Praise and Poverty

If you're new with us, we're going sequentially through the Gospel of Matthew. And here we come to chapter 26, and notice verse one,

when Jesus had finished saying all these things.

This has happened five times. There's five discourses that the Gospel of Matthew is built around. And in the transition of Matthew from the discourses, that saying, and then we go into a new section. We're in the last week, which is already another section.

But here, now it's just driving towards crucifixion. And we see this with Jesus' own words. He said to his disciples,

you know that after two days is the Passover's coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.

Jesus is declaring that, Matthew's recording that at the beginning of this section to make sure we understand he is in complete control of everything that's happening. Now, as a good story goes, there's a number of characters and they're very complicated.

We have the chief priests who are plotting. We have Judas who goes to those chief priests, and as they're plotting, he offers himself as the betrayer. What we have later, the same chief priests are going to rally up the people to call out for Barabbas rather than Jesus. Judas is going to go out with those chief priests and betray Jesus.

The plan and the plotting

We see here kind of the setup. And then in the next few weeks, we're going to continue to see how these actions, these plans, the plotting, well, how they come to real action, how Jesus is betrayed, how he is crucified, all under the sovereign hand of God, but also all according to the power and promise of God. I'll return to our text. First, the plan and the plotting that fulfills the promise. That's a mouthful. The plan and the plotting that fulfills the promise. Here, v.

1-5

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, He said to His disciples, You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.

Matthew breaking out to give us the narrator declaration of what's happening in another place, in another scene, another setting.

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

We see two different kind of storylines going here.

Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, he is committed himself to go to be crucified. At the same time, the chief priests, who are supposed to be leading God's people in worship in the temple, they're plotting against the Son of Man. They're afraid of the people. That's something we constantly see the chief priests. Their motivation is not a reverence for God, but a fear of man. And they're plotting against Christ.

Now this is where, if we just back out just for a moment, The priests, their job is to sacrifice lambs. Their job is to provide the sacrifices that would have God's judgment pass over the people of Israel. Their job is to identify the right lamb and to sacrifice it. They're going to sacrifice the real lamb of God without knowing it.

In their sin, in their evil, in their twistedness, they're going to fulfill God's great plan of salvation as the chief priest. They're doing it for their sinful motives. Jesus Christ is submitting himself to be delivered over, to be the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world.

This is wonderfully complex and complicated. We tend to not like stories like this because it challenges how simple we like God to be. As in simple, straightforward, kind of fits into our preconceived notions and ideas. We come to these texts and God tears down walls that we built up and he shows himself as much bigger, greater, more generous than we ever understood. The first thing we have to accept is something Challenging intellectually, but we're going to get there.

Just the idea of double agency. We see this throughout scripture. There's double agency. The classic text for this is Genesis 50-20.

What you, man, intended for evil, God intended for good.

That's double agency. Man is doing one thing towards evil and God is sovereign even over that to bring about what's good. That was the great salvation plan of Israel. God taking them into Egypt where he would then show them who he is. Acts 2 23 is even more specific.

Jesus was delivered according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

This Jesus who was handed over by the definite plan of God, that is one agency, God's, you crucified, killed by the hands of lawless men. This is introducing this idea of double agency because we see it here. Christ is saying I will be delivered up and crucified, that is his intent, that is his will, and the chief priests are fulfilling his will with their twisted evil plotting. Jesus is in absolute control of even his own crucifixion. That gives us comfort. He intended to die for us. He established he would come and die for us. He promised himself to come and die for us. Jesus already predicted his death three times.

You remember every time the disciples didn't like it? They have a different kind of Messiah in mind. Even coming out of the Olivet Discourse, to hear the Son of Man must be crucified. He's already spoken of a coming of his glory that's later and majestic and cosmic.

It assumes a death. It assumes there's a different kind of coming. These words introduce this last section of Matthew. In the middle of the week that leads up to his death, he will be delivered up. There's going to be plotting against him. He will be crucified. This is the most shameful and painful way Rome would execute the worst criminals.

In two days, understood to be a Tuesday of his last week, Jesus, known as the passive voice, will be delivered and crucified. We have to understand a few things. Jesus couldn't take his own life, but man is also not powerful enough to kill him. The gospel speaks of this. He gave up his last breath after being beaten. And the crucifixion, we'll think about this more later, you're made to suffocate. It's one of the most painful and shameful ways to die.

Jesus has come to fulfill God's promise, and these chief priests are going to participate in that. Most significant, here's the truth of God for you to understand and receive. God is faithful to keep his promises, even when it hurts. God is faithful to keep his promises, even when it hurts. God has committed himself to sinners. Jesus didn't have to come and die. Until God made the promise, he would save us.

Then it's a must. God's promises are meant to not just be a comfort for you, I hope you know how to apply God's promises in a way that are a comfort for you, but they're not just for comfort, they're for the foundation. Everything God has committed himself to is good and true. God's promises are the foundation of everything we want to know is right and good and true in this world. First and foremost, he's committed himself to save us.

Jesus must be delivered and crucified He will give himself over for the plan of God to be executed. He was crucified for us, for our forgiveness, because of our sin. If you're not a Christian, that is the challenge of the entirety of the gospel. Christ had to die because we've all sinned. He submits himself to the hands of sinners to be crucified because we have all sinned. It is our sin that nailed him to that cross. It is because of our sin that Christ had to come and be that substitute so that all the wrath of God is poured upon him so that we could be counted forgiven. You must believe in that promise and in Jesus' forgiveness alone.

Second, I think we need to see that he does this because he loves us. And this is part of that promise making. The word love isn't explicit here, but this is right on the heels of all that discourse where the whole idea is the Father's blessed you, and you're my brothers. The whole backdrop of this is that God so loved the world, he sent his only son to die for us.

It's amazing. plan of God is all built upon the promises that Christ is going to fulfill. Now if we go back just to the beginning of this week, earlier, in chapter 21, Jesus, he went and cleaned the temple, and that was a confrontation with the chief priests who were allowing the temple of God, it was supposed to be a house of prayer, to be a den of robbers. He's confronted them over and over again, The chief priests and Jesus are really at odds constantly throughout this whole week. And now it's coming to a head where they're committing and plotting, we must kill him. The key thing from one to five, and as we see this entire week play out, it's the power of God at hand. The most wicked and evil acts of men are still under the power of God. He does not commit evil. He cannot commit evil. He cannot be tempted by evil. But nothing is done outside of his sovereign power. Nothing is done without him being able to use whatever we have done for his good. It helps us not fear.

Praise and preparation

Even as we see these evil chief priests sacrifice the true Lamb of God, we see how powerful God is even over suffering. We've seen the plan and the plotting. Our next section here is praise and preparation. So Jesus sets this whole thing on course that he will be delivered up, and in the midst of this, he's gonna be plotted against, betrayed, denied, spat upon, beaten, mocked, crucified, and then we have this sweet story. Scripture rarely has this for us. I believe that's why Ruth follows judges, Judges, it's kind of depressing when we see what we do as humans. God gives us these sweet stories in the midst of just absolute chaos. While we see God's greatness and Jesus is headed towards his own crucifixion, we see this kind of pause in anarchy and chaos. Praise and preparation here, verses six to 13.

When Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why do you trouble this woman?

For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

In the midst of all this character development of the chief priests, Caiaphas, Judas entering into his betrayal, you have this story of a woman, an unnamed woman, who's going to be challenged by the disciples for her act of worship. Jesus says, no, this unnamed woman will be remembered forever because of the beautiful thing she does.

Now we know where it takes place, Bethany. We know the how, Simon the leper, that's not Simon the Pharisee, it's not Simon the disciple. We don't know her name. Now, Simon the leper, that's somewhat of a confusion. Maybe he's healed of his leprosy, that's what some people assume, because lepers typically could not have work because of the leprosy, and therefore they were reduced to begging. It's actually pretty amazing, if he does have leprosy, Remember, you're not supposed to be in contact, or you could be unclean. Just a reminder, Jesus is always coming in contact with the unclean and making it clean. Jesus is never afraid of becoming unclean. He heals those who are unclean. But here we are in the house of a leper who has a skin condition, and the woman is going to anoint Jesus' skin, starting with his head, with ointment. So a woman came up with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment.

Now, I don't know how much you're up on all your ancient poetry, pottery, but this kind of alabaster flask, it's globular. Did I just wanna say that word globular? Yes, I am describing it just so I can say globular. With a small neck. So it's globular, word of the day, with a small neck, and the whole idea is you keep the ointment fresh, it doesn't spoil. And these are almost always meant to be a one-time use. You break the seal and you use it all. It's often done for burial. And so they'd be very expensive that a home would have for the person, and it's a one-time use.

And this woman comes and brings this alabaster flask, breaks the seal, the one-time use, and she starts anointing his head. This is a scene. All right, reclining at table, that's normal. But here we are, Jesus with his disciples in another man's house, and well, we know this is Mary from another gospel. I mean, the smell alone is distracting and changing what's taking place. She starts anointing his head. Now, notice she comes in and she's very bold and courageous for doing this. It is hospitable to give someone oil for their head and to provide certain kinds of hospitality, but this is above and beyond anything that would be expected and very unusual.

Notice how she is put in contrast with the disciples. Verse eight,

when the disciples saw it, they were indignant.

They were angry.

Why this waste?

It is an unusual use. the ointment But they're calling it a waste Now listen to the rationale

for this could have been sold For a large sum and given to the poor

what a spiritual answer They're revealing that they don't quite get who Jesus is and What he's saying when he says I will be crucified They don't quite really understand, but whatever this woman understands, she's doing what's right and good. They're indignant, they're disgusted with themselves, they're saying what she is doing is wasteful, they've got a better idea for it, they've got a good idea for it, giving to the poor. They don't understand who Jesus is yet, what's truly most worthy. Now, I wanna take a break here just for a moment and give an application. They have a good spiritual use for that ointment. It actually could be good to sell that and give the money to the poor. That's good.

What is most worthy

What Jesus is saying is no, it's not the most good. It's not the most worthy. Christian, most folks get off track not by doing something evil, but by simply getting committed to doing what's good and not best. Most people go off track by losing sight of what is most worthy, who is most worthy, and then doing some good things, and then forgetting altogether who Jesus is and how worthy he is of all worship, of all love. This is a common problem of not seeing what's truly most worthy, who's truly worthy.

It's way too easy for Satan or our own sin to simply get bogged into what is good and not doing what is best. This is what we call a time for spiritual audit. What is your time in your checkbook committed to? That will tell you what you're deciding is truly most worthy of your time. Is it just good? Verses 10. to 13, he sets the disciples straight.

Jesus, aware that they're saying this, aware that they're indignant, they're calling what she's doing wasteful, why do you trouble the woman? She's standing up for her because they are addressing her. Why the waste woman? Jesus,

why do you trouble this woman?

For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my head, she has done it to prepare me for burial."

And then the declaration, she will always be remembered for this act.

Why are you troubling her? They're failing to see what's really happening, and Jesus is now judging them for their judgment of her. He's a good protector. The pour you'll always have with you, the whole point of that passage, the whole point of that teaching is there's something unique happening right now before them.

I'm pouring out this ointment. She is preparing Jesus for his burial. There's a, there's a, there's a gospel proclamation to what she's doing. First, let's contemplate that declaration. This is a beautiful thing. Verse 10.

for she has done a beautiful thing to me.

This could be translated as good work. It's worship. It's sacrificial worship. It's probably her most expensive item. It's beautiful. It's good because it's true. This woman is the only person near Jesus who appears to understand and appreciate what's going on.

The priests are acting like Satan. They're plotting against the anointed. Judas is going to do the work of Satan. He's going to betray his master. The disciples are going to fall away. They're going to flee in the midst of fear. This woman's doing good work. Ladies, take notice. The Bible talks about in the most amazing ways. Here, the faithful disciple of Jesus is the one woman who will not abandon him and is doing what's good even despite all the men looking down upon her. The woman is sacrificing her most expensive possession. She is righteous. She is doing what is good. She's put in contrast to the disciples even. Scripture lifts women up. Would you really see what scripture says about women? They're equal and make an image of God? Called to be priests? As worshipers?

The world tempts us all in what they present as great. What makes every human great is worshiping God who then gives us his own greatness. What makes anyone great is what God gives. If you remember the Tower of Babel, the whole idea they wanted to do there was they wanted to make a name for themselves as great. And God had to come down to look at it. And then God said to Abraham,

I will make your name great.

God gives greatness. Ladies here, this woman is to be proclaimed and remembered, nameless though, for her courage, for her worship, for her role in the gospel of preparing his body for burial.

The lie. is that you should pursue your own true and substantial happiness. The lie of this world is that you need to make sure you figure out how to compete with others and take away in order to have greatness. The lie is that you can determine your own greatness. No, greatness is truly and freely and generously given by God, who gives himself to us.

This worship, giving herself over to God is what makes her great. If you want to know what greatness is as a woman, it's pursuing God and giving yourself over to him who is great and will make you great. Jesus honors her, protects her, because she does what is beautiful and good. God makes all of his children great. She is shining like a light of faithfulness. She's being an example of what we should desire to be over against the disciples, the chief priest, Judas. She's to be honored. Christ lifts her up because of her faithfulness.

Seize the day

That second declaration.

You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

Now, let's just be real clear. A couple things need to be said The church's mission can never primarily be solving poverty. That is not the primary mission of the church. The primary mission of the church is to make disciples. But if the church ever loses sight that they should care for the poor, they're missing the bigger picture of loving your neighbor as yourself. This passage has been too often used to dismiss the call to actually care for the poor. That's not what Jesus is doing.

He's simply saying, you have a good use for this, but she sees the best use because there's a unique time, a unique opportunity. I'm only here for a few more days, and she's worshiping me with this ointment. That's the best. We cannot lose sight of a call to care for other human beings, made in the image of God, who are in need. We can't use this verse to dismiss that as a calling, while also not making it the only calling of the church. If I could translate this over past the picture of poverty, we could just summarize what Jesus is saying here is seize the day. Seize the day. Do not miss the unique opportunity you have to worship right now.

Okay, Jesus isn't with us right now in the same way he's with them. She's doing something unique and breaking that alabaster flask, We have a problem with time, us humans. We're impatient. Just me? It's amazing, we've been doing a study of idolatry in the worship class, how often God delaying is tied to our idolatry. How not liking God's time. People keep asking me, am I ready for Lillian to leave, she's a senior. Please quit asking me that. I've got so many different devices that show baby pictures that are tearing me apart every day, so please quit asking me, I'm very aware.

We sang earlier,

as summer's flowers we fade and die, fame and youth and beauty hurry by, but life eternal calls to us at the cross.

Life is like a vapor. What an understatement. To seek to redeem the time, seeing how every stage of life has a unique opportunity for worship. I'm thankful I get to do all these weddings and every one of them. I've tried to make sure now, I can't remember when I started doing this, but you're now entering into a new way of worship. Every stage of life is simply a new way of worship. As teenagers, as young adults, You have this wonderful way of worship. You don't have to provide for yourself. Somebody else is taking care of that roof and that food. Don't get anxious about the next stage. Just enjoy that one.

And praise God and be thankful. And figure out how you can use the freedom you have right now without having to be responsible for that roof or that food to use the energy and the free time you have to worship God in that way. If you're single, What unique ways can you worship now that you won't be able to when you're married? And when you're married without children, what unique ways can you worship now that you won't be able to with your children?

Oh, that diaper stage. When they can't get up and run away yet? That's hard. But what a unique time to worship God just that way. Recognizing every single stage of life has a uniqueness to it. We don't get to anoint Jesus' body. But we all have these different stages, these different times, and we like to look ahead. Oh, and enjoy the day God has given you and worship him today in the unique way he's given you. Finally, verse 12, this grand picture,

and pouring this ointment on my body,

Expensive ointment.

She's done it to prepare me for burial.

I don't know if she knows that's what she's doing. But in God's sovereignty, that's what she's doing? The ointment probably is a burial ointment. Jesus acknowledging what she's doing is good because of what I'm about to suffer. She is blessing me now to prepare me for what is ahead. The testimony. What she's doing is good, right, beautiful, good, worthy. She's preparing him for that one unique sacrifice that will once and for all take away sin. The one unique sacrifice that will wash us of every sin. She's preparing him for his death and his burial. She does what's Beautiful. Do you want to do what is good and beautiful?

Well,

truly I say to you, wherever the gospels proclaim the whole world, what she's done will also be told in memory of her.

I've got to be honest, I've never mentioned this lady any time I've shared the gospel, except for right now. I think the idea is you're honoring her by sharing the gospel.

This is a gospel proclamation that he will die with this ointment. Go and be the beautiful feet that share the good news of Jesus Christ. Honor her. Most of all, honor Christ who died for sinners. A wonderful application of this is it's beautiful and it's worthy to go and proclaim the gospel that saves sinners. Proclaim the gospel.

Jesus identifies and confronts his betrayer

Finally, Jesus identifies and confronts his betrayer. This is 14 to 25.

Then one of the 12, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment, he sought an opportunity to betray him.

So they've decided they're going to plot in secret. They're afraid of the crowd. And now Judas, who We know from other Gospels, Satan has entered into him. He is doing the work of Satan. Satan has entered into him, and we see him doing the most evil deed. He's betraying his master. He's giving himself over to the plot. The chief priest had to be so excited here. Now, some people have hypothesized, and I don't know where they get this from, that Judas was a zealot and he was doing this for the good purpose of trying to hurry in Jesus's messiahship and overcoming Rome.

I don't know of any evidence of that. If you have it, please show me, because I've never seen it. I like to just be simple and say, let the text speak for itself and let Judas speak for himself. Verse 15,

what will you give me?

That seems to be his motivation. That's what Zechariah seems to have implied about his motivation. He's doing evil. He simply is not valuing Christ more than himself and his own desires.

He's betraying his good master who has given him all this good for 30 pieces of silver. That's about 120 days wages. A third of your salary. Wasteful and worth, can I come back in the picture here? The disciples have judged her as an unworthy use of that ointment Judas has decided betraying his master is worth a third of your salary. That seems like too low of a price, but Christian, what's your price for what it costs to betray your master? How easy are we lured away by our own sinful desires?

The whole idea of what he's doing here is for gain, for his selfish gain. Judas reminds me of Esau here. He gave up his birthright for porridge. His appetite overtook him. Judas' name tied to the most infamous traitors. In US history, we have Benedict Arnold. In Rome, we have Brutus. It's betrayal of stabbing someone in the back, turning your back on someone who's in need, gossiping about a friend to make sure other people think less of them. Judas is a warning of how confusing we can be. What kind of cowards we can be. How corrupt our desires can be. Luke tells us Satan entered into him. He is doing the work of the devil here by betraying his master for a mere 30 pieces of silver.

Now again, Matthew's telling us the details of the story.

Now the first day of the unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare?

Passover again. He's already mentioned. This is gonna happen in a few days now. We see it's happening

He said go into the city to a certain man and said him the teacher says my time is at hand I will keep Passover at your house with my disciples and the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover

Jesus simply fulfilling what God has called him to he's gonna observe the Passover and Notice what he does next though.

In the evening he reclined at table the twelve, and as they were eating he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. They were all very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, Is it I, Lord?

He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it I, rabbi? He said to him, you have said so.

Now verse 21, shall I say to you, you will betray me? Now, why does he say this?

He could be saying it for the benefit of Judas to warn him, but I mean, Judas has already been handed over to Satan at this point. He could be saying it for the disciples to help them understand as One of them will betray him so that I caught off guard.

He has as a good master, try to give them heads up what's coming next. Could be saying it for us. To see how absolute sovereign is. Maybe he's just saying it because he's a God of all truth. And goodness. He says in one of you will betray me. They're all wondering with sorrow. Is it I? Now, he's going to tell them later, you're going to reject me, and they all refuse. Here, they're at least having a better response. Is it I, Lord, with sorrow? So Jesus says, whoever dips his hand in with me. And the assumption here is that's Judas. He does dip his hand with him. And when Judas asks, is it I, you're already plotting, Jesus says. You said so. Now, this is the last passive, Emile.

He confidently suffers

We're gonna see next week Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper. Jesus is taking this Passover meal with the one he knows is gonna betray him. A disciple he's loved, a disciple he's taught, a disciple he's invested in. He's not kicking him out, he's inviting him to take the Passover meal with him. I think he even takes the Lord's Supper with him. It's kind of wild to see the agony of Christ as he's going to talk about the bread broken because of the betrayal of Judas. The cup that represents his blood poured out because of Judas. He's come to suffer and he confidently suffers. We understand that about Jesus. He confidently suffers. for us.

He doesn't complain. He doesn't make demands. He doesn't blame shift. There's not a grumbling. He's simply identifying the betrayer and confronting him. He breaks bread, his own, but represents his own body with him. He shares the cup that represents his blood with him. It's amazing how confidently he suffers. But see how good and powerful our Savior is? He's not shaken. He's not afraid. He's not threatened. He doesn't need Judas to feel the pain he feels. He confronts him and simply says what's good and true.

He's going to be led after Judas' betrayal to suffer for our sins. Christians, what do you think about that feeling of how it must have been to just share that meal with Judas? The author of Hebrews tells us something really important about why Jesus came, why the Son of God came to be a man. To sympathize with you and your pain. Jesus is able to sympathize with you and your pain.

Right here it's betrayal. With absolute confidence and clarity Jesus is with the man who's going to betray him and is just speaking truth to him. If you've been betrayed by a friend, if you've been betrayed by a spouse, she's able to sympathize with you. We too often think God's too far out there that he can't really understand what I'm going through and maybe Jesus didn't go through that exact problem you're having with your spouse, but he is able to care for you. He's able to sympathize with you. Most importantly, he's able to heal you and your spouse. It's devastating to think about what Christ has gone through in these last few days. He is left alone. Betrayed, denied, plotted against. He'll be beaten.

Christian, whenever you feel this way, you can cry out to the God who is all peace, who's come to you to give you peace. Jesus knows you and your pain better than you do. He sees your pain and hears your prayers. He's promised himself to you. He is not distant. He purchased you this precious blood. He hears you. He sees you. He cares about you. He's able to sympathize with you. Most importantly, he's with you. He is sovereign. He is sovereign, never out of control. and all of his power is used for our good. That is why he is worthy of all our worship.

Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you did not leave us to our own efforts. our own abilities as we would have destroyed all of humanity and this earth in our anarchy against you. We thank you that you made promises knowing what it would cost Jesus. We thank you that you're sovereign and we can see you're sovereign and we thank you that we can see how Christ suffers and we can learn how to suffer. Most of all we can see how You care for us even in the midst of our suffering. We pray that we would see the greatness of the gospel. That you have forgiven us. That evil is no threat to you. Sin is no threat to you. But you are the cure and the healer and the forgiver of all sin and evil. Help us to trust you and to glorify you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.