Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Mary of Bethany performs a lovely act of generous worship in Mark 14:3: “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His head.” Because sin is rampant, it is no surprise that Mary’s beautiful giving is met with ugliness. We have already seen in verses 1-2 that the religious leaders were plotting Jesus’ death. Then, the disciples begin to heap unholy harangues on Mary: “And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, ‘Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor.’ And they murmured against her” (verses 4-5). It is a sad reality that too many people are aggressive and have dubious agendas. The Pharisees and other religious elites obviously were in wicked cahoots against Jesus. Sometimes, the disciples failed miserably, as well. The parallel account in John tells us that evil Judas began this verbal assault on Mary (12:4-5). His primary motive was greed: “This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein” (12:6). Judas grumbled and murmured; others followed; and a faction began to form. What a warning to us! Malcontents will never be content, and we should not let such people influence us.