This bold, brazen woman barges into a dinner party. Uninvited. She comes right up to the Guest of Honour and does something highly irregular that makes everyone else incredibly uncomfortable. Except for the Guest. His eyes are tender and His words are kind. She is welcomed by Him. She is invited into His family. For Jesus knew her heart…
Just as He knows our hearts.
This Holy Week, as we remember the days leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, we read about an unnamed, uninvited woman.
How did she know that Jesus was King of Kings, deserving of a special anointing? That as she poured her precious perfume with trembling fingers onto his head, it would be a foreshadowing of his death and burial?
Surely, she heard the whisper of God telling her to act on this wreckless notion. And she obeyed. Her most prized possession, her treasure, her wealth in liquid form—she took it in an alabaster jar, entered the room uninvited, broke the jar, and poured its aromatic contents onto the Saviour.
Imagine, the air would have been saturated with its richness, a shock to the senses, heady, powerful, rich. And then as it permeated throughout the room, its spectacular sweetness would be inhaled by everyone present. Jesus included. The fragrance lingering on his body for days. Maybe until it was time for His body to be broken. For this dear woman, and for us today.
She was brave. She cared not what others might think. She cared only for Jesus.
And what the critics in the room called a waste, Jesus called worship.
“I promise you that as this wonderful gospel spreads all over the world, the story of her lavish devotion to me will be mentioned in memory of her.” Mark 14:9
The only invitation she was concerned with, was the invitation from Jesus. To be welcomed and accepted by Him.
“God invites us today to live a great story with Him.” Lysa TerKeurst
That challenges my heart…
Her lavish devotion to Jesus is a stunning example for us all, that we might put Him above all else.
Friend, depending on where you live, this Easter weekend may look a little different for you—again. It’s the first Easter my husband and I have ever spent without any of our kids or family, and I’m not going to lie—we’re missing them like crazy. (The bulldogs will be receiving a LOT of attention.)
But know that even if we aren’t able to extend invitations around the Easter Sunday dinner table, we can always invite others into the love story of God sending His Son as a sacrifice for all.
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” John 3:16
This week especially, let’s draw near and listen for God’s whisper as we focus on the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for every one of us, and then rejoice in His glorious resurrection and its promise of life everlasting!
Have a truly blessed Easter,
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