Why you should waste your life on Jesus

Introduction

Imagine you’re in a control room with hundreds of dials. These dials control our world and universe. One controls gravity, another the strong nuclear force, another the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and another the Earth’s atmosphere’s transparency. If one dial was turned a small amount, life on Earth couldn’t exist. This is the fine-tuning argument, debated between atheists and theists. Atheists struggle to explain how the dials were set by chance or necessity, discarding the design option. This picture gives us a handy tool as we enter into John 12.

What Mary’s Worship Is

The Setting

Jesus is sharing a meal with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Lazarus had recently been raised from the dead. Mary, recognizing the meal’s significance, understands her brother’s life is because of Jesus. She brings out expensive perfume and pours it on Jesus’s feet, wiping them with her hair. This is striking because women usually kept their hair covered. Judas points out the perfume cost a year’s wages, equivalent to a new car or a major home renovation. Mary’s worship is extravagant and uncalculated. She’s focused on Jesus’s beauty and value, disregarding cultural expectations or smart budgeting. Her reputation and money are insignificant compared to Jesus. Mary has found eternal life in Jesus and witnessed his power firsthand. Her brother’s resurrection is a deeply personal experience. Mary has maxed out her Jesus dial, and her reputation and money dials have turned down. Who would cling to insignificant things when presented with infinite treasure? Mary’s worship is extravagant and uncalculated.

A Question of Perspective

I have a question for you all, and you don’t need to raise your hand, but it would be good for you to just be honest in your own head. Who here thought something like $49,000 for some foot oil? That seems a little bit ridiculous. Why not just use some olive oil and a towel? Or, you know, $49,000. How about what if we just did $40,000 and instead we got a new coffee machine and a new Nord Stage 4 keyboard? I said no need to raise your hand, but I will because I couldn’t help it. It just seems so extra. It just seems so wasteful. And this is exactly why we need our Bible because I need to be told when I’m thinking less like Jesus and more like Judas.

How Mary’s Worship Appeared To Be

Judas’s Response

Judas views Mary’s act as a waste of money. This clash makes sense because Judas and Mary have opposite views of Jesus. Mary values Jesus above all else, while Judas values money. Judas has seen Jesus’s miracles, yet he still steals from the disciples. This is like a child covering their eyes and thinking they’re invisible. Judas thinks he can steal unnoticed, but Jesus sees everything. Shortly after, Judas betrays Jesus for 30 silver coins. He exemplifies Matthew 6: “No one can serve two masters.” To Mary, Jesus is valuable; to Judas, money is valuable. To Judas, Mary’s worship appears unreasonable and offensive. It seems like a waste to use money on someone not valuable, on Jesus. This is how it can be today. To our world, following Jesus appears unreasonable and offensive. We’ve seen that Mary’s worship is extravagant and uncalculated and that Mary’s worship appeared unreasonable and offensive.

Jesus’s Response

Jesus tells Judas to leave Mary alone, giving three reasons. First, she prepared for his burial. Second, the poor will always be with them. Third, they will not always have him. Jesus is saying that Mary understands Jesus’s value, and she will soon witness his crucifixion and burial. Judas should leave her alone. Jesus isn’t excusing stinginess or saying helping the poor is futile. He’s being sarcastic, rebuking Judas, who doesn’t care about the poor but uses them as a cover to steal. Jesus knows Judas loves money and hates Jesus. Jesus says, “Don’t worry, Judas. There will be plenty of other opportunities for you to pretend to help the poor. Leave her alone.” Finally, she did this in preparation for Jesus’s burial. This is a tricky verse to understand. Jesus is talking about what’s happening in Mary’s heart during this extravagant uncalculated worship. Jesus is talking about the joy and the peace and the hope and the gratitude that is overflowing in Mary’s heart as she wipes Jesus’s feet with her hair. He’s talking about the love that Mary has for her Lord and her friend. Jesus is saying, “Don’t take that away from her. Don’t ruin the moment. Don’t infect her heart with your snarky comments and with your greed.” Jesus is saying to Judas, “Don’t ruin this moment for Mary. Don’t poison her heart. Don’t attack her joy. Don’t obscure her peace. because in a few days I’m going to be crucified and buried and it will shake her faith to the core. Leave her alone, Judas, so that she may keep this overflowing heart for the day of my burial.” Mary’s worship is extravagant and uncalculated to Judas. It appears unreasonable and offensive, but to Jesus it is encouraged and it is affirmed.

Implications And Conclusion

Two Implications

Imagine you’re in a control room with dials controlling your life. This year, what will you do with your relationship with Jesus? First, don’t listen to the Judas in your life; listen to Jesus. We all know people who share Judas’s view, who think that following Jesus is dumb. Don’t listen to them. Jesus encouraged and affirmed Mary’s extravagance and uncalculation. Jesus encouraged and affirmed Mary turning her Jesus style up to max. And I want to think more like Jesus and less like Judas. And so if any voice in your life suggests that you moderate your love for Jesus, you temper your love for Jesus, if any voice wants you to pick up a clashing commitment on a Sunday morning, or if any voice tempts you to want to become money rich, or if any voice tries to convince you that that you can’t be forgiven, or if any voice tries to steer you away from the clear teaching teachings of Jesus, whether it be a voice from out there or a voice from in here, don’t listen to them. Listen to Jesus’s voice. Second, turn the dial all the way up. Compared to Jesus, other things are just lint. Think of Philippians 3, where Paul considers all things worthless compared to knowing Jesus. Turn his dial to max and let him decide how every other dial should look. I’m not saying drive yourself into burnout or poverty. I’m not saying serve at church every Sunday and and go and teach five scripture classes and read the whole Bible three times a year and give all your savings away to church and missionaries and the poor. I’m not saying love Jesus in a way that becomes a massive burden to your family and your friends, your spouse, your children, your community. What I am saying is it’s very easy for us to moderate our love for Jesus. It’s easy for us to calculate to just kind of do enough. P’s make degrees. It’s easy for us to compromise. I’m saying just let go of the steering wheel. Just let it go. You can trust Jesus. He’s proven to you that he is trustworthy. He’s proven that he’s powerful. He’s proven that he loves you. He died and rose for you. He’s totally trustworthy. I’m saying turn the dial to Max and then just step back and let Jesus do whatever he wants with the rest.

Extravagant Examples

What if you worked less to teach scripture in a public school? What if you gave up lunch breaks to run a Bible study or Christian group? What if you joined or hosted a connect group? What if you fully trusted Jesus’s teachings about life, love, marriage, singleness, sex, relationships, money, prayer, suffering, anger, singing, anxiety, rest, lust, obedience, and forgiveness? What if you doubled your giving to church and missions? What if you gave a year’s wage to church or missions? What if you studied theology to teach others about Jesus or go into ministry or mission work? These ideas might seem crazy, but what if you turned your Jesus dial up recklessly and let Jesus do what he wants? Your heart will overflow with peace, joy, hope, and gratitude, and you’ll have life to the full, both now and forever.