Author: pastorpete51

Unforgettable Gift – Part Two

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There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 
Mark 14: 4-5 ESV

When people saw Mary pouring the oil on Jesus’ head, they hushed and waited to see how He would respond. Then, without a word, Mary fell to her knees and poured out the remaining perfumed oil on the feet of Jesus, and then she wiped them dry with her hair! There was a shocked silence, but it lasted only a moment. Then Judas, began to criticize. For him, Mary’s act of love was more than unexpected, it was unwelcome. Sadly, his complaining drew in the other disciples who were caught up in his reasoning, “Why this waste?” they said. “This perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor!” But Judas didn’t really care about the poor. He really only cared about the money that he skimmed from every offering. For Judas, and those like him religion is all a business, meant to be smoothly run, so they can reap the side benefits of a prosperous life. Mary’s heart told her that she had met someone who was greater than religious traditions, and Jesus came to her defense. “Leave her alone! She has done a beautiful thing!” No one there realized that in just a few days, Jesus would be arrested, falsely accused, and nailed to a cross. But Jesus knew and said that her gift had prepared Him for all of what was to come. If we want to be like Mary this Easter then we must give our all for Jesus, even if no one understands. Then, just as He did for Mary, Jesus will defend us and pour out His love on us in a way that we will never forget!

An Unforgettable Gift

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And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 
Mark 14:3 ESV

No one saw the miracle of Easter coming, least of all His closest friends. Yet all along the pathway of His final days on earth, our Savior left them clues as to what lay ahead. Most of our churches begin the Easter story with Palm Sunday, but I would suggest that His final journey began a few days earlier at a supper table with friends. While everyone was arriving, Martha began serving the delicious meal she had prepared, and her brother Lazarus sat next to Jesus, but Mary was nowhere to be found. When, she did appear in the doorway with an alabaster jar in her hand, most likely, no one noticed. The room echoed with the clanking of plates and the hubbub that fills the air at every celebration. Now, though few were aware of her at first, when she stood directly in front of Jesus and broke open the alabaster jar that held her treasure they began to pay attention. As the scent of the powerful fragrance filled the room, Mary began pouring the perfumed oil over the head of Jesus in the manner of anointing that was reserved for the coronation of kings and the ordination of priests. Though no one understood what she was doing, Mary’s demonstration of love was so unforgettable that we are still talking about it today.

“Grace is your permanent process, your permanent position, and your permanent present. It’s where you are seated and where you are standing. For all of eternity, you get to go deeper and deeper into His wonderful grace!” Jennifer Arimborgo

Music of Our Hearts

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Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Today as I approach my seventy-fourth year, I am grateful to still be able play my guitar and sing for several long-term care facilities around our community. Strangely, my musical adventures began, not with guitar, but with six years of clarinet lessons. Because my Stepfather was a clarinetist, he chose that instrument for me as well and began teaching me beginning when I was about six. I am grateful now, but at that age, I was less than overjoyed to be down in our basement squawking away through clarinet lessons, while my friends were outside playing baseball. Through those years of what felt like endless practicing my dream was of a world without lessons. Oh, how I hated that instrument then, but today I am grateful for the discipline and the lifetime of music that those tedious lessons have given me.

Photo by Jose De la ossa on Pexels.com

In the same way, the spiritual discipline of prayer helps to prepare us for the challenges that life throws our way. Just as I was able to share precious moments, while my dad was in his final hours, by being able to play my guitar for him, so prayer prepares us to be used by God in the ordinary things of everyday life. Though, the discipline of practicing is unloved by children, they do not realize that childhood is the perfect time for them to learn. In the same way the discipline of prayer, especially when we are young, prepares our hearts for the battles that lie ahead in adulthood. The hours we spend in God’s practice room of prayer, will help prepare us for both our greatest joys and deepest sorrows, our biggest successes and most bitter defeats. Music and prayer are precious gifts, but how we practice those gifts is our choice. The Bible tells us to carefully guard our hearts, and there is no better way to guard them than by prayer. God knows that this discipline, though at times feels tedious, will teach us to play a melody in life that will echo the music of Heaven and the song of the redeemed!