Bethany

Master There’s Still More

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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

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. John 12:3 NKJV

I had long been puzzled by the differences in the stories of the anointing of Jesus at Bethany. Then I began to re-imagine the scene at the banquet. I saw Lazarus seated next to Jesus, with Martha serving the tables as the people slowly filled the room. Then Mary appeared in the doorway, holding her alabaster jar of perfumed oil. Silently she slips through the crowd to come behind where Jesus reclined and she breaks the seal on her jar pouring some on the head of Jesus.

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The power of the fragrance immediately filled the room. A momentary silence ensued as the guests stopped and turned to see what had happened. But then just as quickly, the air was filled with complaints about such a waste of resources being made. Mary kneels unashamed looking up to Jesus’ face and seeing His acceptance of her gift, she pours the rest of the perfumed oil on His feet and wipes them clean with her hair. No matter how she looked to others Mary was focused on only one thing. She still had more for Jesus! As we are traveling together towards the Passion of Christ this month, we should also ask; “Am I all too worried about what everyone else will say?”, or can I say with Mary, “Master there’s still more!”

 

The Fragrance of the Perfume

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Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. John 12:3 NKJV

While Hollywood has generally given us the impression that Mary was a young beautiful woman; that may not have been the reality. In that time even poor young beautiful women would have been married and Mary was not poor. While we do not know Mary’s age it seems possible that she and Martha were both widows, living with their brother Lazarus. That would give us an entirely different view than the film version. In this scene we meet a Mary who kept all her savings in that perfume jar. It acted as something of a retirement account. As she grew older with no marital prospects, no way to work or even the right to own property that perfume was all she had besides the kindness of her brother. She was presenting that gift in a single defining moment as her worship and expression of love to the Lord Jesus.

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Photo by Abby Chung on Pexels.com

As the fragrance filled the room people began one by one to realize how exorbitant and yes even a little crazy what Mary was doing really was! Her family and friends were shocked but silent. Then one by one the disciples, beginning with Judas, began to protest. “Why wasn’t this sold …and given to the poor?”

But Jesus knew Mary’s heart and while she remained silently at His feet He defended her. Today we have little to describe how Peter or John, Andrew or Phillip worshiped, but Mary’s gift is still remembered. After 2,000 years, her perfume continues to fill each of our rooms with its fragrance!

Palm Sunday Worship

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The week between Palm Sunday is a unique time for us to pause and reflect. Almost half of the book of John focuses our attention on what Jesus did and said that week, from the supper in his honor on the eve of Palm Sunday to the Resurrection breakfast on the beach. Jesus is worthy of all our praise and worship. Can we look back at our life as an alabaster jar from which the perfumed oil is poured? Look into your jar today and you will see that there is still more to be given to Him!

Yes Master, There’s Still More!