Comments on: She Has Done a Good Work for Me – Mark 14:1-11

By: alice

alice — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:39:45 +0000

Where was Martha? Probably still in the kitchen…maybe her practical side kicked in and she thought Mary wasteful, too. Perhaps she sent a casserole and thought that was enough. (I can make these sarcastic comments because I, too, am a Martha.)

By: Golda

Golda — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:20:47 +0000

Correction: Name of the song is “Peace Be Still” by Rush of Fools.

By: Golda

Golda — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:08:34 +0000

Those were great comments. I heard a beautiful song this morning called “Be Still And Know That I AM God” which made me think of these verses. Don’t you think we have to “be still and listen” to be able to hear what He wants to tell us? I think Mary was able to hear Jesus because she was still and listening to Him. The others seemed to be focusing on other things and seemed to lose sight of what was “really” important: JESUS and what He was saying.

By: ubah

ubah — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:41:06 +0000

To piggyback on Jessica’s ideas, isn’t it interesting how (again) Jesus shows us that his is an upside kingdom? I continue to see this over and over again. The first are last, the greatest is the least, the widow gave more than all, and now Mary dumps a bottle of Channel on Jesus and instead of being chided for waste, she is rewarded with the incident being recorded for time immemorial. How cool.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:35:02 +0000

That’s a great point Jericho. I knew that Mary had buried her brother, but it didn’t really sink in. I’m sure she was especially sensitive to words like “death” and “resurrect.” Where as the others might have let it go in one ear and out the other, it must have struck a chord with her.

Think about how hard that must have been for her. Sometimes we know that God is strong enough to handle situations, but it’s so hard to have faith in that knowledge. I bet she knew that Jesus would rise again, but maybe she poured the oil over his head just to strengthen her resolve that she had faith in his power. Like opening the sails for God to put the wind into. She poured the oil on his head and he reaffirmed her actions and here we are studying them today.

Speaking of which, I just keep thinking about how Judas accused her of being wasteful. Jesus praised her for it. How can we be “wasteful” in our lives? One of the most precious things to me is my time, I keep thinking how I can be “wasteful” with it. Like going to visit someone in the hospital, or volunteering at the shelter or visiting an old folks home. Yes, the laundry might get behind, but that’s ok. I think….I don’t know, any thoughts?

By: Jericho

Jericho — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:18:43 +0000

This is a phenomenal passage to me. I may be off base, but I think Mary knew exactly what she was doing. Not to put a “sexist” spin on things here, but I believe Mary (& Martha), Mary from Magdala, and Joanna – all likely knew what was coming up. Jesus had been explaining multiple times that this event (his death) was coming.

Mary understood all too well about death and burial, and annointing (her brother Lazarus). She also heard directly at Lazarus’ tomb when Jesus told her, “Mary…I am the resurrection and the life…”

When you observe this action, along with the actions of the women on resurrection morning…it starts to make sense. Women are intuitive, understand nuance, impression, and underlying meaning light-years better than men do.

The boys (Pete, Andy, Jimbo, Jack, etc…) had been hearing directly that Jesus was going to be betrayed in Jerusalem, turned over to the Gentiles and killed. Their continual response was, “Yeah…OK…but not literally…right?”

I think the girls (Mary, Martha, Joanna, Mary M) understood all too well. Coupled with his “setting his face toward Jerusalem”, and “I’ve longed to eat THIS Passover with you…” stuff.

So she broke out the precious annointment and annointed her master, Rabbi, Savior…for his upcoming death & burial.

Just my opinion on it…but I would love to sit down and ask Mary, Martha, or one of the other women a lot of questions about some of Jesus’ parables and statements…

By: Golda

Golda — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:13:02 +0000

I read these verses last night and I could hardly go to sleep. So many thoughts going though my head about My Love and My Savior. How do I show Him how much He means to me? What expensive perfume can I pour out to annoint Him with? I know, I’ll give Him my heart, my soul and my life.
He is so precious to me.

I think Jesus wants us to acknowledge who HE really is and that He is in control. Mary knew who he really was and she responded with showing her affection. This is the “good work” Jesus deserves. He gave everything for us! This was the plan from the beginning and NOTHING could stop that plan from happening exactly when God wanted it to happen. Jesus poured out His Life for us. What amazing Love!!!