Well, good morning, everyone. I'm so thankful that you're here today to join us for Sunday service. My name is Ben Jones. I'm one of the elders here at Hope St. Paul. We're gonna be continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark. And we're on week 44 in Mark's Gospel account. Now, oh, sorry, I immediately jumped into this and forget. I thought, hey, I should pray because we have so many people that aren't here today believe it or not, because there are many people sick, especially kids. There's something going around for sure. Hit my family a little, you know, a few days ago, so that's why I'm here today, but they're not actually. And we've got, you know, volunteers that weren't able to make it today. So let me just say a quick prayer. God, everything you give us is a gift every new day, new life. The sunshine is a gift. And we know that rain falls on the just and the unjust, but we've got a lot of people in our community in our church family that are ill right now. So we just ask for your grace and blessing to them to bring swift recovery that we can get some normalcy back in our lives. I ask for that humbly in Jesus' name, amen. All right, last week, Brian took us through chapter 13 of Mark verses three through 33, essentially the whole chapter. And I kind of surmised these questions out of that time just to remind us of where we were last week. You know, Jesus gave these kind of mysterious teachings on end times, but the takeaways being kind of these things. How do you build things in your life for God's glory that will last instead of things that will pass? And how do God's promises in scripture and what Jesus was saying in that scene, how can that calm your anxiety about what's to come? Today's sermon in chapter 14, I titled Matters of Preference. Now, if I could have, I would have renamed this, not, you know, I did this to myself, so it's not like I was, obliged to title it this way, but I think I would have changed that title as I kept kind of rehearsing this into something like Worship Christ Sincerely, kind of like as an imperative. And hopefully it comes out that we're going to be looking at these two concepts, matters of preference and worship in Christ today. But just personally, I think we do this as a church, but personally as a preacher, I really want to be, someone who holds up a positive to strive to rather than like pushing back against a negative, though both are necessary in preaching. And I feel like maybe one of those titles would have been a little more positive than the other. But to get this concept of matters of preference kind of internalized. That's why I had the question about coffee. Coffee is a really good analogy or concept to illustrate this matters of preference because in our lovely capitalistic world, we can have so many choices with coffee. We have plenty of different brands that I'm sure we all have opinions about, whether or not you get it from Aldi, for example, whether or not you get whole bean and then grind it yourself. We have lots of little methods, right, that are out there to prepare your coffee, single serve or drip. I mean, you know, single serve, of course, is a whole universe. You know, do you have an electric kettle that you can set the temperature to? All that kind of stuff. The goal being, and this is going to be my point today, is just to get that bitter bean juice in your body, right? Get that caffeine. But, of course, this is a bad metaphor because, you know, infamously, we do have someone here that believes caffeine is just bad for society. And I won't name names. You might know who I'm talking about. But anyway, we're just going to jump in. And hopefully that'll fix that as we go along. Okay, so Mark chapter 14, we'll start in verse one. It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, Jesus. For they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. Now Mark is kind of staging the rest of the book or at least kind of bookending this little section we're reading these first two verses with the very last verse. But what we're getting here now in Mark is we're not getting big public teachings from Jesus. We're not getting miracles or healings or anything like that anymore in the narrative. This is kind of now a slow grind to the crucifixion, to that bitter end, to then the new beginning of his resurrection. So this section of Mark will feel kind of different. And today we have now this intimate scene as we're going to keep reading. But it also is sort of this aside to show that these religious leaders at the time are getting serious about getting rid of Jesus. So we'll keep going here, picking up in verse three. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment, a pure nard, very costly. And she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor and they scolded her." And just briefly the 300 denarii is like a year's wage, that kind of minimum wage. Verse six, But Jesus said, Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Verse 10, then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. Okay, so that's our text for today. And I wanna do a little bit of the nerdy stuff and give us a sense of how the other gospel accounts capture this scene. I kind of dove deep into this in preparing this sermon, so hopefully this all is clear. I'm going to start with these impressive, and I mean real, world-class PowerPoint skills. I have a series of circles on my slides, kind of a Venn diagram riff. But we've got this main circle in the center here, and this captures the story as it's presented in Mark. All right? And then in Matthew, Matthew chapter 26, we do get the same scene, but it's a little shorter. And really what I could have done is scooch that circle just a little bit because we get like a sliver of different detail that I'll elaborate on later. In Luke chapter seven, we have what's generally agreed upon as a different scene entirely, but similar. And for all of you in kids' class last week, you would remember that we covered this actually with the children. But in that story, there's a sinful woman who's unnamed. She cries at Jesus' feet and anoints his feet with perfume. But it's also in the home of a Pharisee named Simeon and then in the city of Capernaum. So again, people generally agree, different story, different time in Jesus' ministry. But a lot of what I'm going to be talking about today is going to be kind of bolstered by what we get in John. And so then we have more of a real Venn diagram here overlapping Mark and Matthew, but plenty of detail on its own. And that's in John chapter 12. So again, we get way more detail. We're told, we're actually given names of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. And it is the same Lazarus who Jesus resurrects. That happens in John chapter 11. So it's the same family in John's account. But then if we pair that with the account in Mark, we're told that this takes place in Bethany, yes, but then in the house of someone named Simon the leper. And we don't really get much more about him. Some stuff I was reading kind of conjectures that maybe this is a friend of those three and therefore likely a friend of Jesus. What is very likely is he didn't have leprosy at the time. and so then some people speculate that Jesus might have healed this man. If he had had leprosy, he would certainly not have hosted any kind of meal for people. But anyway, we can imagine, I think, friends together in this meal, the woman being known, not just a stranger to Jesus. Again, John places this scene right after Lazarus' resurrection and then follows this in chapter 13 with the washing of the disciples' feet among some other teachings. And I just find that so compelling and I bring all this up because I think it's kind of this parallel with what I'll say is Mary, what she does for Jesus, at least in John anointing his feet, that she expresses love towards Jesus in this humble act of washing his feet. Again, as we talked about in kids' class, Jesus' feet definitely stank. But then in John 13, with his disciples, Jesus stoops so low as their savior, as their Lord, to wash their feet. And those feet definitely stank. But it's this humility first shown by the woman Mary and then all the more by King Jesus washing their feet in that lesson. But anyway, we'll go back to the story. I've got this piece of art up here on the screen by a woman named Rose de Tock Dahl, just simply titled Anointing for Burial. And it's more of a physical art that doesn't make sense. You know, you can tell I'm steeped in this, but it's like kind of painted almost on a tombstone, which, you know, maybe is a little dark, but, you know, Jesus himself calls out his upcoming burial in this. So this digital representation doesn't quite do it justice, though it does look like this. It's deeply saturated orange color, kind of simple in that way, thick lines, showing these two people, where we have Jesus seated in front of Mary, and Mary holding that vase kind of looking thing, jar of perfume, anointing Jesus on the head. Jesus' head is kind of tilted back, his eyes are closed, and Mary's just fully focused on him. But I want us to imagine the scene a little bit more, because I would think, you know, in the middle maybe of a meal, this would probably feel kind of awkward for Mary to stand up. You know, I'm no expert on the culture and times of that era, but I kind of imagine, you know, men sitting on one side of the room, women sitting on the other side, but then Mary stands up and kind of broaches that invisible border. Maybe the room got quiet as she stood. Maybe they were chit-chatting at the time. You know, we get the note that the people there were protesting as she was doing this. Were they protesting as she walked over or maybe at the sound of the jar being broken or did they not say anything until she actually poured it on Jesus' head? And why did they protest, right? When, well, I asked that, when did they protest? But why did they protest? Were they jealous of this act of worship? Were they, do they wish they had come up with something showy to do for Jesus in front of everybody else. But it was certainly an intimate scene, certainly at least between Mary and Jesus. You know, I can imagine her walking over. I don't think Jesus would be confused about what she was doing, right? He certainly would have known. But maybe he kind of let her guide that interaction a bit and I can imagine her tilting his head back to anoint him. But I think for us, you know, thank you to all the visitors coming today but we can certainly come off as a church as a little bit frigid. You know, maybe that's kind of Minnesotan. Maybe it's just because of our Baptist background but I have to imagine Mary probably would have been a hand raiser, you know, if she was here in our church. But Jesus rebukes the scoffers. He praises her worship and points to his burial through her actions. So now let's just take a deeper dive and look at the contrasting players in this scene, if you will. So again, we have this woman who I'll call Mary of Bethany, blessing her king. And Jesus uses this phrase that I think is just so interesting, where he says she did what she could. And she has this precious jar of ointment that the other scoffers say she could have sold and blessed other people. But in this moment, she chooses to bless Jesus anoint him as a king and worship him. And in studying this over and over again, I was just reminded of how elsewhere in the Gospels we get Jesus remarking on the widow giving her pennies to the temple, right? And Jesus praises that gift, that sacrifice over a Pharisee, I believe, giving out of his wealth. And in other scenes, Jesus kind of speaks against that performative giving that the Pharisees do. But again, back to that widow sacrificing those pennies in a sense of doing what she could, even if it seems small, the heart behind it is fully devoted to God. Jesus promises her an honor, which is fulfilled in our reading, right? And in those other accounts that this story is told alongside the gospel message. And whether Mary understood this or not, Jesus points to something more, even beyond this intimate scene about what is coming in this moment within two weeks of this happening that Jesus himself is going to be buried. Then, of course, we have the scoffers. In Matthew's account in chapter 26, he calls them out as the disciples, though in Mark's account, it's maybe left a little more vague. There's interesting words in this account. The word indignant is used to describe where their heart is coming from. And it is that indignance that provides the animus for their rebuke of Mary. But then when Jesus rebukes them back, he says, do not trouble her. And that word trouble also has some interesting texture to it that could also be translated as bother, do not bother her, do not burden her, kind of sharing roots with just the idea of labor, you know, like a laborer. So do not heap burdens on her, challenging her worship with questions of strategy and logistics. You know, here in this scene, at least, Jesus picks a side on that, that worship takes precedent. Worship is more important. And then unfortunately we do get to Judas in this account and in the same way he did what he could, right? That he sees this take place and says, all right, I'm out. In John 12, he is named as the scoffer. You know, the other disciples get off easy in that account, but he is the one specifically to call out Mary in this action and the waste of the jar of perfume. And I think it's just interesting to think about this. Where exactly did Judas go wrong? Did it start here? You know, I kind of don't think so. I think when we take steps against the ways of God, it rarely is a singular moment. That's kind of an accumulation of moments, right? I kind of wonder if he was always choosing money, even before Jesus called him. And maybe now, you know, being towards the end of Jesus' ministry, maybe now he just had the gumption to kind of finally speak his mind, you know, on the way he thought things should operate. But there are two things at least from Judas' behavior in this scene. His severity towards someone outside his mold and that severe reaction to that success. You know, so he didn't like what Mary did, but Mary in a sense succeeded or at least Jesus praised the action, right? And Judas' severe reaction was ultimately, ultimately to betray Christ for money. And Jesus' rebuke to this, if I had to summarize it, put it in my own words perhaps, is to worship Jesus first and the rest will follow. And I'm not gonna spend more time on this particular idea, but I do just wanna say this. I don't think this passage gives us any kind of dichotomy between Jesus and service. I think that aspect of what Jesus is saying is very timely. It's very much in the narrative of what is happening there, not prescriptive for us and the church for the rest of time. And that kind of makes sense of a lot of real, you know, explicit commands we have in the rest of scripture to serve the poor and care for those on the margins. We'll keep going here. Now try to boil things down a bit and bring it home. So first, I think we can reflect on this, that Mary's worship angered people. It angered the people in that room. And for us as a church, we can really expect to see the same, right? And we're moving into my neighborhood and I can promise you that the Como area is very intellectual. St. Paul is known as kind of like a liberal Mecca, progressive Mecca. Though truth be told on my street, I have a lot of conservative leaning people. But you know think for a second about the signs I'm sure you've seen in yards about like you know we believe in science and, all those other things whatever you know what I mean that stuff that we don't exactly take a hard stance on we try to elevate Christ but that you know the things unspoken is enough for people to be mad nowadays right, but as we try to elevate Christ we are simply going to anger people. Nevertheless, her worship filled the space. And I think that should get our imagination working of how we might fill that neighborhood with the love of Christ. This is related then to a phrase we get elsewhere in scripture. Paul, the apostle Paul uses this phrase in 2 Corinthians 2 of the aroma of Christ, kind of going with those who preach the gospel. And to stretch it just a bit, you know, beyond what Paul meant in that specific passage, just think about us, the church, and what Jesus even charged us with, being salt and light, and including this now with our passage today being an aroma, that by nature, these things do this, that they permeate the space they occupy, right? Salt very quickly goes through a dish, light fills a space, you can illuminate a dark space with just a little bit of light. And certainly an aroma, good and bad, can fill the space quite quickly. And so the question we can ask ourselves is, do I carry a Christ-likeness? I mean, if I had to work that out, work out that question in front of you, do I carry out a Christ-likeness? I know that I certainly leave an impression where I go. I think all of us do, whether you like to think so or not. But I think the impression I leave, you know, like at my workplace, maybe here too, is that I'm a bit of a contrarian and probably a little bit grumpy. You know, not exactly the aroma of Christ, which in 2 Corinthians 2 is supposed to be something that's attractional and sincere, the word that Paul uses in that passage. But there is more then that I want to cover here. And that's this idea of having different methods of worship. Because there are three people in this account that are not rebuked. And this being, again, kind of bolstered by John 12. So we have Simon the leper, who seems to be the host of this dinner. And for us, this would be kind of a lesson in worshiping God with money, with planning, while you type A people. We have, sorry, we have Martha who is serving, giving of energy and time. And this is the same Martha that Jesus gives her own little gentle rebuke that her sister chooses the good portion that is just before this scene in John. And yet here she is again serving dinner. And so it wasn't about serving that was the issue, right? It was her heart posture complaining about her sister, but she is still serving in this scene, which I find so compelling that that service is still approved of, but it's the heart that makes the difference, right? Right. And then, of course, we have Mary worshiping, again, maybe a hand raiser without shame, putting her heart on her sleeve in worshiping her Lord. And so the challenge with all this is not to have a conformity of methods, but certainly unity and purpose, right? To elevate Christ and praise him as Lord. So some more questions as we, you know, have this new opportunity with a new space and kind of some freedom to maybe just rethink some things. What features of a service would help you personally worship God better? What kind of ministry in St. Paul would you put time into? And thinking about those different methods, all for the sake of honoring God, right? But opening up our minds and imagining how we could do that. So now I kind of came up with this just to kind of summarize a bit. I really just took a crack at this. And as I've been rehearsing this, I wish I'd maybe put more time into it, but I have this. Worship is the total of everything we commit to God. And like I say, I wish I could have rewritten this. Not that I'm, you know, whatever. I'm a victim of my own choices, but maybe I'd just challenge you. How would you define worship? I like to think that it's certainly beyond just the music we sing, stuff that takes place on a Sunday, that it really is the sum of everything we do in our lives. Again, considering the widow with her two pennies or even Romans 12.1 where the phrase of committing your living bodies or your whole selves is a living sacrifice. In worship to God. That that is what worship is. It's everything you give to God's glory. And all of us have preferences about worship, Sundays, ministry, the service we do in this city, the building, how we use money. And ultimately it comes to a question of like, how do we discern, right? And I don't think there's a perfect formula, but here are some of my own thoughts, of course. When I think, you know, as an elder, especially how do I discern what is my own preference versus something I feel like we all need to sign on to, so to speak, I really have to wrestle with what is driving me to that, right? The indignance drove those disciples for me is it pride, control, or anger of some kind versus it being care, truth, goodness. But I think it's chilling and sobering to think that in Jesus' time, the Pharisees acted with conviction, right? So it can't just be conviction. Judas thought he knew better, right? So it can't just be a mind for strategy. And certainly I'll make this clear that as an elder, I have no rights of preference, right? I don't get three votes to hear one or whatever, but I do have a duty to lead us in devotion to Christ. I'll also say this, that working together helps when we keep Christ first, of course. And if we can keep grace and humility, humility towards ourself, grace towards one another, which kind of implies we gotta talk about this stuff, right? We gotta talk about our preferences and make kind of those negotiations, keeping Christ first. And we need to be worshipful ourselves. So now we're gonna close with these questions. The first one being right along those lines, you do need to start with your own heart. Do you seek to be close to Jesus? It matters of preference, let's first choose Christ. And if there ever does come up some kind of conflict, just ask what looks most like Jesus in this decision? We're gonna be remembering Jesus and worshiping him through communion now. We're going to be worshiping his sacrifice for our sake and remembering together what he's done for us. Here at Hope, we practice open communion, open communion, excuse me, so you don't have to be a member of this church or any church to participate. We just ask that you have bent the knee to King Jesus to participate with us today, taking the bread for his body broken for us and the juice to remember his blood shed for us. We're going to have two songs and I encourage you to reflect on the message and then join us after that. And I'll pray for us as the worship team comes back up. God, we thank you for your constant grace to us as we worship so many other things than you. Would you open our hearts to love you more and more and turn us away from the things of this world. Help us to seek your glory over our own. And through this, Father, would more people know Jesus as Lord through this humble church. Help us to worship you sincerely this week. Amen.