May 21, 2013
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 26:6-13
OBSERVATIONS/APPLICATION
No good deed goes unpunished.
As sure as taxes and death, criticism will follow our good deeds.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda… but at least she did something.
This woman has had her life dramatically changed, someone loved her as a person and not just as an object of desire.
Whether she knew she was preparing Jesus for burial (I suspect not), she is expressing her deep love for the Messiah, God’s agent of blessing for all who are poor, sick, abused, sinful, needy.
This passage is not saying that we have permission to honor Jesus with huge expenditures without worrying about the poor (like mega cathedrals in Calcutta?).
Our focus should not be on Jesus alone, but on Who Jesus is and what He represents… those who love Jesus will love poor!
His death and resurrection opens the way for a lifetime of loving and blessing the poor.
Some Christians use this line (always have poor people with you) to justify limits to our compassion, but this reveals more of their own hearts than Jesus’ heart.
As we saw in chapter 25, love for Jesus and the poor go hand in hand, to love one is to love the other.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, this poor woman loved You because of Your amazing compassion for her. May I be moved by the same love, and may it overflow in loving all people.
Jesus follower
trying to find His way
Same story, different points of view. What do I see in the story of the woman pouring oil onto Jesus. If I imagine that I was there what would my feelings be? First of all we are hanging out in the home of Simon the Leper. He is not called that for no reason? Is he still contagious? What if I touch something in this house and catch leprosy? Can’t we just meet somewhere safer?
And what about all this reclining and laying around? Aren’t we getting just a little too comfortable? Shouldn’t we just do what we came for and move along? And I am not sure if an announcement was made before this woman starts pouring stuff on Jesus’ head, or if we just started noticing the smell of the perfume, but that is a little odd. It sure makes me uncomfortable. This isn’t something you see every day. First of all that stuff is expensive. Where does she come up with the kind of money needed to pay for something like that? I am the kind of person who may have sided with the disciples on this issue. What they are suggesting is not bad or evil. After all, they have been with Jesus for quite a while now, and they know that he is passionate about helping the poor. So instead of wasting a lot of money, this act could have helped a lot of people. What they suggested was not wrong, but perhaps wrong at this moment.
Another thing was happening here. Sure from the observer of the disciples, we have someone pouring (spilling???) something expensive. But in a purely spiritual act, we have an anointing, preparing Jesus for death, before the event. This type of perfume could have been used to prepare a dead body for burial, if for nothing else but to mask the smell. But in that case one would wait until the person was being prepared for burial. Jesus saw this side of her act, and the moment became a very moving, spiritual act. It moved beyond the view of a person pouring stuff onto someone, and became an event that moved the spirit.
We can watch a person being baptized, and think that they are getting a little (or a lot) wet, and they can soon towel off, and everything will be fine. Or we can stop and think of the symbolism that is happening, look beneath the actual event, and see what God is saying to us in that moment.
I pray that I can stop to listen to what God is telling me through simple events of my life. When is a rainbow just an event of nature, and when is God talking to me, reaffirming his promises? I pray that I do not miss what is being said.
Observations:
Once again, Jesus is with the ‘outcasts’ of society – a leper of all things. Simon was healed by Christ and Jesus who was homeless now was with the homeless. And while there, Mary poured this expensive perfume on His head – total devotion – which yet the other disciples did not understand. Maybe she had ‘insights’ or feelings of future happenings which Christ’s inner circle did not know. Yet Christ announces the future – His death- to this elite group of friends in God’s eyes but not in ma’s eyes.
Application:
God continues to work in miraculous ways His wonders to perform. Christ is for all and all must give their all to Him. Mary worshipped Him. She lavished her love on Him as was shown by the great cost of the perfume and its use. Today, Jesus needs to be my All in all as I serve Him and continue to work in His Kingdom. I too need to give my all to Jesus. I am reminded of this as I too come to His table and see what great things He has done for me. Worship Him!
Prayer:
Open my eyes Lord that I may see You always as I live for You.
Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.
Kneels at the feet of his friends,
Silently washes their feet,
Master who acts as a slave to them.
Refrain
Neighbors are rich and poor,
Neighbors are black and white,
Neighbors are near and far away.
Refrain
These are the ones we should serve,
These are the ones we should love;
All these are neighbors to us and You.
Refrain
Loving puts us on our knees,
Serving as though we are slaves,
This is the way we should live with You.
Refrain
Kneel at the feet of our friends,
Silently washing their feet,
This is the way we should live with You.