Day 1: The Anointed King

Naomi Brown - [Matt 26:6–13; Mark 14:3–9; John 12:1–8]

Welcome to Day 1 of our devotional journey through Lent. We are so excited for what God is going to speak to you, what He is going to do in you, and the encounters you will have with Him as we reflect on Him and journey towards Easter.

We start our journey with Jesus being anointed with oil — this wonderful moment, this prophetic act!

I love that in Jesus’ ministry, He brought people into identity, into family, and went against the usual social norms. If you know anything about the culture at the time, women were pretty low down the pecking order, and yet in this significant moment — Jesus being anointed, being prepared for burial, and His kingship being recognised — it was not His disciples or the Pharisees, but a woman who came with an offering of oil worth over £20,000 and thought He is worthy of it all, all of the honour, all of the glory. She brought something to Jesus that cost her something, not just physically, but also socially, as the room didn’t like what she was doing. In that moment, though, she had eyes fixed on Him, seeing something the others couldn’t see, and preparing Him for what was to come. Yes, her act of worship cost her something of value, but in a room full of people who found what she did distasteful, she counted her cost— because it was all for Jesus. The King was in the room, and she was ready to receive Him!

What is profound is what Jesus says in Mark 14:9: “Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” There was such weight to the moment that whenever the gospel is shared — the good news — Jesus says people are going to remember this woman, this act that she did, her sacrifice of worship. This is just so precious and beautiful.

It is also sobering how Jesus, the King, was in the room, but people got more caught up in the money — that something of earthly value was now gone in a single act of worship. What was worship for one person was a waste to another. We see it even back in 2 Samuel 6, how Michal, David’s wife, despised David’s worship before the Lord, and she went on to have no children. We see Judas, who was a thief, didn’t like that the woman had, in his eyes, wasted something of value. Jesus received it as a beautiful offering. Judas was offended by Jesus’ affirmation of this, and the very thing his offence was rooted in — money — led him to go to the chief priests and receive money for his betrayal of Jesus. Money, was his god and his offence blinded him to the significance of the moment: Jesus being anointed in preparation for what was to come — the King was in the room.

Activation

What does it look like for you to come and give Him something costly as we behold Him, recognising who He is? What does it look like to be more undignified, to break your alabaster jar in honour of Him — the King of all kings, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world?

Have a moment of soaking. Play one of the songs below as we lean into Jesus — what He has done, what His sacrifice was, and His victory. May we never lose that wonder of what He has done, ask him today, is there something that is going to cost, but he is asking you to do.
Pour My Love - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOR1FpfpEik&list=RDgOR1FpfpEik&start_radio=1
All My Oil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klC6eXwDDvw&list=RDklC6eXwDDvw&start_radio=1

Bonus Activation

Just as Psalm 139 says, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” ask God, the good Father, if there is anything you need to lay down, someone you need to forgive, so that your eyes may be refixed on Him. Allow God to meet you in this. Ask for the keys to move forward. Let Him come and love you as you rest in the shelter of the Most High God.