Today’s passage: Mark 14:3-9
Hey, look. It’s Good Friday. And it just so happens that the next instance of the word “gospel” in Mark is where the woman in Bethany with the perfume anoints Jesus for burial. How about that.
We’ve seen this passage before in Matthew, and though the wording in spots is not identical, it’s phrase-for-phrase the same passage. A woman pours a vial of expensive perfume over Jesus’ head, a few disciples gripe about the waste, and Jesus corrects them that honoring him is more pivotal to the gospel even than helping the poor. Jesus is the cornerstone of the gospel; his life, death, and resurrection hold together all the other aspects of the gospel, including aid for the poor.
I don’t have a lot to say about this passage that I haven’t already said before. Today we reflect on Jesus’ death. Death and sin and tyranny still hold sway in our world; the work that the Messiah began, the work that has him as its foundation, is not yet complete. Hang tight, fam. It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
For today’s chocolate I’m back to the Unreal peanut butter cups.
