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He's Worthy of Your Best

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He's Worthy of Your Best He’s Worthy of Your Best Matthew 26:1-13 01/31/21 Intro: Worthy? As we open up to Matthew 26:1-13, we see a woman who understood that Jesus was worth the very best she could bring, and as she offered to Him the best she could bring because she knew He was worthy, others looked on and called her offering a waste. While she applied great worth to Jesus, as worth of her very best, the rest had something different say. This is a powerful picture for me and for you. The realities of our day, the great value and worth that we apply to Jesus may cause others to object, or suggest that we should approach this life differently, but as this woman pours out her best on Jesus’ head and feet He says that her devotion and the bringing of her best to Him, is a good deed. Let’s open to Matthew 26:1-13, and gain insights and encouragement as we apply this story to our lives currently. Read: Matthew 26:1-13 In verse one and two Jesus tells His disciples that the Passover is coming in two short days and that He would be handed over to crucifixion. He is aware of what is going to come in a very short time, the focus of His final days. Jesus had already told His disciples three times previously (Mt. 16:21-28; 17:22-23; 20:17-19) that He would suffer to the death but would rise again on the third day. Here Jesus makes clear that the death, burial, and resurrection He had previously told them about, was going to soon come about. That Jesus was coming soon and time of year it was going to take place, during the Passover, is deeply significant considering Jewish history. The “Passover,” which is what many were in town to celebrate at that particular time, was the commemoration of the night the Israelites were freed from Egypt (Exodus 12). It is the night that God “passed over” the homes which were marked by the blood of a lamb. Those whose doorpost were marked with the blood of the lamb were passed over, and those without the blood of a lamb would suffer the loss of their firstborn sons. During this Passover, Jesus, our “Passover Lamb” would lay down His life and death would pass over the sons and daughters who would receive Him and apply His blood over their lives. It is deeply significant not only in Jewish history, but in our lives currently that Jesus would lay down His life. God send His only Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16). God gave His only Son, He gave His very best, and because of His life and sacrifice, we are deeply and eternally blessed. In light of that reality, He is worthy of your best. I. Pursue the Proper Posture • What we can see immediately in the beginning of Matthew 26 is a disparity in what the people were willing to understand and see when it came to Jesus Christ, and ultimately there is only one posture of the many depicted that Jesus calls proper, or right. • We start with the posture of the chief priests and elders who were gathered in the court of Caiaphas, the high priest. Matthew 26:4-5, …They plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.” • As noted, the high priest was a man named Caiaphas. The high priest was the supreme religious leader. 2 • Originally, the high priest was a position passed from father to son through the priestly, or Levitical line. • Caiaphas had married into the family of high priest and was the son in law of a man named Annas. His appointment into power was illegal according to the Law, many Jews struggled with his leadership and still looked to Annas. Annas however, was the one who had appointed Caiaphas. • Caiaphas, according to Jewish historian Josephus was a conniving, treacherous, and deceitful man. He is depicted in Scripture in a one-dimensional role as Jesus’ antagonist. • This is made abundantly clear in his declaration to the chief priests and Pharisees… John 11:50, It is in your best interest that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish instead. • The willingness of Annas to appoint Caiaphas as high priest, was likely because Annas had four sons, but those sons were the ones making all the money from the temple concessions. • To make one of them the high priest would have disrupted their thriving businesses. • Speaking of disruption to business, we must remember that just a couple day’s prior, Jesus had come into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, the people were praising Him as their Messiah and thinking He would go and overthrow the Roman government, but the place He went was the temple instead, where He overturned the tables of the moneychangers. 3 Matthew 21:12-13 • There were major problems in the temple, and the problem Jesus pointedly pursued was that they had turned it into a den of robbers. Illus. What was taking place. • Jesus saw it all and called it out. He was more concerned about what was happening in His house, than overthrowing the Roman government. • All this said, the family of the high priest was not happy with Jesus, He was upsetting their scheme to make money. There will be more on this later in Matthew 26. • Gathered in the court of the high priest we see the chief priests and elders as well. John 11:53, From that day on they planned together to kill Him. • We have seen this throughout the book of Matthew, a plan was being put in place, a plot to kill Jesus (Mt. 12:14). • Their posture toward Christ was to end His life. They had seen enough, had enough, and now the time was almost up. Matthew 26:4-5, They plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.” 4 • They knew what they wanted to do, but they did not want to do it yet. They were worried about the people who had followed Him into town praising Him. They were concerned a riot might break out. So, with the city full of people, they were planning to wait. • Just Jesus said the time was two days. It would take place during the Passover. • He had already predicted three times what was to come, He said where it would be (Jerusalem, Mt. 16:21), that He would rise on the third day. • No plans of man could cause His plan to be vary or be voided. Proverbs 19:21, Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that will prevail. John 10:17-18, I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. • It was the Lord’s timing and had been determined, His death at Passover would point us to the powerful reality that He is our Passover Lamb to who takes away the sins of all in the world who would receive Him. 1 Corinthians 5:7, Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Revelation 5:12, Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! 5 • Though the reality is that He is our Passover Lamb indeed, the religious leaders simply could not see. And their pursuit to kill Him, reveals their posture of hostility toward Him. • On the other hand, there were those who heard His words, what He had to say, that He had come to show and be the way to eternal life, and they were determined not to take His life, but to give Him their all, their very lives. • In verse 6, the scene changes, from the hate and hostility of the chief priests to a woman named Mary whose posture of worship, devotion, and love is seen as she finds herself again at Jesus feet. Matthew 26:6-7, 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. • Matthew places this scene right after the plot of the chief priest, and prior to Judas’ betrayal. And is displays to us clearly that there were sweeping differences in Jesus’ day regarding the posture different people had toward Him. • While Matthew does not mention the woman by name, we know who it is from John’s account. John 12:3, Mary then took a pound of very 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. A. Be Determined in Your Devotion 6 • The scene changes from the plot to kill Jesus in the court of the high priest, to a situation that took place in the home of a man who is referred to as “Simon the Leper.” • Since a lepers were considered unclean and were required to live outside the camp in leper colonies or camps and could not associate with non-lepers (Leviticus 13), it seems that Simon had been cleansed of his leprosy.
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