A Holy Week Devotional, Wednesday, March 27, 2024
By Maile Soto, Discipleship Director (Originally Published Wednesday, April 13, 2022)
Mark 14:1-16
The Plot to Kill Jesus
14 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 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. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Judas to Betray Jesus
10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
The Passover with the Disciples
12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
Are You Too Much?
By Maile Soto
Have you ever thought that you were somehow “too much”?
…too different?
…too weird?
…too emotional?
…too messed up?
…too broken?
…too sinful?
Today’s readings show us 2 very different people that we can look at and think are “too much”, albeit in very different ways. We read about the woman who broke a jar of very expensive perfume—VERY expensive, like a whole year’s wages for a worker—and poured it over Jesus’ head in the middle of a dinner party. Think about taking a bottle of $35,000 wine and just cooking with it! Shocking! Why would you do that? What a waste! You could have done so much good with all that money! The men at the party were appalled. I can almost hear them muttering—“Too weird!” “Too emotional!” “Too much!”
The Bible doesn’t tell us what her reasons were. People did “anoint” the heads of honored guests with oil. Kings were anointed. Maybe she was there when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the crowds hailed him as a king. Maybe she had listened to what Jesus had been saying and caught what no one else seemed to have caught about what was coming for him. Whatever her reasons, can you imagine how she must have felt while she planned this? I wonder if she worried what the others would think. I wonder if she worried what Jesus would think…
I love that this woman’s shocking behavior didn’t phase Jesus. He doesn’t yell at her or mock her or berate her for being wasteful. He honors her. He stands up for her. In fact, he silences the voice of what she “should” have done by saying that what she HAS done has anointed him for his burial, prepared him for what He knows is coming. I read that spikenard, the oil she poured on him, is like an essential oil—if you get some on your skin, you’re going to be smelling it for at least a week. Through everything that happened next for Jesus, what this woman did would be with him in the smell of that expensive, extravagant act of devotion.
In contrast, right after this story, we read about Judas plotting to betray Jesus to the chief priests. Judas, a man who was one of Jesus’s inner circle of 12, who had lived with him, traveled with him, done miracles with him–for 3 years–laughed with him, eaten with him, sat around the fire with him. One of his closest friends plots to have him arrested and killed. Betrayal of the deepest kind. Can you imagine the pain? The hurt of what Judas did? “Too messed up!” “Too sinful!”
We don’t know exactly when the Holy Spirit told Jesus that Judas would betray him, but we know that he’s aware of it while they are eating what we call the Last Supper (in our reading for tomorrow). And yet the other disciples had no idea who Jesus was talking about when he said one of them would betray him, so he must not have changed in how he treated Judas (Mark 14:18-20). I wonder how long Jesus knew. How long he continued to treat Judas as a treasured friend, with love and kindness and acceptance, even knowing what he was capable of, what he would soon do. The Bible doesn’t record anywhere where Jesus yelled at him. Berated him. Rejected him. I know Judas’s story didn’t end well for him, but that was his choice. That’s not what Jesus wanted. How do I know that? Look at how he treated Peter after he denied him (John 21:16-17). Look at how he responded to the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43).
Two very different stories about two very different people that both point us to this: No one is “too” anything for Jesus. He might invite us to grow. He might invite us to, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). But we are not “too much.” Not me. And not you.
Let’s pray…
Father, I renounce the lie that I am too ____________ for You (fill in whatever has come to mind for you today… too much, too emotional, too broken, etc.) Thank you that You accept me, you don’t reject me. Thank you that You have a plan for my growth and my healing. Thank you that I can trust me with you.
Amen
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