Mark 14:1-9
Trickery…more trickery by people in spiritual leadership…the chief priests and scribes…”sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.”
This was in their hearts during Passover…the reminder of God’s amazing deliverance of Israelites from Egypt when the angel of death “passed over” the Jewish homes which had the “blood of the Lamb” on the doorpost of their homes in the form of a cross!
Let’s be joyful today to remember the blessings of deliverance in our lives where God has been so faithful and not be tricksters and not be focused on tricksters.
Because…
A woman (Mary) takes a very expensive jar of oil and prepares Jesus body for the pending burial. They are in Simon the Leper’s house…what a name to be known by…what name are you called? Leprosy was contagious…scary house, scary time, Jesus comes and hangs out right in it all!
Judas says “Why was the fragrant oil wasted? Same word for perdition that describes Judas in John 17:12…hmmm.
Wherever Jesus goes from here, people smell the fragrance of that act of Love by Mary. The fragrance of Jesus is in the upper room as Judas leaves during communion, in the garden with a kiss, arrested, the hands that beat him, scourged him, put the crown on his head, the cross, Simon the Cyrene’s back had the fragrance on it, the guys who nailed his hands had the fragrance passed on to them, the people at the cross, the soldier who speared his side, Joseph of Aramithea, even I suspect the guys on the road to Emmaus could smell this fragrance of Jesus.
Two questions:
1. Will we like Mary go to a contagious place even when no one else thinks it wise and pour all we have into Jesus? Before you answer remember you have a choice today to not be caught up in trickery when you and I should really be thankful for a Passover deliverance from our life by Jesus.
2. What are we smelling like today? What is our fragrance of Christ today? How do folks feel as we pass through their lives today?
BTW Mary was criticized sharply for pouring everything out into Jesus. Here is what Jesus said,
“But Jesus said, Let her alone.”
He will stick up for you today too as you pour out for Him!