, but there's a conflict here between what Jesus was now telling his disciples and what the conspirators were planning. The conspirators were saying, not during the festival, we can't do this during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people. Jesus said he's going to be handed over in two days on the Passover, the first day of the feast. Chief priests and elders, we better wait until after the feast. They were fearing the people or else a riot might occur. Now remember, the Passover and unleavened bread, the feast is eight days. And they knew that Jesus had many friends and followers in the city. Many had come with him from Galilee and come from Galilee, but not with him to attend the feast. All of the Jews had to do that. And these people, some of them, would have risen up, perhaps, against the Jewish religious leaders. Turned out they didn't. So they decided to wait until the followers of Jesus weren't around anymore. But it didn't work out that way. Even in this, God overcomes what they want to do. We see here the determination of Jesus that the counsel of God, as He had decreed things, would stand. And that He, in accordance with that counsel, would willingly and voluntarily lay down His life. He wasn't going to do it by the force of someone else. He offered Himself on the cross. It's important we understand that because apart from Jesus' voluntary sacrifice, salvation for any of us would have been impossible. Voluntariness of his sacrifice is vital, critical, and essential to the salvation of anyone. So, while the Jewish authorities planned that the arrest and murder would not take place during the festival, the divine decree that it would happen at that very time wins out. And it's of great importance for us to understand, again, that Christ was not unwillingly dragged to his death. Why did he go? Now hear this, He went and did this because He loved all of you, because He loved me. Our confidence in the atonement that His death made is founded on the conviction that He offered Himself out of love for us. And on the very day that was foreshadowed by the slaying of that Passover lamb back in Egypt, 1500 years earlier. And the exodus and the deliverance, they are delivered from bondage to Pharaoh. His people are delivered from bondage to sin and Satan. Then Matthew seems to somewhat abruptly recount an event which had occurred four days earlier. We're on Tuesday, now he goes back to Saturday. As we read in John 12 1, this was Saturday evening, 8 Nisan. after the Sabbath had ended. And that evening, as we read in John 12, 2, a dinner was given for Jesus in Bethany at the home of a man named Simon the leper. It was a dinner in Jesus' honor. Now Simon the leper was apparently no longer a leper, and I think we know how that happened. Jesus must have healed him. It doesn't specifically tell us that, but that's a reasonable inference. And here's this dinner, and who's present? Simon, Lazarus, freshly risen from the tomb, Lazarus' sisters, Martha and Mary, and the Twelve and Jesus. And they're at this dinner. and we will recall that now i want you to think back what was the event that caused jesus to say now it's time to go to jerusalem when he left galilee well he'd gotten a message now matthew doesn't talk about this but john tells us all about it in john chapter eleven he'd gotten a message from two friends of his the same martha and mary and what did martha and mary tell him the message was the one you love lazarus is sick He wanted them to come and help. Jesus told His disciples, we're going to go there. They said, this sickness of Lazarus is not to end in death. This sickness is about the glory of God, so that the Son of Man may be glorified in Lazarus' sickness. You think God isn't directing events here? And then Jesus waited two extra days to give Lazarus time to die and get buried and put in the tomb and the rock pulled across the tomb. He waits two days before he goes. And then as he is approaching Bethany, which again is only two miles from Jerusalem, Martha meets Jesus outside the village. Oh, Jesus Lord, if you'd have been here a little sooner. But she then professes her belief that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. I know that you'll raise us all at the last day, she said. See, Martha and Mary had been listening to Jesus when He'd been in Jerusalem preaching before, and they took it all in. It didn't just kind of come in one ear and out the other like it so often did with the disciples. She professed her belief that you are the Christ, the Son of God. Well, then they go into the home, and Lazarus is already in the tomb for four days, and John then testifies. These Gospels are testimonies. They're intended to persuade us of the truth of what Jesus did. That Jesus went to the tomb and called Lazarus back to life. Lazarus, come forth. And I love what, I don't remember who first said it. He had to address Lazarus by name. Because if Jesus had simply gone up to the grave and said, come forth, all would have come out of the graves. That's going to happen someday. The day will come, John 5, 28, when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and all will come forth. That day is coming. Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who did the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. So all that occurred after Jesus had arrived in Judea, but before he entered into Jerusalem on that donkey colt to these hosannas of the enormous cheering crowds. Now this dinner occurs in between those two events. Before the entrance into Jerusalem, but after the raising of Lazarus. But John tells us something else. Look at John 11, 45. Many of the Jews who were present saw what Jesus had done. He didn't do this in a secret room somewhere. He did it right out there because there was a funeral, a week-long, seven days of mourning that took place, professional mourners and all, as they did in that culture. Many of the Jews who were present saw what Jesus had done and believed in Him. But when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard about this, They did what they always seem to do. They convened a council. John 11, 47, they convened a council and they were saying, what are we doing? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him. And the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation. Verse 53, So from that day on they planned together to kill him. That's the character of the chief priests, the elders, the Pharisees, and the scribes. It's because somebody's called priest or whatever doesn't make them a servant of God. So the raising of Lazarus had occurred only a few days prior to this Passover week, quite possibly on the previous Friday. It's the next night, the Saturday evening, before Jesus enters into Jerusalem, that this dinner took place in the home of Simon the leper, in Bethany. And at this dinner, something incredible happened. Verse 6, Now when Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. This perfume was worth, we're told, three hundred denarii. One denarii would be a day's wage for a laborer. The value of this was more than an entire year's wages for a laborer. The Bible never tells us where Mary came across or obtained such a valuable commodity. But John tells us this was indeed Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha. Matthew simply tells us she poured this vial of perfume on Jesus' head as he reclined. But John gives us more details, and that's why we have John in our scripture sheet this morning. John tells us they made him a supper there that Martha was serving. Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. Isn't that interesting? The guy whose funeral he came to is sitting there having dinner with Jesus. And that Mary took a pound, a Roman pound I'm told was 12 ounces, not 16, of costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Matthew was there. He saw all this. He doesn't mention her name, though, and one writer suggests the reason he didn't mention her name was that when Matthew wrote, she was still alive, and perhaps he did not want to mention her for reasons of pride, or the writer suggests to publish her name might have exposed her to danger from those who still hated Christ. Remember, the church is under persecution almost from the minute Christ goes back to be with the Father. So she has this alabaster jar though, a vial that I'm told was made of a semi-transparent stone. It was sealed so that the neck had to be broken in order to get anything out of it. You couldn't uncork it, you had to break the neck. And according to Matthew and Mark, she poured it on his head. And if you read John's account, it says he anointed his feet. But that's not a conflict. Both Matthew and Mark say that the perfume was poured over Christ's whole body. And there was enough to cover both his head, neck, shoulders, and feet. And Mary apparently breaks this vial in such a manner that the perfume just came gushing out over Jesus. Now, why would anybody pour perfume over somebody? Well, it might make a little more sense in that culture. It doesn't make any at all, I suppose, in today's. But before we look at that question, let's look at the reaction of the disciples to this action of Mary. Matthew tells us the disciples were indignant when they saw this. Mark says some were indignant. But they said why this waste, this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor. Now Jesus has just preached about giving to the poor. In his very last, the very last thing he said at the end of his time on Mount Olivet. To the extent you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. So Matthew and Mark make it clear that the disciples as a group objected. John does something different. He focuses on Judas as the one who voiced the strongest objection. Judas was in charge of the money box among the disciples. How they arrived at that idea, Scripture doesn't tell us. But he'd apparently already calculated, and we see it in his statement, he'd already calculated the value of this perfume. And he determined how much money would come into this money box that he managed if they could have sold it. Look at John 12.4. Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples who was intending to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor people? Now he said this, Matthew says, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. He had the money box and he used to pilfer what was put into it. Matthew knew all along that Judas was dipping into the money box. Calvin suggests that none of the others would have started to complain about this if Judas hadn't started this, hadn't lit the torch to kindle them, as Calvin puts it. And though there was a difference between Judas and the others, I mean, he saw this as an opportunity to steal this money, or at least some of it. They're saying, now wait a minute, Lord, didn't you tell us we're supposed to do the best we can for the poor, the sick, the thirsty, those in prison? But look how easily they're drawn into this. They're complaining too. And here, Judas condemns not only Mary, but who else is he condemning by this? Yeah, he's condemning Jesus himself. He implies that Jesus is robbing the poor. That he's lavishing upon himself something that rightfully belongs to those in need. That for his own glory, he allows this waste. That his example is bad. He's setting a bad example for everyone else. And that he, Judas, is the man to declare what is right, proper, and charitable. See, when we go out and say, look, this is what you ought to be doing, this is what an attitude of moral superiority looks like. On the other hand, there is, as I said, this distinction to be made between Judas and the rest of the disciples. Judas' motive was greed. For the rest, they're trying to figure this out. Lord, didn't you say? We don't understand. So, their reaction is not entirely unexpected. They and Jesus were men of simple manners. Jesus said, the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. And anointing the feet as well as the head? What is all of this? This is very extravagant. And this type of luxuriousness is very inconsistent with the life of any prophet. Remember what Jesus said? They who wear soft clothing are in the king's houses. Those in the king's houses, they might use costly perfumes, but not a man who had no place to lay his head. Now here's Mary and they're all, she's poured this vial over Jesus' head and it's going all over him and she's wiping his feet with her hair and they're all looking at her and telling Jesus, what are you doing? They're screaming and here she is with all these looks of disapproval from everybody in the room with one exception. And as she honors our Lord, the disciples accuse her of lacking sympathy for the poor, implying, when we do this, we have to understand, this is what comes out, that they have greater love in their hearts for the downtrodden. This is the danger of critical speech. So while the disciples looked at the good they might have done for the poor, And while Judas looked at the perfume and saw the money he might wrongfully take, Mary saw the perfume as a way to honor her Lord. He's going to be killed in two days. And Jesus agreed with Mary Verse 10, Jesus aware of this, why do you bother the woman? Why do you trouble her? For she has done a good deed to me. Jesus agreed with Mary. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. Now we know if anybody was ever not insensitive to the poor and needy, it was Jesus Christ. And he doesn't say that what Mary did here was something that should be done every day. But he does say that what she did in this one single instance was right and agreeable to God. Jesus said she has done a good deed to me because it had been done for a good and godly purpose. Jesus was saying Consider what Mary has done for me. Not that he was no longer concerned about those in need. Matthew's entire gospel presents Jesus as one whose central message was love and service for God and others. Especially those most in need. He's not canceling that out. And that love for and service of others should be the daily course for all our lives. for all who are His true disciples. And Jesus is saying, look, there's never going to be any lack of opportunities to help those in need. And we know that He was right. We have opportunities in abundance day after day after day. So when Jesus says the poor will always be with us, we realize that if many are in poverty, and they are, this isn't from accident, but it's according to the wisdom and the providence of God. On the other hand, the opportunity to show love and honor to Jesus during His human state would soon be over. His suffering and death would take place within a few days. This is Saturday night. And the full meaning of what happened here cannot be grasped until we realize first that when Mary was pouring out her perfume, she was also pouring out her heart. A heart filled with genuine love, gratitude, and devotion to Jesus Christ. What Mary had done was right and good. And it was according to the will of God. And Jesus will tell them why. Now look at this. This is amazing. Verse 12. For when she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Same words in John's Gospel in chapter 12, verse 7. She did this to anoint his body for its burial. He was going to be tried as a criminal and convicted. And when that happened, a criminal would not have the opportunity under their custom to have his body anointed for burial. Threw them down over the valley, oftentimes. Remember the place of the skulls? Now, the anointing of Jesus' body for burial would be completely beyond the minds of the disciples. That's the last thing they're thinking about. But we must take Jesus' words at face value. This was an anointing of his body for his burial. They don't even believe he's going to die. Did Mary know what she was doing? Did she know she was anointing his body for his burial? Did she know Jesus was about to die? How many times had Jesus told his disciples and his listeners that he was going to be going to Jerusalem to die? Jesus had often spoken of his death by violence at the hand of the Jews. The character of this woman, Mary, may have been such that while the twelve did not understand and believe these prophecies, she believed that Jesus was about to go to his death because he said so. It wasn't for lack of information that the disciples didn't know this. Mary may have realized that when this prophecy became a reality that it would be impossible to reach Jesus and to anoint him. And so she acted now. She anointed our Lord with the most precious earthly treasure she owned. She took all that she owned and poured it over his head. And Jesus said that's exactly what she was doing. She did it to prepare me for burial. Keep looking back at verse 12 and there it is right in front of us. And given that Jesus commended Mary's actions, we have no reason to doubt, Calvin says, that she was led by a secret movement of the Holy Spirit to do this. Calvin points out that whenever the saints were called to do extraordinary performances, they were led by the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary way. So while God rejects everything we undertake in our own suggestion, Mary was directed by the Spirit so that this duty which she performed to Christ was in obedience to the urging of the Spirit. Jesus confirms that's what was happening here. God's purposes. We have to remember God is supernatural and that He can work supernaturally through the likes of us. We have to remember that the new life, that being born again is not a human work. It's a miracle of God to give us new life. It's no stretch to see God working through Mary here. No, it's not certain that Mary knew that Jesus' death was close at hand. But on the other hand, we can't overlook the fact that Mary was one of the ones who was listening. She's the one we saw sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to Him. Luke 10.39, as they were traveling along, verse 38, He entered a village. A woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet listening to His Word. She's the one who heard what he said and believed it and understood it. Even the enemies of Jesus knew he said he was going to die. They knew all the predictions he'd made about himself. Tear this temple down. I'll rebuild it in three days. That became an accusation against him. So it's certainly reasonable to infer that Mary also knew and believed that what Jesus said was coming, His death at the hand of the Jewish religious leaders was in fact coming. And if that is the case, then it would certainly have been understandable that the thought would have occurred to her This may be the last chance I'll ever get to bestow a kindness on Jesus. I don't know if she's anointing him or if she's just worshiping him. Does it really matter? Jesus tells us that what the reality was, regardless of what was in her head, was that his body was being anointed for its burial. And when according to his own prophecy, his enemies killed him, his friends wouldn't have this opportunity. And as a reward for Mary's good deed done to him, Jesus adds this promise. You think Jesus isn't omniscient? Let's just think about this last verse. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be also spoken of in memory of her. Look what's going on here this morning. Who are we talking about? 2,000 years later? 6,000 miles away? Not only was what Mary had done permissible and not evil, not only was it good, Mary's deed was of such a character that Jesus promised it would become a regular part of the story of His life. This incident. He assures his disciples this story will be retold in the whole world. And the fact that it's included in three of the four gospels ensured that it is in every nation this story is told. The word gospel means good news. And it's a significant term here. Jesus knew. Now what's the good news? The good news begins with Jesus' death. His death. The good news is Jesus died. That wasn't registering with the disciples at this point, but he knew that his death would not be the end of the assembly of people that he was gathering. It was just the beginning. His death was the beginning. His death was what paid the price. The good news that he had come to bring involved his murder. involved his murder. But Jesus was already looking beyond the atoning work that he had accomplished on the cross to the proclamation of the meaning of his death. It didn't mean the same thing for the believers that it did to those Romans and Jews. And he was looking ahead to the proclamation of his atoning death on the cross in the whole world. This was going to be part of it. So it's Saturday evening. It's the day before Jesus comes into Jerusalem. It's a great celebration. And here, Jesus not only makes this astounding prediction that a gospel of the kingdom, which would be spread throughout the world, but that this story of this woman's anointing him for burial would be told as part of the gospel message. And it was. And it is again this morning in this very place. This is a lesson for all time. The gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation in Him alone and Mary's deed of worship. The message of salvation and the response of gratitude and worship for the greatest of all gifts. These two must never be separated. Well, in Jesus' words this morning, in his setting of the time for his execution and his approval of Mary's anointing of his body for burial, there's a common thread that runs through all of this. The common thread is this, Christ confirmed again something that he had said before, that he was voluntarily and willingly offering himself to die according to the eternal plan of God. He knew all about it. He's speaking about it in each of these stages, in each of these events. And he himself took a central role in the preparations for his execution. It would be Jesus, we'll see next week, who would tell Judas that the time had come. Go do what you have to do. And again, brothers and sisters, it was necessary that he would go to the cross willingly, an unblemished sacrifice, made in obedience to God. And Jesus wanted his disciples to understand this. Look, they're going to be very discouraged. Remember what happens when the Romans come for them. They're running. They're scared. They're terrified. But he wants them to know, this is not happening against my will. I came for the very purpose of doing this. And it's of great importance that we understand and believe this, that he went willingly of his own accord. though it was no benefit to the disciples to know at that time of the voluntary obedience that Christ was rendering to the Father. Afterwards, this took on enormous significance, both for the apostles and for all of us who follow them. And so today, as we gather here, let us behold this voluntary sacrifice If he had just been killed, shot on the street, murdered, it wouldn't have meant a thing. This is someone going to a horrible death as an act of love. Love in his heart for sinners like us, and the only right response, one of gratitude and worship and obedience, just as we saw in Mary that night in Bethany. He loves us. He loves us in a way we can't comprehend. And so let us resolve to surrender our hearts and our lives to Him for His kingdom and for His glory. Amen.