You ask why this woman, why she would throw such extravagance in a leper's house... I
guess I wonder why more of us don't...
If she was Mary, THE Mary who chose better and sat at that feet of Jesus rather than worry about lunch...
If she was Mary, THE Mary who looked Jesus in the eye and said "if you had been here..."
The Mary who wept two days as her brother lay cold...
The Mary who watched Jesus grieve...
And then, here comes the catalyst,
The Mary who saw with her own eyes death triumphed on this side of the River...
Why wouldn't she do something so raw and yet beautiful, fearless and dangerous... Won't we all when we see Him conquer death... Real death!? Won't we all cast down our crowns at His feet!?
Have you tasted death? Have you had that moment of raw pain when after weeping for days? The Messiah drops by and you cry out... "If only you had been here..."
In precepts, Karla talked about living between this world's "life" (our best moments) and "death" (those moments of intense pain). That we strive to avoid "death" and seek only "life". Our own little version of living. And how pitifully small that world is. Those words have stuck with me.
I have read about Him resurrecting the dead, read about Him defying His own grave, met Him in front of my Father's real tomb, and my brother's figurative tomb, even my own "death" tombs... I have said to Him, "if only"...
I have spent much time living in that shallow land of my poorly defined life and death and decided no more.
I've been stepping out in faith and joyfully realizing that it wasn't death.
My father's death five years ago... (Can still feel like death but only if we think tombs are the end of the story!)
talking to people isn't death (still a work in progress!),
going back to college isn't death (I actually love it quite a bit!)
Nate's illness when he was little (even if arthritis continues to lurk in his life)
my oldest boy, in anger, leaving home the day after Christmas... (that continues to be a huge stretch of faith in the face of a really large rock blocking that tomb... How I long to see what He is doing)
And this moment I am in right now... It is not death!
Well you get the idea. Some things have been little steps of faith and others huge agonizing hardships I haven't understood... But none of it has been real death! And I have found great joy in telling the Father thank-you each time I realize the lies I had believed were only smoke and mirrors.
So live, boldly and fearless for Him. And encourage others to live likewise! Each of us have a tomb we long to meet Him at. A tomb where the death stench keeps us away. Won't it be awesome to watch "Lazarus" come out and help unwrap death to life in each other... And won't it be even more wonderful on the other side when all this world explodes in His glory!
And when we fail, as we will, He offers us His cup of forgiveness... And we pick up our crosses and follow Him...
Thanks for helping me send this boy to Nepal with great joy... He is one of my five highly treasured perfumes. Be it to sickness, a journey of hardships, or to the heights following God, I want to pour these jars over Him ... With much boldness even in the face of fear.
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"
If she was Mary, THE Mary who chose better and sat at that feet of Jesus rather than worry about lunch...
If she was Mary, THE Mary who looked Jesus in the eye and said "if you had been here..."
The Mary who wept two days as her brother lay cold...
The Mary who watched Jesus grieve...
And then, here comes the catalyst,
The Mary who saw with her own eyes death triumphed on this side of the River...
Why wouldn't she do something so raw and yet beautiful, fearless and dangerous... Won't we all when we see Him conquer death... Real death!? Won't we all cast down our crowns at His feet!?
Have you tasted death? Have you had that moment of raw pain when after weeping for days? The Messiah drops by and you cry out... "If only you had been here..."
In precepts, Karla talked about living between this world's "life" (our best moments) and "death" (those moments of intense pain). That we strive to avoid "death" and seek only "life". Our own little version of living. And how pitifully small that world is. Those words have stuck with me.
I have read about Him resurrecting the dead, read about Him defying His own grave, met Him in front of my Father's real tomb, and my brother's figurative tomb, even my own "death" tombs... I have said to Him, "if only"...
I have spent much time living in that shallow land of my poorly defined life and death and decided no more.
I've been stepping out in faith and joyfully realizing that it wasn't death.
My father's death five years ago... (Can still feel like death but only if we think tombs are the end of the story!)
talking to people isn't death (still a work in progress!),
going back to college isn't death (I actually love it quite a bit!)
Nate's illness when he was little (even if arthritis continues to lurk in his life)
my oldest boy, in anger, leaving home the day after Christmas... (that continues to be a huge stretch of faith in the face of a really large rock blocking that tomb... How I long to see what He is doing)
And this moment I am in right now... It is not death!
Well you get the idea. Some things have been little steps of faith and others huge agonizing hardships I haven't understood... But none of it has been real death! And I have found great joy in telling the Father thank-you each time I realize the lies I had believed were only smoke and mirrors.
So live, boldly and fearless for Him. And encourage others to live likewise! Each of us have a tomb we long to meet Him at. A tomb where the death stench keeps us away. Won't it be awesome to watch "Lazarus" come out and help unwrap death to life in each other... And won't it be even more wonderful on the other side when all this world explodes in His glory!
And when we fail, as we will, He offers us His cup of forgiveness... And we pick up our crosses and follow Him...
Thanks for helping me send this boy to Nepal with great joy... He is one of my five highly treasured perfumes. Be it to sickness, a journey of hardships, or to the heights following God, I want to pour these jars over Him ... With much boldness even in the face of fear.
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"
Some day ... some glorious day all these tombs will crack open and we dead will LIVE
