Mary, Martha, Judas | John 12
John 12
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Chapter Notables:
Jesus is anointed by Mary at a dinner - verses 1-11
Jesus comes to Jerusalem as King - verses 12-19
Jesus predicts His death - verses 20-36
The crowd is split, believing and unbelieving - verses 37-50
Heart Thing | Lemuel Ayudtud
People can be so fake. They can act a certain way among other people: be friendly, be loving, be concerned, appear available. Then once they’re out of that environment, away from the people they are showing a front to, they can be harsh, mean, judgmental, hateful, and even altogether vile. And there are some that don’t even have to leave or be apart from certain groups or certain situations, sometimes when push comes to shove they show exactly who they are.
To be fair someone doesn’t have to be totally mean or uncaring to be totally different than who they are showing others. That said, what matters really is what is in the heart of an individual. Because, you know, you can fool people sometimes, but your true nature will come out in someway or another, it’s just a matter of time and circumstance.
This chapter opens with Jesus having dinner with Lazarus along with His disciples and Lazarus‘s siblings. They were more than likely there together to celebrate the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus (told in the chapter before). Of course, being such a notable miracle, the whole community had showed up to not only hear from Jesus but also get a glimpse of the man who was once dead but now lives.
In fact, the city was so abuzz with the news of Jesus raising Lazarus back to life, that even the priests and the Pharisees went to observe Lazarus and Jesus. But they weren’t there to hear the words of Jesus or to celebrate the miracle of the resurrection, they were looking to see how they can take Jesus and kill Him while scheming to see how they can kill Lazarus as well. (Lazarus’s person was a testament to the authority of Jesus which was undermining their religious stance against Him.)
While the celebration was ongoing, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, decides to thank Jesus for her brother’s life. She took a very expensive box of perfume, poured it on the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. But as that was happening, Judas, who would betray Him, questioned the wisdom of that expression. He proceeded to say that such an expensive oil could’ve been sold in order to help the poor children. The issue was Judas was not really about the poor children. He was the treasurer of the group and was probably taking money for himself.
Now Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus, were mentioned here in passing. She was the one cooking and had prepared the dinner. Nothing is said about her mentality or concerns here in this chapter of John; but when we look at this same event through the writings of Luke we understand that Martha was pretty perturbed at the way her sister was acting that evening.
In Luke 10 we get a glimpse of Martha being caught up in the preparation and the accommodations of those that were there at the dinner while Mary stayed at the foot of Jesus listening to Him speak. Being bothered by her sister’s lack of participation in what she was doing, Martha requested Jesus to speak to Mary to help her in the kitchen. Jesus replied to her, “Martha, Martha, you are so taken by everything around you. Mary has chosen the better part.“
Let’s take the three characters presented in this blog today: Mary, Martha and Judas.
All of them were present with Jesus.
Just because you’re in the company of believers doesn’t mean being in God’s presence is the same to others as it does to you. Just because you’re in the community doesn’t mean you’re heart is in the right place.All of them thought they were pleasing Jesus.
Doing something doesn’t mean you’re doing what God desires for you. Martha was busy cooking, Judas appeared responsible about the poor children, but Mary was the only one that Jesus celebrated. Why? Because she was careful to listen and worship Jesus without a care for money or cumbered with extra-ministerial things.Their actions revealed their heart.
a) Judas was thinking about what he thought was too excessive for worship and unnecessary, wasteful use of important resources to glorify Jesus. There are times that we let our logic or reasoning dictate our level of worship.
At times we value the wrong things: maybe not looking silly, not getting sweaty, giving money, or criticizing others mode or level of worship. Judas not seeing the worth of Jesus to be worshipped in the level Mary gave, showed his heart of selfishness and greed. It also showed his concern is not on the glorification of Jesus but of other things.
b) Martha was concerned about activities, programs, looks, structure and this-and-that. She was so concerned about how the party was going, that she didn’t have enough time to listen and learn from Jesus.
Sure things need to be done. Food has got to be cooked. People have got to be served. But the heart of the matter is Jesus. He is the heart of our serve. We do things with our minds focused on His mission and His ministry rather than being concerned if “i”s are dotted and the “t”s are crossed. The mission is not the “look” the mission is the Lord!
c) Mary had it. Her actions showed her heart of gratitude and worship. She didn’t care what anyone else thought about her dramatic expression of worship. She was not there to look good or to appease others. She did not concern herself on how much her giving cost her. She gave freely because she had a full grasp of what was important: worshipping Jesus.
Serving God will reveal your heart. What you may truly value will be revealed when God calls you to serve Him. Imagine, we can be in a crowd of believers and look the part, but God can see our hearts. Mary, Martha, Judas are a glimpse of the types of people that come to God. Which one are you?
And apart from those three, there are also the crowds and the Pharisees. They came too. The crowd came there for the “show”. They came to see the testimony of Lazarus’s resurrection. Some weren’t there necessarily for Jesus. They had come to see Lazarus. And the Pharisee’s, well they came to see how they can kill both Jesus and Lazarus.
We can’t fault the crowds. People will come to our church gatherings for your testimony or mine’s. They may not necessarily come to hear from Jesus and to be changed by Him, they’ll come for you and your testimony … and that’s okay. Your testimony can lead them to experience Jesus for themselves. So don’t ever fault the crowd for coming, they want to see the proof of Jesus. Because the crowd is coming, as His “Lazarus” we must know if we’re Mary, Martha or Judas.
The Pharisees will come. They desire to see the work of God end. They are seeking to denounce Jesus and to destroy our testimonies. They’re not coming to see and hear our us or Jesus. They can care less about Jesus. So, once again, we have to know which one are we. Are we Mary, Martha, or Judas.
We know that Mary and Martha were at the foot of the cross at Calvary, but Judas betrayed Jesus for, surprise, money. Even though Martha was cumbered with doing this and that, she still was faithful. But Judas’ was near Jesus but his heart was skeptical, critical and questioning.
Who are you today? I pray you have the heart of Mary.
Jesus, give me the grace to yield my heart to You completely. Let me not be a follower only because I am there for attendance, let me be a disciple because I love You and desire to go deeper in You. Lord, let me be extravagant in my expression of love for You and desire for Your word. Give me the grace to allow my emotions, feelings and spirit to be totally submitted to You. Help me to not act as though I care when I don’t.
Please, Lord, change my heart if I am a skeptic of others’ worship and exuberance. Rebuke from me the spirit of Judas who find it unnecessary to give to You, who cloak their lack of faith and greed with words of concern for things that seem relevant and pious. Give me the spirit of Mary who took joy in hearing Your word and delighted in expressing her worship. Like her, let me not be ashamed of my praise, adoration and love for You—even if it costs me what others thing is too much. May I give to You lavishly and be unapologetic of my expressive praise. In Your Name Jesus, I pray. Amen.
