Today I am breaking away from the Proverbs 31 woman to another Amazing Woman in the Bible.  With this being Easter Sunday, I want to intertwine some information into the typical  Easter story for you to ponder.  The verses I will be referring to are John 12:1-8, John 11:1-51, Luke 10:38-42.  If you would like to go to Bible Gateway you can pull them up as I talk about them, rather than listing all of them today.

We are going to be talking about the story of Martha, Mary and Lazarus and Simon the Leper.  Jesus was good friends with Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  He had a close friendship with them.  They felt very comfortable around Him and they were good Jewish people–they knew who HE was.  John 11  When Lazarus died, Martha says to Jesus-“if you hadn’t waited so long, you could have saved him”.  She wasn’t timid, she lets Jesus know how she was feeling.  Jesus loved this family and he wept over the death of his friend even though He knew He was going to raise him from the dead.

Luke 10: Another time Jesus is in their home and Martha–the Hostess with the Mostest–had probably been running her Cricut non stop making things for the event, running to Lowes for some new paint, hitting Hobby Lobby for any fabric and extra Easter decor, she was making her meal plan and printing off a special Menu, spray painting her dollar tree finds with Oil Rubbed Bronze and checking her favorite Junk shops for those special pieces on the table.  Doesn’t that sound like US?

Jesus arrives and she wants everything to be PERFECT.  She gets frustrated because Mary is sitting at Jesus feet–soaking in everything He has to say.  Martha says to Jesus-“-Can you put her in her place and tell her to do what girls are supposed to do–she needs to help me.  I can not get it all done by myself”.  Instead Jesus tells Martha she is doing the right thing.

Martha is a DOer and Mary is a deep THINKer.

That is all background info. Today–we are going to talk about the last time Jesus sees them before He is CRUCIFIED but here is a little more to think about:

We know they are well to do.  They have a large home because they have a party for Jesus and it accommodates a large crowd.  Martha is preparing food for everyone there.

Judas is upset over the wasted perfume–its value was a years salary–for one bottle of perfume.

The perfume was most likely purchased for her wedding some day.  The other mention of this expensive perfume is in the most erotic book of the Bible–Song of Solomon.  It talks about the bride preparing herself for that intimate meeting.

Perfume was also bought for burial, she could have purchased it and been saving it for his death.

It does not appear that Lazarus and Mary are married–

They may be teenagers, since most married before they were 20 in those days

We do not hear anything about their parents so they may be orphans

Mary is probably the oldest and it appears that she is married to Simon the Leper

Simon the Leper is a nickname because he was healed.

This story takes place 6 days before the Passover–just before Jesus dies.

Bethany–where they live is only  2 miles from Jerusalem.

Mary is at Jesus feet again–soaking up everything He has to say.  Martha is still running around.  She doesn’t dare go to Jesus again because she KNOWS what HE will say and yet rather that sit at His feet, she keeps DOING.

Mary has taken in all Jesus has said over the time they have known Him.  She knows His purpose, she knows His time on Earth is short.  She goes and gets her flask of perfume and breaks it.  This isn’t a bottle she will put the top back on.  She breaks it–for her beloved and pours the entire bottle on his feet.

The aroma would have been so strong it would have filled the room.  People walking by probably could smell it coming from the house.  In Bible times, it was customary for servants, not the hostess, to wash the feet of guests.  They wore sandals and had dusty dirt roads. Anointing was for a King, or a  priest, but they anointed their heads.  It is interesting that she is pouring it over his feet–a servants job but a tribute to a King.  He humbled himself and came to Earth.  He walked among them, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords but many were blinded and did not see who HE really was.

So this story takes place 6 days before the passover.  Judas is frustrated that she didn’t just sell it and give the money to Him so He could put it in their account and give to the poor.  Was he really concerned with the poor–no he would skim money –he was a thief- he wanted all that money in his hands and Jesus knows this.  He stops him, he encourages Mary for her behavior and acts.  He tells Judas you will always have the poor, You won’t always have me.  Mary doesn’t follow the standard for girls — they did not sit at a man’s feet.

She sits at his feet and maybe everything is starting to come together.  She is fitting all the pieces together, from things He has said.  She knows He will not be here much longer and so she goes to get her perfume.  If she had purchased it  for His burial, she may have decided she would rather use it on Him while He was still alive, showing her love for Him.  They are well to do, none of them appear to have a job.  She may have decided she would use it and just get more for his burial or this could have been saved for the day she got married and she decided to use it on the one who loved her enough to sacrifice Himself.

There is so much Nard perfume, an entire flask of oil, permeating the air. Have you ever been around someone who has put on too much perfume–it is strong.  This was stronger than any perfume it was oil,  it got into the pores of Jesus and lingered there.

NARD-Now that is one special name for perfume.  It just doesn’t have the same ring as Chanel No. 5 or Obsession.  NARD–it sounds like something you would pick up to take care of a fungus under a toe nail not an expensive perfume, but expensive it was.  \

Mary lets down her hair–another act that woman in that day did not do.  She anoints HIM-signifying His Holiness.  The oil is running everywhere and she wipes up the perfume with her hair.

The perfume covers the stench of Judas and the vile man that he was but it won’t cover it for long.  He needed to be covered by the blood of His Savior, the blood that covers the sins of all who will accept the gift.

They did not bathe or shower like we do today, it was not a daily or weekly event.

A few days, after being in their home, Jesus was crucified.  As He hung on the cross dying for you and me, was their still a scent of Mary’s  perfume reminding Him of her act of love?

Are we more concerned with finances than the King?

Are we too busy being the perfect hostess that we forgot the most important task–the King?

Are we like Lazarus–socially proper and doing what we are supposed to do in a social event rather than focusing on the KING?

Or like Mary–not following what others think but following the conviction God has placed in her heart as He has in all of us, giving our most valued possession for the KING?

It wasn’t the nails that kept Him on the cross–He could have come down, it was HIS love that kept Him there, even when His own Father could not look at Him because of all the Sin that Jesus had taken upon Himself.  His own father-God turns His face, He can not look at Him.  He is hanging on the cross, TOTALLY ALONE-having done nothing wrong.  He hangs with the sins of every man, woman and child, from the first person-Adam to the last person ever born and when He has taken on the very last sin–He says IT IS FINISHED.  He did not die from the crucifiction itself He died from bearing your sin and mine.

When my big boys were smaller, I explained Sin and how God looks at it like this:  I told them-it is as if you had rolled in a pile of manure.  You stick so bad, it is so gross and disgusting that He can not even look at you but the Gift of God washes away all of that and it’s as if you have gone to a spa and been cleaned up and have new clean clothing on and had never rolled in that pile of manure.

When I really think about the abuse He took and what He did for us, it is more than I can bear to think about.  It brings tears to my eyes.  They mocked Him and spit on Him.  How can I not give my all?  How can I not trust Him to take care of me, in times of need.? How can I not know, that He knows the plan and He knows what is best for me–how is it that I want to keep taking control instead of leaving it all at the foot of the cross?