by Lilly Lewin
Two weeks till Easter.
How is it going?
I know many have been on Spring Break holidays already.
Many are busy with projects and homework and just plain living.
We’ve already experienced the beauty of Spring here in Nashville. The tulips are blooming, but most of the daffodils have done their thing. The cherry trees have been gorgeous, but are already loosing their blossoms and their new green leaves are showing through. It’s redbud tree time and the dogwood trees are just beginning to show their glory. My mom wonders if there will be anything left to blossom by Easter morning. Will there be enough color or will everything already look like summer?
I know many of you are in a different season, or you haven’t seen enough spring weather just yet to see the beauty of Spring and all it’s abundance.
Not Enough sun
Not Enough warmth
Not Enough time to notice the changes in the season
Not Enough time to see the beauty around us
That word ENOUGH happens a lot. It has power.
How do you experience the word Enough?
Does it set you free? or does it keep you in the land of fear?
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” John 12:1-8
This is the Gospel reading for this weekend.
It’s an interesting look at ENOUGH.
Mary chose to lavish her most valuable possession on Jesus.
Judas was afraid it was too much, and a waste…
Judas was afraid he wouldn’t have enough or couldn’t get enough later.
Mary was living in the abundance of the moment. She wasn’t afraid of what anyone would think. She wasn’t worried that there wouldn’t be enough later.
Judas is living in the land of not enough, a land filled with fear and betrayal.
What about us? How are we living? Are we living in the land of Abundance or living in the land of NOT ENOUGH?
Do we believe we have enough to be lavish?
Are we able to believe in “God’s Enough” and lavish on someone else, and share the abundance?
Can we share that abundance with someone else to show that they are enough?
As we approach Easter, how can we move into the land of enough and the land of abundance rather than living in the land of fear and not enough?
What symbol could you choose to help you remember that in God’s economy there is always enough? And there is really an abundance! (remember the wine at the wedding in Cana and the fish in John 21?)
I have a pitcher filled with water on my table to remind me that God has enough for me. What would you choose to help you remember?
You might find some oil to put on or to smell to remind you to live in the land of enough rather than in the land of fear and scarcity.
Use the painting of the Anointing at Bethany above, by American Artist Daniel Gerhartz, to help you engage the story. Allow this art or another painting like it, to help you to be lavish in your giving…to help you remember that you are enough, and to help you remember that in Jesus, you have enough to give away to others.
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com