Of Great Value…
Yesterday, the women’s bible study got (re)started for the new year. It was great to be back with some of the women from Central, praying and studying Scripture together. If you’re a woman and are free from 10:30-12:00 on Tuesday mornings, we’d love to have you!
This week, we picked up where we had left off before the summer in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14 (I promise we’ll finish Mark eventually!). One of my favorite stories is in that chapter: about the woman who uses an extravagantly expensive bottle of perfume to anoint Jesus. She breaks it open and pours the whole thing on him. Jesus said that whenever the good news of Jesus is preached throughout the world, what she did will be spoken about. There’s so much packed into this little story.
But I want to focus on that jar.
It was made of alabaster, containing a very expensive nard ointment. It was worth about a year’s wage, and the way the jar was made, it was for a one-time use. It was broken open, and you had to use it or lose it.
It was a jar of great value.
I wonder how long she had it sitting on her shelf. You get the impression that she wasn’t a very well to do woman. In fact, you’d guess she was on the poor and outcast side of things. I wonder if she thought of selling it and getting a year’s worth of wages out of it (I would have, and then bought a hot tub!). I wonder if she thought of breaking it open in the past.
I wonder what made her use it for Jesus.
It also makes me wonder about us. What thing of great value do we have sitting on our shelf, that’s currently going unused? What gift of great value do we have that is collecting dust, being wasted? What thing of great value are we holding onto that the presence of Jesus in our lives might be calling us to break open and use for his purposes?
We all have a jar of great value in our lives that Jesus calls us to break open for him. What is it for you?
Think about it this week, and ask God to help you figure it out. And then ask for the courage to use it all in service of Jesus. It’s worth it.