#mark14

Mark 14:1-72 (King James Version)

Today we listened to a sermon on Mark chapter 14, the passage about the woman anointing Jesus with the expensive perfume. The disciples call her out, asking her why she is wasting the perfume when it could be sold and used to feed the poor. Jesus rebukes the men, saying that she did something beautiful and, because of it, will be remembered forever.

  It really struck me. I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with the disciples. Why would Jesus need you to spend a year’s wages on perfume for his body, when that money could be used to fulfill his demand for us—taking care of His people? It’s similar to the passage when Jesus rewards Mary for sitting at his feet instead of cooking the meal like Martha. I always identify with Martha in that scripture. She was working so hard to make a meal for Jesus, her sister did nothing to help…yet Mary was the one rewarded.

  So, this morning, I found myself wondering—what is God trying to teach me through these scriptures where I agree and identify with those He criticizes?

  I immediately began to think that maybe there’s something I’m missing. Here I am, in Africa, following my calling—but yet, I’m still just not getting it. We sometimes scoff at the disciples, who sat with Christ and listened to His teachings and still didn’t understand. But how different am I?

  For me, this passage became two lessons:

  Humility: It can be difficult sometimes to remain humble in my situation. I am “sacrificing” to be in Rwanda, putting my life on hold for two years, doing my best to help people in every way I can. I have literally fed the poor and helped orphans. It can be easy to let myself off the hook—I am doing God’s work for God’s people in the very way that God commanded. I am the disciples, sitting here saying—but you could feed the poor with that! But Jesus says…that’s not as important as serving me.

Who am I ever to say that my actions are more deserving of being called “service.” Obviously, there is something infinitely more important to Christ than my actions.

I know, of course, that God cares about your heart, your sincerity, the meaning behind what you do…but what else? I don’t think the disciples selfishly wanted to feed the poor. They wanted to feed the poor because God calls us to feed the poor. So why was their response not acceptable? There has to be something more that God wants from us.

Sometimes, I think I can get too caught up in the action. The thinking, the planning, the pros, the cons…that I lose sight of the reason. I am calculating…I want to make sure every action is in line with my beliefs, my core values, my calling. I don’t like toeing the line…I don’t even like approaching the line. I want to follow Christ, be like Christ—but sometimes I think that that desire gets in the way of truly experiencing Christ.

For the most part, I do what I do for the “right” reasons. I didn’t come to Africa to build my resume, to travel the world, to gain new experiences, to learn a new language, to get praise from my friends…I came to Africa because God has put this passion in my heart since I was a child. He opened doors and He spoke in still whispers and I walked behind him across the ocean.

But I just have this aching feeling that I’m still not doing it right. I’m selling the perfume to feed the poor.

  Serving can sometimes take the place of Christ: This I already knew. I know that not every person is called to mission work, life couldn’t work this way. Not every person is called to sell his fortune and move into a hut in the forest. We need servants to fund the good works of others. We need servants in the nursery during church services. We need servants to cook meals and stack chairs. We need servants to be a voice in politics. We need servants to fix cars and wait tables. We need servants to raise children and run a household.

We need servants who sit at the feet of Jesus while others are working. We need servants who pour a year’s wages over the head of Christ. We need servants who give passionately, freely, and without regard to simple humanity…offering up full sacrifices to the One who made us.

Priorities get shifted from Christ to being like Christ to living like Christ to following Christ to listening to Christ to acting like Christ…and eventually, we forget that the only reason we even started in the first place was simple—Christ.

Living in a way that serves Christ is, obviously, what we are supposed to do. There is nothing wrong with doing any of these things. But sometimes we can try so hard to do the “right” thing that we forget to stop and look at Jesus. We get busy serving and fussing that we wake up and think…when was the last time I even spoke to God? When was the last time I used my gifts and talents for Christ alone?

It is a struggle for me. Serving people feels like serving God to me. And, at times it is. But I’m Martha. I’m the disciples. God loved Martha. Jesus taught and led the disciples. They aren’t bad role models. But sometimes…I need to step back and evaluate my life.

Sometimes, I need to stop thinking and planning and calculating…and I need to be Mary.

  This lesson is a tough one for me. How do you balance service and humility? How do you balance actions and Christ? How do you balance maturity and freedom?

  Doug and I have been discussing this a lot lately. We are so professional and mature…sometimes it separates us from others. We come across as very boring and uptight (and maybe we are). We both have trouble letting our guard down, especially in public, and we always find it important to be in control of our actions and emotions. This can be very good sometimes—our focus and determination has gotten us exactly where we want to be in life. We’ve experienced a lot and been able to do the things we desire because of our strict discipline. But we’ve begun to realize that maybe sometimes, it would be okay to let loose a little bit and stop thinking so much.

  I think God has been trying to reveal something to me lately. I haven’t completed pieced it all together yet…but I’m working on it. I know there is something I need to learn from these free spirits in the Bible and the free spirits in my life.