Wednesday, March 31, 2021
A Hard and Beautiful Sacrifice
This week is the week leading up to Jesus’
crucifixion. Thinking about the events that took place the last week of Jesus' life, and the unspeakable way He suffered and died stirs emotions. It's the kind of emotions that leaves you feeling a little disturbed, but that is ok - we need to be a little disturbed about what He endured for us. Reading about what Jesus did His last week
here on earth, who He was with, and especially the last 24 hours of His life,
have really made me think. We have heard about these things, but we often try to not think about what really happened. You may also choose to ignore the truth of
all that Christ went through for you, but the facts remain and it is good for
all of us to face this at some point in our lives. And when you do, it will have a profound
effect on your life.
Imagine actually being there as one who loves Jesus and see him experiencing this all in person. One such person was an unnamed woman who came to a house where Jesus was eating. She came for the sole purpose of anointing His head with precious oil.
Anointing
Jesus was in Bethany at
the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While
Jesus was eating, a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very
expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume
on Jesus' head. Some of the people there became angry and said to one another,
"What was the use of wasting the perfume? It could have been sold for more
than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!" And they
criticized her harshly. But Jesus said, "Leave her alone! Why are you
bothering her? She has done a fine and beautiful thing for me. You will always
have poor people with you, and any time you want to, you can help them. But you
will not always have me. She did what she could; she poured perfume on my body
to prepare it ahead of time for burial. Mark 14:3-8
This woman's act of devotion will be
the last expression of tenderness that Jesus receives before Judas sneaks away
to betray him. How precious that
anointing in Bethany must have been to him.
He could see how much the woman loved him, He could see that she
recognized him as Messiah, and He could see that she knew that He was going to
die. She was anointing the body that
would not otherwise be anointed before burial.
The text says that the woman broke open the jar which shows that she was
generous in lavishing the jar's entire contents on Jesus. But it also speaks of the occasional practice
of anointing a corpse and then breaking the oil flask and placing it in the
coffin. Unlike the other disciples, this unnamed woman understood the way of
the cross. Unlike the other two
disciples who are key characters in Mark's story of the Passion - Judas, who
betrayed Jesus, and Peter, who denied him - this unnamed woman understood the
Gospel. She knew that Jesus was the Messiah and that "for the sake of the joy that was set before him" Hebrews 12:2 - the
joy of redeeming humanity and all creation, the joy of reuniting you and me
with our loving Creator - He had to endure the cross. This unnamed woman represents all of us who
have felt blessed and strengthened by Jesus' presence and who long to offer
back some expression of blessing in return.
He did suffer excruciatingly for you
and me, because He loves us so much. It is good to remember now and then exactly
what price was paid for our salvation. This
woman paid an extraordinary piece of respect to Christ as she thought nothing
too good to bestow upon Him to do Him honor. Christ must be honored with all we
have, and we must not think to keep back any part of the price. Do we give him
the precious oil of our best affections? Let Him have them all; love Him with all your
heart.
