Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Love and Evil Come to the Party

 

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy.  While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.  The disciples were indignant when they saw this.  “What a waste!” they said.  “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”  But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me?  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.  She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.  I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”  Matthew 26:6-13

There are two distinct attendees to the party that stand out as the showcase of the Gospel’s message, love and evil.  Let’s get a look at both.

Love is the first guest, and it expresses in worship the gratitude which is natural for saved people.  Note the players, Simon (a leper who was healed by Jesus), and Mary, perhaps a former prostitute whom Jesus publicly rescued from those who would stone her. 

The woman anoints Jesus, having believed His prediction about the cross.  It is as much an act of faith as honor.  She gave an extravagant offering of her most prized possession.  In today's currency she dumped $40,000 worth of perfume on Jesus' head!  What kind of Savior can prompt that kind of expression of love?  When you consider where Mary and Simon had been, and the life they'd been given from Jesus, it's not hard to understand.

Love prostrates in worship while...

Evil Presumes

We notice that Caiaphas was concerned about "the people" (26.5).  He was really condescending.  He knew that he knew better than anyone.  He had an elitist attitude.  Elitist attitudes are ugly; they’re obscene when they show-up in the church. 

You hear some pretty strange and arrogant words coming out of elitist mouths:

          ·       I can teach that class better! 

          ·       The church doesn't have to know about this, THEY wouldn't understand

          ·       So what if the Bible doesn't exactly say so, we want it this way. 

The presumption of evil is that it knows better than God.

John’s Gospel[1] says that it was Judas who made the objection over Mary’s wasteful extravagance.  It's easy to bash old Judas; his name was like Hitler.  You could say anything about him, and it wouldn't be bad enough.  But Matthew, the streetwise tax collector, includes all the disciples.  Why the discrepancy?  Matthew KNEW!  It may have been Judas to SAY the words...but Matthew knew they were all thinking the same thing. 

Remember the depravity of human nature.  We all have evil and are capable of being Judas.  And the darker the evil gets around us, the more saved people can look with amazement, and think, MY GOD - THAT COULD BE ME

Let evil presume, you prostrate in worship!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image By James Tissot, Public Domain, via WikimediaCommons

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on Mary anointing Jesus, see: When the Fragrance Remains

 

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