Series: The Prelude | Sermon: Fragrance For The Final Hour

“After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by [a]trickery and put Him to death. 2 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.” 3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Mark 14:1-9 (NKJV)

1. Costly Worship Starts with What Is Precious to Us

2. Costly Worship Is Poured Out Without Reservation
“And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.” Mark 14:3 (NKJV)

3. Costly Worship Will Be Perplexing to Some

4. Costly Worship Is Pleasing to Jesus
“She has done what she could.” Mark 14:8 (NKJV)

Philip Keller writes, “The delicious fragrance ran down over His shining hair and thick beard. It enfolded His body with its delightful aroma. Even His tunic and flowing undergarments were drenched with its enduring pungency. Wherever he moved during the ensuing 48 hours, the perfume would go with Him: into the Passover, into the Garden of Gethsemane, into the high priest’s home, into Herod’s hall, into Pilate’s patio, into the crude hands of those who cast lots for His clothing at the foot of the cross.”