Lunch with God

Mark 14 begins with a meal in Bethany. In the opening verses (1,2), Mark gives us special insight into hostility against Christ. The structure of the chapter, with interlocking stories of betrayal by friends and enemies, emphasizes this setting. “Con-combatancy,” or more simply put, “my enemy’s enemy is my friend,” is where old squabbles between the differing factions coalesce around a unified desire to oppose a common threat. They put their strategic skills, intelligence, and knowledge of human nature and law into their endeavor. Clear thought was put into timings and methods to enable maximum impact: having Jesus killed, but without antagonizing the crowds in Jerusalem over Passover. 

Disciples of Jesus today may often find themselves on the receiving end of the modern successors of these plotters, eager to find a way to stop the extension of Jesus’ work in the world. In today’s reading, false indignation about money is used to call Jesus’ ministry into question.

For several hundred years of Bible study in the West, scholars have read the gospels as a “harmony,” meaning that expositors were accustomed to studying similar stories from different Gospels at the same time. This is why it is suggested that Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is a sinful woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume, though the woman is named as Mary only in John’s Gospel, and called sinful only in Luke (Matt. 26:6-13; John 12:1-8; Luke 7:36-50–probably a different incident). All four Gospel writers record Jesus being anointed by a woman on at least one occasion, though some would suggest it happened up to three different times. Here, she is not named–but her good deed (v. 6, kalos, meaning beautiful and meritorious) endures in eternity.

Have you allowed yourself to become a plotter wanting to bring down the work of another Christian? Instead, consider putting your resources into worshiping Jesus.