Psalm 41
Mary Magdalene by Anthony Frederick Sandys
What Price for God?
Is there a price to serve God?
Mary bought a pound of expensive perfume
and used it to anoint the feet of Jesus.
While she was wiping his feet with her hair,
the house was filling with the perfume's fragrance.
Judas Iscariot said,
"Why didn't she sell that and feed the poor?"
Jesus knowing the intent of his heart
to steal the money said,
"Leave her alone,you always have the
poor with you but you don't always have me."1
Peter and John were in Samaria
and where praying for those who believed
and had been baptized in the name of Jesus.
As the lay hands on them,
they received the power of the Holy Spirit.
Simon offered them money
so that he could have the power.
Peter said, " May your silver perish with you
because you thought you could obtain God's gift with money!"
Simon's intent was not right before God.2
There are some who would tell you
if you just tithe enough
you can get right
with God.
Jesus said to the moneychangers,
"Stop making my Father's House a market place!"3
Whose laws do you obey when it comes to God?
Many times the people following the laws
of tradition in the temple,
confronted Jesus about breaking those laws.
One time it was at the Sheep Gate.
(remember this gate from the last psalm?)
Invalids were laying by the pool seeking relief.
Jesus healed one man on the sabbath.
The people persecuted him
for working on the sabbath,breaking a law.
Jesus said,
"My Father is still working, and I also am working."4
Lord, help us to adjust our hearts
to the right intent of our actions
believing in Your Glory and not the commands of man.
Let us not try to form You into our ways,
but form ourselves into Your ways.
Your Son paid the price on the cross for our sins.
May we pay the price
with a giving heart
in thankfulness
for what we have been given;
believing in the
incorruptible power of God! 5
1 John 12:1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
2 Acts 8: 13 Even Simon himself believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs and great miracles that took place. 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's gift with money! 21 You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.
3 John 2:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"
4 John 5: 1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." 11 But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, "Take up your mat and walk.' " 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, "Take it up and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I also am working." 18 For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
5 1 Corinthians 10: 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 23 "All things are lawful," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up. 24 Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, 26 for "the earth and its fullness are the Lord's." 27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I mean the other's conscience, not your own. For why should my liberty be subject to the judgment of someone else's conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
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Comments
caroline: I am glad you enjoyed the verse, it warms my heart that a gifted writer like yourself, could find pleasure from this.