What is Jesus Worth?

Mark 14:1-11
1 It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a cunning way to arrest Jesus and kill him. 2 “Not during the festival,” they said, “so that there won’t be a riot among the people.”
3 While he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head. 4 But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her.
 6 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for me. 7 You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body in advance for burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.

GOING DEEPER
Parallel, Related and Referenced Passages
Parallel Accounts: Matthew 26:1-16; Luke 22:1-6; John 12:1-8
 
1. A CUNNING PLOT

• Exodus 12:1-27 — Institution of the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread as a reminder of God’s saving work.  The Passover lamb’s blood shielding God’s people from judgment.

2. A NOBEL ACT

• Mark 12:41–44 — The widow’s offering; God values wholehearted sacrifice, not merely the amount given.
• Romans 12:1 — Offering ourselves as a living sacrifice as true worship.
• Philippians 3:7–10 — Counting everything as loss compared with the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
• Isaiah 53:4–6 — The suffering servant who bears our sins and brings salvation.

3. A TERRIBLE BETRAYAL

• Matthew 26:14–16 — Judas agrees to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
• John 12:4–6 — Judas’s concern over the perfume revealed to be rooted in greed.
• 1 Timothy 6:9–10 — The danger of the love of money.

 
Philippians 2:5–8 — Christ’s humility and His giving Himself in obedience to death.
1 Corinthians 5:7 — Christ as our Passover lamb who has been sacrificed.
 
1 Peter 1:17 — Redeemed with the blood of Christ, like a spotless lamb.

CONSIDER

1. What do the responses of Mary, Judas, and the religious leaders reveal about how people can view Jesus differently?

2.  Why does Jesus say Mary’s act will be remembered wherever the gospel is proclaimed? What does her worship teach us about Jesus?

3. How does the Passover point us to Jesus and His work on the cross?

4. What does your use of your time, money, and attention reveal about what you value most?

5. Where are you tempted to see wholehearted devotion to Jesus as “too much” or a “waste”?

6. In the coming week, what is one practical way you can demonstrate what Jesus is worth?