When Jesus Christ Is Fully Received | The Meaning of Bethany (Part 1)

1 Corinthians 11. 2 Samuel 15:25. And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God unto the city. If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me it and his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seems good unto him. The king also said unto Zadok the priest, Art thou a seer? Return unto the city in peace, and your two sons with you. Ahimaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there comes word from you to certify me. Zadok, therefore, and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem, and they tarried there.

Now, keeping a good grip on 1 Corinthians 11 again, there are some passages of Scripture I would like for you to go through with me. They deal primarily with a city. Oh, by the way, going back to 2 Samuel, we shouldn’t leave that until we see something else in that same passage. I’m sorry that I forgot to read it. Verse 30. And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olive, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefooted. And all the people that were with him covered every man his head, and they went up weeping as they went up.

Now in Luke 10:38-42, there is a passage about the Lord Jesus going to the city of Bethany. And it came to pass as they went, they entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha called. received him unto her house. And she had a sister named Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word. And Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me, and that would better be read, dost persist in keeping on leaving me, bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Now turn with me to Matthew 21:17. And he left them and went out of the city unto Bethany, and he lodged there. Now in the morning as he returned them to the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing there on it, but leaves only. And he said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away? And they commented later, it had so many leaves on it.

Alright, now then, to Matthew 26:7-13. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simeon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head as he sat at a meal. But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? For she has wrought a good work upon me. For you have the poor always with you, but me ye have not all one. For in that she has poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman has done be told for a memorial of her.

Alright, now then, John 11 and John 12. We all know that John 11 is talking about the resurrection of Lazarus. A certain man was sick: Lazarus of Bethany. I think I’ll tell this story rather than reading all this. The disciples came to Jesus. He was not in Bethany. He was in another place and said, “Lazarus is sick.” And some said, ” Maybe you should go to him.” And others said, ” If you go, you’ll be killed because the Pharisees were plotting against him.” Jesus did nothing. He waited a while. And then finally, he said to them, “Let us go; Lazarus is sleeping.” And they said, ” If he’s sleeping, let’s not disturb him.” And he said to them plainly, “He is dead.” And he said to them, “Let us go to our friend.” Let’s go to our friend…not mine, but our friend. Bethany is a place where not only the Lord Jesus, but his disciples found fellowship. And after they got there, there was much weeping. But the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

Let’s turn now to chapter 12:1. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. And there they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of spikenard ointment, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray him, said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred pieces and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bore what was put therein. And Jesus said, “Let her alone. Against the day of my burial has she kept this. For the poor always you have with me, but me ye have not always.”

Now then, there are some other passages to read yet. Acts 2.42. Hear this word. It will become clear later. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. The disciples in Jerusalem continued steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine and in their fellowship. Acts 14, there’s a passage not too different from that. It’s Acts 16:14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us. Her heart was opened to the Lord that she attained unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, she and her household besought us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful unto the Lord, come into my house and abide there.

And now, Acts 18.9. Beginning with Acts 18.9, there is a vision from the Lord. And this happens in what city? Does anyone know? Do you recognize where this took place? What city is this in? This is in the city of Corinth. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by vision: “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city.”

Now, we come back to 1 Corinthians 11, and we’re going to read that passage again. Verses 1 and 2. Be ye followers of me, even as I am also of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, for that you remember me in all things and keep the…and that word is ordinances, which are sometimes translated traditions. The best word is precepts. Will you put it, if you have, if you were a man to do this kind of thing, change it to precepts. You have kept the precepts as I have delivered them to you.

Well, I realized that’s an awful lot of passages. Let’s see if we can tie them together, very thoughtfully. Paul is about to get into something, and you know what it is, don’t you? What is this passage about? It’s about head covering…headship. Whenever we come to this passage, all the sisters go, ” Oh.” And all the brothers scratch their heads. Brothers, more battles have been fought over 1 Corinthians 11 than I believe all the battles of man on battlefields put together. There are at least four interpretations of this passage of Scripture. A minimum of four, and we’re not even going to look at them this morning. It was my burden to share this with you, but I could not get past verse 2. So verse 3 and the rest will have to wait until later this morning or this evening. I do not know. I’m not sure.