26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. 5 “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
In chronological order v6-14 happened before v1-5.
Mary understands what's about to happen. She may not know exactly when, but, unlike the disciples, she was paying attention to what Jesus said about his death and resurrection. Why shouldn't she have? Jesus' enemies did. They tried to prepare for the disciples stealing Jesus' body because He had claimed He would rise on the 3rd day. If they were listening and understood what He had said, why shouldn't she? The disciples should've too, but perhaps they were too focused on a political Messiah that they just had blinders on when it came to Jesus' death.
And so she anoints Jesus - extravagantly. Out of overwhelming love, worship and gratitude. And the disciples just didn't get it, not yet.
And Judas? Well, this was the last straw as far as he was concerned. At this point he went to the chief priests and struck a deal for his very soul. And the rest of the week he was looking for a way to betray Jesus. During everything that's gone on in this last week - during the Triumphal Entry, during the cleansing of the temple, during Jesus' cursing of the Pharisees, during Jesus' sermon on the Second Coming, this whole time evil has festered within his soul.
But everything, everything is happening on God's timetable. The leaders had wanted to kill Jesus earlier, but God didn't want it to happen then and so it didn't. The leaders didn't want it to happen during Passover, but that's exactly when God had planned for it to happen, and so it would.
Mary's heart was filled with worship and she was blessed because of her decision to follow Jesus.
Judas' heart was filled with evil and he is the most extreme example of wasted opportunity there is in the Bible. He had lived in close relationship with Jesus, the very Son of God, for 3 years. But Jesus didn't fulfill his expectations of a conquering political Messiah and so He rejected Jesus and is still paying the price and will for eternity.
We all have a choice. We better choose well.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 26:17-30
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