The Anointing at Bethany
Open Your Bible
Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:3-11, Luke 22:3-6
BY Jakell Farmer
In October of my first semester in college, I repented and gave my life to Christ. As a young believer I wanted to know everything I could about Jesus. I remember being in my dorm room, joyful tears streaming down my face as I learned how to study my Bible for the first time. The deep satisfaction of knowing my faith was real kept my fervor for the Lord strong. During Christmas break, my boyfriend from high school proposed. Though we were young, my family liked him and saw him as a good option for marriage. Though many transitions were happening fast, I was joyful for the season.
Shortly after giving my life to Christ, I had joined a women’s discipleship group. We shared our joys and struggles and helped one another walk in truth. One afternoon, I met with my group leader, and she challenged me to lay my relationship with my fiance before the Lord.
I had prayed many times before about my engagement. Though we both professed faith in Christ, my fervor and excitement for the Lord was starting to become a point of tension. After much prayer, I made that very difficult decision to call off the engagement and ultimately end our relationship. He was quite angry and hurt. My family thought I was taking my relationship with God too seriously. It was truly a difficult season of feeling misunderstood, seen as bizarre and over the top. But that one decision greatly changed the trajectory of my life from that moment on.
In our reading today, we met a woman who makes quite a scene showing her great faith in Christ. In this account, we don’t have a description of who she is or how long she has been following Jesus. We don’t even get her name in this version of the story. Her anointing of Jesus was bold, beautiful, very costly, and she was ridiculed for it. But whatever fears or apprehension she may have had prior to this moment did not keep her from publicly worshiping the Messiah. Her actions tell us she understood who Jesus was and acted upon this knowledge regardless of the cost, financially or socially.
Following Christ will inevitably put us in some awkward situations. Many will question the decisions we make. Many will lack understanding, believing we are wasting our time, money, and resources on the things of God. Many will wonder why we chose to live in certain neighborhoods or question the company we keep. But we can take heart in knowing that when we walk by faith, we can rest assured our heavenly Father sees our good deeds and we will not be scoffed at by the Most High. May we find His presence an embrace worthy of such devotion.
64 thoughts on "The Anointing at Bethany"
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LIANA DELACORTE thank you for sharing. Praying for you and your husband today as you navigate your growing faith. The Lord is so worth it and I trust he will guide you as you seek Him.
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The story of Mary giving the Lord such high cost alabaster flask of fragrant oil caused many people (disciples- aka fellow believers) indignant and they criticizedher sharply. It’s her resources anyways and she can choose to do what she pleases. This shows me sometimes you choose to be so generous and you come across such harsh reaction from the church/christians. May we recognize the motives of such criticism and encourage our heart to worship God throughour giving, regardless. Such act was commended by the Lord himself stating this will be a forever memorial to be mentioned everytime. Praying for our sisters request over marriages, relationships, families.
@Michelle P my mom too experienced these demonic dreams where she saw demons in dreams and she felt paralyzed. I prayed with her in agreement and we take authority and power over demonic spirits (Luke 10:19), forbidding them to ever harrass her through dreams again, command them to go, and pray for God’s hand to deliver her in this matter. Then it was gone. Praise God. Praying for you. -
My husband and I met in high school. I loved him so much and he was my best friend. My parents were against him just because he was shy and didn’t really talk with them. Putting him before God and agreeing to His will was the scariest and hardest thing I have ever done. But he said YES and I couldn’t have gone through all the things in my life without him, my love and soulmate. We both marvel at how blessed we are to have each other and to have found each other so young. We are going to celebrate 44 years of marriage and 48 years of being together this July! God is so good!
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I had to make a choice between relationship (read: love if my life,or so I thought) and Jesus. I will be honest and say I struggled, and it hurt more than anything else, but I would do it again. Like the author wrote, it changed the he trajectory of my life. I have been married for 14 years now to someone God hand chose for me. (That is another story). My x fiancé has since become a believer and is also very happily married. God is faithful, even if we don’t see it in the midst of the pain and heartache. ❤️
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Laura and Courtney (and all of us who love ❤️), you can love and affirm your daughters without affirming their lifestyle. You don’t even have to talk about it. (Maybe that would agree to a relationship under those terms?) They know you raised them and what you believe; now they need to see the unconditional love of Jesus lived out in your lives. That is not the same thing as giving approval.
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Amen
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@Liana Delacorte. I am in a similar place at home. My prayers go up for both of us to stand strong and soak in everything we can remembering that all things are possible with God holding us.
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Thank you @searching and others for mentioning your continued prayers and concern for me. I am here and reading every day… appreciating the compassion of our SRT united family and because of Jesus’ love for us. ❤️
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