Friday, Day
33: Countdown – 9 days
Reading for today:
Matthew 26:6-13
Mark 14:3-9
John 11:55-57 and 12:1-11
John is the only one of the Gospel writers who tells us that Jesus arrived 6 days before the Passover, and I am using his statement for establishing this portion of my timeline. Matthew and Mark’s accounts have led some to believe that Mary didn’t anoint Jesus with the expensive oil of Nard until the next Tuesday, but I hardly see how that could be possible. I’m not a scholar – and we don’t know for certain – but this is where I am dealing with that event and I think it fits. It also puts us on a day-by-day linear path in our journey toward the cross.
We know from history that the whole ‘Feast of Unleavened Bread’ lasted a week. We also know that Jesus waited until just the right time to go up to Jerusalem. His journey to Jerusalem takes him through Bethany where He just raised Lazarus from the dead about 2 months earlier. On this night, Jesus is being entertained at the home of Simon the Leper. The dinner is in Jesus’ honor. I suspect Simon was a leper Jesus had healed. He wouldn’t have been hosting dinner if he were still a leper – but the moniker stuck....
We note that Lazarus is one of the guests at the meal – and that Jesus’ dear friend Martha is there helping serve. But not Mary. Mary, in gratitude for all Jesus had done for her family, including raising her brother from the dead, has brought a very expensive jar of perfume, and as Jesus reclines at the table – as was the custom in that day – she comes in and pours about a pint of the costly perfume onto his head. A pint is 2 cups. It would have soaked his hair and spilled down onto his clothing. John alone tells us that the woman was Mary. John alone tells us that the one who objected was Judas Iscariot.
Greedy Judas is infuriated at the waste of a year’s earnings: money he says should have been spent helping the poor – and with what we know about him, more realistically intent on lining his own pockets.... Jesus defends her, and asserts that what she has done will be told throughout time for as long as people tell His story....
The scent of the Nard wafted through Simon’s home. Being so expensive, I doubt it washed off right away. It was a gift that lived on and ‘kept on giving’ for awhile....
The large crowd of Jews that came that evening to see this Jesus, who raised Lazarus from the dead – and to see Lazarus who was raised – certainly would have smelled it. Another story. Another memory. Another detail.
And while all of this wonderful was occurring, John lets us know that the Chief Priests are making plans to kill not just Jesus, but Lazarus as well. Lazarus was a liability, for because of the miracle of Jesus’ resurrecting him from the dead, many people were placing their faith in Jesus. All thorough criminals destroy the evidence, and that is what the religious elite were plotting.
It just amazes me that with so great a Savior performing such amazing miracles that they chose to pursue death instead of life – Eternal Life at that! What is sad is that it is the same today. In spite of all of the evidence that surrounds us, many do not see the Truth. Lord, as you walk with us, make blind eyes see!
Humor for today: More Bulletin Bloopers:
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married Friday evening in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
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