Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Is Jesus Worth to You? | The Gospels | Mark 14:1–26

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Does your faith cost you anything? Do you see devotion to Jesus as beautiful or wasteful? Can you be "close" to Jesus and still miss him? In today’s episode, Keith walks through Mark 14:1–26 to show how a woman’s costly act of devotion reveals what it looks like to truly believe the Gospel and why half-hearted faith always falls short. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Mark 14:1-26

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I remember a couple years ago at Thanksgiving, I saw breaking news come across the television screen. What was the breaking news? Well, that record numbers of people were shopping on Black Friday. Crazy, right? I mean, who would have guessed that there would be a lot of people out shopping the day after Thanksgiving?

When everything is breaking news, when everything is historic, when everything is magnificent, when everything is magnificent or amazing or the best ever, words lose their meaning. When everything is historic, how do you set apart anything is truly historic? Well, in Mark 14, we read about a woman who Jesus says deserves to be remembered. In fact, he says that wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Why did he say this about this woman and no one else? Let's find out in Mark

14. Now the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread were only two days away and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. But not during the festival, they said, or the people may riot. We're told that it's two days before Passover,

two days before Jesus will be crucified. Look at who's conspiring against Jesus. It's not the pagans that seek to kill Jesus, but the religious leaders. It's the chief priest. and the teachers of the law. See, the betrayal of Jesus begins with the inner circle. It begins with the religious. The church always seems to be looking for the enemy on the outside. Maybe the church thinks it's the culture or the media or the atheists that are the enemy. Meanwhile, we fail to often

see the enemy on the inside. This story reminds us that proximity to Jesus doesn't guarantee faithfulness. You get the sense that it's only the fear of the crowds that keep the religiously from killing Jesus right on the spot. Meanwhile, Jesus is invited to a party in his honor. Verse 3, while he was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper, look, I'm just going to stop us in the middle of that sentence, because I want to, for a second, set the scene. We're told that this party is in Bethany. Bethany is a small town outside Jerusalem, and it served as Jesus' base camp during his last week of life. Based on what we know from the other gospels, this is probably the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and Simon is the father. The host of this party is a guy named Simon,

and he's distinguished from other Simons by being called Simon the leper. But he clearly isn't a leper anymore. I mean, if he were a leper, he'd have to be quarantined and wouldn't be throwing a party for Jesus. I wonder if he could have been a leper that Jesus had healed. If Jesus had healed this man, it's no surprise that he would throw Jesus a party. I mean, his life had been completely transformed. So, verse three again, while he was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Most likely there's a meal going on, and the men would have been reclining at a couch as they ate. It's every man's dream in every culture, just to sort of

sit on a couch and eat, and that way, when the guy's done, you can just roll over and slip into a coma. But a woman interrupts their meal, which is highly unusual because it was a breach of cultural etiquette. And I tell you that because I want you to see the determination of this woman to get to Jesus. She isn't constrained by social conventions. The woman pours expensive perfume on Jesus, and Mark stumbles over himself to try to convey the value of what he calls nard. He says it's an alabaster jar. he says it's very expensive. It's pure nard. Now, nard was a rare aromatic oil that was extracted from the root of an herb. And the guests are watching all this happen, and they're shocked because this nard would be the equivalent to about a year's wages. It was unlikely that this woman had a job that paid that much. So the nard was probably a family heirloom, meaning it not only had financial value, but also sentimental value. And Mark says that she doesn't just kind of pour the oil in a measured way. She doesn't give it grudgingly. She doesn't just put a few drops on him. She doesn't need to be urged to do it or coaxed into it. But of her own free will, she breaks the jar,

which means that this jar could never be used again, that none of the nard could be kept. She was not saving it. She wasn't rationing it. She wasn't giving it reluctantly. I mean, this woman is all in. Now remember I said Bethany is outside Jerusalem. Simon the leper was a social outcast. The woman is unnamed. in this story. And all these things drive home the point that this place, this house, this woman is the last place that we'd expect to find a disciple. This is the last place that we'd expect a disciple to come from. But the outsider is the one who teaches the insiders a lesson about generosity and discipleship. And the lesson that we need to learn is that when you see who Jesus is, we lay it all

down. We don't hold anything back. Verse four. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another. Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor, and they rebuked her harshly. The disciples are a bunch of knuckleheads, aren't they? I mean, they're angry and indignant at this woman's actions. They publicly rebuke her. And the whole mood of this party changes. It goes from festive to tense. They said that she was waste. this valuable nard. It could have been sold to help the poor. Now, we don't know if they had a genuine concern for the poor or if they were just using the poor in their game of self-interest. They see her costly devotion as a waste. And it's pretty amazing the disciples feel comfortable

criticizing this woman. I mean, she's doing something out of heartfelt devotion and love for Christ, and all the disciples can do is criticize her, find fault in what she's doing. In front of all the other men, in front of all the other attendants, in front of all the other guests, they rebuke her. If you've been a Christian for very long, you know that some people's spiritual gift is criticism, right? Like some people just have the gift of discouragement, and they're good at pointing out the fact that you're not doing what you should do. Maybe you spent too much money or you spent too little money. Too much, too little time. You did too much, too little.

You didn't do it well enough. You did it too well. Whatever it is, it seems like they can find something to criticize. This woman loves Jesus. She's doing something wonderful. The disciples do nothing, but they reserve their energy to criticize the one who is serving. Verse six, leave her alone, said Jesus. Why are you bothering her?

She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them at any time you want, but you will not always have me. Did you catch that? According to the disciples, she has done a wasteful thing, but according to Jesus, she's done a beautiful thing. Do you see that the value of Jesus isn't always seen, isn't always appreciated? If you wholeheartedly follow Jesus, you're going to look a bit odd to other people.

They're not going to see the value of Jesus, and so they're going to think you're wasting your life, just like the disciples thought this woman was wasting this pure nard. Has anyone ever told you that you're too devoted to Jesus, too zealous, too generous? Have they ever told you, don't go overboard? I mean, the world doesn't have a problem with religion in moderation. Now, it doesn't have a problem with too much wealth or too much power or too much sex or too much influence, but it does have a problem with too much devotion to Jesus. Verse 8, Jesus is speaking.

He says, she did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly, I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Then Judas Ascariat, one of the 12, went to the chief priest to betray Jesus to them. And they were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So we watched for an opportunity to hand him over. So now we find out what this woman is up to.

We find out why she pours this expensive nard on Jesus. She understands who Jesus is. She gets what he's about. She understands that he's going to die. Now, I don't know how much she understands. understands about the cross. I don't know how much she understands about the reason behind his death to pay for sin. Maybe she understands the whole thing. I'm not sure, but I do know this. Her fervent devotion to Jesus is rooted in his death. It's rooted in the cross. It's rooted in his sacrifice.

Fervent devotion to Jesus is evidence that we really understand and believe the gospel, the good news that Jesus gave his life for sinners like you and me. Just like this woman brought her most valuable possession to Jesus, Christians bring their whole life to Jesus. Maybe this woman helps us evaluate our own heart. She gives everything to Jesus. She loves Jesus with her heart and her mind and her soul and his strength. Is Jesus becoming more and more important in your life? Is there anything that you're holding back from Jesus. See, what should have happened at this party is that the people should have gotten up and ask if they could pour some of their valuable nard or whatever it is they had a value on

Jesus too. I mean, he had changed their lives. Why aren't they as excited and motivated to surrender everything to Jesus as this woman is? They should have been, I should be. So who do you resemble? This unnamed woman or the others at the party? She's an outsider.

their insiders. She's giving everything to Jesus and they're holding back. She's worshiping and they're criticizing. Father, I pray that we would see the beauty and the glory and the love and the mercy and the grace and the forgiveness and the salvation that is in Jesus and that we would offer you our whole life for you are worthy of all that we are and all that we have. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.