Why Didn't Paul Mention Mary's Alabaster Box?

Welcome to Truth Time, where you'll get a shot of the truth with no chaser.
Welcome to Truth Time.
Open your Bible and let's compare some scripture.
Today, we begin with a question.
Why didn't Paul mention Mary's alabaster box?
Why didn't Paul tell what Mary did?
Scripture reference is Matthew 26:13.
Most everyone has heard the story, such a beautiful account of how Mary of Bethany while at Simon the leper's house had a very special encounter with Jesus.
He was there teaching and Mary stood up behind him and wept as her tears fell to his feet.
And with very expensive ointment she anointed his feet, she also kissed his feet, and she took her hair and dried them.
Unlike many of her days she recognized that this was indeed her Lord, her Messiah, the King of Israel, the King of Israel that had been foretold by the holy prophets.
Such a wonderful story of reverence and humility and was written for, as we're told in Romans
15:4, Written for our learning, for our learning.
In the Bible there is a difference between what is written to you from that which was written for you.
A difference between what's written for doctrine, to follow, and what's written for learning, but not to follow.
Matter of fact, it's impossible for anyone to do this to the feet of Jesus today, for he's not here.
And this was a way for Mary to prepare him for burial, which is most definitely not needed today for he has risen and he'll never need to go to the grave again.
Now in the past, here on Truth Time Radio, I have issued a couple of challenges.
One was a challenge for anyone listening to just call me or send me just one verse showing in Paul's letters where he tells us to confess our sins to get them forgiven.
And thus far no one has been able to do so.
But hey listen, today could be the day.
If you think you found the verse, the one where Paul instructs us to confess our sins to get them forgiven, call me or send me an email from the website truthtimeradio.com.
Now challenge number two was this.
Point me to just one verse, one verse outside Paul's letters that speak of the church to the body of Christ being 1 Thessalonians 4:17 caught up, caught up to where we meet the Lord in the air.
Some refer to it as the rapture.
Well, where is this mentioned other than in the letters of Paul?
I've had some good tries.
I've had some listeners call in and make some good attempts.
But then we dug in a little deeper and noticed that the quote "rapture of the church" was not even in the context.
But again, perhaps today will be the day.
Now this brings me to my third challenge, challenge number three.
Find just one verse.
I don't need two, three, four or more.
I just 1 Thessalonians 5:21 need one verse proving that Paul followed the instruction of Jesus and tells of Mary of Bethany and her alabaster box.
We'll begin here in, let's see, verse six, Matthew chapter 26 starting with verse 6.
And with careful examination of the text, I'll attempt to present to you what is undisputable evidence, closing the door of speculation, proving that the gospel Christ later gave to Paul could not have possibly been the same gospel as Jesus and the Twelve preached prior to the cross.
Over the course of many Truth Time programs, I have hammered away speaking Bible truth, not opinions, driving death nails into the coffin of the gainsayers.
But today, with one big final bang, I'll hammer in the last nail.
Okay, Matthew 26 starting with verse six.
Now, when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he set at meat.
But when the disciples saw it, they had indignation, 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 hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
Okay, now make no mistake today.
If Paul was supposed to have preached the same gospel as Jesus and the Twelve, then I submit to you that he was guilty of being in direct violation of scripture.
He was disobedient, having had total disregard for the red letters of Christ.
We just read them.
Christ plainly said, Wherever this gospel shall be preached, that the account of this woman should be brought up, and be told for a memorial of her.
So now what?
What next?
In light of this evidence, what are you going to do?
Keep believing it's all the same?
Maybe it's you that's disobedient and guilty of totally disregarding the red letters.
Or, maybe you've just missed it, and now that you've seen the truth, you'll change your thinking.
I tell you what you do.
Read all the letters of Paul, Romans through Philemon, and if you find where he makes mention of this event, Mary and what she did with the alabaster box, then I'm wrong.
So there's your challenge.
The Truth Time number is 1-888-988-9562.
Email us from the website, truthtimeradio.com.
Other comparative accounts, other than the one here in Matthew 26, are found in Mark 14, Luke 7, John 11, and John chapter 12, proving that, quote, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, the apostles preached it.
They did exactly what Christ told them to do.
All the apostles spake of this woman for a memorial to her, just as the verse said to do.
That is, all the apostles with the exception of our apostle, the apostle Paul.
Now, this is ironclad, undebatable proof.
Just as Jesus commanded, this account is mentioned in all four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John, but absent, nowhere to be found in Paul's gospel.
Brings new meaning to Romans 2:16, where Paul had the audacity to declare that we're going to be judged according to his gospel.
Brings new meaning to Romans 16:25, where Paul had the nerve to say that it is his gospel that makes us stable.
Turns out that it is his gospel.
So are you willing to take the challenge with an open mind and an open Bible?
Search through Paul's letters to see if you can find Mary's alabaster box.
And it's just this simple.
If you find it, then Paul is preaching the same gospel found in the books of Matthew through John.
But if you don't, he ain't.
Now, I don't know how any lover of God's word could possibly rest without first taking on this challenge.
Because if you can't answer this, but yet continue to say that Paul preached the same gospel, you've got a problem.
You do not believe your Bible.
The gospel our Savior told our apostle Paul to preach was different.
It was on the right side and not the left side of the cross.
And the sooner you get that, the sooner you'll begin to understand some things that before didn't make sense.
Seminary school didn't work for you.
They never told you that Paul's gospel never mentioned the story of Mary's alabaster box.
The books from the bookstore don't tell you that either.
How do we find such valuable truth nuggets?
We obey God by comparing scripture with scripture, allowing God's word to be the final authority.
In 2 Timothy 2:7, Paul says, Consider what I say, consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things.
Where in the Bible does it say to consider what seminary schools and bookstores say?
Truth Time Radio, sharing information that today's church desperately needs to hear.
The body of Christ is malnourished and spiritually starved for the truth.
I'm here to proclaim the Acts 20:24 gospel of the grace of God and unashamedly stand for the gospel of Christ, Romans 1:16.
I'm full of joy today, and I rest in the fact that I have been freed from the law.
For it, the law, will only stir up sinful passions.
And if you'll be intellectually honest with yourself, you'll, Romans 7:18, admit that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Thank God we can never, Romans 5:20, out sin his grace.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is Jewish, not Christian.
His gospel to us and how we can be saved came later through the apostle Paul.
The teachings found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are directed to the Matthew 15:24 lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And is why Paul didn't follow the instructions of Jesus when Jesus clearly said that wherever this gospel is preached, you must mention the account of Mary and what she did with her alabaster box, how she prepared me for burial at Simon the leper's house, and it should be told for a memorial of her.
Well, Paul didn't do it.
Paul did not do what Jesus said to do.
And the quote, This gospel, that Jesus is talking about in verse 13 is the one being preached in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, before the cross, and not the gospel we find in Paul's letters.
Oh, they have similarities, but what do you do with the differences?
Matthew through John is Jesus teaching the gospel of the kingdom, and at that time they were still under the law.
The temple was still operating, and Jesus was not allowing Gentiles to even participate in his ministry.
Christ was there to Romans 15:8, confirmed the promises made unto the fathers of Israel.
And it's why he, Matthew 10:5, sent the twelve out to Israel only.
Israel had not been set aside and fallen yet, as they do later in Romans 11:11, and all the Abrahamic covenants and promises were in effect.
Now, today, we glory in their fall.
We're thankful that Israel fell in the program of God, for as Romans 11:11 says, it's through their fall that salvation has come unto us.
Praise God.
Before they fell, salvation came to those who had faith, plus a whole mess of works.
And the works were not, as some say, optional.
No, it was a necessity that they got water baptized.
Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, and 1 Peter 3:21.
Another necessity was to keep the commandments and sell everything they owned.
Yeah, sell it all.
It's amazing to me how those who have chose to disobey God by not rightly dividing the word of truth, how they want the tongues of Acts 2:4, they want the water baptism of Acts 2:38, but they head for the hills and abandon the sell everything and give away your money of Acts 2:45.
They claim to follow Jesus in the red letters, but disobey him in Matthew 19:21.
There is where He commanded Israel to sell all.
And eight verses later, he said, everyone that will leave their home and family for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold reward and inherit everlasting life.
If Israel were to live with Christ in that earthly kingdom, the one being preached in the books of Matthew through John, it was mandatory, not optional, that they left everything.
In Mark 10:28, Peter told Christ, hey, we have.
We've left it all.
We left it all to follow you.
And Acts 2:45 proves they did just that.
They sold it all and turned in the money.
And Peter confirms it again in the next chapter, Acts 3 verse 6.
Peter said, I've given up everything.
Silver and gold have I none.
And if you look at Acts 4 as we just walk our way up through the chapters, the sell all and forsake all doctrine that began with Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is still continuing with the Jewish church at Jerusalem in the early Acts period.
It didn't stop until Christ gave Paul his gospel.
Don't let anybody fool you.
Compare Acts 4:34 with Matthew 19:29.
In Matthew 19, Jesus said, every one that hath forsaken their house for my name's sake shall inherit everlasting life.
Compare that with the Jewish church at Jerusalem in Acts 4:34, quote, For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold.
And the examples don't stop there.
Next chapter, chapter 5, here Peter confronts Ananias and his wife.
They had sold a possession but kept back part of the money for themselves.
Now, for those who believe that selling all and forsaking everything was just a suggestion and not a commandment for the Jewish church, question, what happened to this couple?
What happened to Ananias and Sapphira?
Everyone knows the story.
They were killed, killed for not following what some teach was, oh, it's just optional.
They could do it or not do it.
It's up to the individual.
Wrong.
It's times like this when I'm reminded that there are really not that many Bible believers.
Listen, they didn't just flippantly do these things, they were following a commandment.
Christ didn't suggest anything, and people who say that don't believe their Bible verbatim.
They make excuses, attempting to explain away the verses they're not comfortable with.
Here at Truth Time, we avoid nothing.
We face the Scriptures head on.
Selling everything is exactly what they were doing as they were following the red letter commandment of Christ.
Read it sometime.
Matthew 28:20, there, Christ told the disciples to go and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and that's just what they did.
One of the all things he commanded was to sell everything, and there's no way around that.
So, if you haven't sold everything, guess what?
You're either disobeying a command, or this was never meant for you to follow.
I submit the latter.
This church back here Luke wrote about is not our example.
We're not to read about them and try to imitate what they did.
It was writ in, Romans 15:4, for our learning, and not our hands-on, day-to-day doctrinal application.
And if it were, then why aren't you doing what they did instead of playing church?
Most people we think of as being poor today have very little.
They were called poor and had nothing.
They sold everything just as Jesus commanded, and is why Paul later writes about some saints who were nice enough to take up a collection and send it to them.
Paul calls them the poor saints which are at Jerusalem, Romans 15:26.
You see, they remembered what Christ had told them.
He said the fowls of the air don't even sow, Matthew 6:26, neither do they reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are you not much better than they?
These Israelites understood that as God's chosen people, they were of more value than many sparrows.
All they had to do was endure through some temporary hardships while Acts 1:6 waiting on their kingdom.
So they sold everything, just as they were commanded, fully expecting the soon return of Christ.
That didn't happen because Israel as a nation rejected him as their Messiah, this time by blaspheming the Holy Ghost.
They murdered Stephen, Acts 7:55, a man full of the Holy Ghost, and two chapters later the Lord saved Saul of Tarsus.
Makes perfect sense.
If Israel as a nation would have accepted Christ, then these Jewish law keepers that sold everything would have made it into their kingdom where they would have lacked for nothing.
But out of the entire nation, there were only a few thousand faithful believers.
The rest of the nation were Christ-rejectors.
And their rejection and blasphemy was no surprise to God, it was in his plan all along.
Our salvation today is apart from the law or any outward work of the flesh.
It's by inward faith alone in the finished work of the cross.
And God chose to reveal this new way of salvation to Paul so that it would do just what it was designed to do.
As Romans 11:11 says, God made it that way to provoke Israel to jealousy.
Praise God almighty, aren't you thankful that you're over here on this side of the cross and part of the body of Christ church that Christ began with the apostle Paul?
We know without a doubt that Paul preached a different gospel.
We know this to be certain because of the plethora of differences found in the gospel.
We speak of them frequently here on Truth Time.
And today, we're speaking of another one.
We're looking at yet another one of those many differences.
And today, we ask the question, why didn't Paul mention Mary's alabaster box?
Did he forget something?
Forget something?
Hey, Paul, you better go back to the drawing board.
You better go back to the revelation room.
Something's missing here.
Why didn't Paul tell of what Mary did?
Matthew 26:13.
Who taught Paul his gospel?
Was it the twelve men that walked with Christ?
Did they, after the death of Jesus, did they go to Paul and teach him their gospel?
And then Paul just went out and preached the same thing that they had been preaching?
That's what some would have you to believe.
And if you don't study on your own, you'll buy into that.
No, Paul was Galatians 1:11 taught by no man.
He was Galatians 1:12 taught a gospel that he received by revelation of Jesus Christ.
So if Jesus told Paul, hey, preach the same gospel I preached prior to my death, then riddle me this, why didn't Paul mention Mary of Bethany?
Matthew 26:13.
Look it up.
This is checkmate for all who continue to wrongly teach that Paul preached the same gospel, the same gospel for salvation that everyone else did.
It's checkmate with no wiggle room.
Use whatever Bible version you want to on this one, it doesn't matter.
The quote, Original Greek won't even help you out on this one.
No, you got a problem.
Jesus gave a simple, easy to understand instruction to Peter, James, John and the boys that wherever
they go and preach that gospel of the kingdom, it was a necessity that they include the account of Mary and what she did with her alabaster box.
It was to be done for a memorial of her.
So was Paul disobedient in not telling the story of Mary?
Or, is there something else?
We here at Truth Time conclude that Paul didn't preach the same gospel.
He never preached the same gospel that was being preached during the time of Christ and his earthly ministry.
That would explain why he never mentions this about Mary.
Is it in Matthew?
Yes, it is.
Mark?
Uh-huh.
Luke?
Yes.
John?
Yes again.
But it's absent from the letters of Paul.
Get that today.
It's absent from the gospel Christ gave to Paul to preach to us.
Think about it.
Christ said, where so ever quote, This gospel is preached.
But Paul didn't preach this gospel.
He preached that gospel.
And is why in Galatians chapter 2 verse 2 he said, I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel, that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles.
Listen, Paul made a special trip all the way to Jerusalem to explain to them his gospel, that gospel which he had received.
If it was the same gospel they were already preaching, if the Galatians 2, That gospel was the same as the Matthew 26:13, This gospel, then no need for explanation.
No need to explain.
And let's think further.
Christ said quote, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached.
The word wheresoever denotes area.
It deals with space.
And out of all of the apostles, Paul covered more area, more space than anyone.
But wheresoever he went preaching his gospel, he never mentioned Mary for a memorial to her.
But you say he preached the same gospel?
So again, my challenge to you is, find just one verse that 1 Thessalonians 5:21 proves that Paul followed the instruction of Jesus and tells of Mary of Bethany and her alabaster box.
And unless someone can show me with an open Bible just where it is Paul does this, I unapologetically will keep proclaiming that the Lord told Paul to preach a different gospel than the one
found in the books of Matthew through John.
I've been telling you this program after program, chipping away and hammering down on the false
belief that makes the false claim that Jesus simply told Paul to preach the same gospel after the cross that he and the twelve preached before the cross.
Romans 1:16, not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the gospel Christ gave Paul that does not include any mention whatsoever of Mary and what she did with her alabaster box, not even one.
And it was this gospel of Christ that was given to Paul that is the power unto God for salvation today, not the one prior.
And for this reason, Paul, in the first chapter of Galatians says, If any man preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed.
And in verse 6 and 7 he says, I marvel that ye are so soon removed unto another gospel, which is not another.
Notice that Paul did not say there never was another, no he did not.
He said there is, is not another gospel.
The word, is, would mean currently.
Currently, there is not another gospel.
At this present time there is not another gospel that will save anyone.
It would denote present tense, not past or future.
Anyone who can read and has read the books of Matthew through John should be well aware that in the past, before Paul's letters, there was that other gospel.
You know, the one we're talking about here today, the quote, Another gospel, the one that our precious Lord and dear Savior commanded that, Everywhere it would be preached, it would also be mandatory, the preacher tell what Mary did.
Paul's gospel does not.
It makes no such mention.
And listen my friend, make no mistake, Jesus was not simply making a suggestion here, no he was given an absolute.
And in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all absolutely mention this for a memorial of her.
But Paul absolutely does not.
Oh, I so realize this kind of truth telling won't make me popular, but am I here to please men, or to Galatians 1:10, be a servant of Christ?
Listen in your Bible, prior to Christ coming back and revealing the finished work of the cross is not where you find out how to be saved.
What should be the obvious most often gets overlooked.
Prior to the cross, it was sin that separated man from God.
God hates sin.
So he gave them ways to get their sins forgiven.
In Matthew chapter 6 verses 14 and 15, Jesus said, If you forgive others of their sins, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you don't, he won't.
That's easy for a Bible believer to understand.
But after the cross, we got a better solution, a better solution to the sin problem.
The solution?
God took the sins of the world and imputed them onto the person of Christ.
That's good news.
Christ took your place.
Christ took your sin.
He paid for your sin with his blood.
In light of that, in light of the finished cross work, the sin debt has been paid for.
Your sin account is settled.
That old account was settled long ago.
Now, what you need is the righteousness of Christ.
And you can have the righteousness of Christ by faith.
So what about your faith account?
God wants you to fill it up.
God wants you to fill up your faith account by resting your faith in Christ.
Placing your complete, your total trust in him, believing he died for your sins, was placed in a grave that couldn't hold him, and has risen for your justification.
Salvation is through faith and faith alone.
It's not found through obeying God's law and commandments.
Salvation is not found in your sin confession.
Not in water baptism, doing your best, living a good life.
You can't tithe or give your way into heaven.
It's not in turning from sin.
You cannot be saved by church membership or attendance, prayers, Holy Communion, penance,
Our Fathers or Hail Marys, and being born of Christian parents won't save you either.
Christ through Paul in Ephesians 1:13 makes it clear.
You first hear the word of truth.
Then you believe the word of truth.
That's how you're saved.
Then after that, you can go to work on your performance, letting go of self and letting God live in and through you.
How you live your life.
How you live your life comes after salvation.
It follows salvation.
But it's not a part of salvation.
You don't turn from sin and trust Christ, as I hear so many say.
You trust Christ first, and then allow him to help you turn from sin.
People put the cart in front of the horse.
Ephesians 1:13, check it out.
You hear, believe, and get sealed.
You hear, believe, and get sealed.
The Holy Spirit promises to seal you.
For how long?
Until the next time you sin?
No.
The good news is, you're sealed until the Ephesians 4:30, day of redemption.
Think on that.
Hear, believe, sealed.
Hear, believe, sealed.
Examine the verse and let this good news renew your thinking.
And listen.
Don't let anyone rob you of the joy that's found in knowing, knowing that you're saved and sealed forever.
It's then you'll begin to experience true freedom.
Not license to sin, freedom to serve.
Free to let God lavish you with his grace, mercy, and love.
In closing, I want to say hi to Wanda.
She's been up to visit with us a few times.
She comes up from Murphy, North Carolina for Bible studies and has invited me to come to Murphy and teach a Bible study there.
We look forward to doing that soon.
But today I wanted to share something she recently said.
She said, if you talk grace truth for six hours, and then add works to it for five seconds, you have just put yeast in the dough that will rise to confusion.
Well said, Wanda.
Well said.
Okay, don't forget to take the challenge.
And until next time, remember, you only get two educations.
The one you're given, and the one you give yourself.