John 12:1-11 | What's happening (and who's involved)?
Do you remember last week how I said as we get nearer to the most important part of a narrative, it seems to slow down and it really zeroes in? Well this section does just that. There is a lot to unpack of very key details here.
It is six days before the Passover and Jesus is at Bethany. Remember that Jesus is currently having to stay under the radar lest He be caught and killed. He does not head straight to Jerusalem. He instead goes to be with the family of the man who was just raised. They are eating a meal and we have described to us the actions of a few of them. Jesus sits at the table, Lazarus sits with Him, Martha is serving, and then Mary does something amazing. She anoints the feet of Jesus.
Scripture gives us a little more detail here. Mary poured a pound of spikenard (or myrrh) upon the feet of Jesus and begins wiping His feet with her hair. In an interesting note, the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Now this is something we will be getting into with more detail throughout the week so I am not going to be spending a whole lot of time on it now, but I want to be sure that it is emphasized here.
As a result of Mary's offering, Judas ridicules her. He realized he lost some opportunity to snag some money from it. You can say that this is a bit of biblical foreshadowing of Judas. Nevertheless, Jesus rebukes Judas' comment and recognizes that this anointing is for His burial. Myrrh was commonly used as burial ointment. It helped keep the odor of death at bay. In this case, Jesus is predicting His death that is coming.
Word spread of Jesus arriving at Bethany, so many of the Jews came to see not just Him, but Lazarus who was raised from the dead. Seeing this caused many to believe in Jesus. You can imagine, that did not make the Jewish leaders happy. As a result, they did not only plot to kill Jesus, but Lazarus as well! By this point, Jesus had developed quite the reputation. And that is what will carry us into our next section.
What observations are you making?
It is six days before the Passover and Jesus is at Bethany. Remember that Jesus is currently having to stay under the radar lest He be caught and killed. He does not head straight to Jerusalem. He instead goes to be with the family of the man who was just raised. They are eating a meal and we have described to us the actions of a few of them. Jesus sits at the table, Lazarus sits with Him, Martha is serving, and then Mary does something amazing. She anoints the feet of Jesus.
Scripture gives us a little more detail here. Mary poured a pound of spikenard (or myrrh) upon the feet of Jesus and begins wiping His feet with her hair. In an interesting note, the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Now this is something we will be getting into with more detail throughout the week so I am not going to be spending a whole lot of time on it now, but I want to be sure that it is emphasized here.
As a result of Mary's offering, Judas ridicules her. He realized he lost some opportunity to snag some money from it. You can say that this is a bit of biblical foreshadowing of Judas. Nevertheless, Jesus rebukes Judas' comment and recognizes that this anointing is for His burial. Myrrh was commonly used as burial ointment. It helped keep the odor of death at bay. In this case, Jesus is predicting His death that is coming.
Word spread of Jesus arriving at Bethany, so many of the Jews came to see not just Him, but Lazarus who was raised from the dead. Seeing this caused many to believe in Jesus. You can imagine, that did not make the Jewish leaders happy. As a result, they did not only plot to kill Jesus, but Lazarus as well! By this point, Jesus had developed quite the reputation. And that is what will carry us into our next section.
What observations are you making?
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2026
January
John 14:22-31 | What's the lesson for me today?John 14:22-31 | What am I going to do about it?John 14:22-31 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 15:1-11John 15:1-11 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 15:1-11 | What's the connection?John 15:1-11 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 15:1-11 | What's the lesson for me today?John 15:1-11 | What am I going to do about it?John 15:1-11 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 15:12-27John 15:12-27 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 15:12-27 | What's the connection?John 15:12-27 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 15:12-27 | What's the lesson for me today?John 15:12-27 | What am I going to do about it?John 15:12-27 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 16:1-15John 16:1-15 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 16:1-15 | What's the connection?John 16:1-15 | What’s a lesson for the original audience?John 16:1-15 | What's the lesson for me today?John 16:1-15 | What am I going to do about it?John 16:1-15 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 16:16-33John 16:16-33 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 16:16-33 | What's the connection?John 16:16-33 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 16:16-33 | What's the lesson for me today?John 16:16-33 | What am I going to do about it?John 16:16-33 | Prayer Prompts
February
Passage of the Week: John 17John 17 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 17 | What's the connection?John 17 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 17 | What's the lesson for me today?John 17 | What am I going to do about it?John 17 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 18:1-11John 18:1-11 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 18:1-11 | What's the connection?John 18:1-11 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 18:1-11 | What's the lesson for me today?John 18:1-11 | What am I going to do about it?John 18:1-11 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 18:12-40John 18:12-40 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 18:12-40 | What's the connection?John 18:12-40 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 18:12-40 | What's the lesson for me today?John 18:12-40 | What am I going to do about it?John 18:12-40 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 19John 19 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 19 | What's the connection?John 19 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 19 | What's the lesson for me today?John 19 | What am I going to do about it?John 19 | Prayer Prompts
March
Passage of the Week: John 20John 20 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 20 | What's the connection?John 20 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 20 | What's the lesson for me today?John 20 | What am I going to do about it?John 20 | Prayer PromptsJohn 21 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 21John 21 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 21 | What's the connection?John 21 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 21 | What's the lesson for me today?John 21 | What am I going to do about it?Passage of the Week: Hebrews 1:1-4Hebrews 1:1-4 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What's the connection?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What is a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What am I going to do about it?Hebrews 1:1-4 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: Hebrews 1:5-14Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's the connection?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What am I going to do about it?Hebrews 1:5-14 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: Hebrews 2:1-4Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's the connection?
April
Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 2:1-4 | What am I going to do about it?Hebrews 2:1-4 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: Hebrews 2:5-9Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's the connection?Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's a lesson for the original audience?
2025
January
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