Mary's Alabaster box, Mark 14:1 – 11

I was so bless hearing the story of Mary's Alabaster box, Mark 14:1 – 11. It made me think of Mary giving Jesus all she had, the perfume was expensive, a years salary. And yet she was criticize, for wasting this valuable gift, on Jesus. I got a check in my spirit, how we don't lay it all out there for Jesus. We keep a reserve in our worship, in our finances, even in our prayers to Jesus. Why?
Could you imagine how Mary must have felt? After pouring out everything she had as an act of worship, she gets criticized and ridiculed by the disciples of Jesus. I am sure that her heart must have been broken just like the alabaster box that had contained her perfume.
But Jesus puts a stop to their criticism. He tells the disciples to leave her alone, because she has done a good work for Him. He says that they can help the poor any-time they want, but that they will not have very many more opportunities to show their love for Him in person.

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The Good News said…
Something I never notice before, was that there was 2 counts of Jesus's feet being anointed in reading Luke 7:36-38, “And one of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with Him. And He went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat and ate in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment.” This unnamed woman, who is simply called “a sinner,” the anointing took place in the house of a Pharisee, but in Mark 14:3 we learn that Mary's anointing happened “in the house of Simon the leper.” The former was done by an unnamed sinful woman; this was done by Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We saw that the anointing by the unnamed sinner was to signify the love of a newly forgiven soul, but with Mary there was another reason that constrained her to empty her box of costly ointment upon the Savior’s feet. That reason is given in John 12:7, “Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.” Mark 14:8 is even more specific, for it says “She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial” My first thought, was with the women who was a sinner,was.. were did she get all those tears to wash Jesus's feet? Then I did some studying.. the captivating tear bottle tradition dates back nearly 3,000 years, when mourners were said to collect their tears in a tear bottle, also called a lachrymatory, and bury them with loved ones to express honor and devotion. The tear bottle tradition has endured for more than 3,000 years.David talks about this in Psalm 56:8, it was and expression of mourning. Both Mary and the women that was a sinner, knew Jesus was going to the cross and the anointing of Jesus's feet was a burial of all their hurt, sadness,pain, Jesus took it all for us at the cross. I have learnt to cry in the morning, not only because of the chronic pain, because I know and speak to Jesus for taking on my infirmities at the cross.
April 8, 2019 at 3:02 PM
The Good News said…
Back in the day, it was custom to bury your tears in a bottle with your love one, part of the mourning process.They even say once the tears evaporates the mourning process ends..I can see the women they call a sinner washing Jesus feet with her hair, and as her tears absorbs into Jesus feet..her mourning ends.
April 9, 2019 at 3:51 PM
The Good News said…
Jesus did his first miracle,after his Resurrection, by drying Mary Magdalene's tears when she came back to the empty tomb. Like must of us when we lose a love one so close to us...Where there is a true love, there will be a constant adherence to the one we love so much, and we have resolution with purpose of our hearts to cleave to them. When we come to the grave ..just like Mary, we are prepare with flowers, gifts of mourning of memories of the past. Mary, she was weeping, showing her affection to Jesus. She wept at the remembrance of his bitter sufferings; wept for his death. I believe Jesus is speaking in John 20:1-18..with his encounter with Mary, that when seeking Jesus and our love ones, we have to seek the living, in our hearts and in our spirit.. Jesus raising on the third day shows that he had victory over death. We can keep our love ones alive each day as we keep them in our hearts and minds, the body may be gone, but the spirit is living...
April 16, 2019 at 12:44 PM
The Good News said…
I notice..by the time Jesus meet Mary at the party she anointed HIM with her very expensive perfume and wash her tears with her hair on his feet, the room had got used to HIM preforming miracles, supplying all their needs..they became entitled. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do. The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans. The best thing to do is to remember what I did before when I were touched by God.John 12:7
July 8, 2019 at 3:26 PM
The Good News said…
When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask . . . of very costly oil . . . and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “. . . there were some who . . . said, ’Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “. . . wherever this gospel is preached . . . what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?
September 2, 2019 at 1:43 PM
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