It Will Cost You Everything

Scripture:

Mark 14:3   While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. ⁴ But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹ Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

Observation:

A very obscure woman whom many have tried to place into the annals of history came and anointed Jesus’ feet. Some have thought that this was Mary, the sister of Lazarus, or Mary Magdalene. In Mark’s gospel, the name of the woman is not mentioned but that may be to our benefit. This woman, who represents all of us who feel anonymous in this world, comes and, essentially, brings all that she has and anoints Jesus. A disagreement ensues over the act and whether it was “wasteful.” What the bystanders failed to see was that she was participating in the mission, and that meant giving her all. The result was that this woman would be remembered throughout history and in combination with the spreading of the good news.

Application:

Lately I’ve been re-reading Thomas A’Kempis’ “The Imitation of Christ.” This book is the most popular and widely distributed book in all of Christianity, except for the Bible. Interestingly, it probably wasn’t all that popular at the time that it was written. This book was written as a type of offering, an offering of a person’s life to be given in service to God.

In the introduction to his book we read, “Thomas Haemmerlein, known also as Thomas a’ Kempis, from his native town of Kempen, near the Rhine, about forty miles north of Cologne. Haemmerlein, who was born in 1379 or 1380, was a member of the order of the Brothers of Common Life, and spent the last seventy years of his life at Mount St. Agnes, a monastery of Augustinian canons in the diocese of Utrecht. Here he died on July 26, 1471, after an uneventful life spent in copying manuscripts, reading, and composing, and in the peaceful routine of monastic piety.” (Kempis, Thomas à. The Imitation of Christ (Illustrated) . Walrus Books Publisher. Kindle Edition.)

A man who lived a routine life, poured himself out for Jesus and touched the world. There is no guarantee that we will be remembered by generations to come, but there is a call to total abandon to Jesus. The ordinary, anonymous person who gives all that they have to Jesus becomes extraordinary by participation in the mission of God.

There’s a cost to this participation. For the woman, it probably cost her everything that she had to purchase the ointment. For Thomas a’ Kempis, it cost him an entire life in faithful living, reading, composing and copying manuscripts. What will it cost us? For each the cost may appear different but at the end of the day — following Jesus costs us everything. Everything that we have; our resources, our time, our abilities — they are all to be given over in submission to the Lord.

Prayer:

Lord, may I be found as faithful was the woman, participating in your mission. Amen.