Matthew 26:6-13 ~ prepare

 When we think of Holy Week, what do we think Jesus was doing? Jesus was visiting people and the Scriptures record He was invited to lunch. Al fresco.

There was so much to the Words of Jesus, all the books in all the Libraries and databases, couldn't contain the Words and Works of Jesus.

Judas was having important meetings this week. Jesus was as well. Judas was seeking to fill his own future with all types of events, funds and powerful people, to advance the life of Judas, and if Jesus was really, really a good object, or subject, then Jesus would advance as well.     Judas was building for his own life. Probably about 15 to 20 more years. Jesus was building today unto Eternity.

Jesus was surrounded by His People. People who did not know they were His People.  Vessels. Souls filled with Jesus and His Father, The Holy Spirit. 

The Bible Verses today speak of Alabaster. Even Alabaster points to Jesus.  This is the week Jesus said if the People did not cry out for the Glory of God, even the rocks would cry out. And when the people got quiet, to see the reactions of Jesus Christ in His Temple, the Children began to sing His Praise. Infants Praised God.  Psalm 8 tells us our Father knew of this miraculous Praise in the 1000 BC Psalms of David. 

Frequently, Scriptures record Jesus was invited to dine with people. Holy Week was no exception.

Matthew 26:6-13

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper 

A woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on His Head as He reclined at table. 

8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, 

“Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 

12 In pouring this ointment on My body, 

she has done it to prepare Me for burial. 

Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, 

what she has done 

will also be told in memory of her.”

Jesus, the Gospels tell us, was a man filled with emotions, humor, tears, weariness. John 4:6 says Jesus is weary. When we hear of Jesus praying, He is recharging Himself to speak with our Father.  Jesus gets angry with people, disciples and the Temple.  

Openly, openly, openly, Jesus says He is being prepared for burial. 

This is the end of Jesus in this world.  And Jesus is as calm and prepared as the Alabaster flask.  Jesus is not edgy, irritable, rude, tearful or angry. Jesus is still, and always will be, Our Shepherd. He has not come to fill the Flask.  Jesus has come to fill the woman pouring out her emotions in a week of intense events.  Jesus sees her being a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has come to fill, not alabaster water jars of 40 gallons, Jesus has come to fill this woman. To heal her emotions, to honor her Love. Jesus has come to fill Simon. Jesus has come to be heard by the people passing Simon's porch. Jesus is back, back, back in Bethany. Lazarus is Alive! Simon has invited Jesus as hero of the week and known to all of Israel, to dine on his front porch. 

Jesus is not here as miracle flavor of the week. Jesus is here as Love. Healer. Shepherd, Father. 

Jesus is not here as a libation to be poured out and to evaporate.

Jesus is the Living Breathing Word of God. 

2 Timothy 2:20-21 

 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver

 but also of wood and clay, 

some for honorable use, 

some for dishonorable. 

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, 

he will be a vessel for honorable use, 

set apart as holy, 

useful to the master of the house, 

ready for every good work.

Lent is a time of remembering

to put God first in our heart,

thoughts.

And remember again what Vessel of God

we want to be

Judas and Herod play a part of Lent, Holy Week and this Scripture of Matthew's Gospel, the 26th Chapter.  

Vessels.... Herod's Palaces have been found in the last decade. Even Herod's Tomb.  Herod was found to have a Great Alabaster Bathtub.  How was this possible?  Alabaster is a luxury. Something known to Egypt. But Israel?  Luxury of Alabaster? An import of Egypt?

The photo at the top is what we think of as Alabaster. And is not in the ancient world. Not glossy and filled with light. Alabaster comes from a quarry. It is a mineral and soft rock used for vessels, carvings and is the source of plaster. Plaster we find in Peter's house beside the Sea of Galilee. Filled with pilgrims praising God for the opportunity to see Peter's House where Jesus healed and stayed.  Plaster in Rome from millenniums surrounding Peter's actual tomb. A Rock... bearing witness to Jesus.

And archaeologists wondered where Herod got the Alabaster. Alabaster 40 gallon jars holding water to wine. Alabaster flasks holding expensive perfume.  

 The Bible discusses the use of alabaster; as in Herod’s time, it is referenced as being used for its splendor and high quality. 1 Chronicles 29:2 says, “Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.” The original Hebrew word for marble is שַׁיִשׁ, which can be translated as alabaster.

And this led to the discovery of the Israel quarry. And filling, the Museum of Israel, in Jerusalem, are all sorts of alabaster going back to the 12th and 13th BC. The time of Jacob going to see the Pharaoh's Vizier.  Vessels of History. Telling of His Story.

† 

Jesus is a Vessel of God

Especially in Holy Week

This day in Matthew's Gospel, 26th Chapter.

Jesus is not going to 

bruise

or break,

but to uphold.

Isaiah 42

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

    he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

    or make it heard in the street;

3 a bruised reed he will not break,

    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

    he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged

    till he has established justice in the earth;

    and the coastlands wait for his law.

5 Thus says God, the Lord,

    who created the heavens and stretched them out,

    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

    and spirit to those who walk in it:

6 “I am the Lord; 

I have called you in righteousness;

    I will take you by the hand 

and keep you

I will give you as a covenant for the people,

    a light for the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

    from the prison those who sit in darkness.

8 I am the Lord; 

that is my name;

    my glory I give to no other,

    nor my praise to carved idols.

Behold, the former things have come to pass,

    and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

    I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a new song,

    His praise from the end of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, 

and all that fills it,

    the coastlands and their inhabitants.

Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

    the villages that Kedar inhabits;

let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,

    let them shout from the top of the mountains.

Let them give glory to the Lord,

    and declare his praise in the coastlands.

The Lord goes out like a mighty man,

    like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, he shouts aloud,

    he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14 For a long time I have held my peace;

    I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman in labor;

    I will gasp and pant.

15 I will lay waste mountains and hills,

    and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,

    and dry up the pools.

And I will lead the blind

    in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

    I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

    the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

    and

 I do not forsake them.

17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame,

    who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

    “You are our gods.”

18 Hear, you deaf,

    and look, you blind, that you may see!

19 Who is blind but my servant,

    or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,

    or blind as the servant of the Lord?

20 He sees many things, but does not observe them;

    his ears are open, but he does not hear.

The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,

    to magnify his law 

and 

make it glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted;

    they are all of them trapped in holes

    and hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

    spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

23 Who among you will give ear to this,

    will attend and listen for the time to come?

24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

    and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

    in whose ways they would not walk,

    and whose law they would not obey?

25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger

    and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

    it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

Abba, Father,

Our heart hears the call from You.

We ask healing

of Your Good Creation

The fullness of the earth is Yours.

The healing of those we pray for
in our heart and soul.

Dwell in us, Father,

Dwell fully in those we love,

Help us to seek You first

and we will finish well in Jesus Christ.

Our God. His Son, 

Jesus Christ.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

YES Bless the Lord Jesus

Thank You Jesus

Deuteronomy 8 ~ Walking in His Ways

 

Deuteronomy 8

 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and by fearing Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Today, is Holy Week. 

And my birthday week. And we had an offer on the duplex my late father and mother purchased in the summer of 1976.  We went out to the Conroe airport and my father's favorite airplane was there, making a roar all could hear within 2 miles. A Pappy Boington P-40 World War II Corsair.  I haven't seen a Corsair in decades.  Profound.

The phone rang all morning. Far-flung family was calling, texting. It was ... boisterous. 

We got home, again, and I felt a little shocked at the events colliding.  And went out into the backyard to decompress and sit quietly in nature. We live on a pond. And as I moved to sit, a Giant White Egret flew over. A female Red Bird was on the Bird feeder. 2 Blue Dragonflies were there. And the honey bees I haven't seen in a while. Busy, busy.

A day Heaven felt to me, as if it was reaching out.

Pearl luster

We have a family. We all do. Both living on earth and in Heaven.

Psalm 46

Though the mountain shall fall into the sea

Jesus is the Glory or wealth of His Father.

Telephones used to be at eye level

and studied for capabilities.

Jesus is the Glory or wealth of His Father.

Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He shall prolong His days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his Hand.

11 Out of the anguish of His soul 

He shall see and be satisfied

By His knowledge shall the Righteous One, my servant,

    make many to be accounted righteous,

    and He shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many,

    and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because He poured out His soul to death

    and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet He bore the sin of many,

    and makes intercession for the transgressors. 

Abba, Father,

Our heart hears the call from You.

We know to have held Jesus to

trial and death as a false prophet 

would incur egregious error.

And we see in Scripture 

the mercy of the merciful

Luke 17:17-19

Then Jesus answered, 

“Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 

Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 

And He said to him, 

“Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Help us to live each day

putting You first.

As the Name of Jesus covers us

and the Holy Spirit dwells in us.

We ask healing

of Your Good Creation

The fullness of the earth is Yours.

The healing of those we pray for
in our heart and soul.

Dwell in us, Father,

Dwell fully in those we love,

Help us to seek You first

and we will finish well in Jesus Christ.

Thank You.

Our God is working. His Son, 

Jesus is working.

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

YES Bless the Lord Jesus

Thank You Jesus