It was a few days before Jesus' death. He was in Bethany, just east of Jerusalem. There was a dinner in the home of Simon. Guests included Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, and, of course, Jesus. While they were eating, Mary entered the room, broke open a bottle of expensive perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus.
Judas criticized Mary for wasting the perfume. "Why was not this ointment sold," he asked, "and the money given to the poor?" But Jesus defended her. "She has anointed me for my burial. The poor you always have with you." Matthew also records these words: "Truly, I say to you, whenever this gospel is preached to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
Jesus responded to Mary's deed with the words, "She has done a good thing." It is indeed a good thing, the best thing, to give of your best to the Master. What is your best? What valuable talent, or gift, or possession sits even today on the shelf of your life? Will you pour it out for the Master? Did you mark the best you have on the congregation’s gift bank form?
Does not her example move you to devote yourself to the Lord? Is there something precious, something personal, something important, something that will make a difference, your best, that you can lay at the feet of Jesus during this Season of Lent?
What does the hymn say?
"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all."
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