By Kevin Harris, pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong, NSW
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.
John 12:3-8
His name was Mr. Kerwood. He had retired from a good job in the oil industry and he loved the Lord. A few months before I left for Bible college to prepare to be a pastor, Mr. Kerwood came to see me and offered to help pay for my tuition. He wanted to invest some of what he had accumulated to help give the world another gospel preacher.
Over the years, as the Lord has used me to point people to Christ, Mr. Kerwood has reaped dividends that are eternal. I can think of several people in heaven today that are fruit that abounds to Mr. Kerwood’s account.1
Mr. Kerwood reminds me of Mary in John chapter 12.
Consider Mary. To her the Lord Jesus was valuable, worthy of the greatest treasure that she had in her possession. That ointment would be worth more than $100,000 today!2 Yet she spent it on the Saviour in token of her love for Him.
This is the same Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet, drinking in every word He said.3 Today she would be found daily studying Scripture, communing with Christ in her prayer closet, and the most faithful member of her church. Why? Because the Lord Jesus was her treasure.
Now consider Judas Iscariot. To him the Lord Jesus was a means to an end. His longing was to be rich. As treasurer for the Master, Judas had been entrusted with many people’s offerings. Our text says he had helped himself to some of those offerings.
Here in John 12 He is indignant that Mary would ‘waste’4 such a lavish gift on her Saviour. Pretending to be a philanthropist at heart, he really just wants to get his hands on Mary’s offering to Christ too.
When the Lord Jesus rebukes him and defends Mary, Judas thinks of another way to make money off of Christ. Mark’s rendition of this event is followed immediately by Judas going to the Pharisees and offering to betray the Lord Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. 5
Mary and Judas portray contrasting worldviews that compete even today.
There are the Marys who treasure God, and the Judases who treasure money.
Modern Marys focus on the eternal; Judases on the temporal.
Marys use what they have to honour the Lord, while Judases use the Lord to increase what they have.
Truly, ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ 6 I can’t be a Mary and a Judas simultaneously.
Father, thank You for Mr. Kerwood and other modern Marys. Because of them, many are coming to Christ. As Mary wisely chose for Christ to receive the best that she had, so would I. Your Son is precious to me. Take me, and all that I have, to promote my Saviour. If You give me wealth beyond my basic necessities, as You did Mary, help me to invest it in magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
- Philippians 4:17
- A pence was a day’s wages. Three hundred days wages is more than a year’s salary when you account for our weekends and holidays. The average annual salary in Australia is $98,000.
- See Luke 10:38-42
- Mark 14:4
- Mark 14:10
- Matthew 6:24
This article was written by Kevin Harris Dapto pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church.