The Outpouring of Joy, Mark 14:3-9
Introduction (Adapted from Charles Spurgeon, All of Grace)
The fames 19th Century English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, tells the story of a minister who called upon a poor woman, intending to give her help; for he knew that she was very poor. With his money in his hand, he knocked at the door; but she did not answer.
He concluded she was not at home, and went his way. A little after he met her at the church, and told her that he had remembered her need: “I called at your house, and knocked several times, and I suppose you were not at home, for I had no answer.” “At what hour did you call, sir?” “It was about noon."
“Oh, dear,” she said, “I heard you, sir, and I am so sorry I did not answer; but I thought it was the man calling for the rent.” Many a poor woman knows what this meant.
This morning it is my desire to be heard, and therefore I want to say that I am not calling for the rent; indeed, it is, indeed, not that I am going to require something of you, this morning I want to offer something to you which is freely given; free of charge; for nothing; gratis.
It is not my desire to make a demand upon you, but to bring you something. We are not going to talk about law, and duty, and punishment, but about love, and goodness, and forgiveness, and mercy, and eternal life.
Do not, therefore, act as if you were not at home: do not turn a deaf ear, or a careless heart. I am asking nothing of you in the name of God or man. It is not my intent to make any requirement at your hands; but I come in God’s name, to bring you a free gift, which it shall be to your present and eternal joy to receive.
I invite you to open the door of your heart, and let my pleadings enter. “Come now, and let us reason together.” The Lord himself invites you to a conference concerning not happiness, but your immediate and endless joy.
He and He alone is the source of our strength and it is He who now invites you to receive, share, and in sharing to receive again, the outpouring of His divine and eternal provision for his life. Happiness is an emotion; joy is the restful provision of God in this life, which can, at times, be so demanding.
Scripture
Today’s Scripture reading is found in Mark 14:3-9 where it says, “And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, ‘Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’ And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (NKJV)
Exposition
In this passage of Scripture we are told the story of an unnamed, unimportant, unknown woman who poured out her appreciation as she poured out an entire jar of a very expensive perfume upon the head of Christ.
We are told only that she was a certain woman. Nothing more than that is known about this woman either from history or the Bible, though some tradition says that she this is Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha, but we can not know for sure.
While we know very little of whom she was; what we know for sure is this: in pouring out the perfume she poured out her love for Christ. The perfume she poured out was like the head of the spring of her joy.
No doubt Jesus had impacted and changed her in some way. He had filled her with the only natural result of His love – joy – and in return she came to celebrate the joy giver with a precious gift of costly perfume.
While we are left to speculate about the identity of the woman in this story, there is much that we can ascertain from her actions. Is not often said that actions speak louder than words?
This woman – whom ever she was – must have come into contact with Jesus prior to this day. We can see that from her actions. She clearly had a deep love for Jesus to pour out such a valuable treasure on him in this way.
When Jesus pours His love and joy into your life, the most natural, and the only right response is to respond by pouring yourself out in gratitude.
Today we celebrate the joy of the coming of Christ. As we celebrate His coming, let us also celebrate the gift of joy that God has given to us in Christ.
I’m terribly afraid, though, that many of us have mistaken the lasting joy of Christ for the temporary happiness of the world. Happiness is what happens to us as we zoom down a waterslide. Happiness is what happens to us when we unwrap a present to find that thing that we have been asking for all year long.
Joy is what we pour out of ourselves each day from the reservoir of Christ’s love dwelling inside of us. The difference between happiness and joy is as big as the difference between a collection of mud puddles and the Great Lakes!
Illustration (Carole Mayhall, Today’s Christian Woman, Vol. 20, no. 2.)
Carole Mayhall tells the following story in an article written for a Christian Living magazine. I squirmed a bit as I forced myself to listen to my friend cataloging her problems. After three hours, I interrupted her gently to ask, “If you were to draw a circle to represent your life, what would be in the center?
She thought a moment, then said, “My problems.” My friend spoke the truth.
A week later, I sat across the hospital bed on which lay my younger sister, Joye, who had just been diagnosed with acute leukemia. Gray and perspiring, with a swath of bandages encasing her throat from a biopsy, Joye talked to a student nurse who was interviewing terminally ill people to see if there was any way she could help them.
“Oh, Jan, I’m a bit fearful of the pain and process of dying—but I’m not afraid of death! It’ll just be a change of residence for me,” I heard my sister, her face radiant from within, say to this student nurse. And for forty-five minutes, Joye explained the good news of Jesus Christ to Jan.
Afterward, I thought, Both my friend and sister have serious problems. Yet one’s walking I despair, and the other in joy. What makes the difference?
Then I realized what it was. My friend’s heart was occupied with her problems; my sister’s heart was occupied with the Living God.
What is inside of you today? Are you like the woman in Mark 14 who poured out the expensive perfume upon the head of her Savior out of the abundance of the joy which she had inside of her?
Are you like the woman in the story I just shared with you whose heart was occupied by the Living God? At the beginning of this message I told you that I did come here this morning to require anything of you – but to offer you a free gift.
That free gift is the deep and abiding joy that comes only from knowing Christ. Knowing about Christ has the power only to fill you with knowledge. Knowing Christ has the power to fill you with lasting joy.
The joy which I speak of this morning is available to you freely. It is a part of receiving the gift of grace which is offered unreservedly from the throne of the Living God.
Conclusion
Some years ago, the managers of a Young Men’s Christian Association missed a great opportunity by not knowing the value of a certain painting. A friend of the institution had given a picture for the walls of the building, not having suitable room for it in his own home.
One day he offered to sell it to them, asking fifty dollars for it. When they declined the offer he said they might have it for twenty-five dollars; but they still declined to purchase it.
Not long afterwards he died. In disposing of the estate his executors took the picture from the building and sent it to an auction house. There it was soon recognized as the work of a master and finally identified.
Thirty-five thousand dollars was offered for it, and later fifteen thousand. Fifty thousand for a picture once offered for twenty-five dollars!
How often do we underestimate the value of lasting Christian joy – routinely trading it for the passing happiness of worldly things? Happiness passes when the emotion leaves but joy is as lasting as the presence of God in our hearts!
Happiness is good, but joy is better! Happiness is a result of fun and excitement. Joy is the byproduct of the King of the universe dwelling inside of you.
This Christmas season, let us open our hearts completely to God, and in so doing, we will reaffirm what it means to know Him.
As we do that – as we open ourselves completely to Him – we will open ourselves up to receive the deep and abiding joy that is found only in knowing God.
Nothing is required to receive this gift of joy. It costs nothing – though there is little in this life of equal value. All you must do is open your heart to the presence of God. Give Him an invitation to come inside and take up residence within you.
“Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (NKJV)
Today, let us not be like the widow in the story I shared with you at the beginning of this message who did not open the door for fear that the one who came would demand the rent of her.
Let us rush to the door of our hearts and open them up to the one who freely offers to us eternal, abiding, deep, lasting joy which begins the moment we let Him in.
Let us pray.
