‘When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask . . . of
very costly oil . . . and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which
no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “. . . there were some who . . .
said, ’Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended
Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “. . . wherever this gospel
is preached . . . what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to
her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any
of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but
being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the
world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our
lives for Him?’ CHAMBERS
Just as a point of interest .. In Mark 14, the
woman who came while Jesus was at the home of Simon the Leper was not named …
she poured the perfume on Jesus’ head.
In John 12, at a dinner with Mary and Lazarus, Mary poured perfume on
Jesus feet. My reason for including this
comment is that you must be careful to not just accept a reference to scripture
as accurate .. particularly when the person is using it to support a
teaching. Although who did it may seem
trivial and my addressing it petty, I want to encourage you to be like the Bereans
(Acts 17:11) and check it out.
The faith walk that the Lord has us on is full of “dangers,
toils and snares”. One of the most
difficult to overcome is not putting yourself first. Your body gets tired, your feelings get hurt, your
frustrations run high … but Jesus’ call and commands never change. There are times when I just want to find a
cave, like Elijah … maybe a cave by a pond where I could fish …. It is because
I have started to look at myself … because I have started to shift my focus
from Christ and others to myself. We are
to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). That requires two things .. first that we are
intentional about it .. it is something we think about and pray about .. and
second .. that we draw close to Jesus for our strength every day.
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