So they hosted a dinner for Jesus there. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him.So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.So they made him a supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him.
3 sermons cite this verse
We'll be considering most of John 12 today, but I'll only read portions of it for the sake of time. So please join me as I read John chapter 12, verses 1 through 11, and then we'll skip down to verses 20 through 26. I'll be reading today from the New Living Translation. Join me now as I begin at John 12, verses 1 through 11. a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, That perfume was worth a year's wage. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Not that he cared for the poor. He was a thief. And since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself. Jesus replied, Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. …
… Judas is the first to betray the silence with an ethical objection that clarifies his rightness in this matter. Why wasn't this perfume sold for a whole lot of money and given to the poor, he asks. John says he's a thief who uses the common purse for a common, for a personal expense account. He doesn't care about the poor, but he knows that Jesus does. So he says what he knows Jesus would have said if Jesus weren't so polite. What a waste. What an extravagance. Whatever you meant by it, Mary, this movement, it's not about us. It's about the less fortunate. Try to remember that from now on, huh? but Jesus can speak for himself he turns to Judas and says leave her alone to Judas and anyone else who might agree with him she was keeping it from my burial you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me it's an odd thing for him to say but Mary has broken more than a jar in that room she's also broken open the truth that Jesus is the first to see to speak to The poor are sturdy perennials in God's garden. …
But this table companionship means even more—it signifies common enjoyment. Jesus eats and they eat the same bread. He drinks and they drink of the same cup. There is no distinction in the food items. What does this mean? Does it not say to us that the joy of Christ is the joy of His people? Has He not said, "That My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full"? The very joy that delights Christ is that which He prepares for His people! You, if you are a true Believer, have sympathy in Christ's joy—you delight to see His Kingdom come, His Truth advanced, sinners saved, Grace glorified, holiness promoted, God exalted—and this also is His delight! But, my dear Brothers and Sisters and fellow professors, are you sure that your chief joy is the same as Christ's? Are you certain that the mainstay of your life is the same as that which was His meat and His drink, namely, to do the will of the Heavenly Father? If not, I am afraid you have no business at this table! But if it is so and you come to the table, then I pray that you may share the joy of Christ. May you joy in Him as He joys in you and so may your fellowship be sweet! Lastly on this point, the feast at the one table indicated familiar affection. It is the child's place to sit at the table with its parents, for affection rules there. It is the place of honor to sit at the table. "Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table." But the honor is such as love and not fear suggests. Men at the table often reveal their minds more fully than elsewhere. If you want to understand a man, you do not go to see him at the Stock Exchange, or follow him into the market, for there he keeps himself to himself—you go to his table and there he reveals himself. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ sat at the table with His disciples. 'Twas a meal, 'twas a meal of a homely kind—intimate communion ruled the hour. I am afraid, Brothers and Sisters, we have sometimes come to this table and gone away again without having had communion with Christ—and then it has been an empty formality and nothing more. I thank God that coming to this table every Sabbath, as some of us do, and have done for many years, we have yet for the most part enjoyed the nearest communion with Christ here that we have ever known, and have a thousand times blessed His name for this ordinance! …