(Watch / listen to this "Turn The Pages" devotional by visiting: https://youtu.be/lvc8cD9URf0)
As I turn the pages of John chapter 11, I can see that Mary’s brother Lazarus being brought back from the dead by Jesus proved that through Jesus, life is possible after death. I imagine that miraculously having her brother back filled Mary with a sense of deep gratitude... And even though I know we can never repay Jesus for his loving-kindness, meditating on gratitude always leads me to reflecting on the story of Mary Magdalene anointing Jesus’ feet with the expensive oil. When I think about this story, 3 things comes to the surface for me: 1. The first thing I notice is that Mary was bold with her love for Jesus, she went to the place where jesus was, and she poured out expensive oil to lavish her love on Jesus, and she did it without being fazed by the people who were looking at her with the side-eye and talking about her negatively.
2. The second thing that stands out to me in this passage is that some folks in the room were upset about the cost of the oil that Mary was anointing Jesus with, calling her offering a waste. This part of the story reminds me that if I only focus on the cost, I might miss the meaning. and I never want to miss the meaning of what Jesus is teaching me.
3. The third thing I love about this story is that it leads me to believe that Mary understood the meaning of feet washing, because even before we read about Jesus demonstrating feet washing for the disciples in John chapter 13, we read about Mary washing Jesus' feet with her tears and hair in John chapter 12. This encourages me to believe that time spent in God’s presence (sitting at Jesus’ feet the way Mary did), being attentive to what God is saying in his word, will bring revelations about certain things... And I want to go beyond just hearing God’s word go in one ear and out the other. I actually want to listen deeply to God’s word and meditate on what he is teaching in the scriptures.
When I visualize myself standing in Mary’s shoes, I imagine she was thinking…
(MUSIC BEGINS)
What can I do?
What can I bring
As an acceptable
Offering?
I could give my time
Or lend a hand
I would trade it all
At your command
But you don't require
Sacrifice
All that you desire Is upright Hearts that will follow you So here's a simple offering My heart open to The love that you bring My soul will sing Of the joy that I found in giving
Giving My heart to you
If you asked me to pledge a gift Freely I would give it But you listen for humble hearts With a broken spirit So my heart cries out to you right now
And I know that you can hear it
And you will draw near it
So here's a simple offering My heart open to The love that you bring My soul will sing Of the joy that I found in giving
Giving My heart to you
Giving My heart to you All that I wanna do
Is give my heart to you
(MUSIC ENDS)
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