seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 2 “But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the 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 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
We've been reading about all the wonderful things Jesus has done for others. We've been reading about healings galore! But... this is really the first time anyone has done something nice for Jesus. Now Jesus told people to leave everything behind when they came to serve with Jesus. Jesus told people it was harder for a rich man to get to Heaven than it would be for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Jesus even destroyed the vender's tables in the temple because they were making money off of the needs of those who did not have the proper coins or the proper animal for the temple tax or the sacrifice. Jesus didn't have a nice ride. He didn't live in a fine home or a palace. He didn't conduct business from a throne. He didn't have people bowing to Him. He gave everything to the Mission.
I think that's what got Judas upset. Here Judas had been doing without for the cause.... while Jesus was indulging this woman and her expensive nard! How rude! I bet that got to Judas. How dare Jesus mess around with that rich woman while everyone else had been doing without for the cause?!?
Do you know what nard is? It's an oil they got from the root and stem hairs of a plant. It's really hard to harvest and it's very expensive. Think Saffron on steroids. It has to be stored in alabaster. Alabaster would be carved out for the storage of this expensive harvest. She broke the stone open to pour the nard on Jesus.
I can imagine the scent filled the room immediately. If the others were in a conversation, the smell of the expensive perfume would have drawn their attention to what she was doing for Jesus. They were doing without; she had the money to obtain nard!!!!! Who let her in????? She's rich... she doesn't belong. If she's not rich, then she must be a whore or a thief. Nard was too expensive for those on this Mission.
So... Judas made the deal. Judas had access to Jesus' schedule. Judas would find the right time to arrest Jesus. It had to be a quiet place. They didn't want a riot. Once Jesus had cuffs on, the crowd would buy any tale they would wind up on Him. They could say he was the shooter in a Walmart store and no one would question them. After all He was arrested so He must have done something wrong. They controlled the horizontal and the vertical of all the conspiracies that came out of the temple. They controlled access to the temple. They could get the crowd to bend, but they needed to arrest Jesus first, in private.
Judas did the deal. He sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. I binged it. Judas betrayed Jesus for what would be about $13,000 to $15,000 today. The nard was worth about $54,500. Judas made a bum deal! The Baptist Church taught me that Judas was an economist!!!! Ha ha ha! Some economist, he turned out to be!
Judas made a bum deal!
