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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Him,
objected:
“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was
worth a year’s wages.”
He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a
thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into
it.
“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save
this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you,
but you will not always have Me.”
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came,
not only because of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the
dead.
So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account
of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in Him.
John 12:4-11
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In His earliest
extensive teachings, better known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and
vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.”
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love
the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve both God and money.” Matthew
6:19-21, 24
With these words of
wisdom from our Lord and Savior, we turn to the second half of the opening
scripture passage found in John, Chapter 12.
Yesterday, we looked at
the three verses where Jesus was being honored with a dinner at the home of His
dear friend Lazarus, who He had just resurrected from death after laying very
dead for four days in a tomb. We read where Lazarus was reclining at the table
with Jesus while his sister Mary was pouring a pint of very expensive perfume,
pure nard, on Jesus feet and wiping them with her hair. It was a beautiful
scene of devotion, much like an earlier one when Jesus was invited into the
home of Mary and her sister Martha and Mary was found sitting at Jesus’ feet
and listening intently to Him. After Martha complained that she was doing all
the work while her sister sat and did nothing, you may remember these words
that Jesus said to her:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few
things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it
will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
Martha was serving a
master called busyness while Mary was serving the one true Master, Jesus, the
one thing that was needed the most.
Well, fast forward to
the dinner thrown in Jesus’ honor. Mary had just anointed Jesus’ feet with the
expensive perfume and Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ chosen twelve and the group
treasurer, automatically objected to what she had done, saying:
“Why wasn’t this
perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”
As covered yesterday, the pure nard was worth around 300 denarii which
was the equivalency of a year’s wages in Jesus’ time. Translating the amount
into modern day currency, the perfume would have been valued at around $20,000.
Now in Judas’ opinion, what Mary did was a waste and tried to support his
point by suggesting there was a better use of the pure nard, like selling it at
its face value and using the money to help the poor.
But the word of God wastes little time letting us know that Judas’ words
were just a ruse. He had no more devotion to the poor than he had to Jesus, who
he would soon sell out for 30 pieces of silver. Further, the scriptures tell us
that Judas was a thief and had a habit of stealing money out of the bag he
kept, essentially taking from his own fellow disciples.
Well, Jesus was well aware of Judas and his sinfulness. He wasted little
time rebuking him, saying:
“Leave her alone. It
was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You
will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
Judas, you see, was serving a master named money while Mary, like the
first time she had encountered Jesus, was serving the one true Master, Jesus,
the Master whose time walking the earth was coming to a close. Indeed, soon,
the people would not have Him with them anymore.
Well, word was spreading fast about the miracle Jesus had performed. Jews
started to come to Lazarus’ home because they wanted to be with Jesus and see
for themselves that Lazarus was indeed brought alive from the dead. The end
result is that many of the Jews who visited placed their belief in Jesus and accepted
Him as their Master.
Unfortunately, not everyone was excited about what had happened. For the
scriptures tell us that the chief priests who were planning to arrest and kill
Jesus, now added Lazarus to their list. They saw Lazarus as someone who was a
bridge to believing in Jesus and that bridge needed to be eliminated.
The chief priests, and you can throw the Pharisees in with them, were
serving masters named jealousy, wickedness, and covetousness.
They refused to believe that Jesus was who He said He was, the Son of
their God who was One with Him. And because of that refusal, they were
unwilling to serve the true Master. Instead, they were too worried about their
base and the fact that Jesus was eroding it as Jews left to follow Him. They
feared that if it continued then their belief system would eventually become
obsolete because everyone would have shifted their faith toward their spiritual
adversary. They were jealous and coveted what He was gaining, so much so that
they were willing to break one of God’s primary commandments, “You shall not
murder.”
Through the attitudes and actions of Judas and the chief priests, we are
shown the dangers of serving any other master outside of the one true Master,
Jesus. And we see the very teaching of Jesus validated for indeed, you cannot
serve two masters, less you find yourself devoted to one and despising the
other.
Mary was devoted to Jesus and Jesus alone. She served one Master and her
full focus was on Him.
On the other hand, Judas and the chief priests chose to worship different
masters, masters that were not connected to God but rather to the world and its
sinful ways.
So this lends to these questions our scripture passage and this
associated message ask us to answer:
What is/are my master/masters in life?
Am I more like Mary or like Judas and the chief priests?
Do I serve God through His Son, Jesus, or am I serving something else
that is leading me away from the true Master?
My prayer is by
answering these questions, we can either validate that we are in the right
place or in a place where we need to leave and refocus our heart’s direction
and life’s affection on the Ones, Jesus and the God who sent Him to save us,
for they deserve it all.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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