I AM God, and you're not.
Job has gotten the hint. The Lord
is truly awesome, as nothing else inside the universe is or can be. Not only has He created all things, He also
has all things in His hand even today. Whatever
man fears and cannot control, the Lord has well in His control. Job now covers his mouth with his hand lest
he speak again, he knows that in the face of God there is nothing he can
say. From time to time we need this same
reminder lest we become too familiar with the Lord, too chummy, and forget the
greatness of the Lord. He invites us to
the Abba, Father relationship but in the process we can't lose sight of the
distinction between we, the created, and He the creator. My field
of vision can easily become too limited.
Mary's ablutions are lavish indeed. Nard was a very expensive perfume, it grows
at 10,000-15,000 feet in Nepal and the Himalayas so it had to be harvested and
then transported long distances to reach Israel and Mary washes the feet of
Jesus with it. Her love and respect for
Him is great in this scene. No Jew would
have normally washed the feet of another, it was one of the lowliest services
one could perform for another, and then she lets down her hair to wipe them
clean and dry. Letting down the hair was
typically done only for a husband and certainly not for such a task as this, it
was an intimate gesture but also one of great humility. Mary has recognized the paradox of Jesus, that
He is God in the flesh, at once both intimate and kingly. Judas sees only money that might have been available
to him as keeper of the purse if Mary had sold this perfume and given the money
to Jesus. Was this nard originally
intended for her brother Lazarus' body?
Paul and Barnabas part ways over John Mark. Apparently he had left them in cowardly
fashion at Pamphylia. Barnabas is
prepared to restore the young man to
service but Paul is not and their disagreement is sharp in the matter and so
they go their different directions. Reconciliation
and restoration are separate issues and they can be intensely personal
issues. Betrayal is difficult to get
past and it seems Paul is not willing to trust just yet in this instance. Paul returns to the places where he was
mistreated and the places from which had come those who stoned him and there
finds another young man to mentor and raise up for leadership, Timothy. Perhaps
the time had come for Paul and Barnabas to have separate ministries in order
that new leaders might be raised up for the next phase of the kingdom
development.
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