John 12 - 03.19.26

SCRIPTURE

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Jesus. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard—an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was FILLED with the FRAGRANCE of the perfume.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

OBSERVATION

Jesus was about to complete HIS work here on earth with the MOST outrageous act of Love—EVER known to mankind.

Jesus knew full well that the Jewish Leaders were out to arrest and Kill Him (John 11:53) yet—HE was still headed to Jerusalem for the Passover. We learn that—Six days Before the Passover—Jesus made this one stopover in Bethany to spend some quiet time with his dear friends— Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. Pastor Katie would say—A time Jesus set aside—to be refreshed.

Wherever Jesus traveled, there was ALWAYS an invitation—“COME and Follow ME”.

A small aside:

To understand the power of this invitation you would need to understand that in Jesus day an invitation to Follow a Rabbi was only given to a very limited elite few who had undergone years of training and had committed the entire Old Testament to memory. This was accomplished by the time serious students were seventeen. THEN, Only the uppermost—Cream of the Crop, in Jesus day would have been extended an invitation to Follow a Rabbi as his disciple.

Can you see why the Pharisees were stunned at Jesus behavior? Taking fishermen straight off their fishing boats and a sinful tax collector right out of his tax collecting booth was unthinkable.

And here in this beautiful scene in Bethany—Jesus comes with His disciples for a brief pause—to Be Refreshed and what unfolds are beautiful acts of worship by His faithful friends—Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

APPLICATION

Worship—Jesus at His Feet-Mary

Worship—Jesus through serving-Martha

Worship—Jesus through sharing his Testimony-Lazarus

Martha was serving and Mary worshiped at the Feet of Jesus. Lazarus was reclining with Jesus and the “others” at the Table. All were showing Worship to Jesus.

1. Mary’s Worship at Jesus Feet—Mary Listened fully and attentively to Jesus. Mary took the place of a slave at Jesus feet and let her hair down in public—something Jewish women NEVER did—laying her glory at Jesus feet (1 Cor 11:15) In this public, personal, and unembarrassed act of devotion Mary demonstrated her Worship for Jesus at His feet. The perfume,said to be valued at a year’s wages, FILLED the entire house with Fragrance. Her worship was sacrificial with a genuine heart FILLED with complete gratitude to Jesus.

Jesus said of Mary’s Worship-

“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to PREPARE me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”” (Matthew 26:12-13 NIV)

2. Martha was also worshiping. Martha worshiped Jesus through her act of Service. Jesus was able to come to this home and be refreshed. Part of that refreshing was Martha’s heart to serve well. She prepared the dinner, set the table, and served the guests. For Jesus—Martha’s act of serving was also a fragrant worship offered to Jesus—and a refreshing.

“We will show mercy to the poor and not miss an opportunity to do acts of kindness for others, for these are the true sacrifices that DELIGHT God’s heart.” (Hebrews‬ ‭13‬:‭16‬ ‭TPT‬‬)

3. Lazarus the third important takeaway in this reading. While there are no recorded words from Lazarus, there are recorded words of others “about” Lazarus that give us a vital clue. Lazarus miracle caused a major stir bringing crowds to see the man and hear his story of being raised from the dead by Jesus. Apparently—Lazarus was such an effective witness that the Jewish Leaders were plotting to kill Lazarus because SO many people were BELIEVING in Jesus from Lazarus Testimony.

“When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus—the man Jesus had raised from the dead. Then the leading priests—decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was BECAUSE of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.” (John‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

PRAYER

Lord Jesus,

Nothing can compare with YOUR sacrifice of coming to earth to show me how to live my life and then—paying the ultimate sacrifice to offer me eternal life forever with YOU. My life was forever changed when YOU opened my eyes.

Help me to spiritually Follow YOU So close..that my daily walk demonstrates “Mary-like” Worship for YOU through personal and public acts of passionate devotion, heart-filled Serving, and powerful testimonies that witness to the reality of Christ in my life—so beautifully exemplified in this passage.

In Jesus Name.

Amen

Tina L Kudelka

John 12 - 03.19.26

SCRIPTURE

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Jesus. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard—an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was FILLED with the FRAGRANCE of the perfume.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

OBSERVATION

Jesus knew that the Jewish Leaders were out to arrest and Kill Him (John 11:53) yet—HE was still headed to Jerusalem for the Passover. We learn that — Six days before the Passover — Jesus made this one stopover in Bethany to spend some quiet time with his dear friends — Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. Pastor Katie would remind us — A time Jesus set aside — to be refreshed.

Jesus was about to complete HIS work here on earth with the MOST outrageous act of Love — EVER known to mankind. HE had COME to earth — to LIVE among us — an amazing act of Love in and of itself. After all, is there any other Majestic Sovereign God who would leave HIS Heavenly Kingdom and position to take the lowly place of a servant living amongst HIS creation in order to demonstrate their Love for mankind.

Jesus shared “the Kingdom is among you” everywhere HE went — healing, caring for, teaching, equipping, challenging, admonishing, correcting, and Loving — people.

Wherever Jesus traveled, there was ALWAYS an invitation —“COME and Follow ME”.

A small aside:

To understand the power of this invitation you would need to understand that in Jesus day an invitation to Follow a Rabbi was only given to a very limited elite few who had undergone years of training and had committed the entire Old Testament to memory. This was accomplished by the time serious students were seventeen. THEN, Only the uppermost — Cream of the Crop, in Jesus day would have been extended an invitation to Follow a Rabbi as his disciple.

Can you see why the Pharisees were stunned at Jesus behavior? Taking fishermen straight off their fishing boats and a sinful tax collector right out of his tax collecting booth was unthinkable.

Jesus — The quintessential Rabbi — with the ultimate 3-yr curriculum — didn’t invite “top of their class Torah student/scholars”. Though, Jesus would not have excluded them if their heart was prepared to meet God. Paul would have been in this category having been a disciple of Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).

Jesus-being — God-specifically chose those whose hearts were open to receive what HE had to GIVE.

Demonstrating Christ’s Overwhelming Love as the ultimate — Transforming Power.

And here in this beautiful scene in Bethany — Jesus comes for a brief pause — to Be Refreshed.

My three takeaways are about Worshiping Jesus…the Worthy King — as His dearest friends did.

APPLICATION

Worship — Jesus at His Feet - Mary

Worship — Jesus through serving - Martha

Worship — Jesus through sharing his Testimony - Lazarus

Martha was serving and Mary worshiped at the Feet of Jesus. Lazarus was reclining with Jesus and the “others” at the Table. All were showing Worship to Jesus.

1. Mary’s Worship at Jesus Feet — Mary Listened fully and attentively to Jesus. Mary took the place of a slave at Jesus feet and let her hair down in public — something Jewish women NEVER did — laying her glory at Jesus feet (1 Cor 11:15) In this public, personal, and unembarrassed act of devotion, Mary demonstrated her Worship for Jesus at His feet. The perfume, said to be valued at a year’s wages, FILLED the entire house with Fragrance.  Her worship was sacrificial with a genuine heart FILLED with complete gratitude to Jesus.

Jesus said of Mary’s Worship -

“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to PREPARE me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:12-13 NIV)

2. Martha was also worshiping. Martha worshiped Jesus through her act of Service. Jesus was able to come to this home and be refreshed. Part of that refreshing was Martha’s heart to serve well. She prepared the dinner, set the table, and served the guests. For Jesus — Martha’s act of serving was also a fragrant worship offered to Jesus — and a refreshing.

“We will show mercy to the poor and not miss an opportunity to

do acts of kindness for others, for these are the true sacrifices

that DELIGHT God’s heart.” (Hebrews‬ ‭13‬:‭16‬ ‭TPT‬‬)

1. Lazarus the third important takeaway in this reading. While there are no recorded words from Lazarus, there are recorded words of others “about” Lazarus that give us a vital clue. Lazarus miracle caused a major stir bringing crowds to see the man and hear his story of being raised from the dead by Jesus. Apparently — Lazarus was such an effective witness that the Jewish Leaders were plotting to kill Lazarus because SO many people were BELIEVING in Jesus from Lazarus Testimony.

“When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him

and also to see Lazarus—the man Jesus had raised from the dead.

Then the leading priests — decided to kill Lazarus, too,

for it was BECAUSE of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.”

‭‭(John‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

PRAYER

Lord Jesus,

Nothing can compare with YOUR sacrifice of coming to earth to show me how to live my life and then — paying the ultimate sacrifice to offer me eternal life forever with YOU. My life was forever changed when YOU opened my eyes.

Help me to spiritually Follow YOU So close..that my daily walk demonstrates “Mary-like” Worship for YOU through personal and public acts of passionate devotion, heart-filled Serving, and powerful testimonies that witness to the reality of Christ in my life — so beautifully exemplified in this passage.

In Jesus Name.

Amen

Tina L Kudelka

John 11 - 3.18.26

Scripture 

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it (John 11:4)

Observation

Jesus was close friends with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. Lazarus fell sick when Jesus was away. His sisters sent word to Jesus. When He heard the news, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Instead of leaving immediately to see Lazarus, Jesus proceeded to stay two more days where He was, and Lazarus died of his sickness.

His sisters were obviously devastated. They must have felt betrayed that Jesus did not show up on time. But Jesus deeply cared and grieved with the sisters. The shortest verse in the Bible is recorded in this passage, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Four days after the death and burial, Jesus stood outside the tomb and prayed to the Father, and called the dead man by name. Lazarus walked out alive out of the tomb. Raising Lazarus from the dead, glorified Jesus as the Son of God.

Application

Sometimes our prayers are not answered at the time that we expect. Sometimes the answer we receive for our prayers is a "no.” The disappointment can be devastating.

We have to trust our God that He knows what is best for us. He is the one who has the keys of David. He is the one who not only opens the doors, but also closes the doors (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:11). When the Lord does not give us something which we desperately wanted, we need to trust our Father's wisdom. Our times are in His hands (Ps 31:15). We need to trust that He will make all things beautiful in His time (Ecc 3:11). No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Ps 84:11).

We need to trust that He will reveal Himself in the delay and in the answer, to His glory, because He is faithful. James exhorts us to be patient for God’s time and season in our life, like a farmer waits for the land to yield crop patiently waiting for autumn and spring rain (James 5:7).

Prayer

Father, I thank you because you love me. I thank you because my life is not my own (1 Cor 6:19), but Yours.. Help me to trust you in the valleys as much as I trust you in the mountains of my life. Help me to trust you through the disappointments of delayed answers to prayers. Thank you because nothing happens in my life without you allowing it (Lam 3:37). Nobody can have power over my life, unless it was given from above (John 19:11), as there is no authority except that which You have established (Romans 13:1). I trust you. I thank you because my life is in your hands. My times are in your hands (Ps 31:15). No good thing will you withhold from me because I walk uprightly (Ps 84:11). You will make all things work together for good for me, because I love you and I am called according to your purpose (Rom 8:28). I pray that my life will be for your glory, and that the Son of God will be glorified through my life (John 11:4). In Jesus’s name. Amen

- Asha Chacko George