WEDNESDAY: GOING ALL IN

On Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus has ended his public teaching.  He has stopped pushing the message forward verbally and reclines to watch how we are going to respond to His message. Scripturally, this day is short and sweet. 

Nestled between these two camps of people who wanted to get rid of this pesky messiah, is a woman with an expensive bottle of perfume.  The value of the perfume shows that it is expensive.  It is something she had worked hard to purchase; and for some reason she is willing to break it over the feet of Jesus.

Now Jesus was in Bethany, in the home of Simon, a man Jesus had healed of leprosy. And as he was reclining at the table, a woman came into the house, holding an alabaster flask. It was filled with the highest quality of fragrant and expensive oil. She walked right up to Jesus, and with a gesture of extreme devotion, she broke the flask and poured out the precious oil over his head.  But some were highly indignant when they saw this, and they complained to one another, saying, “What a total waste! It could have been sold for a great sum, and the money could have benefited the poor.” So they scolded her harshly.

Jesus said to them, “Leave her alone! Why are you so critical of this woman? She has honored me with this beautiful act of kindness. For you will always have the poor, whom you can help whenever you want, but you will not always have me. When she poured the fragrant oil over me, she was preparing my body in advance of my burial. She has done all that she could to honor me. I promise you that as this wonderful gospel spreads all over the world, the story of her lavish devotion to me will be mentioned in memory of her.” - Mark 14: 3-9

For the woman to pour the bottle over the feet of Jesus, she had to snap the neck off of it. There was no dabbing a little bit here and there.  There was no saving some of later.  It was a bold moving of going all in.  She moved all in; just as Judas moved all out.

Through this story, we are reminded that like the jar, our lives have to be broken in order for the aroma of Christ to escape. Are we going to join this woman and bring forward the things we have labored a lifetime for and use them in praise of God?  Will we pour our praise on the feet of Jesus?

Why not drop the facade, let the mask start to crack, and invite the Living God fully in?

Lord, this is my desire to pour my love on You.