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!
But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40-42
This well-loved passage has many of us chuckling, as we consider ourselves a bit more like a Martha than a Mary. But our fondness for the story may cause us to miss the reason Luke included it. He alone could have recalled from firsthand experience as he accompanied Paul, how a life of service could be thrown off track by busyness. Martha was in many ways a lot like Paul. She loved Jesus with all her heart and didn’t care what anyone else thought about her faith. Remember it was Martha who invited Jesus over in the first place. Yet somewhere in the middle of her determination to serve Jesus, Martha began to lose focus. With her house filled with disciples, servants and even a few curious neighbors, she forgot that the whole occasion was supposed to be about Jesus. In the midst of our serving, sometimes you and I, like Martha, also forget who the most important person in the house is!
There are other times we get caught in the “service trap”, because of the expectations of others. As Pastor Rick Warren once famously said, “God loves you, and everyone else has a wonderful plan for your life!” We mean to take time for prayer and reading God’s word, but the phone rings, a text message grabs our attention, or we decide to check our Facebook page, just one more time. Little by little our day is eaten away by distractions, and the Holy Spirit’s voice is drowned out by the banging of our own pots and pans. With our hours consumed by serving, it is easy to miss out on taking time for the only one who really knows what we should do.
Last of all, while Martha asked for Jesus to pay attention to her needs and feelings, Mary just sat at HIs feet, with her eyes on Him. When we allow our serving to overwhelm us, we may elicit sympathy from others or even cause them to jump in to give us a hand, but we lose our chance to point to Jesus. But when, like Mary we give our complete attention to Him, then we can begin again to draw others to look to Him, because He is the most important person in the room!
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha.This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”John 11:1-3
The last couple of weeks have been challenging for us. Between unexpected major repairs to our home along with a severe arthritis flareup in my right hand, we have had to abandon most of our summer plans, including our annual trip North to be with our family and friends. But I am thankful that our kids will come see us in July, and when I called my doctor, he agreed to see me right away, and today, after lots of prayers and a week of steroids, I happy to report that God has given me back the use of my right hand. These couple of weeks reminded me of the story in the Bible that begins when Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus to please come because their brother Lazarus is sick.
God is Most in Control When we Are Not! Just like Martha, I love making plans and I hate being late in completing them. The problem is that when we get everything on our checklists done on time and under budget, it leaves no space for God’s grace. But when we can’t do what we planned, then we start asking God for help. That is how this story begins. The ladies urgently sent a message for Jesus to show up, but guess what: He didn’t come, and Lazarus died. Jesus knew He could have gone to Bethany and healed Lazarus, but He decided not to. Has God ever decided to do something like that in your life? I know He has in mine! But the story doesn’t end there. Though Mary and Martha’s plans had crashed and burned to ashes, God’s plans were just getting started!
We Grow Closer to Others When we Need Each Other: In Luke chapter Ten, when we first met Martha, we can see that she loved to serve, and best of all she loved serving Jesus. But what Martha couldn’t understand was why her sister Mary just sat around listening to Jesus while she had to do all the work. But after their brother Lazarus died, Martha’s attitude of criticism changed. She no longer wasted her energy trying to manage Mary’s choices. Instead, after Lazarus died, the two sisters had to stick together as their brother was laid to rest. Until Jesus came, their only comfort came from each other and the people who showed up to help. Then when Jesus finally came, we don’t read a single word of criticism. Their mutual loss had brought Mary and Martha closer to each other and more dependent on Jesus than ever.
Closing the Door to Our Old Plans Opens the Door to God’s New Ones! Just like the day when Mary and Martha had to say their goodbyes to Lazarus as the stone was rolled over the entrance to His tomb, there are mornings in all our lives when it feels like everything is falling apart. We have to finally admit that our plans are never going to work out. Our ideas have failed, and we need to close that chapter forever. But rolling the stone over the door to our dreams is the beginning, not the end of God’s plans for our lives. There is more to the story that God can only tell, when we wait to see what He will do next. Though the sisters didn’t know it at the time, the best was yet to come, when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb!
Now I can’t possibly know what your situation is this morning, but Jesus does. He knows you have called for Him to come. You have wept at His feet asking God why He has allowed these things to happen and why He hasn’t intervened. But Jesus is not through with us. He has a new chapter for our lives, just as He did for Mary and Martha. But before we get to experience that plan, we may have to unwrap it and set it free to do all and only what God has in mind!
Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” John 11:43-44 NLT
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