Day 1 with Jesus before He goes to the cross

Good morning family, 

Today marks the beginning of passion week.  That means today is the start of Jesus's last days before he went to die a tortuous death in order to save us from eternal death!  

Last night i had another brief vision of dying and waking up in a desert with barren beams that looked like an attempt to build something, but abandoned.  As far as I knew and could see all there was was dry, hot, and sandy desert before me.  There was no real direction to go, no purpose, no hope of something more than the desert, no Savior, and no one that loved me.  It was an eternity of vast nothingness and unquenchable fear-stricken loneliness.  It was forever desert and forever alone...and all the mental discomfort that went hand in hand with that.  It was death and Hell for me.   I felt it so real, and fear filled me with stark realization that this could totally happen to me because I have no control over what happens when I die.  Death is a looming mystery that we must acknowledge is completely out of our ability.

All power and control belongs to God and to God alone.  None of us can guarantee that we can safely procure our eternity after death.  That is why we must see Jesus for what He did.  He secured our eternity from eternal Hell to eternal Heaven.  Now we can walk with God's sent Son in these last days to hopefully better understand what God did to give us assurance of salvation.  

Let's walk with Him together in our hearts.  

Observe our Savior and His words, His actions, and the plan of God in His obedience.  

I invite you to the city of Bethany, come sit at the table to eat with Jesus and Lazarus (a man raised from the dead!), and Martha will serve us a home-cooked meal.  

“Six days before the Passover, 

Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, 

the one Jesus had raised from the dead. 

So they gave a dinner for Him there; 

Martha was serving them, 

and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 

Then Mary took a pound of fragrant oil — pure and expensive nard — anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. 

So the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 

(Do you smell it?  Imagine watching Mary come in and pour out $6,000 worth of the most expensive perfume from Neiman Marcus all over Jesus dirty feet!  300 denarii is about $6k in US dollars.  And then to kneel down and wipe it with her hair...a mixture of dirt and expensive oil on feet. 

The actual perfume was called “spikenard” and in Hebrew is called Nard meaning “light.” 

A fitting perfume for the One who is Light.  (1 John 1:5)

$6k!  For feet!  And we are watching this happen and it probably shocks us as the expensive aroma hits our nostrils with a powerful presence, but then directs our hearts to really see that this man with us is truly worth every bit of what Mary has just poured out....everyone but one guy.) 

Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? ” 

He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it. 

(The contrast of Mary and Judas is like light and dark for us as we watch his speech against her actions.  His speech turns our hearts from the worthiness of Christ to the money.  Mary made us look at Christ by her money, but Judas made us look away by it.)

Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; 

she has kept it for the day of My burial. 

For you always have the poor with you, 

but you do not always have Me.”

John 12:1-8 

This last bit is spoken for us to hear.  

The food that Martha has made for us is maybe getting cold.  Martha is standing by the doorway of the kitchen peering into the dining room.  Lazarus on our left at the head of the table is silent, Judas is indifferent on our right and Mary knelt next to Jesus across from us.  The Son of God has just been anointed for burial.  In a few more days we will see Jesus killed, and Mary has prepared us for this as a reminder that it is He whom we serve and not our money.  Judas and Mary make one thing clear by their attitudes: their view of Jesus. 

Let's carefully look at Jesus today from our spot at the table. 

Jmegrey