Alabaster Jar

Master There’s Still More

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This is Easter Sunday – the day that we Christians base our entire faith upon. Some of us are having some big dinners together with family and the scene in Bethany, where they were honoring Jesus with a feast is very much like that. John’s gospel tells us that his disciples and closest friends were all there. Everyone was talking and enjoying the great food when Mary quietly entered. At first no one noticed her, but then she took an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil, broke it open and began to pour the oil on the head of Jesus. The Bible says that fragrance filled the air and one by one people fell silent and turned their heads to see what was going on. John tells us that Mary anointed the feet of Jesus while in Matthew says she poured it on His head. In this song which I wrote for an Easter play a few years ago I imagine that she did both, because after pouring some on the head of Jesus, she saw that she still had more. Do you still have more for the Master this Easter? It doesn’t matter what others say or think. he is quietly waiting for us to share all we have, even if it seems a waste to others. Not one drop of the fragrance of our worship will be too much for Him!

If you would like to use my song, please just let me know. I will be glad to send you song sheets and give permission to use it without charge. You can contact me at Revpete51@gmail.com – God bless and Happy Easter all!

A Beautiful Aroma

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 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could – Mark 14:6-8a ESV

While my wife was away for three months, taking care of her sister because of a serious medical condition, today’s scripture became very real to me. Neighbors, fellow church members and sometimes even I, asked why she was taking so long. Sadly we sounded a lot like the folks in this familiar Bible story. It just seems to be part of our human nature to begin to question when a gift seems too costly. Even in the case where someone is giving to us, we sometimes react with the words, “You really shouldn’t have!” But if they buy a new car or a bigger home for themselves, we all shout, “Wow! Fantastic!”

When someone like the woman in today’s verse gives extravagantly, without expecting in return, we start criticizing. Maybe the reason is because of our own miserly giving. Instead of pouring out on the feet of Jesus we have kept the perfume for ourselves. I have found that it helps to ask, “What will I do with my alabaster jar in heaven?”

What will I do with my alabaster jar?

Here is the only place and today is the only day I can break it and give it away to Jesus. Remember that we can still smell the beautiful aroma of this one woman’s gift after 2,000 years!

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. 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?”

KIMG0914

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. That perfume continues to fill each of our rooms with its fragrance!