Beholding Jesus

                Have you ever been in a season where it feels like everything feels like it is going wrong, but in reality, everything is going right? When your world is crashing down on you and your whole body is crushed by the impact? When God feels so near, yet so far away? When it seems that every emotion in the history of the world is mixed in a blender and then poured out on your shoulders? When your heart feels like it just cracked in two and it will never be woven back together again? And it hurts so bad that your whole body feels like mush? That is how I feel right now.

            You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with the alabaster jar?” Well, I will get to that in a few paragraphs.

            We all know that God will never give us more than what He knows that we can handle, right? But what about all the times He purposely breaks our hearts? Maybe this does not occur very often, which I cannot say that it has occurred very often (if at all) in my own life. God is so faithful and merciful that He breaks us in the most loving ways. He breaks us when we need to be broken. He breaks us when He wants to do something new and exciting in our lives. He breaks us so that He can mend us, which does not make much sense to me. But I do not like to question why God does what He does. But why does God do what He does? 1. Because He can, because He is God. 2. To catch our eye and to fascinate us. God loves to show off. He loves to show us His power.

            God is doing a lot in my life right now. In the past, I never knew what He was doing until after He was done doing it. And sometimes, it took a long time for me to understand what He was orchestrating. It is rare -in my life- when God will let me know what He is doing when He is doing it. It is a blessing when He does let me in on the secrets, which is a rare occurrence. It is the mystery of God. But on rare occasions, the mystery is not so mysterious.

            This past week has been really hard (to put it lightly). You know all the questions in my first paragraph? Yeah, that has been my week as of yet. This week has been the hardest week of my life. But God knows what He is doing and – better yet – I know what God is doing. Now, some of the things that He is doing right now are rather personal that I do not feel like I can share at this time. But one thing that He is doing is breaking my heart. In a good way.

            I have a lot of pain in my heart from things that has happened in my past and I know that God has been in the process of healing those hurts for many years. But He is bringing it all up to the surface now and He is doing some deep cleaning in the deepest parts of my heart. I have been in so much pain this past week that I have often felt like I cannot go on. But, like we all know, God never gives us more than what we can handle.

            God told me that He is breaking me down so that He can build me up. And it is a hard and painful process, but I know that in order for me to grow anymore and come into the things of God on a new level, I must be broken first. It is not fun, but I have excitement and joy (sometimes) when I think about how much God is going to be able to do in me and through me when this process is over.

            What I am going through right now makes me think about the woman with the alabaster jar. She goes to Jesus and breaks it over Him. When I read this, I think about the Father and the Son. The woman being God and Jesus being the Son. Just imagine it this way; God goes to Jesus just before He is to be crucified and suffer the most gruesome death and He breaks a jar of perfume (or blessings) over His head. When Jesus is crucified, He feels broken and defeated. But here comes the Father, and through His Son’s death, He saves His people from eternal damnation. Through His death came life. Through my pain and brokenness will come strength and wholeness. Through my “death” will come “life”.

Simon the leper was a friend of Jesus. He lived in the village of Bethany. He was no longer a leper though, for Jesus had made him well of that disease. And once more he could live in his own home with his family, in Bethany. No wonder Simon was a friend of Jesus!

When ‘Simon the leper’ heard Jesus was coming to Bethany where he lived, he decided to welcome Jesus at his home, and arrange a supper for Him and His disciples. Oh what a glad news it was to the friends of Jesus in Bethany to know that the One they love so dearly is coming to their little village.

At last the guests arrived, and were invited to eat at the house of Simon the leper. While they were at the house of Simon the leper, and as they sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she went directly to where Jesus was sitting, broke the flask and poured it‘s contents upon Jesus‘ head and feet. Now this flask had contained some very rare perfume, which has cost much money, and the woman had poured it all upon the body of Jesus to show her love for Him.

Just as soon as the flask was broken the room was filled with the odor of the sweet perfume. And everyone present knew this perfume had cost much money, for it was of the very best kind. At once the people that were there began to whisper among themselves about what the woman had done.

There were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

Jesus knew the thoughts and whisperings of all of them. He saw them question the woman about her deed, and speak unkindly to her. So He spoke to them all and said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She had done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Perhaps the woman understood what any of them were unable to believe–that Jesus soon must die–for she had sat at His feet and listened to His words while He visited in her home. She had heard Him tell about many things, and she had believed them. And now she had poured out the costliest gift her money could buy, to anoint Jesus before He should have lie cold in death. She had done all she could to show how great her love was.

It was not because of the fragrant oil that made Jesus talked about the woman the way that He did, “Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as memorial to her.” Jesus did not say anything like this about anyone in the gospel but only to this woman, why? He saw her heart, He saw the love that she had towards Him and His heart was moved by that. She gave Him the most precious thing that she had, for she knew He was so much more precious than anything that she had. “She had done what she could.” Jesus could careless about the fragrant oil, His compassionate heart was so moved by the lovesickness that this woman had towards Him. It was all about love. The sweet-smelling of the perfume that filled the room was more than just a fragrance of oil, it was the fragrance of love.

Oh what I would do to have the love that can move the heart of my Savior…

Judas Iscariot was even more displeased when he heard Jesus’ words. He was no longer a true disciple, for he had allowed Satan to plant wrong desires in his heart. He loves riches and he had hoped someday to be a rich ruler in the kingdom he expected Jesus to set up.

Now a wicked thought crept into his heart, and he planned to go as soon as possible to the enemies of Jesus in Jerusalem and promise them to give Jesus into their power if they would give him money for his work. So after the supper was ended he left Bethany and went to see the chief priests and scribes who lived in Jerusalem.

For many days the enemies of Jesus had been talking together about how they might capture Jesus. The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.” They were stirred more than ever, because many people had begun to believe in Jesus, too.

When Judas Iscariot came to them they were glad, and they promised to give him money if he would bring them to Jesus when the multitude of believing friends were not near. So from then on he sought how he might conveniently betray Him. How sad!, and oh… what a shame?

i ♥ u Jesus

&

i need U in my life

Please come….and dwell in my heart

…FOREVER☺

- EzZy

Mark 14:1-11

“Father, I desire… her. She has won My heart. She is the one abused

and judged by the church, the one who cannot even lift her head to look

into My eyes, the poor and the torn. She is the faithful one that has

poured all her future and security on My head as an anointing. Yes, I

want her. She will be my bride, for she knows how to love. She desires

Me with the same intensity as I desire her. She is weak but I can make

her strong. Her love is disfigured and hopeless, but I will transform it

into the purest beauty. And we will be together forever.

Father, I desire her heart. I will go to the cross, and I will win her for

eternity. I want You to love her like I love her. Not only that but Father,

cherish her in the same way that You cherish Me, for she is My bride.

She is My Precious Jewel; radiant and shining. I will always love her.

Look at how she does not even hear their accusations! All of her senses

are overtaken by Me. Nothing on earth has satisfied her like Me. She

needs My love so much! Her heart is longing for adoration and

acceptance. I love her more than every good thing on earth; I love her

more than the angels. Father, do You see how she melts at the nearness

of Me? Oh I can hardly take it! She is so beautiful to Me. Look at the

tears in her eyes. She loves Me! She understands My purpose, and she

has given me the perfect gift before the hour of My death.

She is my darling. She is my love. She is my fair one. Her very

presence is enchanting to Me. I am captured by her love, and I was

ravished by her even as she stepped into the room. Nothing can

compare to the love I have for her as My head drips with her perfume. I

am covered in her love. Can the splendor of the heavens, and the

hidden things of the earth even measure up to the love she has shown

Me? This moment will resound through the universe forever. Everyone

will know about her love for Me. Everyone will hear about her

sacrifice. Everyone will long to share in this moment.

How I long to dance with her for all eternity. What treasures I will give

to her when we meet again after death. I can already see the smile that

will light her face when our love will be complete, and her reward

given in full. She is sweeter than a rose to Me, for there are no thorns on

her to cut Me when I touch her. I call her My Lily, because she is pure,

her love as intoxicating as the very perfume she pours on Me. This one

has a heart of gold. This one is the bride I fight for. I would go to the

cross for her heart alone, but oh how I long for all of their hearts!

When she broke open her alabaster box, My heart yearned and ached

for her. Just as her treasure was poured forth on My head, I will go to

the cross and pour forth My life for her. I will let them tear at my flesh

and My body will be broken as the alabaster box. And we will be one.”

Meditation #6

“Why this Waste?”

Mark 14:1-11

Why is Jesus okay with this woman pouring almost a year’s labors worth of ointment upon His head?

It seems so foolish to me.  I feel that confusion within me that says why is He okay with this?  Isn’t He concerned about the pour men, women and children all across the world?

Isn’t He concerned about the need to be responsible with our money?…maybe not…

I wonder if a little change in my perspective would help. 

If Jesus is truly the Son of God, then He truly created the world at the sound of His mouth.

And He is!

And if Jesus could do that, then He could easily take care of all the pour men, women and children with another ‘sound of His voice’.

And He could!

If Jesus came to the earth as God because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not parish but have everlasting life”, (John 3:16) then what is He truly after?

If Jesus loves the world and died for it, then isn’t His desire to have the world love Him back?

If this is His desire, then it sure makes a heck of a lot more sense why Jesus would have been okay with a woman pouring a year worth of wages in the form of perfume upon His head.

Jesus was after the heart.

He was not really even all that concerned with the ointment I imagine, seeing as He could speak the word and have millions of gallons of ointment in a really big bathtub in an instant!

Jesus was happy to have this woman giving Him all that she had and pouring it on Him in an act of willing love.

Jesus did not do this as a selfish act either, which is what my heart wants to think.

He did this because He knew it would be one of the best things for the heart of this woman.

He knew that this woman would receive back 100-fold in the age to come for her act of worship.

He also knew that an act of obedience like this would help this woman to live her life in total abandonment to the Lord.

He also said that “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”  Now this is a pretty big statement.  I don’t believe that He says this anywhere else in the bible.  I don’t believe that a single disciple is honored in this way or that there is anyone else honored in this way.  This is an eternal promise that she has done something worthy of eternal remembrance.  Jesus is truly happy about this!

You can just see all of the disciples and people who were with Jesus at the time.  They all have mouths that are wide open!  I mean they are just shocked because they figured “we’ve got this thing down.  We know what we are doing.”  They thought this woman was doing something that was over-the-top.  She’s just being a little too excited about Jesus.  He’s really not concerned about having whole-hearted lovers who give Him everything.  He doesn’t really want for us to love Him with such extravagance that it seems crazy.  Jesus knows we need to take care of our money and make sure that we don’t waste it in extravagance towards Him…or does He?

Where were the hearts of these people?  They were obviously not focused on pouring out everything that they had in worship of Jesus.  They must have had underlying heart struggles that were focused on following the law.  They wanted to not give up everything still.  The disciples had given up everything for the sake of Jesus, and yet you still see the struggle that they had with not trusting the Lord with all of their resources.

God must really want us to trust Him.  He must really desire for our whole-hearted worship or His son.  And it’s not like Jesus is so concerned about the specific act of worship, He said, “She has done what she could”.  He is not saying that what she did is the exact and only way that we are all supposed to worship Him.  He says that her act is good.  He says it is honorable, and He says to not hinder her freewill act of worship.

This act was shocking to many onlookers at Simon’s house.  Many were confused as to why Jesus was allowing this, and I expect that many were struggling in their hearts after Jesus made this comment to them.  These acts of worship are interesting because 1) Jesus loves them and receives them with honor.  And yet at the same time 2) they cause others to become offended and to draw back.  You can just feel the tension in the room, and Jesus pretty much waits for the people to respond to one another before He comes in and rebukes them.  He wants for us to open up our hearts that He might teach us His ways.  Jesus is always seeking the greatest amounts of worship from our hearts 1) because He likes it and 2) because He knows this is what is best for us.  He knows that is what we were made for and will be fulfilled in.  And yet this type of love exposes and hardens hearts that are not open to it.

Right after this story we see one of Jesus’ own disciples go to betray Him into the hands of the chief priests.  Now the bible doesn’t specifically say this, but you can see the Judas must have said, “that’s it, Jesus has gone far enough”.  Judas was the money-handler for the disciples, and He must have fully understood about how much money this woman was ‘wasting’ upon Jesus.  This act of worship caused those who were there to choose.  Were they going to be worshippers of God, or worshippers of themselves and their sinful desires?  Judas chose evil.

Mark 14 begins dark.  I imagine it being night time.  Crisp, biting air and a thick cloud cover hiding the stars.  They’ve had many meetings similar that ended in failure.  Though they plotted with every bit of whit they could muster, this man Jesus slipped through their fingers.  Everything they tried backfired.  Their hearts were sharply cold, and their hate exceptionally deep.  They held many gatherings, but there was something different about this night.  All the Pharisees sat in expectancy.  As one gave a demonically inspired idea, they partnered with the spirit of death.  The scene closes with one inserting “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”  Silent nodding affirmed their heinous accord.

The night’s bitterness is met in another room with a marvelous light and laughter.  In a town called Bethany, Jesus was visiting with His friend Simon the leper.  They had enjoyed a good meal and were sharing in brotherly affection toward one another.  Life and edification was the purpose of the meeting, and the room was filled with joy.  Suddenly, a woman came rushing in.  Her face was soaked in tears and words failed her.  She trembled with every shed tear, clenching the beautiful alabaster flask in her hands.  Jesus’ heart throbbed with compassion and adoration for this woman.  She turned toward the table and busted the top off and carefully poured every drop of the ointment on Jesus’ head, watching it as it flowed down His hair and wet His forehead.  She fell to the ground before Jesus’ feet, still holding the broken and empty alabaster box, and reverently wept.  The room was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.  For the first time all evening, the room was silent except for this woman’s worship.  Finally, one man could stand it no longer.  “Why was the ointment wasted like that?”  He asked, “For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor!”  I imagine another one of the men getting up and taking the woman by the arm trying to pull her up.  “What are you doing?  Come away from Him!  Why have you come here you crazed woman?”  “Leaver her alone!”  Jesus said, stretching out His arm to catch the woman.  “Why do you trouble her?  She has done a beautiful thing to me.”  Simon and his friends fell silent as they beheld Jesus helping this woman to her feet; ointment dripping from His hair onto His clothing, the floor, and the woman.  “For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them.  But you will not always have me.  She has done what she could; she anointed my body beforehand for burial.  And truly, I say to you, whenever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”  Jesus embraced the woman, confounding His friends even further.  He had been most highly exalted and glorified that night by this woman.  Life and light were honored.  As the warmth of Jesus, Simon, and the woman’s fellowship burned, the night grew even colder outside.

Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus, possessed by the enemy, came to the Pharisees in their death meeting.  “[he, Judas] went to the chief priests in order to betray [Jesus] to them.  And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.  And he sought an opportunity to betray him.” [Verses 10-11]  One of His very own abandoned His friend and Savior.  For thirty pieces of silver, Judas sold Jesus unto death at the hands of the wicked religious leaders.

It is captivating that in the middle of this dark story of death and deceit, Jesus is yet supremely glorified and honored.  I imagine that this woman had an encounter with Jesus that deeply marked her heart.  She was moved by His words, works, and grace.  She was meek and small.  She didn’t have a platform or place in which to honor the Man who so radically changed her.  She fought and thought and finally concluded that the highest praises she could give, the greatest way she could magnify her Lord was to give Him all that she had.  In an explosion of excitement and a “YES” in her spirit, she grabbed her most costly possession, her life’s security, and ran from her home in search of this Man to give it to Him.  I imagine it was a long search.  She had to travel a long way and fight past many who criticized her.  She fought her own conscious telling her what regret she will face and possible destruction of her life altogether.  Apart from this alabaster flask, she had no security for food, a home, or a husband (a dowry).  But still she pressed on to find Jesus.  I imagine that this woman’s walk turned into a jog, and her jog into run as her desperation peaked.  “I have GOT to find Jesus!  I MUST thank Him!”  So by the time she reached Simon’s house, she was out of breath, desperate, tear stained, and fully convinced that this was right and that He, Jesus, was worth every drop of her ointment.

This is the only fitting response to Jesus.  Our encounters with Him are life changing.  How glorious is it that He would, in the midst of even the deepest darkness of our lives, break in with such powerful light and interrupt our journey?  Mark 14 is a picture of Christ rising up and receiving highest glory in the middle of plots, plans, and schemes of death and desertion.  For this woman, the breaking in of Jesus was just in time.  And so it is in our lives.  I know I speak for many others when I say that it has been in the most blackest of times that the glory of Jesus has blasted into my life with salvation, redemption, and forgiveness.  It seems that just as I realize that I can’t see the hand in front of my face and I have no idea what’s going on and fear tries to set in, that the Lord has stretched out His hand and spoke life and light into my circumstances.

The Lord does this both on a large scale and personally.  He steps into our national history and redeems even the most broken and shows mercy to even the least deserving.  But Jesus brings it to a singular impact by speaking it to us in a romantic poem.  Song of Solomon 1:5 says “I am very dark.”  Indeed.  I am living in evil and despair, I fall and stumble, and I get messed up and lose my way.  I am broken and weak.  But wait, the Lord breaks in and says, “But lovely!”  Yes!  The authority of Christ breaks in and even in my darkness; I am caught by His glory and called lovely!  How can I not give Him all?  My God redeemed even me even in my darkest of dark circumstances, He is worthy of my highest affection and praise.  Jesus busted into the stinging destitution of the woman’s life, and in response, she ran to Him to give Him her all.  I must do the same.

And so I am asking for a break in of Christ and a revelation of His marvelous light.  Oh Lord, that I may whole heartedly run to you to break my alabaster flax and pour all that I have over you for you alone are worthy!  You alone can pierce my life with hope!  You alone are great enough to penetrate every evil day with love, grace, forgiveness, and strength!  To you be all of my ointment for you, Jesus, is most worthy!

10/16/09

In Mark 4 the Lord sat at the dinner table in Simon’s house in the little town of Bethany. John tells us that Lazarus was among the guests at the supper, sitting at the table with the Lord and that his sister Martha was one of the people who waited upon the guests. Their sister Mary came bringing a beautiful box of perfume. She broke the cruse, and poured the precious ointment upon the Lord’s head, and then upon His feet, wiping them with the hair of her head; and the whole house was filled with the sweet smell. She didn’t just pour a few drops of ointment on Jesus. She poured out all the contents! Her love was not calculated but extravagant. The perfume she anointed Jesus with was a very precious ointment made from a rare plant in faraway India. This ointment was often used for anointing the body at burial.  It was very expensive, almost a year’s wages for an ordinary worker.  In a spirit of gratitude and with intense love, this woman lavishly served the one who showed her the mercy and kindness of God. Since Jesus was passing through her neighborhood she lost no time to show Him a spontaneous act of love and gratitude.  This was a tribute that might have been paid to a king. No one else in the world had treated Him with so great an honor.

Judas Iscariot and some of the others thought it a waste, for they said the ointment might have been sold for three hundred pence and the money given to the poor. But the Lord said that it was a good work she had done, and that wherever the gospel should be preached in the whole world this that this woman had done would be told as a memorial of her.

10/18/09

Why did Simon’s company view this woman’s act as extravagant wastefulness?  They were greedy. A person views things according to what is inside the heart or soul. Jesus remarked that this woman had done a lovely deed.  We can never outmatch God in kindness and generosity.  The greatest proof of His love for us is the willing offer of His only begotten Son who poured out his blood upon the cross for our sins. This anointing is a reflection of how Jesus gave everything of Himself for us. Mary gave her most precious item to show her love for Jesus Kindness and mercy.

10/19/09

How much are willing to abandon for Jesus? My prayer is to give it all. Lord I give You my heart, I give you my soul. I live for You alone, every breath that I take, every moment I’m awake, Lord have Your way in me.

10/20/09

Abandoning yourself to Jesus isn’t just about reading your Bible faithfully everyday and going to church. It is a heart connect to the one we love. It is serving Him every day, every hour, and every minute. He should consume our thoughts and actions. My goal is to be lovesick at the very mention of His name. I want my heart to break over what breaks His and I want to be so in love with Him that my only thought is to please Him.  The more we seek the Lord the more we find Him, The more we find Him the more we love Him. We must seek out the greatness of the Lord to fall in love with Him. Mary came to Simons house because she knew Jesus was there, She loved Him so she went into the house. She loved Him because she knew of His great mercy and loving kindness!

10/22/09

When we come the point in our relationship with Jesus that we want to please Him, following His was becomes easier! As Children when we are told to do something (like clean the house) we gripe and complain because we have no desire to do our chore. Loving Jesus and being abandoned shouldn’t be a chore. However, remember those days when mom or dad was away and you wanted to do something special for them? You took out the broom, you wiped down every surface, and you made sure that when they came home everything would be perfect.  Your only hope was to make them happy. You were so excited to see their face and feel their love for you when they saw what you had done.   Your only thought in doing this was to please them. This is how our abandonment to the Lord should be. Not a chore, where we feel as though we are forced to follow the laws of God, but as a gift to the Father, because we love Him and we cherish His delight for us! Once we love Jesus that is when we can excitedly follow Him. We should look at abandonment as “I Love Jesus too much to be selfish, I have no desire to disappoint Him, I am going to give Him everything I have because I want to feel His pleasure for me!”

I want to give my most precious treasure to Jesus–myself. That is all I have,  this is all  He wants from me! I love to make the Father happy and because of this I want to give Him what He wants–Me. You are what He wants, loving Him is giving yourself to Him. The perfume being poured out is a picture of complete abandonment to the Father. Giving all that you have! Oh, How He delights in you.

Even in my weakness you love me

Dancing, my heart is romanced

Melting in Your presence

Soaking in Your peace

Your gentle ways, they captivate my small heart

Breathing in the scent of You, calms my soul

In ecstasy, my heart romanced

I wait yearning for the day of Your return

Lovesick at the very mention of Your name

How could I turn my gaze from You?

Your mercy makes me weep

Humbled, my heart is romanced

How precious are Your thoughts toward me

Constantly Your eyes are on me

Like a cool breeze you refresh my spirit

My protector, Your leadership is perfect

Safely, my heart is romanced

I’m elated at the sound of Your voice

I long to see Your glorious face

You are my closest friend

I confide my soul to You

You delight in my heart

I delight in Your presence

Stay with me always

Eternally, my heart is romanced

I love You, I am Yours

The scenario is simple enough, Jesus and his disciples go to Simon’s place for Passover, and a woman came and anointed Jesus with some very (very) expensive oil.  The stuff cost many thousands of dollars (300 denarii= 300 days wages, so working around minimum wage for 5 hours a day, $7.15×5x300= $10,725), and here she goes dumping it on Jesus.  As we all know, Jesus rebukes his disciples for critiquing her actions, but why?  $10,000 dollars is a lot of cash; you could make an impressive kingdom impact with that money.  It seems perfectly valid, they just wanted the money given to the poor!  That seems awesome! So what problem does Jesus have with their thinking?

They don’t think he’s worth it.  They still don’t get it.  They don’t understand that He requires all our lives laid down at His feet, it is the only appropriate response to who He is.  Even when it doesn’t seem especially “wise” or (dare I say it) fiscally prudent.  This woman knew something the disciples didn’t, Jesus is worth it all.  Now she has a place in the Bible (just like He promised) as a beautiful representation of one who pours out all she has on Jesus, as represented by her finances. God must be our priority; above the poor, above everything and everyone else.

I used to get thrown off by the fact that Jesus said not to give to the poor, but He didn’t say that, not at all.

I have not had the best experiences with the church in the financial realm, and I have heard this verse quoted as an excuse to a) buy everyone on staff excessively

expensive computers and gadgets and b) spend a huge amount of money on remodeling the church building lavishly instead of giving the money away.  So with that background, I have looked at this passage before and found a few interesting things.

Firstly and most obviously, one simple observation.  Jesus is not with us.  Now before you start picking up your stones, hear me out.

Can you go to facebook and figure out Jesus’ address, get some friends together for a road trip, drive to the town He’s in, pull into His driveway and walk up to His front door?  Then can you ring His doorbell, have Him open the door, walk into the living room, and eat some cheese and crackers from His kitchen cupboard?  The obvious answer is no, you can’t.  Jesus doesn’t live in a house somewhere on earth, He is in heaven in the Throne Room.  His spirit is with us, but we can’t buy the Holy Spirit a double-tall vanilla latte, or a 6-inch sub, He doesn’t eat.  We can’t buy Him a building to live in, He isn’t that easily contained.  We can’t make our lives with Him more convenient by purchasing a laptop, He cannot be improved upon.

Perplexing.  If we can’t pour out our finances at Jesus’ feet by buying stuff for the Spirit, what are we supposed to do?

And here we are, full circle.  I love it when people try and quote this verse to justify their selfishness, cause then I get to take them to another interesting story.

Read Matthew 25: 31-46.

Now all of a sudden we have a little problem.  Here we have Jesus saying that whatever we do for the oppressed, hungry, poor, infirm, and generally downtrodden we have done for Him.  So what we read in Mark quickly takes on an entirely different hue when viewed side-by-side with this passage.  Jesus is no longer physically with us, but

the poor are, and He says that we must treat the poor that are with us the same way we would treat Him. Not only that, He says that the quality and genuineness of our faith is evidenced by how we treated those people.  In this passage, He throws people into Hell because they didn’t love the poor and by extension, Him.  This is serious business, Jesus is not messing around, loving the poor is life or death.  Combining these two passages gives a complete message.  We are to pour out our lives wholly at His feet, but since He is not with us, one of the major forms this must take is pouring ourselves out for the downtrodden.

It may rub people the wrong way when I say that loving the downtrodden is on the same level as prayer, fasting, or singing worship, but it is.  If we want to know God, we must identify with His attributes.  Throughout the Old testament He reveals Himself as the one who “administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger (foreigner), giving him food and clothing” (Deut 10:18).  In the New testament the God-man came as a homeless wanderer who ministered to the poor of the land, this is a core part of His identity.  To know God, we must love the oppressed, sacrifice ourselves for their sakes. If we claim that we want to give our best to Christ, then we must give our best to the poor, for the two are one.  He is worth our all, He is holy and Glorious, exalted above all things.  He is worth giving it all to Him.  So we must give our all to the oppressed.

Mark 14:1-11

vs 5-6

This woman was not afraid to walk out Jesus’ teachings not by the standards of man, but of God. Everyone else yelled at her but she didn’t care her eyes were on Jesus and pleasing Him alone. I think that sometimes we all get intimidated by words of accusation and judgement, we back down and actually have more confidence in the words of the scoffers instead of Jesus’ words “Let her alone”. I that it is especially to remember when we go back home and continue this lifestyle of wholeheartedness, because many others will see us pouring ourselves out on Jesus and say that we aretrying to have a contest to see who’s better or to show that IHOP is the best and everybody else stinks. That’s such a wrong paradigm but can still have an effect on our daily lives, we don’t want to lift the “bar” for one another in competition but be pushing eachother to go as far as we can in God.

vs 4-6

Some people may recieve the same rhetoric that this woman did, they may say “Why did you waste a year just sitting in a room, you could have been taking your college campus for Christ or on the mission field.” But in reality a lifestyle of radical devotion is the wisest and worthiest thing that one can do with their life. God is great and we do not know Him, so how can we disciple the nations if we don’t even know that we don’t know Him. We can’t just assume that we are living our lives radically because we are at IHOP, we must examine schedules to fit God in every availible space. We need to pray to recieve grace to enter in and engage with the Lord in all of our empty and dull moments; we don’thave to quit our jobs and school to be radical, but instead create the most God time we can given our situation. Jesus is worth all of the dull moments, all of the time when we seek Him when everyone is playing sega genesis or watching the game when we really want to just fulfill our own desrie. Jesus Himself said that it was a good deed, not legalism or religious activity, but it is a journey of our searching for the fullness of His be known to us. Not just glory like in visions frpm heaven but the knowledge of God that produces an awe and fascination. Everyone needs to pray to recieve a deep deep hunger to know Christ in His fullness, that we would be with Him where He is, to see and know His glory, that we would have His love in us. I want to know Him at whatever cost, whatever it takes to know Him intimately like I’ve walked with Him. This woman was so hungry for more of Him, anything less that Him a loss, He was her highest prize, and I think that most of us are a long way from that level of hunger. We need to pray to be so desperate for Him, to know Him in every way possible that we would throw out the TV and anything that is counter-active to our mission of partnering with Him. We must pray that we would run our race with fervency leaving every other lover behind, leaving even our father and mother; all for the cause of having Jesus shine forth from our lives and bring Him back to the earth. He is the only one to live our lives, us humans stink at life and are nothing without Him; if we choose to live without Him our is a true waste. In every situation we must say yes to Jesus.

Jesus was so humble, He didn’t get angry or cry about it to God when the highest honor He recieved was from a woman whom in only one of the gospels is her name mentioned. Jesus wasn’t upset and disapointed to know that the Father didn’t pick Him to be honored on the earth. The King of all the earth, the best man ever to live didn’t win a contest or earn a crown for everyone to see. He lived in the most despised nation in the world, and grew up in a despised town to only be brutally executed after only three and a half years of ministry. His ministry did not go to all nations and He was never worried about having the biggest crusades or being the father of the greatest revival ever. He was completely happy and satisfied with the mediocraty of His social status, He was glad to do what the Father had Him do for the first 30 years of His life. He didn’t care that His best friends and ministry teamwere a bunch of fishermen and that the other big name dude was never a part of His team. It doesn’t matter if we gety honored even in a biblical way like David was, but deep down it is really all that I want. If I am honored then I will be hungry for nothing else, but Jesus was living and was doing all that He was in light of eternity.My current situation and status has nothing to do with my eternal destiny , and if I view it wrongly it can be counter-active for my future. It really doesn’t matter if I never get good at ther bass or if inever become a fiery preacher and revivalist, just that I love and trust Him fully. My success is not rooted in my destiny or my my effect on the masses for Jesus, but it is to follow the great command ment. My aim should never be to put my name in the History books of men, because one day this age will end and all who love Him will be with Him for all eternity. I am contending and excited to go after the fullness of God in my life but then sometimes (like today) He reminds me that i am so far away from it and that I can’t cross that desert without the Holy Spirit.