My Burial
My Burial
12 For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. 13 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Matthew 26:12-13
Jesus never seemed to be shy about talking about death and his death in particular. As he understood his purpose here on earth, he knew that his death was a vital part of that. This confuses a lot of non-christians. Why do we follow or worship a killed man or god? That is how many people see it. Jesus was just a man with some clever ideas but who ultimately died thousands of years ago. Some compare him to Buddha or other influential person in history.
We of course know that his death was only a part of his story. We know it wasn’t the end of his story. Just as he promised, he died but rose again. As important as Jesus’ death is, his resurrection is of even more importance because it gives us hope in our own lives after death.
But his death and resurrection was more than just a sign of what could be our future. It was also a door and plan for how we, while still alive can already experience death and resurrection. A real Christian must die to his old self, habits, ideas and path and embrace a new life which follows Christ. That is expressed in the act of baptism. Just this last Sabbath we partook of a baptism at Bronte.
The woman who poured the fragrant oil on Jesus probably didn’t know how Jesus would take her act and use it in expressing his main message. She was simply trying to do something good for Jesus and he probably had done something good for her.
We too can do good things for Jesus. Perhaps not to him directly, but we can help those in the world. We know that Jesus himself said that doing things for others is like doing it to him. We may think it is just a small thing we do, but like this story, we don’t know if Jesus will transform it into something much bigger.
Let us, like Jesus, embrace a new life with him. Let us be new creations that have his love in our hearts. But let us also be like the woman who gave what she could and let Jesus take her actions and transform them.
Like the woman we too may be remembered by an action we do. If nowhere else, you can be sure that in heaven it will always be remembered.
God bless,
Pr. Steven Couto