As you recall last week, from the time that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Chief Priests and Pharisees plotted together to kill him. Knowing this plot was being hatched, Jesus left Judea and went to the city of Ephraim where He stayed with His disciples. But the Feast of Passover was coming, and many people were wondering if Jesus would come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast. And the chief priests and Pharisees were lying in wait, asking the people to report any sightings of Jesus directly to them. 

During the course of His ministry, Jesus said on numerous occasions that “My time has not yet come.” But now, “His time” was just around the corner, as Jesus returned to Bethany where He had just raised Lazarus from the dead. John makes a point of recording that Jesus returned to Bethany six days before Passover. That evening, Mary and Martha provided a sumptuous feast for Jesus and His disciples, and Lazarus “reclined at table” with them. When you recline at table, you lean on one elbow with your head toward the table and your feet extending away from it. It was then that:

Mary took a bound of very costly perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume (John 12:3). 

After doing this, Judas spoke up and asked:

Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor? (John 12:5).

Three hundred denarii was equivalent to about a year’s wages. As John was present around the table with Jesus and heard Judas’ question, he recorded this incident with his own commentary:

Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it (John 12:6).

Apparently, this was also known to the other disciples, but this was the first time that John, or any other gospel writer, spoke of it. Jesus replied to Judas, and the disciples:

Let her alone because she has done this in preparation for my burial. For the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me with you (John 12:7-8).

Make no mistake about it, from His time in Caesarea Philippi with His disciples, Jesus began to predict His own death, burial, and resurrection. He knew that Passover was just around the corner when the High Priest would slay the Passover lamb on the altar for the sins of the nation. Little did they know that this sacrifice would only “cover” their sins, but never “remove” them, as only Jesus’ sacrifice could do. He would be the perfect Lamb of God, just as John told those gathered on the day Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River.

John goes on to record that a great multitude came to Bethany when they heard that Jesus had returned, and they came not only to see Jesus, but Lazarus also. Interestingly, the Chief Priests began to plot not only the death of Jesus, but Lazarus as well. But the wonderful part of Jesus’ visit to Bethany is that because Lazarus was raised from the dead: 

…many of the Jews were believing in Jesus (John 12:11).

Interestingly, this was the whole point of Jesus’ mission, that He might draw to Himself those who believed that God had sent Him as both the Messiah and the Son of God. If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, let me ask you what it will take for you to believe? You don’t need to witness a resurrection, but you do need to believe in the testimony of those who were eyewitnesses to Lazarus’ resurrection (whom Jesus raised) and to Jesus’ own resurrection (whom God the Father raised). It takes faith, and you must realize that:

Without faith it is utterly impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).

May this Passover season be the season when you place your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Next week, we will pick up the dialogue as Jesus enters Jerusalem.