Bring Spices to Jesus Part 1 of 2

291026:61

Bring Spices to Jesus

[NKJ] Mark 16:1 “Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him”

   There 2 major times that spices were used, at these times they were very expensive…
1] The first was when being at the house of Simon in Bethany, when Mary came in with a pound of ‘Spikenard-oil’, which back then would have cost more than a years wages. Then she took the Alabaster flask and broke it and poured it all upon His head.
[NKJ] John 12:3 “Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil”
2] While Jesus lay in the grave the women prepared spices to strew about His dead body. They did this out of gratitude. They so loved Him, and so remembered what He had done for them, and they wished to honour Him. At this time they had NO thought of Hie resurrection.
[NKJ*] Mark 14:3 “And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head”

   We have a greater reason for honouring Christ than these faithful women had at that time. They had prepared spices to pour about His dead body, how shall we honour Him? The grav is empty and His body needs no more the fragrant perfumes that are fitting for the dead. But, is there not something suggestive of a true hearts offering spices ans ointments, with there sweet odours?

   We can bring Jesus our hearts love, ‘Homage is fragrant’. The sweetest spices found in this world, are those we grow in the garden of love. If we truly love Christ and breathe our love out to Him in prayer and praise and adoration, we are honouring Him a way that is pleasing to Him. In the old temple worship the alter of incense was the alter of prayer and praise. The worship of Earths humble believers rises to heaven as fragrant incense. It was an old Jewish fancy that Sandolphon*, the Angel of prayer, he stands at the gate of Heaven receiving into his hands the supplication of Earth. . .

“from the spirits that adore,

from the souls that entreat and implore,

in the fervour and passion of prayer,

from the hearts that are broken with losses,

and weary with dragging the cross,

too heavy for mortals to bear."

"And He gathers the prayers as He stands,

and they change into flowers in his hands,

And beneath the great arch of the portal,

Through the streets of the city Immortal,

Is wafted the fragrance they shed."

… The strange fancy is not unscriptural. Sincere heart breathing of love and faith do indeed rise as the fragrance of sweet flowers into the presence of Christ.

   There is another beautiful scrap of teaching that comes out of the old rabbinical books, which has also it’s place here. There are 2 kinds of Angels, it tells us – the Angels of service, and Angels of praise. The latter are of a higher order than the former., and no one of them praises God twice but, having once lifted up his voice in the song of Heaven, he ceases to be. He has perfected fruit of his life, that for which he was made. He has finished his work, and he life is breathed out his one holy psalm.

   There is in this fancy, a deep truth that the highest act of which the soul is capable of, is praise .. The unpraising life is yet an unfaithful life, at least it has yet bourne the sweetest, ripest best fruit, that which Gods sight is the most precious of all. In heaven all life is praise, we come near to the heavenly life only in measure that our life here is praise. Thus we are exhorted to .. ‘Offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of the lips which make confession to His name.’

We may also prepare spices for our Lord in loving ministry..

He Has Redeemed Us

..all the hopes of our lives come out of His sacrifice for us on the cross. All our joy comes out of the cup of His sorrows. We are to show our return of love by sweet services in His name. All about us are those, Christ’s little ones who are hungry; are thirsty; or cold; or have still deeper spiritual needs, and in ministering to Him.
[NKJ] Matthew 25:35-6 “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me”. . . v45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me".

   It is not money alone or chiefly that we are called to bring. Love is better than money, and yet another one ever gave as did …

..“He gave himself, He gave sympathy

thought, time, strength, life”..

… These are the spices we must bring, they are the most fragrant to Christ…

“It is not because of Gods poverty that

the World is so slowly redeemed. Not the

most righteous expenditure of money

alone will save it, but the expenditure

of life ~ Soul and Spirit, it may be that of

Nerve ~ muscle ~ Blood & Brain. All these

our Lord spent but not money”

… Please before going on, my request is that, you read this next paragraph a couple of times due to it’s meaning then it’s instruction into our daily lives!

   We cannot live a Christian life that will please Christ without a cost to ourselves. It can never be such a disciple Christ wants you to be. It was not easy for Christ to redeem the World. Virtue went out of Him continually to supply the wants in other lives. At last He literally opened His heart and poured out the last drop of His rich blood to become life for dead souls. His suffering were finished when He bowed His head on the cross, but now it is ours to suffer for Him. We need never think that we can do anything to redeem this World other wise Christ wrought. Nothing but the giving of life will never save the World. Nothing but love will up lift men and transform them. It is our lives then, to perpetuate the self-sacrifice of Christ. In service to others in Christ’s name , we are bringing spices to him.

Again I ask you to read this Last paragraph.

Part 2 of "Bring Spices to Jesus" coming on Friady of this week