Receiving And Giving

Jesus and His friends had been invited to a feast

.......at Simon’s house

and so had many of the prominent people of

Bethany

Jesus was seated (I presume purposely)

right there between two people that they all knew

Simon and Lazarus

Lazarus of course was the talk of the town

Its hard to dismiss as insignificant

a man raised from the dead

(after being dead 4 days!)

and Simon

He had been healed by Jesus

....of Leprosy

no small miracle either

and he was a Pharisee

not too many Pharisees

had been healed of anything!

and Simon had been healed of this

disease which of all diseases

was a “judgment of God on sinners”

he was the talk of the town as well

a Pharisee that seemed

to be a disciple of Jesus

There were other people there that we know.

Judas, of course,

I’m sure he wouldn’t miss

this high society get together

for anything,

for once

Jesus was in the lime light.

I mean rubbing shoulders

with the important people.

Jesus is being enjoyed by people who count!

and Judas

must have been sitting as close to

Simon, Lazarus, and Jesus as he could.

Tonight

there are definite personal advantages

to being seen with Jesus.

Martha was there, too.

we dont hear much about her being there

but she was busy with all of the work necessary

for a feast like this to take place.

and there was Mary

Since she was a woman

(one with quite a reputation at that!)

I presume she was there as one of the servers, too

Like Martha, we weren’t really supposed

to have associated her with this feast

but as usual she was sticking close to Jesus

not for show

like Judas and Simon

but because she loved Jesus

Really loved Jesus

many there that night liked Jesus

hoped they would see Him do something Great

enjoyed associating with Him

But Mary loved Jesus

It was Jesus who had lifted her up from her life of sin

Jesus had forgiven her

Jesus had given her a new lease on life

and talk about life

sitting right over there by Jesus

was her brother

raised from the dead

---by Jesus!

How could she not love Jesus!

Simon saw Jesus as a great teacher

Judas saw Jesus as a potential national hero

but Mary saw Jesus as the Saviour He came to be.

and that’s why that night at the feast

her response to Jesus was so different

from the response of the

important people.

They were dreaming of what they would get out of

their relation to this possible future King of Israel

Mary in her deep love

just wanted to honor Her Lord.

Nothing was too expensive for Jesus

in fact, anything less than the best

was not even thinkable.

She would use the most expensive perfume

to show her response to what Jesus had done for her.

Mary did not give

in order to gain the attention of the crowd!

But she got it!!

Mary only was responding in her love for Jesus

she impulsively gave everything

she gave without thinking how many hours of work

she would have to work to pay for that perfume!

Mary gave

because she had to give!

Mary gave

without even thinking about any one but Jesus.

But all those important people

noticed!

they noticed that Mary was getting Jesus attention

when they wanted to be the center of attention!

Judas was enraged.

he began whispering his complaints

to those near him,

“How could Jesus allow this woman to throw money

away like this”

Judas knew nothing about

loving and giving.

Judas only knew about getting

So he complained

when he saw true sacrificial love.

and his murmur passed round the table

and Mary heard the words of criticism

Her response to Jesus

had been automatic

it had been from the heart

not necessarily a response thought out

so she wondered

was the criticism right?

should she have given to the poor instead???

What would her

sensible sister say?

What would Jesus think

of her impulsiveness?

and she was about

to sneak away

when Jesus said,

in His loving and merciful way,

"Don’t give Mary a hard time.”

and then, paraphrased,

he said,

She has given to me while I am still here

She has given to me

while there is still time to give

some of you will wait until its too late!

What a contrast between

Judas’ heart

and Mary’s heart!

He claimed to be interested in the poor

that perfume could have been sold to help

but he really wished he could get his

nds on that money

Mary gave virtually everything she had of value

while Judas sat there dreaming up how to get anther 30!

What a contrast

between Mary’s love for Jesus