Where Do You Turn When Hope Dries Up?

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Mark 5:21-43

 

Focus:  All hope was drying up for a woman that no physician could cure, and for a man with a dying daughter.  In desperation they turned to Jesus and discovered that when faith connects with Jesus there is no hopeless situation. 

 

I.  Where Do You Turn When Hope Dries Up?

1.  Let Your Faith Connect

2.  Let Your Faith Open God’s Gifts

3.  Let Your Faith Take Action

4.  Let Your Faith Be Daring

5.  Let Your Faith Be Public

6.  Let Your Faith Grow

7.  Let Your Faith Hold On

 

MANUSCRIPT

 

A recent survey at a meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians revealed the following:

 

   Percentage of family doctors who:

   --are convinced that religious belief can heal: 99

   --believe the prayers of others can help a patient's recovery: 75

   --believe faith-healers can make people well: 38 [i]

 

 

I.  Where Do You Turn When Hope Dries Up? (5:21-24)

Where does man turn when hope dries up?
The director of a medical clinic told of a terminally ill young man who came in for his usual treatment. A new doctor who was on duty said to him casually and cruelly, “You know, don’t you, that you won’t live out the year?”
As the young man left, he stopped by the director’s desk and wept. “That man took away my hope,” he blurted out.
“I guess he did,” replied the director. “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.”
Commenting on this incident, Lewis Smedes wrote, “Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless? That question leads us to Christian hope, for in the Bible, hope is no longer a passion for the possible. It becomes a passion for the promise.”[ii]

Hope when things are hopeless

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength. [iii]

 

Today we are going to look at two seemingly hopeless situations that were brought before Jesus.  The two key characters will find out that Christ Rules over Disease and Death.

 

Focus:  All hope was drying up for a woman that no physician could cure, and for a man with a dying daughter.  In desperation they turned to Jesus and discovered that when faith connects with Jesus there is no hopeless situation. 

 

The simple truth is:  No life is hopeless unless Christ is ruled out. 

Life with Christ is an endless hope; without him, life is a hopeless end.

 

Jesus succeeds where others failed.  Jesus has just exorcised a demon from a man that no one could control; now in the passage for this morning’s consideration we find that he heals a woman that no physician can cure and restores to life a girl when all hope is gone.  Both of these events are sandwiched together and should be considered as a whole.

 

Again in Mark we see the sandwiching effect of two stories with a common theme.  The common theme is brought out by the details Mark chooses to include.  Jesus raises a 12-year-old daughter and he heals a 12 year long hemorrhage.  Jesus power overcame the defilement of ceremonial uncleanness found in bleeding and a dead body.  The two main characters are Jairus, and an unclean woman.  One is upper-class, the other is destitute.  All are equals before Jesus.  The only thing that makes a difference with God is one’s faith.  It doesn’t matter what station of life, whether you are male or female, clean or unclean, rich or poor,  honored or dishonored, respectable  or not respectable.  They can both find help if they both exercise faith.

 

(Mark 5:21-24 NIV)  "When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. {22} Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet {23} and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." {24} So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him."

 

Mark Schultz has written a song I’d like to share with you.  It captures well the emotions of a father agonizing over the health of a child before God.  Mark Schultz writes on his CD [iv]: 

“On May 22, 1998, my friend John Baird’s 14-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia. I wrote this song during the middle of their triumphant year-long battle. I wanted this song to capture the pleading heart of a father dealing with his son’s illness.”

 

HE’S MY SON 

by Mark Schultz

I’m down on my knees again tonight
I’m hoping this prayer will turn out right
See there is a boy that needs your help
I’ve done all that I can do myself

His mother is tired
I’m sure you can understand
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in to hold his hand
And she tries not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes

Chorus:
Can you hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can you see him?
Can you make him feel all right?
If you can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See, he’s not just anyone
He’s my son

Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep
I dream of the boy he’d like to be
I try to be strong and see him through
But God who he needs right now is You

Let him grow old
Live life without this fear
What would I be
Living without him here
He’s so tired and he’s scared
Let him know that You’re there

Chorus

Can you hear me?
Can you see him?
Please don’t leave him
He’s my son

©2000 Mark Schultz Music/BMI

 

These are the feelings of Jairus as well. 

Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet {23} and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live."

 

He knows he has done all he can humanly do and it is not enough.  He knows his daughter is dying.  Yet he had heard about (or seen) Jesus healing people before.  He puts all of his energy into his last desperate hope.  He believes Jesus can help. He must see him.  He leaves his daughter’s side.  He runs!  He must make contact with Jesus.  Jesus must come. 

 

With the same earnestness,

1.  Let Your Faith Connect (5:24-28)

MAKE CONTACT!  Go out of your way to make contact with Jesus.  The way Mark tells it Jairus and the Woman have common stories.  Jesus is the last hope for these two “daughters” of Israel.

 

(Mark 5:24-28 NIV)  "So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. {25} And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. {26} She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. {27} When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, {28} because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.""

 

Both Jairus and the woman believe that contact with Jesus is sufficient for healing  “put your hands on her” (5:23) “If I just touch his clothes” (5:28) 

 

When Faith Makes Contact With Jesus It Can Be Imperfect and Still Work

We see from scripture that faith can be imperfect and still work.  The faith of the woman, and the faith of Jairus was imperfect.  It was laced with fear.  It was halting.  Their faith was not doctrinal correctness.  They have no precise idea of who Jesus is.  Though her faith mobilized her it was still a hidden, secretive faith.  She was afraid to face Jesus himself.  She could not bear to go to him openly and talk about her problem in public, much less to him.  She figured if she could just touch him without him knowing it that would be enough. It was not a perfect faith because it bordered on ideas of magic.  This quasi-magical notion was not uncommon to her day.

It is the Object of Their Faith that Makes It Work

What makes their faith work, however, is that it makes contact WITH JESUS.  What saved this father’s daughter and this woman was that their faith was directed toward Jesus.  It is the object of faith that makes their faith powerful.  Their faith, as imperfect, and as weak, and as misguided as it might be, nevertheless, made contact with Jesus!  It is the connection made with Jesus that makes that faith work!

Maybe You’ve Come As A Last Resort to Jesus

Here is a woman who came to Jesus as a last resort;  having tried every other cure that the world had to offer she finally tried him.  Many have come to seek the help of Jesus when they came to their wits' end.  Maybe that is how you have come.  You may have battled with temptation until you could fight no longer and stretched out your hand crying "Lord save Me!" You may have struggled with some exhausting task until you reached the breaking point and then cried out for strength which was not your strength. Maybe your exhausting task was parenting. Or simply trying to hold a marriage together.  We wish that circumstances didn't have to drive you to Jesus, but many come that way.  Even if you have come out of desperation and with only very little faith, Jesus will not send you away empty handed if you make Contact

 

2.  Let Your Faith Open God’s Gifts (5:29-34)

(Mark 5:29-34 NIV)  "Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. {30} At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" {31} "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'" {32} But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. {33} Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. {34} He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.""

 

Your Faith Has Healed You (34)

5:34 “Your faith has healed [lit ., saved] you”.  This statement taken all alone might be misleading.  The operating power was Jesus.  Faith is the receptor, not the power.  Notice the power went out of Jesus.  The power didn’t come from their faith but from Jesus.

 

Power had gone out from him (30)

(Mark 5:30 NIV)  "At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?""

 

What Jesus felt fascinates me.   What do we make of that?  He felt power leave him.  What does that mean?  One thing we can say confidently is that the source of the healing was not faith, but the power that came from Jesus when faith made contact.  The source is God.  Faith is the connection.  These are God’s gifts that your faith opens as your faith makes that connection.

 

Maybe too much can be made of this statement that Jesus felt the power go out of him.   I want you to notice something.  Jesus wasn’t trying to heal the woman.  He was on his way somewhere else.  He was interrupted by the healing.  He was the source of the healing.  He was God’s presence among man.  Let’s proceed with caution as we examine this further.  From his strong body, he has felt the transfer of healing power to the woman's diseased shell.  Whatever it means, we know Jesus was sensitive enough to know the difference between the crowd that simply touched him, and the woman who made a connection of Faith!   

Health Care Costs

Let’s remind ourselves that this woman has almost become destitute spending all that she had on doctors that didn’t help. 

 

(Mark 5:26 NIV)  "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse."

 

Her health Care Costs were tremendous and it didn’t help.  I want to ask another question.  Did it cost Jesus anything to heal that woman?  We are not given a definitive answer here.   We are told that he felt power go out from him.   Is that why he is sometimes so exhausted that he can sleep through a raging storm?  Maybe it always costs something of us when we truly help someone.  Doesn’t it cost us time, sacrifice, energy, or something when we help?  We know that Jesus poured out his life as a sacrifice for us.

Does the woman’s blood stop flowing because Jesus’ blood will flow for her later?  Isaiah 53:5 says "and with his stripes we are healed."   If it is at a cost that Jesus here heals the woman, the price paid here was but a down payment, the full payment was paid later on the cross.

 

3.  Let Your Faith Take Action

Faith expresses itself in Action that can be seen. 

Like the men digging through the roof to being their friend to Jesus. Belief about Jesus does not bring results, but faith in Jesus that takes action does.  It is not correct doctrine that does.  Neither the woman nor the man know who Jesus is precisely, they simply believe he can help.  It is faith in action that brings one’s faith into a personal encounter with Jesus.    

 

{28} because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."

 

It has been said that separating faith and works is like separating the heat and light from a candle. You know both are produced by the candle. You know they are not the same thing. You also know you cannot separate them.

 

4.  Let Your Faith Be Daring

Dare to believe.  In both cases here.  Faith had its risks.  They dared to believe and they were determined in their daring belief.  Let your faith be determined to the point of it being daring.  The woman dared to work her way through the crowd even though she is ceremonially unclean.  She dared to press through her own shame or fear.  She dared to touch Jesus. 

The synagogue official must disregard the sad announcement of his daughter’s death and ignore the laughter of the mourners.  He must trust Jesus.  His Faith dared to go forward in the face of mocking laughter.  Both the woman and Jairus dared to believe.

5.  Let Your Faith Be Public (5:30-34)

(Mark 5:30-34 NIV)  "At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" {31} "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'" {32} But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. {33} Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. {34} He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.""

 

Jesus did not let the woman remain anonymous.

Why does Jesus call attention to what she has done?  Has she not suffered enough public embarrassment?  Could he not let her go in peace with a silent wink?  Jesus does not allow us to secretly hold to faith.  Jesus doesn’t allow the woman’s faith to remain secret.  He brings that faith into the open for public testing.  The public embarrassment caused by singling her out signifies his individual care for her.  He doesn’t let her slip away.  He forces the issue so that when she goes away healed she goes away with more.  She will go away, knowing that the one who healed her knows her and cares for her.  She is a person who is worth taking time with and addressing.

 

In a sense the healing wasn’t free.  Jesus forces her to step out on faith and be identified.  She is asked to publicly acknowledge what Jesus has done for her.

6.  Let Your Faith Grow

Meanwhile, what was Jairus thinking?  Wouldn’t it be difficult to rejoice over her good news while he is worried to death over his own bad news?  Was Jairus irritated? “Why is he dawdling?  I was in line first; take care of my problem first?”  Little does he know his faith is being prepared for what is about to happen.  He also will have to decide to trust Jesus even when the worst possible news came.

 

(Mark 5:35 NIV)  "While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?""

 

Have you ever felt so hopeless?  Have you ever felt like saying, “Why bother God about it anymore?”  Have you already decided consciously or subconsciously that something in your life is impossible even for God to fix?  Maybe your faith needs to grow also.

7.  Let Your Faith Hold On

Faith is able to hold on in the face of death and suffering even when these are not miraculously removed.  Fortunately for Jairus, in this case, God answers with a miracle!

 

(Mark 5:35-43 NIV)  "While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" {36} Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." {37} He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. {38} When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. {39} He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." {40} But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. {41} He took her by the hand. . .

 

[Have you ever taken the hand of a dead person?  Say at a funeral, or bedside.  I have several times.  I remember just before my mother’s funeral, there her body lay.  I remember putting my hand on her.  The overwhelming sense after feeling the cold, lifeless clay, was that she was not there.  That was just her lifeless body.  Jesus took that cold clammy gray hand. . .]

 

 

 and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). {42} Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. {43} He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat."

 

Knowing that God has conquered death in the resurrection of Christ helps us face death.  The little girl is spared death for now but she died later.  How much later is anyone’s guess, but she was not given a total reprieve from death.  So also the woman has been healed for now, but she will face new ailments as she grows older.

Although it is true, nothing is impossible for God, We must be sensitive to the reality that no matter how genuine or desperate the faith, all are not healed or saved from death. 

Evil, sickness, and the death of little children continue to exist in our world. Not every touch heals, and those with faith still hear the dreaded word from the doctor, “your little girl is dead.”  This passage does not offer any explanation for why a loving God allows evil to continue to exist or why the inexplicable still occurs.  It does affirm that God cares.  Just because a miracle does not occur in every disaster, doesn’t lessen God’s power to save.  We must be sensitive to the reality that no matter how genuine or desperate the faith, all are not healed or saved from death. 

One must look beyond the moment of suffering to the eternal significance of Jesus’ power. 

That power is related to the kingdom of God, which is present but which is yet to be fully manifest.  In the meantime we will suffer from maladies and death.  Our faith is in God’s power to conquer death, not simply to restore things as they were.  We can face the tragedies of everyday existence with confident faith that God is not through with us.

It is often in our darkest times that God makes His presence known most clearly. He uses our sufferings and troubles to show us that He is our only source of strength. And when we see this truth, we receive new hope.

Are you facing a great trial?  Take heart. Put yourself in God’s hands. Wait for His timing. He will give you a “song in the night.”

“Hush Child, God Ain’t Dead!”

In the book, When God is taken Captive, James DeLoach is quoted.

“I am not a connoisseur of great art, but from time to time a painting or picture will really speak a clear, strong message to me. Some time ago I saw a picture of an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney...the charred debris of what had been that family’s sole possession. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather-looking man dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying. Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, “Hush child, God ain’t dead!”

That vivid picture of that burned-out mountain shack, that old man, the weeping child, and those words “God ain’t dead” keep returning to my mind. Instead of it being a reminder of the despair of life, it has come to be a reminder of hope! I need reminders that there is hope in this world.

In the midst of all of life’s troubles and failures, I need mental pictures to remind me that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world.” [v]

 

Father, we come before you this morning desperately wanting our FAITH TO CONNECT.  We want to MAKE CONTACT with you in a life transforming way.  We too want to OPEN ALL THE GIFTS you have for us by faith.  Where our faith is lacking, Lord, help us to GROW.  Where our faith is still, help us to TAKE ACTION.  When we have fears HELP US TO DARE to come before you to make contact in the face of those fears.  Lord, allow our faith to be so thoroughly defining us that whether in public or in private our faith in you is real, noticeably defining our lives.  And Lord, when we face life’s unexplainable challenges and we feel discouraged help us to remember nothing is impossible for you, and that you have already won every battle.  Help us to HOLD ON as we trust you for your great power, and your timing, for the eternal good gifts you will give us.

Who was Judas Iscariot’s Father? And Why is That Important in Light of Present-day End Times?

 By Lorraine Day, M.D.

The Bible tells us that Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Christ, was the son of Simon.  But which Simon?  There are many “Simons” in the Bible:
Simon Peter, the disciple of Christ  (Matt 4:18;10:2;17:25)
Simon, the Canaanite – another disciple of Jesus (Matt 10:4; Mark 3:18)
Simon, the step-brother of Jesus  (Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3)
Simon, the Samaritan Sorcerer  (Acts 8:9,13,18,24)
Simon, the Cyrenian – who carried Jesus’ cross (Matt 27:32; Mark 15:21)
Simon, the tanner in Joppa (Acts 9:43;10:6,32)
Simon, the leper in Bethany  (Matt 26:6; Mark 14:3)
Simon, the Pharisee  (Luke 7:40,43,44)

Could any of these “Simons” listed above be the SAME?
Could any of these “Simons” be the father of Judas Iscariot?
Supper at Simon, the Leper’s House
There is at least one place in the Bible, depicted in each of the four gospels, where Judas Iscariot and a “Simon” were together in the same home – the Supper for Jesus at Simon, the leper’s house, the supper where Mary anointed Jesus with expensive spikenard.  (Matt 21:1-11; 26:6-13; Mark 11:1-10; 14:3-9; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:1-19)
There are some who believe that there were two incidents where Jesus was anointed by a grateful woman – one woman who poured the anointing oil on His
Head (2 accounts – Matt 26:13; Mark 14:3-9) and one incident where a woman poured the anointing oil on His feet (Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-3).
Some facts are clear:
The Supper was in Bethany.
Bethany was within walking distance of Jerusalem.
Mary, Martha and Lazarus, as well as Simon, the leper, all lived in Bethany and all knew each other.  They even may have been related.
The Supper was in the home of Simon, the leper, but Martha was serving,  revealing that the sisters and brother were close friends of Simon’s - because
Martha was serving in Simon’s home.
The meal was in the evening as it is termed “Supper.”
Simon was a Pharisee, the Bible says.
Mary, Martha and Lazarus were all at the Supper at Simon, the leper’s house.
Simon, the leper, had already been healed by Jesus.  He no longer had leprosy.  (Lepers were not allowed to mingle with those who were uninfected, so Simon had to have, by this time, been healed.)
The disciples, including Judas Iscariot. were at the supper.
The Spikenard (ointment) that the woman poured on Jesus (head or feet) was very expensive.  It was worth approximately $18,000-$24,000 by 2006 wage standards in the United States.
The disciple that instigated the complaints about the “wastefulness” of the woman pouring the ointment on Jesus (“It should have been sold and given to the poor.”) was Judas Iscariot.
Judas was the treasurer of the disciples and kept the bag (the purse that contained the money that had been donated to Christ and His followers), and was, according to the biblical account, a thief who stole from the bag the money that was to have been given to the poor.

Let us study this incident in greater detail.
1)  Just WHEN did this supper occur?
There is a controversy.  Some say it occurred SIX days before the Passover and others say it occurred TWO days before the Passover.
But a closer, more definitive look shows us that there is NO discrepancy.
John 12:1-3

Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead.
There they made Him a supper and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

Please note that Jesus came to Bethany six days before the Passover.  It does NOT say that the supper was six days before the Passover.  It just tells us that Jesus journeyed to Bethany SIX DAYS before the Passover.  In fact, in the following passages, we are told that the supper at Simon, the leper’s house, was TWO days before the Passover.
Mark 14:1-3

After TWO days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread; and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.
But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon, the leper, as He sat at the table, there came a woman having an alabaster flask of oil of spikenard very costly and she broke the flask and poured it on His head.

It is obvious that the dinner at Simon the leper’s house was TWO days before the Passover – NOT six days.
Matthew 26:1-7

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said unto His disciples;
Ye know that after TWO DAYS is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.
And plotted that they might take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.
But they said, Not on the feast day; lest there be an uproar among the people.
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper
There came unto Him a woman having an alabaster flask of a very costly fragrance, and poured it on His head as He sat at the table.

So just WHEN did the Supper at Simon the leper’s house occur?
It occurred TWO days before the Passover.  Jesus states that Himself.
So why does the passage in John 12: 1-3 give us the specific number of days (SIX) until the Passover when Jesus ARRIVED in Bethany?

There are many passages in the Bible where the phenomenon of Six (6) and One (1) occur.  (Please see the next 2 pages.)

The number 6 is the number of “man” (mankind – anthropos in the Greek).  We are told in Revelation 13:18:

Here is wisdom.  Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of mankind (anthropos – mankind – NOT “a” man).  The “a” has been added by the translators); and his (mankind’s) number is Six hundred threescore and six (666).

God’s perfect number is 7, that’s why God created a 7-day week.  The ONLY way “man” can reach perfection is to be one with God.  6 + 1 = 7.
On the pages at the end of this study, see the many times that the Bible uses the “6 + 1” symbolism, revealing His redemption of the world.  Six days are for man (God created the earth in six days), and the Seventh-day (Sabbath) for God (God made the seventh day Holy), symbolizing six thousand years since creation for mankind – and the seventh one thousand years (the millennium) for God, when the righteous will be in heaven and the earth will lay desolate.
So in this passage, John 12:1-3, John is again using the same symbolism.  Jesus came to Bethany SIX days before the Passover.  Jesus was slain at Passover, on Friday, proving that He was the ultimate “Passover lamb,” slain for the sins of the World, and He was resurrected immediately at sunset, at the beginning of the Seventh-day Sabbath – at sundown Friday night!  (Please see, “Was Jesus Really Resurrected on Sunday?”)
This same symbolism of 6 + 1 is used hereby John to show the 6 days for “mankind” plus 1 for God - to save the whole world!
So Jesus CAME to Bethany SIX days before the Passover, but the supper at Simon, the leper’s house was TWO days before the Passover.
2) How can we be sure that the Supper, spoken of in all four Gospels was, indeed, at Simon the leper’s house?
The accounts in Matthew, Mark and John tell us directly that the meal was in Bethany, at the house of Simon, the leper.  In addition, we are told in the account in John, chapter 12, that “Lazarus was sitting at the table with Jesus.”  This would have been unnecessary to say in the biblical account if Lazarus had been hosting the supper in his own home.  In that case, naturally Lazarus would have been sitting at the table with Jesus.
But since the supper was at the home of Simon, the leper, it is important to stipulate that Lazarus was a guest and sitting at the table with Jesus – and, obviously, Simon, the host.
3)  And how do we know that Simon, the leper, was a Pharisee?

 Luke tells us that the supper was at the house of Simon, the Pharisee.  Luke 7:36-40:
And one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him.  And He went into the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the table.
And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of oil,
And stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the oil.
 Now when the Pharisee which had invited Him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, ‘This man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches Him; for she is a sinner.
And Jesus answering said unto him, ‘Simon, I have something to say unto thee.’  And he said, ‘Teacher (Master), say on.”

4)   How did Simon, the leper, KNOW that Mary was a “sinner.”
The term “sinner” when given to a woman in that era virtually always referred to sexual sin – fornication, adultery or prostitution.  (See the story of the woman “taken in adultery” in John, chapter 8)  
Because we have no evidence that Mary was married, her sexual sin must have been fornication or prostitution.
Bethany was a small village and Mary’s specific sin may have been known by people in the village.  However, Simon, the leper, apparently was the ONLY one sitting at the table (other than Jesus) who knew about Mary’s “sin” since we are not told that the others at the table were “thinking” the same thoughts.
It is probable that Simon KNEW that Mary was a “sinner” because HE may have been the one who had lured her into “sin” – either by defiling her himself, or by prostituting her to others. 
Simon, just as many other Pharisees, was quick to point out the sin of others, particularly women, while standing in obnoxious self-righteousness, himself.  (Please note that in the story of the “woman taken in adultery,” ONLY the woman was ripped from the bed and thrown on the ground in front of Jesus. The Pharisees wanted her to be stoned for her sin!  But the hypocritical Pharisees allowed the man involved in the act of adultery, to go free!)
Simon, the Pharisee, even though having been miraculously healed, by Jesus, of his physical disease, leprosy, had not had a change of heart, witnessed by the following:

a. Simon was disdainful of Jesus for letting this supposedly “sinful woman” touch Him.
b. Simon was a poor host and did not honor Jesus, his guest, as he should have by providing for a servant to wash Jesus’ feet, a custom of courtesy ALWAYS provided for an important guest.  Simon obviously did NOT recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God – as Mary did.
 c. Simon did not greet Jesus with the warm greeting (termed “a kiss” – the greeting still used by men in the middle east)  that would have been given to a man of great honor.

Here is the Biblical account:

And He (Jesus) turned to the woman, and said unto Simon. “Seest thou this woman?  I entered into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet; but she has washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
You gave me no kiss; but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss My feet.
My head with oil you did not anoint; but this woman has anointed my feet with oil.  Luke 7:44-46

Simon’s heart was still hard, even after he had been healed by Jesus of his leprosy, a disease in the Bible that always represents “sin.” 
Miracles – signs and wonders – that the “Christian” church so longs for today, do NOT change hearts!
Only when we recognize our need for Jesus, and want to live HIS way and not our OWN, will our heart be changed.
How did Judas Iscariot KNOW where to find the Chief Priests at NIGHT?
How would Judas know the whereabouts of the leaders of the Jews who were plotting to kill Jesus?  Judas was a purported follower of Jesus.  He spent his time with the other disciples following Jesus, a “man” who was hated by the Pharisees and Chief Priests.
The Pharisees and Chief Priests were meeting at night, in secret, to plot the arrest and death of Jesus.  This was a very private, secret session.  They would have gone to great lengths to keep their whereabouts UNKNOWN and hidden from the average man in Jerusalem.  The quarters where they were meeting would have been heavily guarded and only those familiar to, and in league with, the plotters would have been allowed entrance.  Certainly they would never have allowed a true follower of Christ to enter their meeting!
It would be the equivalent today of a common man – a Constitutional Patriot - who had a complaint, to be able to walk into a secret, night meeting of the elitists of the world, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, or the Bilderbergers, or the Trilateral Commission.  The common man would have no idea where they were meeting, and certainly would not be allowed to just walk in and sit down and talk with them.  There would be heavy security – both THEN – and now – so access would be virtually impossible.  UNLESS, of course, the person gaining entrance was KNOWN to, and in agreement with, the elitists!
Judas clearly had to have been in league with those who planned to arrest Jesus, otherwise he would not have known their whereabouts, and would not have been able to gain easy entrance!  However, Judas may not have known that the leaders of the Jews were planning to kill Jesus.
So HOW would Judas know exactly where to find the Pharisees and Chief Priests?
Maybe because - - - his father TOLD HIM!
Who was Judas Iscariot’s father?
We now know that the supper was at the home of Simon, the leper, and that Simon, the leper, was also a Pharisee.  We also know that Jesus’ disciples were at the supper, including Judas Iscariot.
In John 12:4, we read of this supper and we are told:

Then said one of His (Jesus’) disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray Him. . .

The only reason the author, John, would make this connection right here in this passage is to tell us that Judas Iscariot was, indeed, the son of Simon, the Pharisee, who had been healed of his leprosy by Jesus.
Lest you think this is too much of a “reach,” let us contemplate the following.  We know that the Bible always refers to Judas, the betrayer of Christ, as Judas Iscariot, to differentiate him from another one of the disciples named Judas.
Well, the Concordant translation of the Bible, a literal translation, and the purest (even though not Perfect) translation of the Bible that I have found reveals the following:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is an adversary?”  Now He said it of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, for this man was about to give Him up, being one of the twelve. John 6:70,71

So, Judas was the son of Simon, the leper, a Pharisee. 
Simon, Judas’ father, would have known the meeting place where the Pharisees and Chief Priests were plotting the death of Jesus.  It is possible that Simon, the Pharisee, actually had been given the specific assignment (by his fellow Pharisees) of deliberately inviting Jesus to supper at his home as part of a plan to establish and monitor Jesus’ movements while at the feast of the Passover, in order to arrest him out of sight of the masses of people, whom the Pharisees feared.
Simon clearly was not a follower of Jesus.  He revealed it by the poor way he treated Jesus as a guest in his home.  Simon was undoubtedly in on the plot. 
It is highly likely that Judas Iscariot would have obtained the information on the location of the meeting of the Pharisees and Chief Priests who were plotting Jesus’ death - - - - from his father – Simon, the Pharisee! 
That is why, when Jesus rebuked Judas Iscariot for demeaning Mary and her anointing of Jesus with the costly Spikenard ointment, Judas knew EXACTLY where to find those who were plotting to take the life of Jesus.
Immediately after Jesus rebuked Judas, he went out into the night to sell Jesus to His enemies, for thirty piece of silver.  And Judas knew exactly where to find the secret meeting of those plotting the death of Jesus.

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests and said unto them, “What will you give me and I will deliver Him unto you?  And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.  And from that time on he sought the opportunity to betray Him.  Matthew 26:14-16

Some authors write that the “Chief Priests,” spoken of as a different group from the “Pharisees” were actually the Sadducees, the group that did NOT believe in the Resurrection.  Under normal circumstances, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were arch enemies, but they became united in the task of killing Christ.
The Bible tells us that they “also wanted to kill Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.”  The Sadducees wanted to destroy ANY evidence of the resurrection, which of course proved their doctrines WRONG!  The Pharisees, on the other hand, believed in the resurrection but they were threatened with loss of their control over the people who were now, by the thousands, following Christ.
So, as a matter of convenience, the Pharisees and Sadducees, who usually were enemies, came together in the plot to kill Christ, and – they hoped – Lazarus, too.
It will be the same in our day.  The Jews AND the Muslims (their enemies) will unite - WITH the apostate Christians – to plot the deaths of all TRUE Christians!
How does this story of Judas Iscariot and his father relate to the times in which we live?
It is highly probable that Judas Iscariot was a “plant” – a spy – purposely placed by the Pharisees into Jesus’ inner circle, to keep an eye on Jesus, essentially, to spy on Jesus, to report what He said and did, to report where he went and with whom He talked, to report any plans (they thought) Jesus may have had to take over the earthly leadership of the Jews from the Pharisees, and eventually to deliver Him to His captors to be crucified.
Yes, Jesus “called” Judas Iscariot to be a disciple, but Jesus knew the heart of Judas and the plotting of the Pharisees and Chief Priests.
Was Judas a Galilean?
Judas was from Kerioth, a city close to Hebron, south of Jerusalem, in Judea.  That is what the “Iscariot” after Judas’ name stands for - Kerioth.
Judas was a Judean – NOT a Galilean.  ALL the other disciples apparently were Galileans.
In Acts, Chapter 2, when the disciples of Christ in the Upper Room, had received God’s Breath of Holiness (inaccurately translated the “Holy Spirit”) and were able to speak in the different KNOWN languages of the thousands visiting Jerusalem for the Passover (“every man heard in his own dialect” – dialektos – in the original Greek), they were all referred to as Galileans!  (Judas had already committed suicide, so was no longer a member of the group.  So apparently all the remaining disciples were – Galileans!)

“Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were perplexed because every man heard them speak in his own language. 
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not ALL these which speak Galileans? 
And how hear we every man in our own dialect, wherein we were born? 
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our languages, the wonderful works of God.  Acts 2:6-11

This passage proves two very important points:

1)    The remaining disciples (now that Judas – the Judean – was dead) were ALL Galileans, and
2)    The visitors to the feast of the Passover, from many different countries, “heard in their OWN languages into which they were born.” 

The disciples were speaking KNOWN languages of the times.  They were NOT speaking gibberish – what is now referred to, in the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches (and, unfortunately, some mainline churches as well) as the (false) doctrine of “speaking in tongues.”
How were the Galileans different from the Judeans?
Galilee, in the northern part of Israel, previously had been conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  Most of the original population had been taken captive and the area had been repopulated by Assyrians, and later the Babylonians.  Many of the Galileans were pagans who worshiped many gods, including the God of Israel, just to make sure all their bases were covered.
The Galileans, many of whom were pagans – and NOT members of the “chosen” Organized Church of the day, were far more open to the message of Christ than were the Judeans, those who considered themselves most knowledgeable about the coming Messiah.  That’s why Jesus spent almost all of His time teaching in the area of Galilee.
However, Judea was the land “owned” and controlled by the Pharisees, where the religion was Phariseeism, the SAME religion of the Jews today.  Judaism is indistinguishable from Phariseeism.  They are one and the same.
The Judeans looked down on the Galileans with great disdain.  The Judeans considered the Galileans uncultured, uneducated, vermin.  Remember what was said about Christ:

“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”  (Nazareth was in Galilee.) John 1:46

It was the Pharisees and the Chief Priests (of Phariseeism/Judaism) and their followers who, two thousand years ago, who wanted to kill Christ.  The Jews deny this and try very hard to place the blame on the Romans.  But the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, tried his best to release Jesus.  He said, “I find NO FAULT in this Man.”
But the Jews cried out against Jesus all the louder, saying, “Crucify Him.  Crucify Him!”
It is the same group, the Jews of Phariseeism/Judaism – through the ADL and the ACLU and other Jewish organizations, who want to remove Christ and Christianity from every aspect of society today.  And eventually they will, with the help of the apostate Christians, call for the death of all TRUE Christians (See Revelation 13).
While the Jews try to deny their guilt for the death of Jesus two thousand years ago, they prove they are the guilty ones, because:
They are, in essence, “killing” Christ all over again!
The Jews of today have infiltrated all the “Christian” churches, and have placed spies in their midst, just as Judas had infiltrated the inner circle of the disciples of Jesus Christ.
Nothing has changed!