Leave Her Alone!

I had some tests run last summer and one of them randomly uncovered a cyst in my sinus passage which meant that I needed to see an ENT. So, after the ordeal of finding one that my insurance would cover I drove an hour to South Bend, with my invalid father, was misdirected by my gps, got lost, finally found it, drove around the parking lot for 5 minutes waiting for someone to leave so I could park the car, took Dad’s wheel chair out of the trunk, got him unloaded and ran (if you can call my quickest movement running) through the pouring rain, found the directory, got to his office, muddled my way through the kiosk that wasn't responding to my wet fingers as I tried to check in, finally someone called me up to the desk and tells me that I am now 10 minutes late so I would have to reschedule.

I took a few deep breaths and I rescheduled. I then went through the same ordeal a few weeks later (only I didn’t get lost this time), and waited an hour to see the doctor that couldn’t wait 10 minutes for me. When he came into the office, he immediately said, “Doctors often find these cysts in an MRI and send patients to see me, but they are nothing to be concerned about. I just have to see you as a professional courtesy because you were referred to me. I’ll see you again in 6 months.”

I tell you this story to illustrate what a colossal waste of time looks like. It is frustrating. It is always frustrating going from Doctor to Doctor looking for answers that nobody can find, but this experience was nothing more than a ginormous frustrating waste of time… except for the fact that I was with my Dad. When you get to be with someone you love, having quality conversations, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, finding something new to see, finding the plumbing store that he set up for the Chizm’s, just being with one you love is never a waste of time.

There is a story in John 12 about Mary, a dear friend of Jesus “wasting” expensive perfume on him. This was the same Mary who “wasted time” sitting at his feet when her sister was doing all the cooking. Jesus knew he was coming to the end of mission on Earth. He was spending time with his friends, eating a meal when Mary comes in a pours the equivalent of a year’s wages on the feet of the Master that she loved with everything in her. It was the custom to have your servants wash the feet of the guests reclining at your table… with water. Mary was not a servant and she did not use water. And, to take this action to an even more intimate level, she dried his dusty, dirty feet with her hair. The best thing she owned and an intimate part of her being in their custom, was given to Him without reservation. It was meal time and she should have been in the kitchen. Being at the feet of Jesus appeared to be a big waste of time AND a big waste of money.

Mary’s actions were shocking and risky and unrestrained. She put it all out there to show her love for the One she knew would lay down His life for her. There was no way to honor Him at a higher level than that. And for her actions, she was shamed. The “wasted” perfume could have been sold to feed the poor. That was Judas’ argument against her. Certainly the compassionate Jesus who cared for the poor would call her out for that huge act of wastefulness.

I have had some struggles with Jesus response. “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” Why would a loving Savior who cared about people so much that He came to die for them, place His sweet feet above the needs empty tummies of others? It doesn’t match the character of Christ that I have come to know over the years. So what am I not seeing?

Could it be that it really doesn’t matter what we do for others, if we aren’t doing it as a sweet offering to Him?  There will always be people to serve. There will always be needs. There will always be jobs to do and money to earn and children to teach and sick to attend to and houses to clean and on and on and on… but if we refuse to put ourselves out there and offer our very best… the best of what we have and the best of who we are… to Jesus, then all our good works are worthless.

Is your marriage struggling even though you are reading books and trying to do and say all the right things for your spouse? Maybe what is missing is that you are doing in for your spouse or for yourself and not even considering Jesus as part of the equation. Without honoring and worshiping Him, you are just wasting your time.

Are your children difficult to understand, control, cope with… even though you are doing the best you know to do for them?  Maybe it’s time to take the focus on all you can give to them and do for them and turn your eyes to the One who gave them to you to raise for Him. Maybe exhausting yourself with their activities is a true waste of your time. What Jesus asks is that you pour your best out for Him so that your kids discover Who is really the center of it all that matters in life. 

Are you pouring yourself out for your career, your team, your friends your education, your family and neglecting the Master who designed the abundant life that is a custom fit for you? If so, you are wasting your time.

As Easter approaches I would like to suggest that you take some time to give the very best hour of your day; the very best energy of your day; the very best cognitive thoughts of the day… not to the things that the world sees as valuable, but give it instead to Jesus.

I can’t even imagine what it must have felt like for Mary, in that time in history, in the part of the world where she acted completely inappropriately and took a huge risk for the One she loved with all her heart, to hear the Master say, “Leave her alone.” Such validation. Such vindication. Such complete understanding of the gift she was freely offering Him.

Are you willing to put yourself out there for Him, even when the world says that you're wasting your time? I would like to be there when you do and hear Him say to those who are critical… “Leave her alone!”