IN MEMORY OF
DAY 39: What will you be remembered for? You may not have an answer just yet, but if you are like me you have thought about the question. I'm not a scientist or an inventor so my accomplishments will never be remembered in a textbook. I've been a good mom, but other than my kids, whom I successfully kept alive through teenage years, no one else remembers my parenting. I hope I've been a good wife, but no one will put my name on a building for that.
There are a few things I am thrilled to know won't be remembered. I almost burned down a national forest once, but we have all tried to forget that. I got three traffic tickets in three weeks, but since it was in three different counties those judges are unaware how pathetic that really is. I threw up on a bus ride through the mountains of Mexico- with no way to clean it up. My home made skirt fell off in public at my husband's college graduation. Oh, and the pinnacle of my humiliations, I wet my pants at Walmart! So I had a kidney infection but try explaining that to the checkout clerk. And then of course there are the real skeletons in my closet (we all have them). Thankfully, all these things are memorable to no one but me.
So what will I be remembered for? Maybe I should really ask, what do I want to be remembered for? Do I want to be remembered as a great writer? An amazing humanitarian? A powerful speaker? If I could be remembered for all time for anything what would it be? Yesterday my answer might have been related to an accomplishment, but after reading what Jesus said today, I know how I want to be remembered.
In Matthew 26, Jesus is just days away from laying down His life on the cross. As He had done several times before, He tried to prepare His disciples for what was coming.
1 (Jesus) said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Scripture does not record any response to this outrageous and shocking proclamation. His 12 closest companions have just been told he is about to die in the most torturous way and they have no response. Perhaps it is because when He told them this on other occasions they responded poorly. Once Peter basically said, "Oh no you're not!" To which Jesus called him Satan for his denial of the truth. Another time they just didn't understand and were afraid to ask Him any questions. This time, I guess they just decided to pretend they didn't hear Him. But someone else was listening.
As they all settled in for a dinner party at the home of Simon, whom Jesus had healed of leprosy, you would think that it was just another day instead of the beginning of His excruciating journey to the cross. They were eating and drinking, probably telling stories about their encounters, and enjoying one another's company. Then, in the midst of the care-free revelry, a young woman does something unforgettable.
Matthew26: 7 While he was eating a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. John 12 tells us who it was: 3Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
What a beautiful picture of devotion. What an intimate moment of love. What a bunch of jerky guys who interrupt it!
Matthew 26:8 The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. 9 “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”
They did not see what Jesus saw at all. They saw a woman wasting money that they thought would have been better spent feeding hungry people - hungry people coincidentally that they generally walk past everyday. But Jesus saw into the heart of a woman who had heard what He had said, believed Him and acted on it.
10 But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? 11 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. 12 She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. 13 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered in memory of her.”
Mary, a woman in the background but listening and believing all that Jesus said, acted on what Jesus said was to come. She didn't try to stop Him or change His mind. She didn't go off and complain about how it did not meet her expectations. She believed Jesus. Believing led to worship. Worship led to service. For all of that, SHE WILL BE REMEMBER. SHE IS REMEMBER. Two thousand years later we are talking about her unforgettable act of love.
I want to be remembered as the woman who believed God. I want to be remembered as the woman who worshiped God. I want to be remembered as the woman who served God. Buildings crumble, textbooks are rewritten, but when God records our faith, it will never be forgotten. That is what I heard today!
What about you?
Day 39 of 365 days with God
Exodus 28
Matthew 25:31-46
Matthew 26:1-13
Psalm 31:9-18
Proverbs 8:12-13
So what will I be remembered for? Maybe I should really ask, what do I want to be remembered for? Do I want to be remembered as a great writer? An amazing humanitarian? A powerful speaker? If I could be remembered for all time for anything what would it be? Yesterday my answer might have been related to an accomplishment, but after reading what Jesus said today, I know how I want to be remembered.
In Matthew 26, Jesus is just days away from laying down His life on the cross. As He had done several times before, He tried to prepare His disciples for what was coming.
1 (Jesus) said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Scripture does not record any response to this outrageous and shocking proclamation. His 12 closest companions have just been told he is about to die in the most torturous way and they have no response. Perhaps it is because when He told them this on other occasions they responded poorly. Once Peter basically said, "Oh no you're not!" To which Jesus called him Satan for his denial of the truth. Another time they just didn't understand and were afraid to ask Him any questions. This time, I guess they just decided to pretend they didn't hear Him. But someone else was listening.
As they all settled in for a dinner party at the home of Simon, whom Jesus had healed of leprosy, you would think that it was just another day instead of the beginning of His excruciating journey to the cross. They were eating and drinking, probably telling stories about their encounters, and enjoying one another's company. Then, in the midst of the care-free revelry, a young woman does something unforgettable.
Matthew26: 7 While he was eating a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. John 12 tells us who it was: 3Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
What a beautiful picture of devotion. What an intimate moment of love. What a bunch of jerky guys who interrupt it!
Matthew 26:8 The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. 9 “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”
They did not see what Jesus saw at all. They saw a woman wasting money that they thought would have been better spent feeding hungry people - hungry people coincidentally that they generally walk past everyday. But Jesus saw into the heart of a woman who had heard what He had said, believed Him and acted on it.
10 But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? 11 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. 12 She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. 13 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered in memory of her.”
Mary, a woman in the background but listening and believing all that Jesus said, acted on what Jesus said was to come. She didn't try to stop Him or change His mind. She didn't go off and complain about how it did not meet her expectations. She believed Jesus. Believing led to worship. Worship led to service. For all of that, SHE WILL BE REMEMBER. SHE IS REMEMBER. Two thousand years later we are talking about her unforgettable act of love.
I want to be remembered as the woman who believed God. I want to be remembered as the woman who worshiped God. I want to be remembered as the woman who served God. Buildings crumble, textbooks are rewritten, but when God records our faith, it will never be forgotten. That is what I heard today!
What about you?
Day 39 of 365 days with God
Exodus 28
Matthew 25:31-46
Matthew 26:1-13
Psalm 31:9-18
Proverbs 8:12-13
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