As we are approaching Easter, it is important to call our attention to what it is truly about. I ask a child recently what Easter was about and the first words were candy. I know most children love the idea of getting a basket full of candy and enjoying it throughout the week. However, children need to be taught over and over that it is about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. We as adults know the correct answer for a Christian, but many times our thoughts default to the enjoyment we get from this Sunday celebration instead of the resurrection. As we approach Easter let’s take time to think about what it was like for Jesus as He came closer to His death.
For three years He had spent time teaching and training His disciples to continue His work. He had done miraculous works that caused great crowds to follow Him. He had grown close to many such as Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He had welcomed children to come to Him, and He had stood before those in positions of great authority, such as the Sanhedrin and Pharisees. Jesus had healed young and old, cast out demons, fed the multitudes, and now He was getting closer to His purpose for coming.
Just six days before the death of Jesus He spent some time with His dear friends Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and His disciples in Bethany. The night before His triumphant ride into Jerusalem He had a meal with them, and Mary anointed His feet with some very expensive ointment. This was a lavish show of love for her Savior. She not only poured out an expensive ointment on His feet, but she also did it herself instead of having a servant do it. She didn’t leave Him to retrieve a towel, instead, she wiped His feet with her hair. What a beautiful picture of her love for Jesus. Little did she know it was only days until His crucifixion.
John 12:1-3 “Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.”
Jesus was so blessed by her actions that He instructed Judas to leave her alone when he spoke up and scolded Mary for, as he put it, wasting this ointment. Jesus also knew that he was not concerned about the poor but was a thief, only thinking about the money.
John 12:4-6 “Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.”
Jesus now tells them something they didn’t understand. They had no idea He would soon die on a cruel cross. Some scholars think Mary may have understood more than the disciples, but I think she loved Him so much she was taking every opportunity to show her love for Him. She was willing to give all for her Savior. Holding back nothing for herself, she poured the most valuable thing she had upon the one she loved most. The disciples heard what Jesus said, that she was pouring this out against the day of His burying, but we have no record of them asking Him what He meant. They still did not get it! They listened but heard what they wanted to hear. This is so much like people who go to church, hear the preacher, and get up and walk away without any change in their hearts.
John 12:7-8 “Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.”
As you approach Easter what are you pouring out on Jesus? Have you thought about a sacrifice that you can make to spend more time with Him? For most, the opportunity will be wasted and spent getting ready for the day by cooking, buying candy for kids, coloring eggs to hunt, and shopping for new clothes to wear to church. These next few weeks are grand opportunities to meditate on what Christ did for us. It is a time for us to challenge our hearts by listening and obeying what we can through the preaching of the Word. It is time to make the most of the season by inviting those who don’t normally attend church to come and see what it is all about. It is a time to reflect on the goodness of God. His goodness to us could not be expressed in a greater way than to give His Son’s life for ours. It is a time to give everything about you to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. When you have true love in your heart for Jesus, there will be nothing too good or good enough to give Him. By reading this you have been challenged. What will you do with it? Will you allow it to change your heart, and change your life? Will you have a deeper love and appreciation for what Christ did for you?
