The passage that jumped out at me the most was the description of Mary's act of worship, particularly the account in John.
I don't know how I've missed this my whole life, but I've never put 2 and 2 together and realized that this was Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. I think I had obviously and wrongly put this event together with the earlier annointing of Jesus by the penitent woman. Nope, two different scenarios.
In his sermons The Sweet Smell of Love and the Stench of Greed, Bob Deffinbaugh makes an important point about the extravagance of Mary....
Before we go on, we might do well to put this whole matter of “extravagance” into its proper perspective. When King Ahasuerus was searching for a new queen to replace Vashti, the women who were chosen as candidates went through a rather extravagant preparation process:
Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women (Esther 2:12, NKJV).
Furthermore, extravagance was expected and praised in a king:
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue, camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. … 9 And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there never were any spices such as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. … 22 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24 Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year (2 Chronicles 9:1, 9, 22-24, NKJV).
If, therefore, Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the gift which Mary lavishes upon our Lord is far from extravagant.
That sure puts it in the proper perspective doesn't it?!
Mary of Bethany is in fact another of the timeless, representative figures so wonderfully portrayed in this Gospel. She is a type of the true Christian worshipper, even as the sinful woman in the very different anointing story in Luke vii. 36-50 is a type of the true Christian penitent.
Mary's worship was extravagant, yet something she could afford to give. Though we are to give generously, we are not to go into debt in order to do so. Her worship was out of love, not duty. It was not done to draw attention, but it was done with humility. It was selfless, it was sacrificial.Jesus it not here with us bodily, so how can we worship Him extravagantly now?
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " Matthew 25:34-40
I just finished reading Max Lucado's Outlive Your Life, and he pointed something out about this passage I had never thought of before.
Jesus didn't ask us to heal the sick - but to look after them. He didn't ask us to liberate the prisons - but to visit them. He asked us to be His hands and feet to a hurting world.
We worship Jesus when we serve those He loves - humbly, selflessly, sacrificially, extravagantly.
Tomorrow's passage: John 12:37-50, Mark 11:12-33, Matthew 21:12-27, Luke 19:45-20:8
1 comment:
I just read or listened to a sermon about "extravagant acts of love and worship" recently, but of course, I don't remember by whom! He talked about this passage though, and came to similar conclusions. About WHY what Mary had done was the right thing, even though yes, her gift COULD have been used to help a significant amount of poor people for a significant amount of time. (though obviously, Judas didn't really have such generosity in mind when he critized her use of the perfume) I think one of the speaker's main points was that we need to be willing to make extravagant sacrifices, to perform extravagant acts of love and/or worship from time to time, even though they may attract negative attention from others. It's far more important that we acknowledge and express boundless gratitude to God for His extravagant love, mercy, and grace.
Good catch, pointing out that we aren't called to heal the sick and free the prisoners, just that we're to love them and care about them. I'm not sure I've noticed that before.
Great post, Tammy!
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