'Blessings from Jerusalem' Anointing Oil from Israel.
What is the blessing from Jerusalem? Any of the fine oils in this collection could teach us a lesson. However, the spikenard oil shows us a beautiful picture of the greatest blessing from Jerusalem: the love of Christ for the whole world.
In the familiar story, Mary broke a valuable bottle of spikenard and poured it over Jesus’ head. This happened in Bethany on the Mount of Olives, just a Sabbath Day’s journey from Jerusalem.
The spikenard that she poured over Jesus’ head started on the other side of the world, in the Himalayas. There it was harvested and loaded onto ships for transport around the world. Some of it would have been unloaded at ports on the Red Sea and then carried by camel train across the Sahara to markets in Egypt and the holy land. In other words, it came at great expense from the other side of the world to bless Jesus and those present.
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
( James 5:14)
A few days after her gift to Jesus, He was betrayed, crucified and buried. He rose again and appeared to many of His followers. He led them out again to the Mount of Olives, undoubtedly near to where Mary had anointed Him, and gave them the charge to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
The spikenard had come from the ends of the earth to the Mount of Olives. Now, Jesus was standing on the Mount of Olives and sending His followers to the ends of the earth. A few years later, the Apostle Thomas reached the shores of India, the homeland of the little spikenard plant. Just as transporting the spikenard carried great risk and expense, so does transporting the Gospel.
Some of the cynical people present asked “Why this waste?” when they saw the bottle broken and the perfume poured out. However, Mary knew that Jesus was worth it. More amazingly still, the Father sent His Son to be broken and His blood poured out for us. Because we were worth it to our God.
The blessing from Jerusalem is that God saw we needed redemption and spared no expense for our salvation. In like manner, we should spare no expense to tell others of Christ’s great gift. That is what we learn from Mary and her bottle of spikenard.
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