The Journey to the Cross (Day 1 - DO NOT COUNT THE COST)


Good morning and Happy Sunday!

As we begin this final week before Easter, God is pressing on my heart to dig into Jesus in a series of posts.  The first one I want to tackle is on WORSHIP.

DO NOT COUNT THE COST - 

About a month ago, Jim and I had an opportunity to watch Season 4 of The Chosen in the theatre, and one of the stories that made me smile was the one about the woman who anointed Jesus' feet.

(I must pause here - for the gospels differ a bit in their telling of this story <see Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50, and John 12:1-8> and The Chosen based their retelling of the on the version found in John).

In a memorable episode, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  By then, we'd spent a bit of time getting to know the characters of that story.  Lazarus was Jesus' childhood friend.  Martha, the oldest sister was hard working - spending much of her days working hard to serve those who were guests in the family household.  Then Mary, the younger sister, seemed full of life and wonder, seemingly not yet jaded by the world...

After having seen her brother raised from the dead - Mary is both awestruck and grateful.  But more than that, she is now convinced that Jesus IS who He says He is, and she is looking for a way to thank him, to praise him, to honor him.

She decides to take some (or maybe all) of the money her brother had planned to leave as an inheritance, and she buys the MOST EXPENSIVE bottle of perfume available - Spikenard, a fragrant oil used in Temple services and in the anointing of kings.

Then, she goes to where Jesus is eating and teaching - daring to go where women were traditionally not allowed, and she pours the perfume on his feet, wetting it with her tears and drying it with her hair.

The men who were there were aghast, because what she was doing went against every "man-made" rule and tradition they had.  However, in that moment - I believe Mary actually showed the TRUE MEANING of worship.

Her response to Jesus was beautiful.  When she worshipped Him in this way it wasn't the sort of casual "I'll give an hour on Sunday" type of worship, but rather an extravagant worship where her focus was solely on Him and she bother to count the cost.  Not the cost of the perfume, or the cost of what those watching might think of her.  

What Mary did in that moment was a truly reverential, extraordinary form of worship where ONLY JESUS mattered. 

At the beginning of His life, Jesus was worshipped by kings, and then again near the end of His life, He was worshipped by a woman using oil meant for kings.  What a beautiful "full circle" turn of events!

Let our worship of the One who gave it all to free us from our sins - be the type that never counts the cost.

"And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.  Then, opening their treasures they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh." - Matthew 2:11

"Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus has raised from the dead.  So they gave a dinner for him there.  Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table.  Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.  The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?'  He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put in to it.  Jesus said, 'Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.  For the poor you will always have with you, but you do not always have me.'" - John 12:1-8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Petition for Prayers

Image
Hi there - today is my 400th post and I am wrestling a bit... so I'm asking for your prayers. I started this blog o ver a year ago, convinced it was something God wanted me to do.  It was way out of my comfort zone, and certainly not something I’d have done 10 years before, but  I had hoped that i n some way, it might help people get closer to Him. I knew that once I had finally given my life to God, EVERYTHING in my life changed, and  I desperately wanted people to experience the same JOY and PEACE I have felt since making that decision.   As they say, “I was like a poor beggar telling others where they could find food”. For months, the posts flowed easily and I would feel the Holy Spirit's inspiration…the words on the page practically writing themselves.  However, I'm not sure that is still the case.  Sometimes I feel as if I am struggling to hear His voice, and I honestly don't want to be writing MY thoughts - I want to be sharing HIS. So, I'm going to t...
Read more

The Journey to the Cross (Day 4 - THE LADDER)

Image
In the city of Jerusalem stands a church called  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher.   It has been proposed as the place of both the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it has been a place for pilgrimages since the 4th century. Considered holy, the site is cared for by no less than six denominations including Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox.  As such, it has been carefully parsed out into sections.  And sadly, arguments and violent clashes are not uncommon. Jim visited the church once on a trip with Northridge and told me about "The Immovable Ladder".  Apparently the ladder is a " bizzare outcome of religious stubbornness pushed to extremes. " For " Sometime in the first half of the 18th century, someone placed a ladder up against the wall of the church. No one is sure who he was, or more importantly, to which sect he belonged.  The ladder remains there to this day.  No one dares touch it, l...
Read more

The Journey to the Cross (Day 3 - ONLY JESUS)

Image
Today’s Holy Week post has me thinking about the 12 disciples. ONLY JESUS Can you name Jesus' 12 disciples?  If you've been watching The Chosen or reading your Bible regularly, you might be able to.  However - there are some, who - at least for me, are a bit in the shadows. Sure I know Simon/Peter, and his brother Andrew .  And then there was James and John, the sons of Thunder (or Zebedee to be exact).  There was Matthew, and Thomas, and Judas Iscariot.  And there was Simon the Zealot, and another James...but...but...a nd here is where my mind isn't as good at remembering.   So I Googled it. There was also Philip - a Jewish man from Bethsaida who apparently was the one to tell Nathaniel (another lesser known disciple) that "The One" Moses and the prophets had foretold in the Old Testament, was here.  Following Jesus' death Philip became a missionary in Greece and for his outspoken faith proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God - Philip was stoned and...
Read more