Alabaster jar.

I was watching a romantic series recently where this guy wanted to propose to his girlfriend and everyone kept telling him, “Timing is everything.” My Pastor Esther says, “The right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing.”

So what I am learning more and more is how there is a time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” Last week we looked at Mary and Martha. How Martha was goal oriented and trying to get things done while Mary sat at Jesus feet, soaking in His Presence. At that time, the most important thing was not to get the house ready for the guests. They were not even focused on all of that. Not once does Jesus arrive at someone’s home in the Bible does the Bible describe, oh they had not cleaned their house. Or it looked as though they had missed laundry day. Or boy was the food bad! No one cared about any of those things, their focus was Jesus.

There is a time to clean and cook up a feast and entertain guests, and there is a time to sit at His feet, get into His word, pray and listen to His voice. There is a time for everything. The right thing at the wrong time, is still the wrong thing.

After Jesus was crucified, I doubt Martha thought, “Boy, I wish I had done a better job cleaning the house that day!” No. She probably thought, “I wish I had spent more time at His feet.” When life hits us, when storms happen, what will carry us through those storms is Jesus. How much of Jesus you have in the storm is up to you.

So Martha and Mary had very different relationships with Jesus. Mary craved intimacy with Jesus. Which means, Jesus let her into some secrets and spiritual truths so much so that she anointed Jesus in preparation for His death and burial.

John 12:1-8 says, “Six days before the Passover began, Jesus went back to Bethany, the town where he raised Lazarus from the dead. They had prepared a supper for Jesus.  Martha served, and Lazarus and Mary were among those at the table. Mary picked up an alabaster jar filled with nearly a liter of extremely rare and costly perfume—the purest extract of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet. Then she wiped them dry with her long hair. And the fragrance of the costly oil filled the house.  

But Judas the locksmith, Simon’s son, the betrayer, spoke up and said, “What a waste! We could have sold this perfume for a fortune and given the money to the poor!” (In fact, Judas had no heart for the poor. He only said this because he was a thief and in charge of the money case. He would steal money whenever he wanted from the funds given to support Jesus’ ministry.) Jesus said to Judas, “Leave her alone! She has saved it for the time of my burial.  You’ll always have the poor with you; but you won’t always have me.”

Mary, from her position of intimacy with Jesus seemed to be picking up on something neither Martha nor Judas were picking up on. Martha because she was distracted and Judas because well, he was Judas and also his mind was fixated on carnal things. When we choose to nurture intimacy with Jesus, God allows us to be part of amazing and significant things that we can otherwise miss out on.

 We, like Mary, want to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear Him speak. We like the sound of our own voices too much sometimes. Sometimes its good to just sit and listen. What is Jesus saying to you today? This week? This season?

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano