Welcome, friends. Simply click the video below and let us consider together the words of Jesus.
You may also view this video at TimEhrhardtYouTube
For a response in song, click Take My Life and Let It Be arranged by Hymn Charts.
And, also click Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken sung by RYM Worship.
May the Lord bless you
and keep you.
May the Lord smile down on you
and show you his kindness.
May the Lord answer your prayers
and give you peace. Amen.
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (NIV)
When I was a teenager there was a show on TV called “Quincy.” Quincy was a coroner. Every episode was him performing an autopsy on someone who appeared to have a rather normal death. But Quincy always found something suspicious and spent his time prying into people’s lives to confirm his investigation. His boss and the police chief would chide and warn him saying, “Leave it alone, Quincy.” Quincy’s typical response was: “But I can’t leave it alone. There’s more here than what meets the eye!”
Indeed, there is more going on in today’s Gospel lesson than what meets the eye. The Apostle John identifies the woman as Mary (John 12:1-11), a woman with a sordid background who had her life transformed through meeting Jesus. Now, near the end of Christ’s life as he was about to enter Jerusalem and be arrested, tried, tortured, and killed, this woman, Mary, is aware of what is happening when others are not. Her own brokenness cracked open to her the true reality of life.
The surface event itself is a touching and tender moment in history. This woman, whom everyone knew was a damaged person, took a high-end perfume and broke the entire thing open. She then proceeded to anoint Christ’s feet with it. You can imagine the aroma which filled the entire house with expensive perfume for all to smell. Giving what she had to Jesus, Mary demonstrated the path of true discipleship.
Yet, that is not all, because there is more here than what meets the eye:
Christianity was never meant to be a surface religion which only runs skin deep. The follower of Christ is meant to be profoundly transformed, inside and out, so that there is genuine healing, spiritual health, and authentic concern for the poor and needy. Keeping up appearances is what the Judas’s of this world do. But the Mary’s among us dramatically point us to Jesus with their tears, their humility, their openness, and their love.
In this contemporary environment of fragmented human ecology, our first step toward wholeness and integrity begins with a posture of giving everything we have – body, soul, and spirit – to the Lord Jesus. Methinks Quincy was on to something.
Loving Lord Jesus, my Savior, and my friend, you have gone before us and pioneered deliverance from an empty way of life and into a life of grace and gratitude. May I and all your followers, emulate the path of the woman Mary and realize the true freedom which comes from emptying oneself out for you. Amen.
Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people to turn against Paul. So, they threw stones at him and dragged him out of the town. They thought they had killed him. But when the followers of Jesus gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas left and went to the city of Derbe.
They also told the Good News in the city of Derbe, and many people became followers of Jesus. Then Paul and Barnabas returned to the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. In those cities they helped the followers grow stronger in their faith and encouraged them to continue trusting God. They told them, “We must suffer many things on our way into God’s kingdom.” They also chose elders for each church and stopped eating for a period of time to pray for them. These elders were men who had put their trust in the Lord Jesus, so Paul and Barnabas put them in his care.
Paul and Barnabas went through the country of Pisidia. Then they came to the country of Pamphylia. They told people the message of God in the city of Perga, and then they went down to the city of Attalia. And from there they sailed away to Antioch in Syria. This is the city where the believers had put them into God’s care and sent them to do this work. Now they had finished it.
When Paul and Barnabas arrived, they gathered the church together. They told them everything God had used them to do. They said, “God opened a door for the non-Jewish people to believe!” And they stayed there a long time with the Lord’s followers. (ERV)
The Apostle Paul and his traveling companions went on three missionary journeys in the New Testament book of Acts. “Mission” is more than an activity the church does; it is an expression of the church’s identity. To be the community of the redeemed is to embrace and embody the grace and love of Jesus in proclaiming in both word and deed the good news of restoration to God in Christ.
What is good news for many is bad news for others, that is, those for whom are ensconced in power and take advantage of their position to maintain the status quo. Paul was much too radical for them, as he persistently spoke truth to power when needed – not to mention that his effectiveness as a missionary caused a religious, social, and economic impact wherever he went.
It only takes a few rabble-rousers to gin up an angry mob, and Paul saw his share of them. He sometimes escaped unscathed. Yet, in other situations, Paul was beaten or stoned, sometimes being left for dead. So, how does that square with a God who sees all and is able to protect all, especially his own devoted followers?
Paul and his missionary coterie were forthcoming about the nature of following Jesus. Here are a few various translations of their words to new believers (Acts 14:22):
Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. (ASV)
If we are to enter God’s kingdom, we must pass through many troubles. (CEB)
We have to suffer a lot before we can get into God’s kingdom. (CEV)
We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. (NIV)
It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God. (NRSV)
Through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom. (WEB)
The various English words used to translate the original Greek word accurately depict what Paul was talking about. My own translation of the verse is:
It is through a lot of varied stressful adversity that we must enter the rule and reign of God.
Paul was doing so much more than explaining his own suffering. He saw his experience as paradigmatic for all who would follow Jesus. For it was Christ himself who exhorted people to count the cost of discipleship:
“Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple…. Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:27, 33, NIV)
In doing the very thing which Jesus asks, the Christian life becomes pressurized from those who do not wish to see us:
Proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18, NIV)
Yet, we also have words from the Lord Jesus about how it all shakes-out for us when we deliberately and unflaggingly follow him with steadfast commitment:
“Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you, insult you, and slander you because you are committed to the Son of Man. Rejoice then, and be very happy! You have a great reward in heaven. That’s the way their ancestors treated the prophets.” (Luke 6:22-23, GW)
Late in Paul’s life as he reflected on his missionary journey experiences, he said to his young protégé Timothy:
You know about my persecutions and my sufferings. You know all the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—the persecution I suffered in those places. But the Lord saved me from all of it. Everyone who wants to show true devotion to God in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:11-12, ERV)
Christian faith is strengthened through the stress, pressure, and adversity of facing hardship through utilizing the words and ways of Jesus. So, receive these blessings from the Apostle Paul today:
And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7, NCV)
And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen. (Romans 15:33, NLT)
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. (Galatians 6:18, NRSV)
Welcome, friends! Click the video below and let us consider the words of Jesus together.
You may also view this video on TimEhrhardtYouTube
Click Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn) by Keith and Kristyn Getty, the song mentioned in the video.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you, today and always. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 