Awareness
According to Mark’s Gospel, on the Wednesday of his last week on Earth, Jesus was at Bethany in the home of one Simon the leper when a woman came and poured expensive ointment on his head. When some of the people present complained about her extravagance, Jesus said, “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.”
In other words, the woman was somehow aware of Jesus’ impending death; she for some reason had the openness and insight to understand what Jesus had been saying about the sacrificial nature of his life where Jesus’ other followers—including the ones who had supposedly followed him most closely—did not.
If she understood that, then she probably also understood what Jesus had said about the required sacrificial lifestyle of those who would follow him.
Lord God,
Make us aware.
Give us a spirit of openness and insight that we might see, understand, and accept who Jesus was and is.
Give us a spirit of openness and insight that we might see, understand, and accept what it means to be the followers of a Messiah who died on a cross.
Give us a spirit of extravagant sacrifice that we might give our all for the sake of loving you and loving others.
Give us an awareness of who Jesus is and of who we are that leads to the living of a life that is motivated and dominated by a desire to give, to love, and to serve.
Amen.
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