Mark 14:1-11 | Lavish Love

1. THE ROLE OF JUDAS IN BETRAYAL - VS 1-2 & 10-11
2. EXTRAVAGANT LOVE POURED OUT - VS 3
3. RESPONSES TO LAVISH LOVE - VS 4-9

John 12:1–8 (ESV)
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

1 John 4:19 (ESV)
We love because he first loved us

Ephesians 1:7–10 (ESV)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Genesis 17:7–8 (ESV)
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Tim Keller
We are not to love Jesus instrumentally, in order to get things from Him, like health, wealth, and happiness. We are to love Jesus aesthetically, for the sheer beauty of who He is and what He has done. The disciples had not reached the spiritual level of this woman. They believed Jesus was the Messiah and that he in some way was going to liberate them, but their devotion to him was still calculated and limited. There was a limit to what they thought appropriate to give him.