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 | |  |  | Quote: John 12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary 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.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. " 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." | Here we see Martha serving the men, while Mary is taking the best she has and laying it at Jesus' feet. Spare no expense for our blessed Redeemer, right? Quote:
At the Home of Martha and Mary
Luke 10:38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." | Here again we see Martha serving the men, while Mary listened intently at Jesus' feet (which was something women weren't supposed to do in that culture). It's believed that Mary was a young girl, maybe about 16 years old, so maybe she said to herself, "ooh, that John is a cute boy, I think I'll sit by him".........okay, maybe not, it was just a joke...more than likely, she trusted Jesus and wanted to spend time with Him. Perhaps Jesus was speaking directly to her...because when we give Jesus OUR attention, He's gonna give us HIS attention. There's a possibility she was distracting the other disciples. Maybe they were even gesturing to Martha, "Psst! Hey, get this girl outta here! Doesn't she know that teaching is for men only? She's even distracting JESUS!" And so we see that Martha comes in and says, "Hey, this isn't right! She's a girl, she's supposed to be helping me serve! Jesus, why don't you tell her to help me?" Mary was really cool, because she not only gave Jesus her best (in the form of perfume, a fragrant act of worship), she also devoted herself to spending time with Him. She invested her time in Jesus, and He praised her for it. Quote:
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you."
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34"Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" | Here we see the death of Lazarus. Jesus comes to Bethany, and Martha goes out to meet Him. She complains to Him that if He had been there, Lazarus wouldn't have died. Jesus tells her that Lazarus will rise again, and she responds in a way that indicates that she is frustrated with God. "I know he'll rise again in the last day." (But what good is that to ME RIGHT NOW?) and Jesus basically says, "Just trust Me.....now go get your sister."
When Martha tells Mary that Jesus wants her, she QUICKLY gets out and runs to Him. The Jews with her think she's running to the tomb to weep. She didn't tell them how upset she was with Jesus. She didn't gossip. They had no idea why she got up so fast, because she didn't unneccessarily burden them with her problems. But she RAN to Jesus. When she got to Him, she FELL AT HIS FEET and gave her WORST to Him. She presented her troubles to Him with much sorrow and weeping. When Jesus saw her crying, His heart went out to her. He had compassion on her and showed her how much He cared. But He said wait a second, Mary. Not only do I CARE, but I can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. "Where have you laid him?"
We also see the lack of faith on Martha's part when she objects to the rolling away of the stone. Not too much prior to this, she tells Jesus this: Quote: "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." | Jesus rebukes Martha at this point and says, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
If we are to trust God, we must HAVE FAITH in Him, and what He SAYS to us. If we want to see the Glory of God, we need to completely surrender to Him. We need to give our best to Him and not hold back. James 1:5 says that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God because He gives it without holding back. If God doesn't hold back from us, we shouldn't hold back from Him either.
We also need to spend time in His presence. That's what He desires from us. Not only do we need to read our bibles, pray to Him, worship Him and things like that, we also need to take time to be quiet before Him, to rest in His promises and allow ourselves to LISTEN to Him. We can't allow the noise of the things around us to drown out His voice, but we need to find quietness and solitude.
It's like when Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood, there was a crowd around Him. The disciples said, "Jesus, there's LOTS of people, anyone could have touched you...." But Jesus knew......If I were to walk past you in a crowded hallway and I brushed against your shoulder, you wouldn't think anything of it. But if you were alone and everything was still and quiet and I touched your shoulder, you'd be very aware of it.
In addition to giving Jesus our best, and spending time with Him, we need to give Him our WORST. God can't give you His best until you give Him your worst. Take all your problems to Him and give them to Him. Fully surrender to Him. God can't CONSECRATE the things that you don't DEDICATE. Give Him EVERY PART of you. He DIED for all of you, so why not LET HIM HAVE THE THINGS HE PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD?? Jesus didn't go to the cross because He liked olive trees. He didn't allow Himself to be crucified because He liked the feel of hardware through His skin. He died as an Atoning Sacrifice for us all. Recognize Him as Lord of your life. Then you will see His Glory.
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__________________ "Tis man's perdition to be safe,
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12-05-2003, 03:13 AM
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