Anything But Normal

Anything But Normal

John 12:1 – Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2 – There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3 – Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

Jesus returned to Bethany to spend time at the home of the people He loved: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Things had returned to normal for almost everyone. Martha, as usual, was busy serving. Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus. His spot would have been empty or would have seated another had it not been for Jesus who had raised him from the dead. Think about Lazarus for a moment. He was asleep through his funeral and woke up wondering how he got into a tomb all wrapped up. He probably remembers being sick, but not much after that aside from waking in a strange place and seeing Jesus and all the people. Mary, who normally would have been sitting at Jesus’ feet, was doing something completely different. So much had happened in her life. She had been set free from the bondage and torment of seven devils. Jesus brought her brother back from the dead – calling him out of the grave. How could anything be normal for her ever again? Jesus was anything but a normal person – yet here was everyone including the disciples acting as if nothing had happened. She wanted to do something for Jesus, then she saw the jar of spikenard.

Our God is not normal. He is awesome! He has no limitations on His power and always seeks to strengthen our faith in Him. I often hear about the want to return to normal in the context of pandemic and lockdowns. But I disagree. We have Jesus. Nothing should ever be normal with Jesus in our lives. He is King of all kings. He is Lord of all lords. He set the stars in place and guides their courses. He laid down His life and took it up again in order to save us. There should be an abundance of inspiration there for us to think of how we can express love to the One who loved us while we were yet sinners.

May our houses be filled with the fragrance of our love for Jesus. May everyone around us smell it and know that we are not normal people. We don’t fear disease. We don’t fear death. We don’t rush into a panic at every piece of bad news the mainstream media peddles because we’ve got the best news of all: the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! Jesus forgives! Jesus lives! Jesus is returning! Hallelujah!!!