Extravagant Love

SCRIPTURE

But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to Me?”

~Mark 14:6, NLT

QUOTE

Love [Agape] is the only spiritual power that can overcome the self-centeredness of our human nature.

~Arnold J. Toynbee

Jesus was a superb teacher and He was filled with truth but very few heard what He was saying. Humans, as a general rule, are horrible listeners. We are not active listeners: we are passive. We do not work at listening and thus we do not hear what the other person is actually saying. Mary was an active listener. You can make fun of her domestic work ethic if you like but when it came to listening, she was well ahead of the curve. She understood what others did not: Jesus was about to die! This was the eve of His crucifixion and Mary sensed his heaviness of heart while others were insensitive. We need the Martha’s to serve but boy do we need our share of Mary’s. When was the last time someone really listened to what you had to say?

 

Mary’s love for Jesus was so great that she was willing to embarrass herself. Her love was so great that she gave Jesus the most precious thing she had, knowing that it would last less than 24 hours. Perfume is expensive but it has a short life span once it is broken and spilled out. Others considered it a waste but not Mary. She didn’t care what others thought, her focus was solely on Jesus. She was a woman in a man’s world. She did not lack courage but she lacked strength: she was no match for an angry mob, a roman soldier or a pagan governor. She could not stop this world from abusing her LORD but she could express her love. Jesus said, “She did what she could.” Somehow she sensed that it was in God’s will for Jesus to die but she did what she could. Have we done what we could? If I only knew that Jesus would say the same thing about me but I fear that it will not happen. It is a sobering thought.

• The sun needs no witness to it’s glory, amen. The glory of the sun is self-evident. The sun felt good yesterday and it was rather nice when the wind laid. The Son needs no witness; when we see HIM, when the world sees HIM, His glory will be self-evident.
• We are working on something special for Sunday or you might say different. I think the children will be with us in the service and we want the service to move but we also want the gospel presented clearly. We are not going to hurry because that could offend the Holy Spirit and without Him we are whistling in the wind. It would help if we could get all our video equipment to function properly. One way or the other, we intend to present the gospel. Our job is to plan and present, your job is to pray.
• Sunrise at 7:30…Breakfast at 8:00-8:30…LCBS at 9:00, Easter Parade at 10:10, Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus at 10:15. No pm services.
• The series on Colossian is going better, for me anyway and we had another good crowd last night and a few Mary’s out there which is always encouraging.
• Don’t know if the video will work or not: just don’t click on it: I may use it Sunday.

Gospel Rap