Frontline Devotion for Tuesday, April 4, 2006 By Don Kress

John 12:1-11

Forgive me, but after a month of great college basketball and last night’s men’s and tonight’s women’s championship games, I couldn’t resist not including the final four in my title!  I think you’ll catch the relevance as you read further.

Today’s passage is both lovely and powerful, and I believe it’s necessary to begin this devotion by setting the context.  After Jesus raised Lazarus (John 11:38-44), many Jews were led to believe in Him.  As news of this most recent miracle and Jesus’ increasing popularity reached the Pharisees, they decided that Jesus should die.  John 11:53 tells us, “Then from that day on they plotted to put Him to death.” Realizing this, Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the seclusion of the town of Ephraim and stayed there until it was time for the Jews to gather in Jerusalem prior to the Passover.  As Jesus and His disciples traveled to Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethany, where Lazarus, Martha and Mary held a supper in Jesus’ honor.

It’s here, at a dinner in a home in Bethany, that Jesus’ public ministry, which opened at a wedding in a home in Cana, comes to a close.  After this supper, Christ will turn His full attention to the completion of His Father’s will.  So on this final day of Jesus’ ministry, we focus on four main characters:  Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and Jesus.  We often study the picture of the Last Supper, but today, let’s study the lovely picture of this dinner.

Lazarus, the man who has been raised from the dead by Jesus, is in fellowship with Christ at the table; Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet; and Martha is busy putting on the meal.  Perhaps impulsively, but with selfless adoration, Mary anoints the feet of Jesus with fragrant spikenard oil.  (Nard is an amber colored oil that is distilled from the roots of a perennial that grows in the alpine regions of the Great Himalayas in India and Nepal.  Its odor is described as sweet, woody and spicy.  Today you can buy an ounce of nard over the internet for $30; in Christ’s time it was very expensive and traditionally came from India sealed in an alabaster box.  Today’s text tells us that the amount that Mary had was worth the annual wage of a laboring man.  How or why Mary had acquired this oil, we’re not told; perhaps she had it so that it could be used on her own body when she died.)  Then, with deep affection, she wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair.  As a result of her unselfish act, the home is filled with a pleasant odor.  Mary has sensed that Jesus is to die for the sins of the world and she anoints Him ahead of time.  Some at the dinner criticize her for her act, but Jesus rebukes them, pointing out that while we should always be of service to the poor, that service should never be a substitute for sitting at His feet absorbing all He has for us.  Activity is no substitute for worshipping Him.

So, here in our snapshot of this home in Bethany, we see Lazarus alive from the dead and in fellowship with Christ; then we see Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, growing in the knowledge of Christ; and thirdly, we see Mary serving the guests.  In this picture we find the three things that are essential in every Christian home and every Christian church:  new life in Christ, worship and adoration, and service through our actions and our financial resources.  Your home and your church will also be wonderful pictures filled with delightful fragrance if the essential three are there.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, as we contemplate your death, help us to understand the essential elements of fellowship with You, worship, and unselfish service.  May they be ever present in our homes and in our churches.  Amen.

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