A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; NEW TESTAMENT STORIES

                                           A FAVOURED HOME PART XIX

"I, Mary, am living in Bethany.... I live here with my sister Mary and my brother Lazarus... We are having Jesus and His twelve disciples over for a special dinner... Martha has been cooking the food..... It is her way of showing her love and gratitude to Jesus.... For He has given us back our brother Lazarus.... Only a few days ago Lazarus was in a tomb... He had been there for four days.... Because he had died four days before.... But then Jesus came and raised him from the dead.... We are just so grateful.... Words cannot express how we feel.... So Martha showed her love by cooking these most delicious dishes.... And I showed my love by pouring my one special treasure, a bottle of very expensive perfume, over Jesus' feet....Judas felt I had wasted this perfume.... But I know I have not....However, I did not know if others agreed with Judas.... To my joy I heard Jesus explain to everyone that I have not wasted this perfume.... On the contrary, I have prepared Him for His burial.... My heart burst when I heard Jesus say that I have prepared Him for the moment of His death!!.... I, as a woman, who is considered inferior in my society, have been honoured by the Lord to prepare Him for His burial... Do I fully understand what that all means?.... No, not yet.... But I am sure I will one day... Perhaps one day soon."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that Jesus comes to Mary's defense.... 

 

                    ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; NEW TESTAMENT STORIES 

                                         A FAVOURED HOME PART XIX

Jesus listens to Judas and then turns to him to tell him off for He knows the reason why Mary poured perfume on His feet as you can read in John 12:7-8

"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me."

Jesus understands that Mary has done this to to prepare Him for His buriall. And Mary, very likely, knows that the time for His crucifixion is near. Other disciples may not have grasped that fact but spending time as His feet has helped Mary understand that Jesus has come into the world to die for her and that the time of His death is close at hand.