How Priceless Is Your Love, O God!
The psalmist wrote:
How priceless is your love, O God!
your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings.They feast upon the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from the river of your delights.For with you is the well of life,
and in your light we see light. (Psalm 36:7-9)
At the beginning of Holy Week we have the example of love and devotion of Mary of Bethany, to the Lord Jesus. She was the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. She understood the priceless love of God:
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. (John 12:3-7)
Mary must have been spiritually aware of what was about to take place. Perhaps she had an awareness that many of the disciples of Jesus did not have. Judas wanted to distract others from what she was doing. That is a primary way in which the enemy operates.
We may do “good works” by giving to the poor, provided our motives are pure. (Judas Iscariot’s motives were not.) Nevertheless, our good works will not purify us. If we ignore the passion and purpose of Jesus we will greatly miss the mark.
We read in the Book of Hebrews:
When Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:11-15)
Jesus offered himself to God on our behalf. What are we prepared to offer him? Mary offered her all.
Preaching the Lectionary 