And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.
But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
While the chief priests plotted his murder with the help of his friend, Jesus ate at the house of a leper, receiving the beautiful, broken fragrance of a woman with only one thing left to give.
It was a waste, someone said (probably Judas who held the money bag). The perfume had been kept so long, worth so much. A man's wages for a year couldn't buy it. And yet, Mary, who had seen Jesus raise her brother and calm her sister, came into a house where she was unwelcome and broke open what remained of her treasure.
She let the perfume drip down his head and spared no kiss for his feet. No towel? No problem. Her hair would do. She knew what so many others missed--Jesus was soon to die. And as he'd poured out his healing oil on her life of mockery and misunderstanding, she would give him the thing she was supposed to save. She needed it no longer. Her prince had come.
Father,
We thank you for Sistah Mary. She sensed the need for something special, something accessible only by breaking open the stone. May the sweet scent of her sacrifice be with us today--a Jesus breeze, a reminder of the cross and all that led to it. A reminder to keep being broken and poured out, even when others call it waste.
In Christ's name, Amen
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Posted By: The SISTAHS Ministry
Friday, April 10th 2009 at 9:45AM
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