Foot Washing -- A Humble Service

Thursday evening of Holy Week -- Jesus served His disciples by washing their feet. That's not considered a very pleasant task. They walked dusty roads on their sandaled feet. The dust that hopped into their shoes, mixed with sweat on their feet from the warm climate would have made for some caked on mud. It's a good bet they may have sported blisters and callouses besides -- perhaps cracked skin. Yet Jesus possessed the humility for the task in spite of His status as God Incarnate.

In a Bible study session recently someone commented about our individual willingness to wash feet if that is the task God has prepared for us to do.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10

My thoughts at that moment were, "God did plan for me to wash feet. Well not wash them exactly, but certainly to rub and massage them. As He has led me to the place where reflexology is a way of serving others, I'm also able to bring a touch of His love to their lives. Placing it in this Jesus' Light, brings a whole new dimension of understanding to the Thursday events of that first Holy Week. I'm humbled to offer myself for the task of this good thing He had planned for me long ago.

Jesus Anointed with Costly Spikenard

All 4 of the Gospel writers in the New Testament record an account of Jesus being anointed with costly pure nard or Spikenard.

Quiz:

1) Was He anointed on His head or His feet?

2) How many times during His ministry was He anointed?
a. 3
b. 6
c. 1
d. everyday

3) Who anointed Him with the precious oil?
a. Mary of Bethany
b. Mary Magdalene
c. An anonymous woman
d. All of the above

4) Where did the anointing(s) occur?
a. Simon the Leper's home
b. Lazarus' home
c. Simon the Pharisee's home
d. At the Last Supper


It is easy to assume these are all the same story. Closer reading will show they are actually 3 different occurences in Jesus’ life and in 3 different locations.
One was at the beginning of His ministry, one was 6 days before His burial, and yet another one was 2 days before His burial.

The time of Luke’s story is the early days of Jesus’ ministry at Simon the Pharisee's home most likely by Mary Magdalene. Our focus today is on the other two occasions.

Matthew & Mark write of the same occasion. This was 2 days before Passover at the home of Simon the Leper by an unidentified woman who anointed Jesus' head. John's story takes place 6 days before the Passover when Mary of Bethany anointed the feet of Jesus while he was at the home of her brother Lazarus.

Just to be sure, the Bible does not recount Jesus being anointed everyday or at the Last Supper.

The one litra of spikenard each used is worth about $2200 in today’s currency. (A 5ml bottle of pure therapeutic grade essential oil of spikenard retails for about $45.) The $2200 is equivalent to a year's wages for a common laborer around 30 A.D.

Some myrrh (also very costly) may have been mixed in with the spikenard as a fixative substance. The application of both spikenard and myrrh in the last week of Jesus life has some interesting implications. Both of these oils are known for their ability to heal wounds and scar tissue. When Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus’ 6 days before His death, Judas objects to such a valuable commodity being used to anoint Jesus’ feet when it could have been sold for a substantial amount and distributed to the poor. Jesus’ response to Judas was to say, “Leave her along. She bought it for the day of my burial.”

Myrrh was a customary burial oil, but spikenard was not. Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities . . . and with his stripes we are healed.” Jesus knew he was to receive a brutal flogging from the Roman soldiers in less than a week, just prior to His death. He knew His body would be covered with deep cuts and bruises in addition to the penetrating wounds of the cross. He also knew a miracle was to take place during his burial. Except for the scars on His feet, hands, and side, His injuries would all be healed without a trace.

While Jesus’ healing and resurrection was an act of God, and not the result of any oils applied just before or after his death, it is interesting that the oils Jesus received, twice in the last week of his life, are precisely the ointments that would have been chosen to treat such wounds to effect healing with little or no scar tissue. Spikenard's emotional effect in aromatherapy use has been known to be very powerful for anxiety. Jesus’ comment to Judas was as if He was affirming the appropriateness of these essential oils from which His body could well benefit during His ordeal – before, during, and after the cross—as well as in the tomb, during His burial, when His healing took place.

The oils and plants mentioned in Scripture were commonly known in that era along with their benefits for health & wellness. It is always amazing to me how much more significant their mention becomes when we have insight into information that was such common knowledge to them, but has become so foreign especially to our Western way of thinkng.

You will find the accounts of Jesus' anointings in Matthew 26:6-7, Mark 14:3, Luke 7:36-38, John 12:1-3.



CREDITS
Stewart, David, Ph.D., HEALING OILS OF THE BIBLE, copyright 2003, CARE Publications, Marble Hill, MO

Higley, Connie and Alan, REFERENCE GUIDE FOR ESSENTIAL OILS, copyright 1998-2004, Abundant Health, Spanish Fork, UT

Photo Charles Webber © California Academy of Sciences

See How THE King Comes!!!

"The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him. And they cheered:

Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in God's name!

Yes! The King of Israel!
Jesus got a young donkey and rode it, just as the Scripture has it:

No fear, Daughter Zion:
See how your king comes, riding a donkey's colt.

The disciples didn't notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done to him.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: "It's out of control. The world's in a stampede after him." John 12:12-19 THE MESSAGE

Watch for insights into this most Holy Week in the life of the Believer -- The week of special remembrance of Jesus death and subsequent resurrection -- His suffering and His Glory -- All for each of us -- freely given that we may be ALIVE! eternally with Him. We'll be traveling from Hosanna to Hallelujah!!!