(Audio)
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
What can we do to love Jesus this Holy Week? What is something extra and extravagant that we can offer to the one who loves us so much? Even if it seems imprudent, this is the time to prioritize our walk with Jesus as much as we can. If the world criticizes, let us hear Jesus console us:
So Jesus said, "Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Let us find a way to spread the fragrance of the oil through the whole house. The spiritual oil which anoints us, which we can share in our turn, is the Holy Spirit, who is himself the oil of gladness. In what ways can we offer his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control to Jesus? It may even be costly. If we use a whole liter of the oil it will probably seem that way. But Jesus is well pleased with gifts of this kind.
The whole forward motion of the Kingdom seems too impractical to be true. It seems like we should use a more pragmatic approach that prioritizes strategy and power over gentle loving encounters. But it is not through power and strategy that the Kingdom advances.
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
In any case, we have nothing to offer back to God which is not first his gift to us. Even our gifts to him are in fact his gifts to us. After all, the gift we give may be to anoint Jesus, but the whole house is filled with the fragrance of it.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment