What Jesus Could Have Done, What He Did

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”—John 1: 1-5 (NKJV)

“Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me, nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.” –Luke 22:42. (NKJV)

‘Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.’ “ – John 17:1-5 (NKJV).

The very Son of God that spoke a word and the whole creation was formed took on human flesh and came to earth. Can I comprehend the magnitude of this truth?

Jesus could have avoided all the suffering of the last week of His life, the humiliation, the shame. What Jesus could have done was to “mount the wings of the morning” and return to His former position, glory and majesty in heaven. He did not have to endure the agony of the cross, the indignities it brought. What He could have done was not to enter the realm of finite time and be subject to limitations of flesh and blood. What He could have done was to avoid death.

Can we possibly know the extent of the Word’s power? The love that motivated Him to provide the sacrifice necessary to restore man to fellowship with God?

“Be still and know that I am God. It is He that has made us, and not we, ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Jesus could have chosen the easy way. He could have remained in His former glory. But “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” And in Him we see “the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

“I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” Jesus uttered these words in that pathos-filled prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He spoke the words in the past tense, as if the terrible suffering and death were completed, not yet to be borne in His flesh. Jesus’s purpose would be fulfilled. Let us think of what Jesus could have done—and what He did! Let His love, sacrifice, purpose and power permeate your thoughts. He glorified the Father—and us! Praise be to God!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, March 20, 2010

Anointing Jesus for His Burial

“And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. . . (Jesus said) ‘For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.’ “ -Matthew 26: 6-7, 12 (NKJV) (Read Matthew 26:6-13)

Matthew’s account of the anointing of Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper (a person Jesus healed) is one of His anointings recorded in the gospels. Luke 7: 36-50 gives another anointing in the house of Simon the Pharisee. That account tells of a ‘woman of the city, a sinner’ anointing Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair, and Jesus’ telling her that her sins were forgiven. Another anointing occurred at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in Bethany six days before the Passover. Mary took a pound of oil of spikenard and anointed Jesus’ feet. “The house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” (John 12:3). Again, Jesus said: “She has kept this for the day of my burial.”

To anoint was a sign of being set aside for a task. Symbolically, to anoint was an official declaration of appointment to office, political or spiritual. The anointing of Jesus recognized Him as the Messiah sent from God. It’s rather amazing that His anointing were made by women who recognized Him as the Messiah and had the courage in a mixed group to boldly anoint Jesus. Men looked on and disparaged the waste of the oil that could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. It had other meanings as well. Anointing was used in healing the sick and embalming for burial. It was this latter custom, with his death soon impending, that Jesus said the act had been performed by the woman.

God had already anointed and appointed Jesus to come into the world and as the Perfect Lamb of God be offered as the sacrifice for sin. We Christians see Jesus as the Anointed One. God’s presence and power were present in the woman’s anointing of Jesus. She was but the willing vessel to perform the act.

Each of us is anointed as a Christian. The oil may not be applied to our heads, as in the account of the woman anointing Jesus. But spiritually, we are anointed. Paul speaks of anointing of the Christian in 2 Corinthians 1:21: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ..has anointed us in God.” John tells of the Christian’s anointing in his letter, I John 1:27: “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you…” May we ponder on and thank God for our own anointing.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, March 19, 2010