Now, we have drawn near to the time of Jesus's crucifixion.

In 26:4, it is written "and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him."

While all the people who were full of sins kept vigilant eyes
on Him, Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper.
It was the house where Jesus could relax the most.
Bethany was the place where the Lord Jesus could relax and feel relieved.

☆We would like our church and our homes to be like Bethany, wouldn't we?
Don't you agree?



In 26:7, Mary of Bethany appears.
Her alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard was like a saving money for her marriage.
In Mark, it is written that she broke the flask.
Everyone, Mary did not sprinkle oil on the Lord Jesus from the flask!
She broke the flask in front of the Lord Jesus.
Then what happened? The house was filled with the fragrance of the oil, and the fragrance enveloped the people gathered there.

She poured out all her heart, all her love for the Lord Jesus, who was going to be crucified on the cross.

The disciples, who saw it said, "Oh, what a waste!" In Matthew 26:8, it is written that they were indignant.

Don't you know such people?
"What a waste! What a waste!"
It is these people's favorite phrase.
Yes, these are skinflints.
It is not a bad thing to be frugal as far as your own life is concerned.
However, a skinflint is also stingy about things which concern God. I don't like that.
Unless he is freed by God the skinflint will never get out of this habit.

☆He does not make an offering, because he cannot.
Because he does not make an offering, he cannot receive God's blessing.
Because he cannot receive God's blessing, he does not understand
the financial blessings and the economic principle of the Kingdom of God.
Because he does not understand this, he manages his own economics...
And he cannot make an offering of thanks -- and so it goes on.

Let's stop being skinflints about God's work!
Skinflints cannot be the house of Bethany.
Let us stretch our economic tent!! Those people who offer everything to God receive God's blessing and are radiant.
People will flock round this person. They feel the blessing of God.
The fragrance of Christ is there.



☆Let's return to our story.
Mary of Bethany did not do what she did deliberately.
She wanted to offer all of the oil to Jesus.
The Lord is the Lord who looks at the heart.
(Incidentally, Judas was quick at calculating. Profit or loss? Satan trips up people with this sense of value.)

In verse 12, as the Lord Jesus was about to be crucified, He said about Mary of Bethany,
"For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial."
In verse 13, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

Do we have oil of spikenard?
Can we break the flask anytime?
Amen??
Do we find anything around us which we cannot offer to Jesus?
Do we find anything around us which we cannot show to Jesus?

One of the disciples said, "Why this waste?"
This is something which people who do not believe in Jesus
sometimes say.

Verse 9, "For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and
given to the poor."
Indeed, this seems a reasonable opinion, but at the back of the
disciple's mind what he was thinking was:
Oh, what a waste! Oh, what a waste! That was all.
Let us learn to distinguish between what the disciple says and what he means!
"Satan, away with you!!"

I have learned that there is no calculation in true love.
And I still think so to this day..
The Lord Jesus shed his blood to the last drop for us, sinners.
And that is why we are now living in joy, isn't it?
Did Jesus say what a waste it was?

☆The splendor of God's love.
☆When we experience the splendor and the greatness of the Cross of Jesus,
we cannot help breaking a flask of oil of spikenard, can we?
Would you like to sprinkle the fragrant oil?
I was amazed by the true love of Mary of Bethany towards Jesus.
How important was this flask to her?



Luke 10:42,
this woman had the one thing of which Jesus said,
"But one thing is needed."
Therefore, as it is written in Matthew 26:13, wherever
this gospel is preached in the world, the faith
of this woman will be spoken of, as a memorial to her.
After this scripture, Judas appears.

The fragrant oil of spikenard must have had a wonderful scent.
However, we are given the fragrance of Christ by the living Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
This is more fragrant than any perfume.
This is a fragrance given to those who seek.
God will give it to you. Hallelujah!!
Let us abandon the faith of skinflints! Let us offer for God.
Let us break the flask! Then the place you live will become Bethany, the wonderful place.

Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord.