Questions for Personal Reflection and Group Discussion
Read Mark 14:1-11 (ESV):
It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
- Why were some people indignant about what this woman did?
- Why did this event trigger Judas to go the chief priests and offer to betray Jesus? What does this reveal about Judas?
- When Jesus predicted that one of the disciples would betray him, the other disciples didn’t have any idea it was Judas. What does this tell you about how Judas had been living up to this time? How is this a warning to each of us?
- Why do some religious people get irritated or embarrassed by an extravagant expression of passionate love for God?
- What do you think was going on inside of this woman when she did this?
- Why did Jesus find her actions beautiful?
- What was the significance of this woman anointing Jesus? How might this have impacted Him over the coming days of his suffering and death?
- Worship is taking the very best that you have and offering it to honor and serve God. We don’t have the opportunity to pour expensive perfume on Jesus, but what are some ways we could do this today?
- What might have been behind Jesus’s statement: “You will always have the poor with you…. But you will not always have me”? What was He trying to communicate?
- The same set of tragedies and sufferings destroys the faith of some and generates the faith of others. Why is that? What are some factors that determine which direction a difficult circumstance moves a person?
- What did you sense God saying to you through this passage and this message?
