By David ReayMonday 15 Dec 2014LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Mark 14:3-9
3 Meanwhile,Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon,a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating,a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. 5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.
6 But Jesus replied,”Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? 7 You will always have the poor among you,and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I tell you the truth,wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world,this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” (NLT)
This anonymous woman was not a Bible scholar,not an intellectual giant. She was not a paragon of virtue offering a model of domestic bliss. She was perhaps someone who lacked a lot of what we might call ‘life skills’. But she did have something: a passionate,thankful appreciation of Jesus. And she did what she could to express it.
This passage is not only a description of what passionate love might look like. Not only a rebuke to those whose love for Jesus has gone cold beneath the routines of church and the struggle to maintain orthodoxy. It is not only about passion and extravagance.
It is also about our ‘doing what we can’. Just as this woman showed her love according to her resources and situation,so we show our love for Jesus according to who we are. It might not seem to amount to much. We may not hit the headlines or change the world in one bold gesture. We may not be mentioned when the ‘thanks’ are handed out at church functions.
But we do what we can. Some write,some speak,some mend,some listen,some pray,some study,some greet,some donate,some clean,some organise,some watch and wait. We are not all meant to do what everyone else is doing. We are meant to do what is right for us and possible for us in a given situation. We do what we can,and even if that doesn’t bring human approval,it brings a smile to the face of God.
Blessings
David Reay