What a Waste!!!

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Matthew 26 (click the link)


KEY PASSAGE:
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.” (Matthew 26:6-10, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
So how do you write a devotional covering 75 verses, and the last couple of days before Jesus is crucified?  I don’t know, but here goes nothing.

This chapter and the events it portrays are also covered in the books of Mark, Luke, and John, sometimes with a little different view.  It covers the betrayal of Jesus, His anointing by a woman, the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the arrest of Jesus, the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin (kangaroo court) and finally the denial of Jesus by Peter.  Each one of those events could fill up a good essay.  With the power given to me as the author of this piece, I choose to write about the act of worship by the woman, possibly Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, by pouring a jar of expensive perfume on Jesus.

This woman “got it.”  She was obviously out of her mind by “wasting” this perfume on Jesus.  After all, the men in the room were quick to suggest that it was wasted and could have been better used by selling it to give money to the poor.  As if that is what they would have done if they were in possession of this expensive stuff—right.  They didn’t get it.  The woman was overcome with the urge to worship Jesus with her possessions.  This was illogical and our worship is still illogical to many people.  Some go so far as to say we are weak minded and simple people, unable to see the futility in what we are doing.

Worship is uncomfortable for us.  It is not something that is held in high esteem by the media that bombards our lives moment by moment, day after day.  We are a society of instant gratification and worship is not something that gratifies us instantly.  Our society in America has a hard time worshiping anything or anyone.  So the kind of worship exhibited by the woman that poured the expensive perfume on Jesus, is hard for us to understand.  We are taught that nobody is more important than ourselves, so worship is hard for us.  Jesus has this kind of effect on someone who “gets it.”  I hope we all “get it”!

So how do we worship Him in a way similar to this woman?  Do I mean to suggest that we all run out and buy something expensive and give it up or “waste” it on Jesus?  No. In my experience, worship is a very personal thing and takes many forms.  There is no “cookie cutter” approach to worship—it’s personal and between you and the Lord.  Nobody has the right to say that if you don’t worship in a certain way “you’re not doing it right” (movie quote from Mr. Mom).

Being a dyed in the wool Baptist, I had a hard time accepting other forms of worship.  A typical Baptist worship service is three hymns (first, second and last verses please), the offering, preaching, "Just As I Am", benediction and finally beat the Methodists to Luby’s for lunch.  The way other denominations worship is their business, just don’t get too caught up that you lose control.  And what’s up with those crazy non-denominational churches—they do anything—can’t they make up their minds????

Thankfully, I’ve been healed from that way of thinking.  Worship is worship in whatever form it might take.  When the Spirit moves, He moves spontaneously.  But it all starts with the condition of our heart.  If we go into a worship situation with the attitude that “this better not take too long” or “I hope we don’t sing those 7-11 songs too many times over” (7 words repeated 11 times) we aren’t going to experience worship.  If a baseball player steps up to the plate and thinks “I can’t hit this guy’s pitches” then he probably won’t get a hit.  If a salesman tries to sell something, thinking all along that he can’t make the sale anyway—just a waste of time—he most certainly won’t make the sale.

For me, I say worship is our way of submitting to the Lord’s will for our life at any given moment in time.  It doesn’t have to happen only on Sunday at church.  It might involve seeing a need of a stranger and filling that need, spontaneously.  It might involve pausing for a moment during our daily, busy, life and seeking God’s will in a given situation.  And if might even involve our doing something that we don’t like or that doesn’t make sense to most folks, like the woman that anointed Jesus with perfume.

So take a moment and reflect how good God is and what we owe Him.  Think of where we’d be without Him and see if this doesn’t lead to some form of worship.  And certainly don’t forsake the gathering of the saints where we are free to exercise our worship in any form that we feel appropriate.  Even if it means moving around a little bit.


WHO AM I?
I am Ira Sansom, and for those of you who don’t know me—I’m Tres’ dad.  I am employed in the ministry at Highland Lakes Camp, just down the road from PRF, as the Director of Camp Operations (sounds high and mighty, but actually I’m just the head janitor).  Previously, I worked in the corporate insurance field—for 30 years—long enough to know that if I didn’t get out, I’d be driven to the nut house by now.  I’m the husband of the most wonderful wife in the world and a person that I hope I never have to do without—my darling wife Judy, known by most everybody as “Miss Judy”.  I’m the father of two other children as well—a fantastic son Phillip and a lovely daughter Natalie—and the father-in-law to two wonderful daughters-in-law and one very talented son-in-law, and I love all three of them as if they were my own flesh and blood.  They in turn have given me a gaggle of great grandkids (almost too many to count).  My philosophy in life is “it doesn’t matter how old you are, just as long as you don’t lose your immaturity!” My last word to you all is another quote, “stay thirsty my friend”—for worship!!!