Title: The scent of perfume fills the house
Contents
In the old days, when Solomon built the temple, he imported cedar from Lebaron, which had a beautiful fragrance, and decorated it. So when I entered Solomon's temple, I was always filled with the beautiful scent of cedar. Also, there was an altar of incense in the temple, and incense was burned on the altar, so that beautiful fragrance filled the temple.
Today's reading records the events that occurred when Jesus went to the village of Bethany. Bethany is Martha and Mary. And it was the town where Lazarus, who died and rose again. Jesus would visit Bethany from time to time to meet Lazarus and Martha Mary.
1. Faith of beautiful devotion is full of fragrance.
The woman in the text broke the alabaster and poured expensive pure nad oil on Jesus. This woman broke the precious perfume alabaster jar that she risked her life to prepare and completely poured perfume on Jesus. Its value was great. It was said to be 300 denarii. 300 denarii is equivalent to a worker's annual income. When the expensive perfume alabaster was broken and the perfume was poured on Jesus' head, the disciples became angry. In anger, he said, "Why are you wasting so much perfume?" They rebuked the woman, saying, "This perfume could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." But Jesus said that this woman's actions were really beautiful and good. Verse 6 says, “He has done a good thing for me.” Another translation of the Bible says, "This woman has done a beautiful thing for me."
Helping the poor is, of course, a beautiful and good thing. As Judas Iscariot said, if you sell this perfume for more than three hundred denarii and help the poor, this must be a beautiful and good thing. But Jesus said. He said, "I am always with you, and I can help the poor at any time if I have a heart, but I will not always be with you."
Why did Jesus say it was a beautiful and good thing? This is the only chance, the last chance that cannot come again, because he gave his most precious thing in faith for Jesus.
Jesus knew that the time to bear the cross for all mankind was drawing nearer. Therefore, I said that he prepared incense for my burial. Timely service and dedication are precious.
2. When the alabaster is broken, the scent of perfumed oil is full.
Mary brought to Jesus the jar containing pure nad, a very precious and expensive perfume, and broke it. And the perfumed oil contained in it was poured on Jesus' head. A valuable lesson we can learn from this is that Mary 'broken the alabaster jar'. If she hadn't broken the alabaster, the precious and expensive perfume would not have been poured out on Jesus' head or anywhere else. No matter how precious and expensive she was, she would not have been able to fully offer herself to the Lord. However, when she came out with the alabaster jar and broke it, the precious perfume could be poured on Jesus' head.
And that scent has survived to this day and has been passed down to us. Her love and devotion to the Lord would not have been fully expressed if the alabaster jar containing the precious and precious perfume had not been broken. And the expensive perfume she had was probably only three hundred denarii. However, when it was broken and poured on the Lord's head, it could be offered with full devotion to prepare in advance for the Lord's burial. And the value of it did not stay at three hundred denarii, but it has an eternal value that is remembered even to us today.
Our Jesus saved us by breaking the precious body of the Son and shed His precious blood, and fully expressed his love and devotion to us. This is the principle of true devotion. John 12:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
He also said that our saints should be the fragrance of Christ to believers and unbelievers alike. Paper with incense will naturally smell of incense.
2 Corinthians 2:14: “Thanks be to God, who always triumphs over us in Christ, and through us in every place the scent of the knowledge of Christ. It is an odor from death to death, and to another an odor from life to life, who can bear it?” We are the ones who have the beautiful fragrance of Jesus Christ in our hearts and minds. This is our church hymn. It is literally the scent of Jesus.
Therefore, we must let the fragrance of the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ contained within us fill our church, home, and the whole world. In order to do that, we must now break our alabaster. As a result, wherever the gospel is preached, we are told to spread this beautiful news.
Now, let's break our alabaster so that the fragrance of the gospel that the Lord is pleased with, the fragrance of Jesus Christ, and the fragrance of the devotion of the saints are presented to God as a church. Let us be determined to be devoted people who give our hearts and minds to the Lord. I pray that all the saints of true faith reveal the glory of the Lord.