Good Service
Sermon
From Dusk To Dawn
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Good service. The food at the restaurant on Main is good, but
the service is even better! If you are looking for a good
dependable used car, make sure the dealer has an attractive
service policy on its maintenance. While on the road, check the
AAA Tour Guide to make certain the motel where you stop has good
service. In days of yore, British youth would be given a coin of
the realm when they enlisted in the army. The coin symbolized
their commitment to serve king and country. Good service. In an
age of mediocrity it is something all of us seek, at times
demand, and so often don't find.
Jesus knew more about service than any of us. He is the best
example of what it is to serve hurting, helpless and hopeless
people. He is the suffering servant of a suffering world. If
someday in heaven we want to hear the Lord say to us, "Well done,
thy good and faithful servant," it would be wise to look at the
picture of servanthood in the story of a fascinating woman we
meet in the home of Simon the Leper.
It is the season of the final Passover of the life of Jesus.
Jesus and his disciples have come to the home of Simon for
dinner. They are reclining on low couches. They are reclining on
their left elbows, reaching for food with their right hands as
was the custom of the day.
Suddenly the mystery woman does something so remarkable that
her story is still told today. She took a valuable alabaster jar
of nard and poured the precious ointment on Jesus. The ointment
was a perfume so expensive it would take almost a year's earnings
to pay for it.
How did Jesus react to her good and gracious act of love? He
said, "Truly I tell you wherever the good news is proclaimed ...
what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." (Mark
14:9)
Remember the verse in Psalm 23, "Thou anointest my head with
oil?" Imagine the honor of this woman. In a small and dark room
on an April evening she had in a spontaneous act of extravagant
love anointed the head of him who is the Great Good Shepherd of
the Sheep.
Jesus saw her act as a prelude to his coming death. Nard was a
perfume used in anointing the bodies of the dead. The custom was
that after this act the flask of perfume would be broken. Then
the fragments of the broken jar would be placed in the tomb of
the dead.
The unnamed woman of Mark's gospel has taught us all we need
to know about good service. She has shown us that love does
things for others. Love is different than lethargy. A frustrated
mom said to her daughter, "Be good for mommy. I love you when you
behave." The daughter responded, "I know, Mom, and I want you to
know I love you all the time." Jesus is the servant who loves and
serves us all the time.
Coach Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers liked to tell
his teams during the long weeks of pre-season practice, "We know
how rough the road will be ... but we have set our soul ahead
upon a certain goal ahead and nothing ... shall ever turn us
back."
On the gospel road we are to serve others in a love which
pours out our treasure in earthen vessels without stopping to
assess how much this service is costing us. True love in the
service of Christ is always seeking to point the compass of
compassion toward any direction where agape love is needed.
The poet sings:
Christ has no hands but our hands
to do his work today;
He has no feet but our feet
to lead people in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongues
to tell others how He died;
He has no help but our help
to bring them to His side.
Servant love does for others. Servant love pours out love on
the heads of those we touch with the healing waters of a living
Lord.
On a dark and cold day in Korea tired GIs huddled around fires
in the -42 degree cold. A marine was eating cold beans with a
knife. His face was crusted with mud and he had not shaved in
days. Marguerite Higgins, a war correspondent, asked him, "If I
were God and could grant you anything you wished, what would you
most like?" The man stood still for a moment. Then he turned to
her and said, "Give me tomorrow."
Jesus gives us tomorrow. The Bethany woman's name is known
only to Jesus. Simon the leper is whole and free from disease.
The blind see, the deaf hear, the ill are made well. Tomorrow is,
as Scarlett O'Hara affirms, "another day."
Soon after Jesus was anointed in Bethany he was crucified in
Jerusalem. But then there burst from the black-veiled skies a
rainbow and a reason to hope. Up from the grave he arose. We do
our service, we trust our Savior and travel toward tomorrow.
the service is even better! If you are looking for a good
dependable used car, make sure the dealer has an attractive
service policy on its maintenance. While on the road, check the
AAA Tour Guide to make certain the motel where you stop has good
service. In days of yore, British youth would be given a coin of
the realm when they enlisted in the army. The coin symbolized
their commitment to serve king and country. Good service. In an
age of mediocrity it is something all of us seek, at times
demand, and so often don't find.
Jesus knew more about service than any of us. He is the best
example of what it is to serve hurting, helpless and hopeless
people. He is the suffering servant of a suffering world. If
someday in heaven we want to hear the Lord say to us, "Well done,
thy good and faithful servant," it would be wise to look at the
picture of servanthood in the story of a fascinating woman we
meet in the home of Simon the Leper.
It is the season of the final Passover of the life of Jesus.
Jesus and his disciples have come to the home of Simon for
dinner. They are reclining on low couches. They are reclining on
their left elbows, reaching for food with their right hands as
was the custom of the day.
Suddenly the mystery woman does something so remarkable that
her story is still told today. She took a valuable alabaster jar
of nard and poured the precious ointment on Jesus. The ointment
was a perfume so expensive it would take almost a year's earnings
to pay for it.
How did Jesus react to her good and gracious act of love? He
said, "Truly I tell you wherever the good news is proclaimed ...
what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." (Mark
14:9)
Remember the verse in Psalm 23, "Thou anointest my head with
oil?" Imagine the honor of this woman. In a small and dark room
on an April evening she had in a spontaneous act of extravagant
love anointed the head of him who is the Great Good Shepherd of
the Sheep.
Jesus saw her act as a prelude to his coming death. Nard was a
perfume used in anointing the bodies of the dead. The custom was
that after this act the flask of perfume would be broken. Then
the fragments of the broken jar would be placed in the tomb of
the dead.
The unnamed woman of Mark's gospel has taught us all we need
to know about good service. She has shown us that love does
things for others. Love is different than lethargy. A frustrated
mom said to her daughter, "Be good for mommy. I love you when you
behave." The daughter responded, "I know, Mom, and I want you to
know I love you all the time." Jesus is the servant who loves and
serves us all the time.
Coach Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers liked to tell
his teams during the long weeks of pre-season practice, "We know
how rough the road will be ... but we have set our soul ahead
upon a certain goal ahead and nothing ... shall ever turn us
back."
On the gospel road we are to serve others in a love which
pours out our treasure in earthen vessels without stopping to
assess how much this service is costing us. True love in the
service of Christ is always seeking to point the compass of
compassion toward any direction where agape love is needed.
The poet sings:
Christ has no hands but our hands
to do his work today;
He has no feet but our feet
to lead people in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongues
to tell others how He died;
He has no help but our help
to bring them to His side.
Servant love does for others. Servant love pours out love on
the heads of those we touch with the healing waters of a living
Lord.
On a dark and cold day in Korea tired GIs huddled around fires
in the -42 degree cold. A marine was eating cold beans with a
knife. His face was crusted with mud and he had not shaved in
days. Marguerite Higgins, a war correspondent, asked him, "If I
were God and could grant you anything you wished, what would you
most like?" The man stood still for a moment. Then he turned to
her and said, "Give me tomorrow."
Jesus gives us tomorrow. The Bethany woman's name is known
only to Jesus. Simon the leper is whole and free from disease.
The blind see, the deaf hear, the ill are made well. Tomorrow is,
as Scarlett O'Hara affirms, "another day."
Soon after Jesus was anointed in Bethany he was crucified in
Jerusalem. But then there burst from the black-veiled skies a
rainbow and a reason to hope. Up from the grave he arose. We do
our service, we trust our Savior and travel toward tomorrow.
