Bible Studies

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The Gospels
John 12:1-8 – Who's on First?
Key Verses: (NCV)

• 1: "Six days before the Passover Feast, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus lived." – Two days prior to His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus makes one final stop. He and the disciples visit the home of His dearest friends: Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
  
  
• 2: "There they had a dinner for Jesus. Martha served the food and Lazarus was one of the people eating with Jesus." – Understanding what lay before Him in Jerusalem, each of His friends performed their individual acts of worship and reverence in a manner consistent with their spiritual gifts.
  
  
• 3: "Mary brought in a pint of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She poured the perfume on Jesus' feet, and then she wiped His feet with her hair." – Mary's extreme act of worship, the anointing of her king and Messiah, illustrates the importance of demonstrating our love for Christ. No matter how extravagant the gift or passionate the offering, it falls short in comparison of what He has done for us.
  
  
• 5: "Judas said, 'This perfume was worth three hundred coins. Why wasn't it sold and the money given to the poor?'" – Judas had an issue of priorities. He was already upset with the talk about Jesus' death because he wanted the special privileges and rank that should come to him with a messianic political coup. With his focus wrongly placed, he began questioning Jesus' every action and deed.
  
  
• 7-8: "Jesus answered, 'Leave her alone. It was right for her to save this perfume for today, the day for me to be prepared for burial. You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.'" – Mary's action was not a wasted extravagance. It was a public declaration of faith and her last opportunity to demonstrate her love for the man who was about to give His life for all mankind.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Have you been saved by Jesus? Has He raised you from a life dead with hope and filled with despair? Have dramatic changes occurred in your life as a result of your faith in Christ? What has your response been to these changes? Are you filled with gratitude? Or are you nonchalantly accepting God's grace as a matter of fact? Are you humbled by His love or expecting more because it is your due? Are you expressing your gratefulness in acts of worship or are you simply going on about your life, keeping your faith quietly to yourself?
  
  
• Are you an extreme worshipper? Mary, Martha, and Lazarus each worshipped Jesus in their own way. Were Martha's efforts in the kitchen less compassionate than Mary's? Was Lazarus' focus on providing hospitality for Jesus less valuable? Does this show you that there are many ways to demonstrate your love for Christ? Do you accept that true worship comes from the heart and, because of this, it expresses itself uniquely according to our gifts and personality? Can you discover new ways to become an extreme worshipper that are consistent with your gratitude for God's Grace and your spiritual gifts?
  
  
• Do you judge others? Are you acting like Judas? As you watch other Christians celebrate Jesus' love in their lives, do you critique and judge their actions? Do you criticize and scorn on the basis of style or method? Do you feel that other people are too expressive with their arms waving and all they seem to be doing is drawing attention to them selves? Perhaps you see others as too pensive. Do you wonder why they are sitting so still and, if they really have Christ in their hearts, why they can't be more expressive? What would Jesus' response be to this type of thinking?
  
  
• What are your priorities in life? Was Judas wrong? Shouldn't meeting the needs of the poor be a high priority in the life of a Christian? Was Jesus being inconsistent? Did He focus on the poor most of the time but then, suddenly switch gears? Do you see that this is a lesson in priorities? Can you accept that loving God and demonstrating that love to the world should always be your first priority? Do you recognize that loving your neighbor by reaching out to the needs of the world is the second of Jesus' commandments? Do you see that honoring your self, which was Judas' real intent, is not even on the list? Are your priorities in life consistent with these commandments?
  

Promises of the Gospel:

Judas did not get it. He had his priorities turned around. The problem is that all too easily we too, have our priorities in life askew. And, though we generally look to Judas with scorn and disgust, if we take the time to be honest with ourselves, we will realize that we can relate to his attitude and thoughts. Our relationship with Christ and how His love is reflected to the world through us is an issue of the heart. When our hearts are focused on Him with a passion that expresses our gratitude for His love, then the result is passionate acts of worship and our priorities in life in line with His. When we become judgmental and inwardly focused, we find that nothing He does makes sense and we end up battling the world on the grounds of self-centeredness and self-righteousness.

FUMC Devotionals

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