JOHN 12:1-11 Lesson # 24
DEATH AS A PART OF MINISTRY
I.? Introduction:
Q? How many of you want to go into ministry?? Raise your hands!
Q? What type of ministry would envision yourself doing?
An = Let them share, and after, perhaps, share your dreams when you were their age.
Note:? If Jesus is our Lord and our Master, then it is certainly true in ministry as well!? After all, we work for Him.? So it is whether He is pleased is all that truly matters.? This is hard to remember.
Q? What can keep your eyes off of pleasing “your Boss”, i.e. God Himself?
Note:? Some say the most sincere form of flattery (or admiration) is mimicry.? Would we be pretty sure of our “pleasing our Master” if we used Him as our model for ministry.
Q? If we are to be like Jesus in our coming and present roles of leadership what should characterize our ministry?
An = If we are going to be good leaders it is not because we are successful, print books, cut CD’s, have great numbers, head large organizations, but whether folks are saved, fed, live and live abundant lives.? If we are like Jesus, and want to please Jesus…His goals are not those of present American Christianity’s standards for success.
>>>> Have someone read John 10:11 and someone else read John 10:14.
Q? What two key elements of leadership are spoken of here?
An = Being willing to die for those you serve, and really knowing those you serve.
Q? Can you give me an example of Christian leadership that you know that does these two things?
Q? Can you do all of these as a housewife and mother?
II.? Handling Praise and Keeping Your Eyes On the Goal.? John 12: 1-8.? <- READ THE TITLE
A.? What caused the problem:? John 11:47-53.
Q? What did bringing Lazarus back from the dead do for Jesus’ ministry?
An = 1)? It was such a powerful sign that many did believe.?
2)? However, it was the start of Jesus’ own death.? Bringing back Lazarus from the dead galvanized Jesus’ opposition.
>>>>? Have someone read John 11:47-50.
Q? Has it ever crossed your mind that the success you long for could cause great opposition?
Q? Have you ever experienced this, perhaps in the form of jealousy?
An = Let them share if they can, not all might have yet have experienced this, but some will have.
Q? Have you ever just did your best to serve and just be of help and it produced jealousy or anger when it succeeded?
An = Your master has been down this trail before you.? He knows what you are experiencing.? He has been there.? He knew and the disciples knew that if Jesus went back into Judea there would be a treat of death, but Lazarus, Mary and Martha, His friends, had need of Him.
Note:? Remember, Jesus did what was right, not because it advanced His career but because it helped others.? He knew, helping Lazarus would be costly.? He had a way of describing it, though others did not know what He was saying….
>>>>? Have someone read John 11:4.
B.? Jesus Anointed at Bethany:? John 11:1-8
>>>>? Have someone read John 12:1-2
Q? With whom is Jesus and the disciples having dinner with??
An = Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Q? How close are they to Jerusalem and therefore danger?
An = Bethany is two miles from Jerusalem
>>>> Have someone read John 12:3
Q? Why did Mary do this?
An = We do not know.? She could have been grateful for her brother’s recovery.? She could be sorry for implying that Jesus did not care with her comment in 11:32.? Perhaps, she was the person who had done this long ago as a sinner and she felt all over again her remorse yet sense of safety in her repentance.? She could have sensed somehow just who He was.? Perhaps, she intuited His majesty and deity and was worshipping.? We do not know….
The text does not tell us, however two things are clear:? 1) It was lavish and expensive and 2) it seemed to have been done with great humility and tenderness.
>>>>? Have someone read John 12:4-6.
Q? How did Judas react to Mary’s elaborate display?
An = He was displeased.? He verbalized her action as one of waste.? In Judas’ eyes it was stupid.
Q? Have you ever done something lavish for a parent, a girl friend, a boy friend and people were very disapproving?
Q? Why did you do it?
Q? Have you ever done something lavish for God that others did not understand?
Q? Why did you do it?
>>>>? Have someone reread John 12:6.
Q? According to the text what were Judas’ real motivations for his critique?
An = He was a crook and he saw a great deal of wealth slip through his hands without him having a chance to pilfer it.
Note:? Remember, when you are criticized for elaborate displays of love, your criticizers may have ?motives that you are not aware of.? Poor Mary must have felt terrible to hear this public, verbal critique said of her and had no idea of Judas’ real motives for criticizing her.
Q? Has someone ever done something lavish for you publicly?? Is it embarrassing?
RQ? Is it also pleasing and can possibly give you a big head?
Q? What is the proper way to handle such displays as leader who model themselves after Christ?
Note:? We have Jesus’ reaction, so we have a model of how to do things, lets see what He does, it is marvelous…
>>>>? Have someone read John 12:7-8.
Q? What does His first sentence do?
An = He protects the vulnerable.? He is not caught up in His ego satisfaction but looking out for her.? What she did was in a sense wasteful, it was a bit foolish, but
Q? What kind of leadership trait is this?? How would you verbalize it?
Q? In the next sentence or the rest of verse 7, how does Jesus interpret Mary’s act?
An = He puts a spin on it she no doubt did not intend.? He saw “appropriateness” to her act of devotion that she, nor anyone else would have guessed.
Q? What would this look like today?
Q? What will God do with all things we do in love for Him?
An = He will put a spin on them.? He will accept them.? He will see things we do not see.
Q? What is Jesus predicting with His interpretation of her act?
An = His death.? Jesus has not lost sight of the goal.? He has not got caught up in the success of His miracle with Lazarus, or the adulation of Mary and taken His eyes from the goal.? A good shepherd dies for the sheep.
Note:? Never lose sight of the goal.? We are sent to serve, and die if necessary, for the sheep.? We cannot get caught up in success or public appreciation.? Jesus is our model.
>>>>? Have someone re-read John 12:8.
Q? Is Jesus saying doing work for the poor is not important?
An = Of course not, He is merely answering the heartless critique of the crook Judas.? Jesus served the poor all of His life and so has His true church.? However, helping poverty is not the central and true focus of Jesus nor His church.? It is the salvation of the world, and it is all caught up with His Person.? To adore Jesus is to adore the center of what is truly important.
Q? Did Mary do the right thing?
An = Yes, she did.? She models for us what is truly important.
III.? The Net Begins to Close:? John 12:9-11.
>>>> Have someone read John 12:9-11.
Q? What were they intending to do with Lazarus?
An = Kill him as well.? There is great irony here, but if we do not believe, we become illogical.? Mary was criticized for being illogical but she was much closer to reality than the politically sagacious leaders who were about to kill an innocent man and any one else who got in their way.