Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this Wednesday of Holy Week. We will gather for our mid-week gathering for fellowship and study at 6 PM followed by Choir practice at 7:30 PM. We look at the life of our Lord during Holy Week, the last days He spent on earth. According to St. Mark 14, Jesus was anointed at Bethany at this time.
Unbelievers, guided by a life philosophy that promotes selfishness (the attitude that says, “You’ve gotta look out for ‘Number One’”) have always had a hard time trying to understand the lifestyle of Christ’s disciples. The world that we know has a philosophy that models greed (“Take what you can get!”), and a philosophy that assigns importance in dollar figures (how often have you heard someone ask, “What do you think he’s worth?”), but the disciples all behind for Christ.
Christ-centered people are difficult to understand in the context of a self-centered world. We read about one woman who, in the presence of Jesus Christ, was so overwhelmed by the wonder of who he was and by the thought of all he had done in her life, that she did something which many present thought was a foolish thing. While Jesus was on his last journey to Jerusalem He stopped at the village of Bethany. While he was there, he was invited to the house of Simon the leper for a dinner in his honor. Mary, however, is the focus of our story as John recorded that she was the one who broke the precious alabaster jar and poured the perfume over Jesus.
Mary entered the room with “an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard.” This was her way of giving to Jesus. Mary gave her precious perfume. It was Passover week, a week in which special efforts were made to help the needy. The disciples found it hard to imagine how anyone who ought to be giving alms to the poor could just throw it away like this! Just think how much good this money could have done if it had been used to feed hungry families or to clothe naked children! Instead it was, by the thought of the day, wasted through the extravagance of an impulsive woman.
There are many different kinds of giving in the scriptures: the giving of our time, our money, our possessions. In fact, giving is the story of the Christian faith. The Bible itself is a book on giving. It tells how God gave man life, created the world for him and gave him dominion over every other creature. He gave man a home in the garden of Eden and, when man fell, he gave him a promise of redemption. He gave the Israelites a law. He has given us the Church and the promise of eternal life. But, above all else, he has given us his Son. The very essence of Christianity is the cross where God so loved the world that he gave.
The Bible is also the story of man giving back to God. Cain and Abel brought gifts to God. When Noah got off the ark, he gave an offering to God. The Jews gave tithes to God; not just one, but three different tithes plus free-will offerings. They gave as much as 15-30% of their income to God. The church is also to give. “Let every one of you lay by in store as God hath prospered him" (I Corinthians 16:2). An accurate description of the New Testament church is that we should be a fellowship of givers.
Love always seems wasteful to those who don’t love. Judas had witnessed an action of love and he called it extravagant waste. He said, "Why this waste?" May God give us more of that kind of waste! May God grant us more sacrificial expressions of love, because the offerings of love are never wasted. Mary took the most precious thing that she possessed and spent it all on Jesus. Genuine love always contains an element of extravagance.
William Barclay said in his commentary on this passage, "Love does not neatly calculate the less or the more. It is not concerned to see how little it can decently give. If it gave all it had, if indeed it gave all the world, the gift would still be too little." There is a certain recklessness in love which refuses to count the cost.
Mary entered the room with “an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard.” This was her way of giving to Jesus. Mary gave her precious perfume. It was Passover week, a week in which special efforts were made to help the needy. The disciples found it hard to imagine how anyone who ought to be giving alms to the poor could just throw it away like this! Just think how much good this money could have done if it had been used to feed hungry families or to clothe naked children! Instead it was, by the thought of the day, wasted through the extravagance of an impulsive woman.
There are many different kinds of giving in the scriptures: the giving of our time, our money, our possessions. In fact, giving is the story of the Christian faith. The Bible itself is a book on giving. It tells how God gave man life, created the world for him and gave him dominion over every other creature. He gave man a home in the garden of Eden and, when man fell, he gave him a promise of redemption. He gave the Israelites a law. He has given us the Church and the promise of eternal life. But, above all else, he has given us his Son. The very essence of Christianity is the cross where God so loved the world that he gave.
The Bible is also the story of man giving back to God. Cain and Abel brought gifts to God. When Noah got off the ark, he gave an offering to God. The Jews gave tithes to God; not just one, but three different tithes plus free-will offerings. They gave as much as 15-30% of their income to God. The church is also to give. “Let every one of you lay by in store as God hath prospered him" (I Corinthians 16:2). An accurate description of the New Testament church is that we should be a fellowship of givers.
Love always seems wasteful to those who don’t love. Judas had witnessed an action of love and he called it extravagant waste. He said, "Why this waste?" May God give us more of that kind of waste! May God grant us more sacrificial expressions of love, because the offerings of love are never wasted. Mary took the most precious thing that she possessed and spent it all on Jesus. Genuine love always contains an element of extravagance.
William Barclay said in his commentary on this passage, "Love does not neatly calculate the less or the more. It is not concerned to see how little it can decently give. If it gave all it had, if indeed it gave all the world, the gift would still be too little." There is a certain recklessness in love which refuses to count the cost.
What was the response of Jesus to all of this? In Mark 14:6-7, Jesus responded, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but me you do not always have." Then Jesus gave perhaps what is the most beautiful description of what real Christian love and real Christian service is. He let each believer know what he wants of each of us. He said Mary "has done what she could".
When Mary anointed Jesus, she was not looking for a place in the spotlight. She did not try to win the applause of the crowd. She merely showed her overwhelming love for the Lord, but her act made her name immortal. In fact, had she performed this deed in order to be remembered, she doubtless would have been forgotten, because the Bible is not given to preserving the names of those who seek the spotlight. Jesus assured Mary of a permanent place in history because she performed a deed of such selfless love. He told her that she would never be forgotten. He said, "Wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of as a memorial to her." (Mark 14:9). When Mary is forgotten by the world, it will be a late day in the history of mankind. When the world has forgotten her, then it will also have forgotten the story of Jesus, who was bruised for our iniquities and wounded for our transgressions.
Jesus commanded those of us who would come afterward to be sure to include this story in our story telling until Jesus comes again. As we reflect on the selflessness and self-forgetfulness of Mary, may the Lord make us less logical and more generous. May He cause us to be less analytical, but more compassionate, less self-centered but more Christ-centered, less concerned about what somebody might think or say and more anxious to honor the One who first loved us.
When Mary anointed Jesus, she was not looking for a place in the spotlight. She did not try to win the applause of the crowd. She merely showed her overwhelming love for the Lord, but her act made her name immortal. In fact, had she performed this deed in order to be remembered, she doubtless would have been forgotten, because the Bible is not given to preserving the names of those who seek the spotlight. Jesus assured Mary of a permanent place in history because she performed a deed of such selfless love. He told her that she would never be forgotten. He said, "Wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken of as a memorial to her." (Mark 14:9). When Mary is forgotten by the world, it will be a late day in the history of mankind. When the world has forgotten her, then it will also have forgotten the story of Jesus, who was bruised for our iniquities and wounded for our transgressions.
Jesus commanded those of us who would come afterward to be sure to include this story in our story telling until Jesus comes again. As we reflect on the selflessness and self-forgetfulness of Mary, may the Lord make us less logical and more generous. May He cause us to be less analytical, but more compassionate, less self-centered but more Christ-centered, less concerned about what somebody might think or say and more anxious to honor the One who first loved us.
In Christ,
Brown
Join us for our weekly television outreach On Good Friday , April 6,2012 on Time Warner Cable Channel 4, at 7 PM.
Saturday Evening Worship Service:
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott, NY
Sponsored by: Union Center United Methodist Church
Time: 6:00 PM gathering for Coffee Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship Service
Date: Saturday, April 7, 2012
will be a very special Easter Eve celebration. This will be held at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. The service of worship and praise will include Hymns and songs both classic and contemporary. We are blessed to have Aric Phinney at the Grand Piano, and Yancey Moore at the Pipe Organ, Dave Berry as the song leader and soloist, along with special musicians Winnie Allen, Jack Nelson, and Emma Brunson. Come, Share, and Rejoice.
APRIL 5 at 6:30 PM there will be a Maundy Thursday foot washing and communion service. We will gather in the Fellowship Hall for this special service.
APRIL 6 at 6:30 PM there will be a Good Friday Service at Union Center UMC –
"Simon Peter" will be presented by our brother Jim Geer and the team. Join us for this very special presentation on the life and witness of Simon Peter.
APRIL 7 at 6:30 PM APRIL 8 at 6:30 AM A Sunrise service will be held at the pavilion at Union Center Christian Church, 950 Boswell Hill Road. Rev. Marshall Sorber will be preaching. We will have special music. Mr. Katchudurian will be presenting special Easter Music on his trumpet.
APRIL 6 at 6:30 PM there will be a Good Friday Service at Union Center UMC –
"Simon Peter" will be presented by our brother Jim Geer and the team. Join us for this very special presentation on the life and witness of Simon Peter.
APRIL 7 at 6:30 PM APRIL 8 at 6:30 AM A Sunrise service will be held at the pavilion at Union Center Christian Church, 950 Boswell Hill Road. Rev. Marshall Sorber will be preaching. We will have special music. Mr. Katchudurian will be presenting special Easter Music on his trumpet.
You are all welcome back to the Union Center United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall for a special Easter Morning breakfast prepared and served by Jim Holmes and the team.
We will gather for Special Easter Celebration and worship at 8:30 and 11:00 AM
at the Union Center UMC. The Youth and children will be presenting a very special song for Easter morning at both services. The Adult Choir will also be singing at both services. Sunday School will meet at 9:50 AM. We will gather for Easter Morning Worship at Wesley at 9:30 AM. We have so much to celebrate. We have so much to sing about. We have so much to rejoice in. It is all About Jesus, who came, who saw, and who conquered. He is upon the Throne.
No comments:
Post a Comment